Today marks 32 years that Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera has spent in U.S. prison for his involvement in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence.
News & Opinion
NLG Kicks Off the 2013 Poor People's Campaign
On May 9, the Maryland chapter of the National Lawyers Guild hosted a celebration of multiple historic civil rights milestones, including what would have been the 100th birthday of Rosa Parks and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The NLG gathering was also a send-off for a march commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Poor People’s Campaign, a 1968 effort to push for economic and social justice for poor people in the United States. The evening was an inspirational gathering of social justice lawyers, activists, artists, and people who took part in the campaign.
Breaking Ranks: the History of the Military Law Task Force
Kimberly Rivera, a conscientious objector and pregnant mother of four was recently sentenced to 10 months in jail because she refused to serve in the Iraq war.
Letter to Obama Regarding the State of Siege in Guatemala
The National Lawyers Guild recently sent a delegation to Guatemala to observe the precedent-setting genocide trial of U.S.-supported military dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt and his advisor Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. In the wake of uncertainty over whether the trial would continue after widely criticized procedural developments over the last few weeks, we were pleased that the U.S. dispatched Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp to Guatemala to signal the importance of upholding the rule of law.
National Lawyers Guild Urges FBI to Respect Political Asylum Status of Assata Shakur
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) urges the Federal Bureau of Investigation to respect the political asylum status of Assata Shakur (a.k.a. Joanne Chesimard). The FBI has designated the 65-year old former Black Panther Party member a “terrorist” and increased the bounty for her capture from $1 million to $2 million.