Cities silencing voices

After reading about United for Peace and Justice's huge battle with the New York city's Mayor Bloomberg over their August 29 rally, I'm more convinced than ever that our fight for social justice has to be done locally.  I don't just mean that we need to do more local activism and support community groups, I mean that we need to seriously consider local politics and hold our local leaders MUCH more accountable.

If this mayor, a Republican supporter, is able to weaken and silence the voices of opposition within his city, then the battle is halfway won for national level politicians.  If we allow our local governments to oppress us in such an obvious and specific manner, it's no wonder the federal government thinks it can do the same.