NextGen Happy Hour Friday May 2!
We are first meeting at The Haymarket Memorial: 175 N. Desplaines St. Chicago, IL 60661 at 5:30 PM. Many people haven’t seen it and it will be a nice reminder of the rich history of Labor in Chicago!
Then we will be walking over to the nearby Dylan’s Tavern and Grill for the rest of the festivities! Dylan’s is located at 118 S. Clinton St, Chicago, IL 60661 for anyone who can’t make it to the memorial.
We hope to see you there!
Upcoming CLE: Litigating Workplace Sexual Violence Cases
Save the date for an upcoming CLE co-sponsored by TUPOCC!
Building Your Arsenal: Tools for Successfully Litigating Workplace Sexual Violence Cases
Learn more about successfully representing clients in sexual harassment cases. Filing a discrimination complaint may only be one component of an effective representation strategy. This interactive session will provide tools to better represent clients struggling with post-traumatic stress and encourage participants to use the law creatively to empower survivors.
Where: Kirkland & Ellis, LLP
300 N. LaSallle, Room 7KLM
When: April 17, 2014
1:00pm – 5:00pm
4 hour CLE credit will be given!
Discussion will include an analysis of:
- The Illinois Gender Violence Act
- Immigration relief for survivors
- Survivor centered litigation
- Anti-trafficking laws, and more
Speakers:
Sheerine Alemzadeh, Staff Attorney with Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
Karla Altmayer, Equal Justice Works Fellow with LAF
Allison Creekmur, VISTA attorney with LAF
*RSVP to kaltmayer@lafchicago.org with your name and organization name by April 4, 2014
Chicago NLG Response to Tribune Editorial on NATO 3
The following was submitted to the editors of the Opinion section of the Chicago Tribune as the official Chicago National Lawyers Guild response to their own piece on the NATO 3 case to further the public discourse. The Tribune has not published our response.
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On Friday, February 7, 2014, a Cook County jury acquitted the NATO 3 of all terrorism charges, opting instead to convict them of lower level offenses. The acquittal of the terrorism charges is the culmination of the tireless efforts of the defense team, most of whom are members of the National Lawyers Guild. It is also a victory for the Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild, who organized the NATO Legal Support project, providing round-the-clock support for activists leading up to the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.
On Monday, February 10, 2014, just days after the announcement of the jury’s verdict, the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune published a piece hailing the actions of police and prosecutors and calling for stiff sentences for the three young men. (http://www.chicagotribune.
In an attempt to drum up fear, the Tribune editorial asks readers to “[r]emember the masked agitators, dressed in black, snaking their way to the front of the parade ranks.” However, it fails to mention that two of those masked agitators were undercover Chicago Police Officers, Nadia Chikko and Mehmet Uygun. The editorial piece argues that “[w]hen a 20-year-old calls himself an anarchist in such a setting,” police and prosecutors are justified in treating him like a terrorist. Markedly absent from the piece, is the fact that this “setting” was one manufactured by undercover police officers. Recordings played at the NATO 3 trial revealed that Chikko and Uygun supplied the defendants with alcohol on multiple occasions, suggested the idea of making the Molotov cocktails and even assisted in building them by cutting up their own bandanas to use as wicks.
The problem is not, as the Tribune suggests, that these young men may have identified as anarchists. The problem is that accepting the position of the Tribune’s editorial board means condoning a reversion to the days of widespread illegal spying through the resurrection of operations like the Chicago Police Red Squad, which targeted political activists in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Unfortunately, this seems to have already begun; Even before becoming involved with the NATO 3, and lacking any training in undercover work, Chikko and Uygun spied on activists in cafes, at concerts, and at peaceful protests.
Rather than respecting the decision of the jury to acquit these young men of terrorism charges, the editorial board of the Tribune published a reprehensibly misinformed piece that is a continuation of the political prosecution beget by the City and the State’s Attorney. By comparing the heavy-handed suppression of political dissidence to the Boston Marathon bombing attacks, Alvarez and the Tribune are trivializing terrorism, something that, fortunately, the jury in the NATO 3 case refused to do.
Chicago Torture Survivors Reparations Ordinance
Please Support the Chicago Torture Survivors Reparations Ordinance!
This past fall, on October 16, 2013, Aldermen Howard Brookins and Proco Joe Moreno introduced an Ordinance seeking Reparations for the Chicago Police Torture Survivors drafted by the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project (CTJM) and the People’s Law Office. The ordinance has since been sent to the finance committee of Chicago’s City Council.
