NORTHAMPTON - Ten years ago, the United States Constitution took a beating. Soon after 9/11, a bill called the Patriot Act was rushed through Congress (our own U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, voted in favor) and signed by President Bush. The Patriot Act incurred a number of abuses against U.S. citizens. It legitimized warrantless wiretapping and unlawful search and seizures and created dozens of "fusion centers" around the country.

This ushered in a drastic increase of spending on government surveillance and the erosion of the protections of the Bill of Rights.

On New Year's Eve, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which makes the Patriot Act look quaint. It allows for the indefinite detention of any person accused of a "belligerent act" or "terror related activity." These detention provisions effectively eliminate our Fifth Amendment right to due process and a fair trial, and allow a person's liberty to be taken away under the auspices of mere suspicion.

Furthermore, the NDAA poses a serious threat to freedom of speech because of the broadening of the definition of "suspicious terrorist activity" to include constitutionally protected speech and associations. Muslims, racial minorities, environmental, peace and justice activists have already seen their rights violated through unwarranted surveillance and searches. The NDAA makes these abuses worse by allowing the accused to be indefinitely detained without trial. Everyone - whether tea partier or Occupier - can now be considered guilty, merely by accusation from the federal government.

These newly codified powers of detention have been invested in the executive branch, which in turn enables the military to detain people, regardless of citizenship. Military leaders have gone on the record to adamantly oppose the detention provisions. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and many retired military generals and admirals have argued that turning the military into a domestic jailer will undermine national security.

Likewise, the FBI is also against the detention provisions as much of their jurisdiction is compromised by placing it into military hands. Our justice system now empowers the U.S. military to be a judge, jury and executioner of U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike.

Ostensibly, the only two entities in favor of the NDAA are Congress and the president. Our "liberal" president and divided Congress cannot agree on much, but finally found agreement on one of the most unconstitutional and potentially dangerous pieces of legislation in modern history.

In a signing statement, President Obama promised not to use detention provisions against U.S. citizens. This should not be of much comfort, not only because his administration lobbied for this provision, but because signing statements are not binding nor do they prohibit any future president from using the inherently abusive provisions.

In spite of this draconian and depressing legislation, there are ways for area residents to push back on a local level. A resolution brought forth by the Preserving Our Civil Rights campaign and sponsored by the Northampton Human Rights Commission rejects the NDAA.

The resolution declares Northampton to be in non-compliance with NDAA provisions that violate Constitutional rights. It advises the state and federal government to recognize the rights of due process and fair trial. That resolution will be voted on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers in Northampton.

It is hard to believe that we are witnessing such explicit rejection of fundamental constitutional rights, but those who have watched it happen are not surprised. Like the frog that sits oblivious in increasingly hotter and hotter water until it's too late, these abuses of due process and other rights have been happening for quite some time, starting slowly at first among foreigners, immigrants and other marginalized populations.

It is only now that the water has begun to boil over onto the 99 percent of us.

But the struggle has not been lost yet. People are opposing this on a local and state level around the country. From Rhode Island to Oklahoma to (hopefully) Northampton, resistance to the NDAA is growing in force.

Here in western Massachusetts, the Preserving our Civil Rights campaign (www.preservingcivilrights.org), wants to help you in your city or town in western Massachusetts to continue this resistance. The future of liberty in this country hangs in the balance.

Jeff Napolitano is program coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts. Emily Odgers is an intern with the committee.