Sedition
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2008-07-16T17:32:41Z
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:''This is about the law term. For other uses see [[Sedition (disambiguation)]]''
'''Sedition''' is a term of [[law]] which refers to covert conduct, such as [[Speech communication|speech]] and [[organization]], that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward [[insurrection]] against the established order. Sedition often includes [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]] of a [[constitution]] and [[incitement]] of discontent (or [[rebellion|resistance]]) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are [[seditious libel]].
Because sedition is typically considered a subversive act, the overt acts that may be prosecutable under sedition laws vary from one legal code to another. Where those legal codes have a traceable history, there is also a record of the change of definition for what constituted sedition at certain points in history. This overview has served to develop a [[sociology|sociological]] definition of sedition as well, within study of [[persecution]].
The difference between sedition and [[treason]] consists primarily in the subjective ultimate object of the violation to the public [[peace]]. Sedition does not consist of levying war against a government nor of adhering to its enemies, giving enemies aid, and giving enemies comfort. Nor does it consist, in most [[representative democracy|representative democracies]], of peaceful [[protest]] against a government, nor of attempting to change the government by [[democratic]] means (such as [[direct democracy]] or [[Constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]]).
Put simply, sedition is the stirring up of rebellion against the government in power. Treason is the violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or state and has to do with giving aid to enemies or levying war. Sedition is more about encouraging the people to rebel, where treason is actually betraying the country.
== History ==
'''Sedition''' in its modern meaning first appeared in the [[Elizabethan Era]] (c. 1590) as the "notion of inciting by words or writings disaffection towards the state or constituted authority". "Sedition complements treason and martial law: while treason controls primarily the privileged, ecclesiastical opponents, priests, and [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]], as well as certain commoners; and martial law frightens commoners, sedition frightens intellectuals."
===Australia===
{{main|Australian sedition law}}
[[Australia]]'s sedition laws were amended in [[Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005|anti-terrorism legislation]] passed on [[6 December]] [[2005]], updating definitions and increasing penalties.
In late 2006, the [[John Howard|Howard]] government proposed plans to amend Australia's [[Australian criminal law|Crimes Act 1914]], introducing laws that mean artists and writers may be jailed for up to seven years if their work was considered seditious or inspired sedition either deliberately or accidentally.<ref name="Gaol">[http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1772767.htm Satire used to counter new sedition laws], [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]'s ''[[Lateline]]'' transcript, [[October 24]] [[2006]]</ref> Opponents of these laws have suggested that they could be used against legitimate dissent.
<blockquote>Over the past year, Australian attorney-general Philip Ruddock has rejected calls by two reports — from a [[Australian Senate|Senate]] committee and the [[Australian Law Reform Commission]] — to limit the sedition provisions in the [[Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005|Anti-Terrorism Act 2005]] by requiring proof of intention to cause disaffection or violence. He has also brushed aside recommendations to curtail new clauses outlawing “urging conduct” that “assists” an “organisation or country engaged in armed hostilities” against the [[Australian military]].
The new laws, inserted into the legislation last December, allow for the criminalization of basic expressions of political opposition, including supporting resistance to Australian military interventions, such as those in [[Afghanistan]], [[Iraq]] and the [[Asia-Pacific]] region.
<ref>[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/sedi-o27.shtml Australia’s new Sedition Laws], Mike Head, ''World Socialist Web Site'', [[27 October]] [[2006]]</ref>
</blockquote>
===Canada===
During [[World War II]] former [[Mayor]] of [[Montreal]] [[Camillien Houde]] campaigned against [[conscription]] in [[Canada]]. On [[August 2]], [[1940]], Houde publicly urged the men of [[Quebec]] to ignore the [[National Registration Act]]. Three days later, he was placed under [[arrest]] by the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] on charges of sedition. After being found guilty, he was confined in [[internment camps]] in [[Petawawa]], [[Ontario]] and [[Gagetown]], [[New Brunswick]] until 1944. Upon his release on [[August 18]], [[1944]], he was greeted by a cheering crowd of 50,000 Montrealers and won back his job as Montreal mayor in 1944's civic [[election]].
===New Zealand===
In [[New Zealand]]'s first sedition trial in decades, [[Tim Selwyn]] was convicted of sedition (section 83 of the Crimes Act 1961) on [[8 June]] [[2006]].
In September 2006, the New Zealand Police laid a sedition charge against a [[Rotorua]] youth, Christopher Russell, 17, who was also charged with threatening to kill<ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10406234 Law advice body wants to scrap crime of sedition], ''[[New Zealand Herald]]'', [[October 17]] [[2006]]</ref>. The Police withdrew the sedition charge when Russell agreed to plead guilty on the other charge<ref>[http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2007/02/sedition-by-example-xxii-christopher.html Sedition by Example XXII: Christopher Russell], ''No Right Turn'' [[weblog]], [[February 28]], [[2007]]</ref>.
