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About
Mission
History
Today and Tomorrow
Who We Are / What We Do
More about the Milwaukee chapter
Today and Tomorrow
At the turn of the 21st Century, globalization of information and economic activity is
a fact of life, but so is the globalization of extremes in wealth and poverty. The
American people are facing inescapable trends that will require vast restructuring of
our entire society, if we are to avoid the social chaos that is already overtaking life
in our major cities, or the militarized imposition of social peace that we see in other
unstable societies and that is embodied in post-911 laws and policies. NLG members have
long recognized that neither democracy nor social justice is possible, internationally
or domestically, in the face of vast disparities in individual and social wealth. In
short, we have always seen questions of economic and social class as inextricably
intertwined with most domestic and international justice issues.
Domestically, the betrayal of democracy and the Supreme Court's integrity in Bush v.
Gore has made clear that the struggle for real democracy in the U.S. is far from over.
The intertwining of governmental power with the influence of corporations, epitomized
by the ENRON debacle, has confirmed that the theme of the 1998 NLG Convention,
"Fighting Corporate Power", may well be the major challenge for the American democracy
in the new century. The seizure of increased executive power, the huge buildup of
military might and the attack on civil liberties after the 9-11 tragedy, together with
the scape-goating of Muslims, Middle-Eastern immigrants and the re-creation of
McCarthy-esque "anti-terrorism" measures, has demonstrated that the Guild must, once
again, play the role for which history and experience has prepared its members.
Guild members lobbied Congress and worked with the House Judiciary Committee in a
failing effort to turn back the worst aspects of the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act. Guild members
also filed the first challenges to the detention of prisoners from Afghanistan and to the
use of military tribunals. Across the nation, Guild members are demanding that civil
liberties be protected and that the U.S. Government respect the Constitution and international
law at home and abroad. Guild members are defending activists, representing immigrants facing
deportation, testifying in federal and state legislatures against civil liberties cutbacks.
They are using their experience and professional skills to help build the 21st Century grass-
roots movements that will be necessary to protect civil liberties and to defend democracy now
and in the future.
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414.273.1040 ::: aheitzer@igc.org ::: 606 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53203 Suite 1706
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