Just got word of this today --a conference for grass roots activists in October called Grassroots America Defends the Bill of Rights National Conference:

The September 11th tragedy became the pretext for the hastily passed USA PATRIOT Act and a series of federal executive orders, guidelines, and procedural changes, many of which undermine civil liberties without demonstrably enhancing national security. Such sweeping changes have evoked grave concerns among Americans across the political spectrum.

Soon after the Act was passed, individuals and small groups in a few U.S. cities who were concerned about threats to our freedoms began local grassroots organizing that launched a movement to channel apprehension and anger about rollbacks of civil liberties. Today, a nationwide, broad-based movement of local efforts to restore civil liberties guaranteed under the Constitution and Bill of Rights holds the promise of deepening community involvement in civil liberties.

A broad coalition of organizations (see list below) will convene a national organizing conference in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2003. The conference will assemble representatives of independent grassroots groups; coalitions involved in related legal and legislative action; Muslim, Arab, Hispanic, and other constituencies that have been disproportionately affected by the new laws, and others who want to join the growing movement.

The primary goal of the weekend conference is to advance the movement's impact on national policy... [See the site for more details.]