SPRING 2007 :: in review
- Events
The NLG-WCL hosted the following events this spring:
- Testify to Repression: The Oaxaca Delegation Reports Back (March 05, 2007)
description: Hear members of the Oaxaca Delegation -- including Yesica Maya, President of
the Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Oaxaca, two
professors, a student from UNAM, and five other lawyers --share their
extremely powerful stories of police repression and describe their testimony
before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
From December 17 through December 21, twenty individuals (including human
rights lawyers, journalists, authors, investigators, graduate students, and
activists) from the United States and Canada came together in Oaxaca out of
concern for what appeared to be serious violations of human rights. Over the
course of five days they met with a variety of Oaxacans who shared their
experiences with us regarding violations of civil and human rights since
June 14, 2006.
"Some were activists; others had simply been present during mass arrests. We
heard numerous, highly credible accounts of beatings, psychological and
physical abuse, intimidation, disappearances, killings and attempted murder
perpetrated by the municipal, state and federal preventive police forces.
Virtually every person who recounted their experiences with the police began
to cry while telling us what had occurred. There is no way to convey how
deeply moving and profoundly disturbing it was to listen to these accounts.
In addition, we were told of threats and attacks on lawyers who were engaged
in representing victims as well as against organizations committed to the
defense of human rights." -- Report on the Human Rights Situation in Oaxaca,
Mexico
- A Revolution from the Bench? Screening of Quiet Revolution (March 03, 2007)
description: The National Lawyers Guild WCL Chapter and Alliance for Justice present a screening and discussion of the documentary film QUIET REVOLUTION ...
About the film:
 Over the past 25 years, an increasingly influential movement on the far right has waged a sustained war on the Constitution as we know it. Ultra-conservative politicians, judges, professors and activists would overturn decades of precedent to shred the fabric of popular laws protecting workers, consumers and public health, expand executive power at the expense of basic civil liberties, and impose a narrow social agenda on the rest of the body politic.
Quiet Revolution traces the growth of the ultra-conservative movement, shines a light on its strategies, and breaks through its rhetoric to expose how it envisions reshaping American law and life.
- The Green Scare! Prosecuting Environmental Activists as Terrorists (Feb. 06, 2007)
description: What is the Green Scare, and why is the federal government prosecuting ecological and environmental activists under anti-terrorism statutes? Come learn about the SHAC 7, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and the latest assault on your right to dissent when the NLG-WCL presents activist journalist Will Potter, host of greenisthenewred.com. MORE INFO - shac7.com - greenscare.org
FALL 2006 :: in review
- Events
The NLG-WCL hosted the following events this fall:
- Tales fromTexas Drug War: Racism & Corruption in Tulia and Hearne (Nov. 16, 2006)
description:
Will Harrell, Executive Director of the ACLU Texas and WCL alumnus, will speak about the infamous drug task force arrests in these two small Texas towns.
Fueled by racism and corruption, these task forces rounded up and arrested dozens of African-Americans based on uncorroborated testimony. In Tulia, an undercover officer with a history of bigotry and dishonestly falsely implicated 46 people, and was later convicted of aggravated perjury. In Hearne, an informant named 12 innocent people as drug dealers in an attempt to negotiate a plea after the DA warned him that he would be raped and beaten in prison. Mr. Harrell and the Texas ACLU were instrumental in the passage of the Texas "Tulia Law," which prevents future convictions based solely on uncorroborated testimony.
- Coffee with Professor Duncan Kennedy:
Crtique of Legal Education and Globalization (Oct. 26, 2006)
description:
Prof. Kennedy is a long-time supporter of the National Lawyers Guild and a major critic of legal education.
Please join us for an informal conversation.
- Rendition to Torture: The Case of Maher Arar (Oct. 18, 2006)
description:
Join the National Lawyers Guild and Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law for a talk by Maria LaHood, Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. She will speak about her work on the case of Maher Arar. Mr. Arar is a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was arrested by U.S. officials while in transit at JFK Airport in New York in September 2002. He was intensively interrogated and then deported to Syria, where he endured 10 months of torture at the hands of Syrian intelligence officials because the government labeled him a member of Al Qaeda. Upon his return to Canada, Mr. Arar was never charged with any crime; nor has he been charged with any crime by the United States. In doing this, the U.S. has violated the International Convention Against Torture, of which it is a signatory.
-
A Taste of NLG: First General Body Meeting (Oct. 11, 2006)
description:
ICE CREAM SOCIAL!
The WCL Chapter of the NLG invites you to our first General Body Meeting.
Come get a taste of what being a people's lawyer is all about!
Student Guild members organize, practice activism, and learn from radical
lawyers who make a difference! We also sponsor events and campaigns to get
you involved in the community, informed about issues, and enthusiastic about
becoming a people's lawyer.
-
Volunteer Training to survey the Homeless in DC (Sept. 28, 2006)
description:
Want to get out of the law school, onto the streets of the District?
Interested in the rights of the indigent and propertyless?
Join the WCL National Lawyers Guild and the Poverty Law Society to get
involved in a new survey of homeless persons in DC!
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the Washington
Legal Clinic for the Homeless are seeking law student volunteers for a
project surveying homeless persons at various locations in the
District of Columbia to determine the difficulties they may have with
police or city workers.
Come to this volunteer training to get involved in the survey project.
Attorneys Ann Marie Staudenmaier of the Washington Legal Clinic for
the Homeless and Tulin Ozdeger of National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty will be leading the training.
-
National Lawyer's Guild 2006 Disorientation (Sept. 9, 2006)
description:
Each year the NLG holds a city-wide event for 1L's and other law students who are interested in radical lawyering and alternatives to the law firm career. This year, WCL is hosting the DC event.... Practicing attorneys will be there to share ideas about how to make a difference, practice law for the people, deal with the law school experience and manage law school debt.
- Other Highlights
- On Sept. 12, 2006, the NLG-WCL issued a Statement in Protest of JAG Recruitment at Our Law School. This statement joined the law school community in condemning the Solomon Amendment, JAG recruitment and the perpetuation of homophobic discriminatory practices in the US Military. The statement also warned against framing the advancement of the rights of queer Americans as "promoting national security."
- In late October 2006, the NLG-WCL sent two members to Austin, Texas, for the National Lawyers Guild National Convention.
- In November 2006, the chapter updated its Constitution for the first time since 1999.
- Media
- Stremaing Video: Duncan Kennedy remarks on legal academia, globalization and community change within US law schools.
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