Please sign the on line petition at:
On (HEARING POSTPONED, TBD) Tuesday, March 4, 2014, from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., the Finance Committee will be having a hearing on the reparations ordinance. Join us at the hearing in the City Council chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall. A large turnout of supporters at the hearing will have a profound impact on how the Alderpeople hear our appeal and consider their support.
The Ordinance calls for a formal apology to the survivors; creates a Commission to administer financial compensation to the survivors; creates a medical, psychological and vocational center on the south side for the survivors and their family members; provides free enrollment in City Colleges for the survivors and family members; requires Chicago Public schools to teach a history lesson about the cases; requires the City to fund public memorials about the cases; and sets aside $20 million to finance this redress, the same amount of money the City has spent to defend Burge, other detectives and former Mayor Richard M. Daley in the Chicago Police torture cases.
The torture survivors continue to suffer from the psychological effects of the torture they endured; many without any compensation or assistance or legal recourse for any redress. The City of Chicago is responsible for these undeniable human rights violations and it must make amends to the torture survivors, family members and communities of color affected by these racist, police practices. The Ordinance is an important and lasting way for it to do so.
You can read the entire ordinance at www.chicagotorture.org or www.peopleslawoffice.com
Newsletter for 1st Quarter of 2014
Introducing our Newsletter for the 1st Quarter of 2014. Please enjoy and catch up on all the work the Chicago NLG and its committees have been up to!
Fred Korematsu Day
Sponsors: CAIR-Chicago, National Lawyers Guild-Chicago TUPOCC, Japanese American Citizens League, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, South Asian American Policy & Research Institute, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, The Chicago International Social Change Film Festival, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum-Chicago
Student Group Sponsors: DePaul NLG, DePaul APALSA, Northwestern University South Asian Law Student Association, and Northwestern University APALSA, Chicago-Kent APALSA
TUPOCC Hot Chocolate Social
Come meet law students, legal workers, and attorneys and discuss how we can work with/in communities of color in 2014.
Visit our Facebook page to find out more about TUPOCC Chicago and the NLG:https://www.facebook.com/
Next Gen Happy Hour at Cardozo’s Pub
Kick-Off the New Year and New Semester at the NEXT GEN HAPPY HOUR
When: This Friday, January 17, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Cardozo’s Pub, 170 W Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602 (easily accessible from all L lines!)
We have the side room reserved.
Specials: Drinks are pretty cheap and this is a chance to see all your old (and future) NextGen pals
The Next Gen Happy Hour: Every month, the Next Gen Committee of the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago throws a happy hour to bring together young, progressive, and radical attorneys, law students, and legal workers to drink, socialize, organize, and relax.
Join us! We would really love to see as many people out for this happy hour as possible. With the convention right around the bend, let’s reconnect!
NLG Applauds the Compassionate Release of Lynne Stewart
December 31, 2013
Contact: Tasha Moro, 212-679-5100, ext. 15
NEW YORK —Today Judge John G. Koeltl granted the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) request for the compassionate release of Lynne Stewart. This is heartening news. Ms. Stewart is 74 years old and has terminal cancer with a life expectancy of less than 18 months. She has been serving a ten-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center Carswell (FMC Carswell) in Fort Worth, Texas, in connection with her defense of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman.
As her condition has continued to deteriorate, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and several legal and social justice organizations have twice called on Attorney General Eric Holder to direct the BOP to grant compassionate release. Given that Ms. Stewart’s medical condition clearly falls within recent reforms to the BOP’s compassionate release program announced by Holder in August, and that the warden at FMC Carswell had earlier approved her release, the NLG urged that the process of consideration be expedited.
“From arrest to sentencing, Lynne Stewart’s case was used by the Department of Justice to send a chilling message to attorneys: think twice about who you represent! For speaking to a Reuters reporter about her client’s viewpoints – in violation of an administrative order – an ailing Ms. Stewart was sentenced to a decade in prison. Today’s small measure of justice does little to repair the damage wrought by the government’s unjust prosecution of an advocate whose service to society has been widely documented,” said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the NLG.
Robert J. Boyle, one of Lynne Stewart’s attorneys added, “We are gratified and thankful that the government has agreed to Lynne’s compassionate release request. She has dedicated her life to fighting for justice for the underserved and unpopular. Lynne can now return home to her family and to the community that loves her.”
Ms. Stewart is a longtime member of the National Lawyers Guild. Since her initial indictment, Guild members have educated the public about the many ways her case runs afoul of the Constitution. The Guild’s 2005 publication The Case of Lynne Stewart: A Justice Department Attack on the Bill of Rights is available at nlg.org.
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