{"id":857,"date":"2019-01-16T01:07:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T06:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nlg.org\/guild-notes\/?post_type=article&p=857"},"modified":"2019-01-24T13:17:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T18:17:27","slug":"heres-what-you-made-possible-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nlg.org\/guild-notes\/article\/heres-what-you-made-possible-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s What You Made Possible in 2018!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are so grateful to all our members in j<\/a>oining us<\/a>\u00a0to fight back against the increasing attacks on our lives and communities. As we look back on 2018, we are overwhelmed by how much you have made possible with your support! By making a\u00a0year<\/span>–end<\/span> donation<\/a> today, you will\u00a0ensure we can\u00a0continue to defend human rights over property interests in the years<\/span> to come.<\/p>\n

Here are just some of the ways you helped support organized resistance in 2018:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Protecting Human Rights at the Border<\/strong>\"\"<\/div>\n

The NLG mobilized<\/a>\u00a0legal support for the thousands of asylum seekers who have been arriving at the border in caravans from Central America. Working with local grassroots organizations, such as Al <\/a>Otro Lado<\/a>, hundreds of NLG lawyers, law students and legal workers are legal observing, leading know your rights trainings, and staffing legal clinics to help protect and uphold the human rights of the refugees fleeing violence and political crisis.<\/p>\n

Celebrating 50 Years<\/span> of Legal Observing<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since 1968, NLG Legal Observers<\/a> have been protecting protesters\u2019 constitutional right to demonstrate<\/a> by monitoring and documenting law enforcement activity and deterring police misconduct at demonstrations and protests. Under the current administration there has been a dramatic increase in national protests and we have been scaling up accordingly. In the last year<\/span> alone, we trained over 5,000 new legal observers to protect and defend activists standing up against racism and fascism and fighting for our environment.<\/p>\n

Defending the Right to Dissent<\/strong><\/div>\n

As part of a national coalition to protect the right to dissent, we have\u00a0been monitoring and challenging legislation limiting the right to protest.\u00a0Since the end<\/span> of 2016, nearly\u00a060 bills<\/a>\u00a0have been proposed in state legislatures.\u00a0This year<\/span>, we produced a webinar<\/a>, published an article<\/a> and fact sheet<\/a>, and presented a workshop to provide more information about the contents of these bills, their political implications, the interest groups behind them, and how to stop them from becoming laws. We also examined the limits of free speech in a panel discussion<\/a> examining the history of power dynamics around First Amendment jurisprudence. Internationally, we responded to the global repression of dissent in our ground-breaking webinar<\/a> focusing on Palestine, Puerto Rico<\/a> and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Fighting White Supremacy<\/strong><\/div>\n

The NLG continued to support activists resisting racist demonstrations and rhetoric. The Guild trained and deployed legal observers for protests at white supremacist rallies in Washington DC,\u00a0Charlottesville, and Portland and continued to fight the repression<\/a> and racist targeting and harassment of counter-protesters<\/a> who bravely confront white supremacist violence.<\/p>\n

Supporting Global Resistance Struggles<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Guild\u2019s\u00a0International Committee<\/a>\u00a0continued to work in solidarity with resistance struggles across the world to uphold human rights. In addition to our calls for justice in Honduras<\/a>, Palestine<\/a>, and Puerto Rico<\/a>, we\u00a0supported South Korean<\/a> efforts towards self-determination and peace. Even our Mass Defense Committee got involved with our international efforts when, following police retaliation against anti-government protesters in Haiti, the Guild worked with Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI)<\/a> to implement Haiti\u2019s first legal observer program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resisting the Rise of the Judicial Right<\/strong><\/div>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s devastating rulings on collective bargaining<\/a>, discrimination against LGBTQ people, and the Muslim Ban reinforced how the judicial system works to maintain white supremacy and capitalism. We provided an insightful analysis<\/a> of the far right’s takeover of\u00a0the Supreme Court, spoke out<\/a> on the role of the judiciary in resistance movements, and fought<\/a> against Trump\u2019s patriarchal and misogynistic takeover of the courts.<\/p>\n

Speaking Up for Trans Justice<\/strong><\/div>\n

With NLG members on the ground to provide legal support, Executive Director Pooja Gehi participated in a trans and queer\u00a0#AbolishICE action<\/a> to demand an end<\/span> to the detention and deportation of trans migrants. We continued to be proudly\u00a0in solidarity with the trans community when the NLG\u2019s Queer Caucus<\/a> spoke out<\/a> against Trump\u2019s attempt to deny the recognition of trans people under federal civil rights law<\/p>\n

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Organizing the Next Generation of People\u2019s Lawyers<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Our student members continued to be the voice of justice in law schools across the US! NLG law students spoke out against hate<\/a> and xenophobia<\/a> and organized a national strike against Kavanaugh<\/a>. Law school chapters across the country participated in our annual week of action, \u201cMass Incarceration and Immigration\u201d<\/a> in coordination with the National Immigration Project<\/a>. This summer, our\u00a0Haywood Burns Fellows<\/a>\u00a0worked with legal projects focused on racial justice, immigrant justice, housing rights, economic justice, and prison law reform.<\/p>\n

Dismantling the Prison Industrial Complex<\/strong><\/div>\n

As the only bar association that admits jailhouse lawyers as members, the NLG\u00a0supports prison abolition<\/a> through nationwide efforts to alleviate some of the harm inflicted by mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex. This year<\/span>, we endorsed the August 21 National Prison Strike<\/a> to protest steadily deteriorating conditions of confinement in United States prisons while NLG\u2019s PLAN mounted a legal response<\/a> to the reports of prisoner abuses stemming from the strike. We provided new resources for lawyers and legal workers joining us in the fight to end<\/span> mass incarceration, including a webinar<\/a> on bail funds and a critical analysis<\/a> on the limits of using legal recourse to improve conditions in prison. We also collaborated with the National Bail Fund Network<\/a> to create a resource guide<\/a> for setting up legal defense funds.<\/p>\n

Challenging State Surveillance<\/strong><\/div>\n

While NLG attorneys worked to successfully dismiss<\/a> all charges against defendants in the draconian targeting and arrest of protesters at the J20 inauguration demonstrations, it became clear that the state colluded with far-right groups and infiltrated activist organizing spaces. The NLG and Defending Rights and Dissent<\/a> filed a FOIA request to expose this illegal surveillance and abuse of state power.<\/p>\n

Convening Legal Activists<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NLG members joined us for movement building, skill sharing, and political discussion at our 81st Law for the People Convention<\/a> in Portland Oregon. Featuring addresses by Kshama Sawant and Herman Bell<\/a>,\u00a0the conference covered topics representing a wide range of the Guild\u2019s work: immigration, environmental justice, mass incarceration, international human rights, reproductive justice, protestor defense, fighting fascism, and much more.<\/p>\n

We still need your help to continue fighting state and corporate oppression. Make a year<\/span>–end<\/span> contribution<\/a> now to protect human rights, strengthen resistance, and support peoples\u2019 movements in 2019 and beyond!<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are so grateful to all our members in joining us\u00a0to fight back against the increasing attacks on our lives and communities. As we look back on 2018, we are overwhelmed by how much you have made possible with your support! By making a\u00a0year–end donation today, you will\u00a0ensure we can\u00a0continue to defend human rights over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"issuem_issue":[187],"issuem_issue_categories":[],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"class_list":["post-857","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","issuem_issue-guild-notes-vol-43-no-4-winter-2018","post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t