In March 2007, Mark Paul Deason, 32, manager of a tavern near the [[University of Otago]], was charged with seditious intent<ref> [http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=17&t=0&id=742 Police move to cancel 'beer-for-petrol' publican's licence], ''Infonews.co.nz'', [[11 April]] [[2007]]</ref> although he was later granted police diversion when he pleaded guilty to publishing a document which encourages public disorder<ref>[http://www.crime.co.nz/displaynews.asp?id=71673 Diversion over petrol-soaked couch promo], ''Crime.co.nz'', [[29 March]] [[2007]]</ref> Deason ran a promotion for his Tavern that offered 1 litre of beer for 1 litre petrol. At the end of the promotion, the prize would have been a couch soaked in the petrol. It is presumed the intent was for the couch to be burned — a popular university student prank. Police also applied for Deason's liquor license to be revoked.
Following a recommendation from the [[New Zealand Law Commission]]<ref>{{PDFlink| [http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/UploadFiles/Publications/Publication_128_353_PR%20SED%202.pdf Law Commission recommends abolition of seditious offences]|68.8 [[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 70525 bytes -->}}, [[New Zealand Law Commission]], [[5 April]] [[2007]]</ref>, the New Zealand government announced on [[7 May]] [[2007]] that the sedition law would be repealed<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200705071751/sedition_law_to_be_repealed| title=Sedition law to be repealed| publisher=[[Radio New Zealand]]| date=[[2007-05-07]]|accessdate=2007-05-05}}</ref>. The [[Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Bill]] was passed on [[24 October]] [[2007]], and entered into force on [[1 January]] [[2008]]<ref>{{cite news| url=http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/New_Zealand_repeals_sedition_law| title=New Zealand repeals sedition law| publisher=Wikinews| date=[[2007-10-24]]|accessdate=2007-10-24}}</ref>.
===United States===
There have been 24 attempts in the United States to regulate speech that has been deemed seditious. In 1798, President [[John Adams]] signed into law the [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], the fourth of which, the ''Sedition Act'' or "An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States" set out punishments of up to two years' imprisonment for "opposing or resisting any law of the United States" or writing or publishing "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the [[President of the United States|President]] or [[United States Congress|Congress]] (but specifically not the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice-President]]). The act was allowed to expire in 1801 after the election of [[Thomas Jefferson]], Vice President at the time of the Act's passage.
The [[Espionage Act of 1917]] may also be considered a sedition law of sorts, as section 3 made it a crime, punishable by 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000, to wilfully spread false news of the US military with an intent to disrupt their operations, to foment mutiny in the ranks, or obstruct recruiting. The act was amended in 1918 with the [[Sedition Act of 1918|Sedition Act]], which expanded the purview of the Espionage Act to any statements made criticizing the government. The act was upheld in 1919 in ''[[Schenck v. United States]]'', but was repealed largely in 1921, leaving mostly laws forbidding espionage and allowing military [[censorship]] of sensitive material.
In 1940, the Alien Registration Act or [[Smith Act]] was passed, which made it a crime to advocate or teach the desirability of overthrowing the United States Government, or to be a member of any organization which does the same. It was often used against [[Communist]] organizations. The act was invoked in three major trials, one of the [[Socialist Worker's Party]] in [[Minneapolis]] in 1941, resulting in 23 convictions, and again in 1944 in what became known as "The Great Sedition Trial", of pro-[[Nazi]] figures which ended in a [[mistrial]]. A series of trials of 140 leaders of the [[Communist Party USA]] was also predicated upon the Smith Act beginning in 1949, and lasting until 1957. Although the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] upheld the convictions of 11 CPUSA leaders in 1951, the court reversed itself in 1957 in ''[[Yates v. United States]]'' by ruling that teaching an ideal, no matter how inimical that onlookers may view it to the United States, does not equal advocating or planning its implementation.
Although unused since at least 1961, the Smith Act remains US law.
Laura Berg, a [[nurse]] at a [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Dept of Veterans' Affairs]] hospital in [[New Mexico]] was investigated for sedition in September 2005<ref>[http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16438 VA nurse's letter to newspaper prompts sedition probe], ''[[Associated Press]]'', published on ''First Amendment Center'', [[February 8]] [[2006]]</ref> after writing a letter<ref> [http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=14092 Big Brother is Watching: A letter printed in the ''Alibi'' leads to the investigation of a local VA nurse for "sedition"], ''Alibi.com'', [[February 9]] – [[February 15]], [[2006]]</ref><ref>[http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=14352 Speaking Truth to Power: An interview with Laura Berg], ''Alibi.com'', [[March 9]] – [[March 15]], [[2006]]</ref> to the editor of a local newspaper, criticizing the government, although this was by her human resources department, not the government. Ms Berg was represented by the
[[ACLU]]<ref>[http://aclu.org/freespeech/gen/24043prs20060131.html ACLU of New Mexico defends VA employee accused of ‘Sedition’ over criticism of Bush Administration], ''[[ACLU]]'', [[January 31]] [[2006]]</ref>. Charges were dropped in 2006[http://www.reason.com/news/show/117345.html].
== See also ==
* [[Seditious libel]]
* [[Mutiny]]
* [[Sedition Act]]
* [[Free speech]]
== Notes and references ==
{{wikinewspar|Auckland man convicted of sedition}}
* Breight, Curtis, C. ''Surveillance, militarism and drama in the Elizabethan Era'', Macmillian 1996: London.
* {{PDFlink|[http://www.law.gov.au/agd/Department/Publications/publications/ICCPR3/articles/article20.pdf A synopsis of the Australian sedition laws]}}
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