Surveillance and the use of “less lethal” weapons during protests

Michael Power of South Africa’s Legal Resources Centre, Homer Venters from Physicians for Human Rights, and Matthew Cagle from the American Civil Liberties Union share reflections on state responses to social protest.

 

Michael Power came to Argentina in representation of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) of South Africa. He spoke about long-range acoustic devices and his organization’s work to ensure these “less lethal” weapons are not used for crowd control.

 

Homer Venters is a medical doctor who belongs to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which addresses the use of so-called “less lethal” weapons in the repression of social protest, among other issues. PHR co-authored a report on these weapons along with the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO).

 

Matthew Cagle, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), analyzes how “technologies can become tools of surveillance” and the right to protest in the Trump era.