First plans for NLG Convention in Seattle

The annual National Lawyers Guild Law for the People Convention will be held in Seattle October 14-18, 2009. We just received a tentative schedule, including two workshops co-sponsored by TUPOCC. We are working with our comrades to present Deportation Defense: Representing Immigrant Detainees in Bond Hearings (co-sponsored by TUPOCC, NLG San Francisco Immigration Committee, and National Immigration Project of the NLG) and Women and Migration (co-sponsored by TUPOCC and the Anti-Sexism Committee).

Here are some highlights of the tentative schedule:

FRI October 16

8:30-9:45AM Workshops I

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform
• Out of Africa
• Counter Recruitment Strategies

1:30-2:45PM Workshops II

• Representing Immigrant Detainees in Bond Hearings

SAT October 17

1:00-2:15PM Workshops III

• Immigrants and the Military
• Transgendered and Incarcerated

2:30-4:00PM Major Panels

• Mass Defense: Police Occupation of Communities of Color

SUN October 18

10:45AM-12:00PM Workshops IV

• Responding to Immigration Law Enforcement Abuse
• Gaza
• Women and Migration
• Enhancing Right of Workers to Organize

Facing Race

Responding to a call by TUPOCC founding co-chair Renée Sánchez, and organized by USF 3L and NLG-SF Student Vice President, Aliya Karmali, about ten TUPOCC members and our friends attended the Applied Research Center's Facing Race: A National Conference in downtown Oakland, California this past weekend.

Attending plenary panels and workshops from Thursday's opening keynote by Sherman Alexie to Saturday's closing plenary on Race and the Global Economy, TUPOCC was present and representing radical "queer, colored" legal activism, as we connected with our friends and allies from other organizations dedicated to interracial justice, as a critical dimension of the people's intergenerational movement toward social justice.

While there were many interesting panels and workshops, I found two workshops particularly helpful to my interests in helping us build TUPOCC and creating community in Oakland.  

BYOB: Build Your Own Blog was led by Liza Sabater of CultureKitchen.com and Chris Rabb of Afro-Netizen.  Beyond an introduction to blogs and blogging, Liza and Chris provided great information about technologies that could substantially help us represent our racial justice work like Utterli (mobile audio/video sharing) Shoebox (photo management) and Drupal.

That last software, an open source package (as in GNU and the free software movement) seems particularly promising in helping us build TUPOCC's infrastructure beyond our previous and present attempts with Yahoo! Groups, the TUPOCC website and our Legal Activists of Color blog.  Liza particularly indicated that Drupal has a module that can realize my idea of literally mapping TUPOCC's membership, by integrating Google Maps with a membership database that we could create based on the 141 folks in our Y! group.

While I have yet to download Drupal and likely won't start learning it until mid-December, I am very excited about its potential for TUPOCC and the several other organizations for which I volunteer, e.g., Latina & Latino Critical Legal Theory, Inc., the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association, the Berkeley Law Foundation and the National Latina/Latino Law Student Association (NLLSA).

It's been a while since I've focused my energies on non-law and non-text learning and culture making, and I miss photography and film-making a great deal.

The second workshop I attended, Creating a Culture of Racial Justice, was powerfully synergistic.  Moderated by Melanie Cervantes of Dignidad Rebelde and Taller Tupac Amaru, this workshop also featured Favianna Rodriguez, co-founder del mismo taller, Tumi's Design and the Eastside Arts Alliance; and DJ Phatrick and Samantha Chanse -- popular educators, community builders and radical cultural workers of color who are (or in the recent past were) based in the SF Bay Area.

Melanie's prompts and questions were particularly stimulating and merit mentioning three of the most memorable:

• How do people create a racial justice culture to support social justice movement(s)?
• How do folks who have become artists inspire and materially support others who desire to make art but feel unable to do so vis-a-vis their racial subordination and other forms of oppression? 
• How can artists serve as visionaries for the racially just world we want to create?

By themselves these questions may not seem revolutionary to some, but witnessing Favianna, Melanie, Patrick and Samantha share how they have made their lives and their art into living visions of racial, immigrant, gender and sexual justice was deeply inspiring.

I have lived, loved and worked hard to develop mi conciencia (a radical racial, political, sexual and spiritual awareness of my place in people's history), but to study law I stopped making photographs and films, dancing, journaling and writing poesía.  While I tried to remain aware of the importance of "in xochitl, in cuicatl, flor y canto, flower-and-song" (art, poetry, dance, singing), my daily practice of making art basically stopped, as I focused on learning the law, reading critical legal scholarship and organizing students.

Witnessing Favianna, Melanie, Patrick and Samantha, reminded me of the crucial necessity to make soul and face as our elder compañera Gloria Anzaldúa and other radical lesbian Chicana poetas, artistas, scholars y filósofas have written.

While directly serving the people as a community lawyer in West Oakland's Homeless Action Center is a powerful practice of transgression against class norms and teaches me daily about solidarity across the many dimensions of power and identity (especially interracial and gender justice), Creating a Culture of Racial Justice reminded me that I also need to regularly practice love-inspired art-making -- in order to feel joyful and strong enough to serve nuestra lucha por justicia para el pobre (our struggle for justice for the poor), as the old La Raza Law Students Association slogan goes.

I have a lot more to write but more has already been reported.

I will end by mentioning four mujeres with whom I spoke briefly on the last day of Facing Race.

First, I briefly saw Tiny, aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, the fierce and fearless poverty scholar and co-founder of San Francisco-based POOR Magazine / Poor News Network.  Tiny mentioned that POOR is on the move to the Mission District, after having resisted its threatened eviction, naming "development" for the 21st century colonization that it recapitulates and organizing the people to take back the land by holding a ceremony that calls upon the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

I also caught a glimpse of Evelyn Sanchez of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC), whom I spoken with briefly at Friday afternoon's plenary on The Race Debate: Challenging Colorblindness with Race Conscious Solutions.

Next, I took the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez, who was book-signing at the AK Press table and whose sixth book, 500 Years of Chicana Women's History / 500 Años de la Mujer Chicana, was recently published.  

I first read Betita's work while surviving law school: as I did at least once a semester, I left campus and got lost until I found myself in a bookstore, seeking words to nurture my spirit against the profound alienation of formal legal education.  

In San Francisco's Mission District, I came across De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century, which introduced me to Betita's profound writings on mujerista and youth activism from New Mexico a California and across much of the twentieth century.  I had most recently seen Betita across the table during La Raza Centro Legal's 35th anniversary dinner earlier this year, and when I mentioned it, she told me that she recalled how I was sitting to her right and asked about my work in West Oakland and the meaning of my middle name, Tizoc.

As she carefully composed the brief inscription she wrote on the book's frontispiece, I waited, kneeling before the table and feeling ever more deeply the significance of our brief momento conjuntos.  I thought of my dad y abuelitas and my mom y tías and knew I was exactly where I should be.  

Afterwards, thanking her and moving on, I was pleased to share the book con alguna de nuestras compañeras, Teague Briscoe (an El Paso homegirl and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter).

Finally, I had the fortune of seeing Tommy Escarcega, another El Paso Tejana and long time community activist who was organizing in support of the voting rights of people in county jails this past election.  

We first met four or five years ago when she knocked on the door of La Raza Law Students Association at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), saying she had heard there were Raza law students and asking for our support of her work in Proyecto Common Touch, which she founded to protect the due process rights of convicted women on parole or in custody.   

Since then I've seen La Tommy a few times over the years, like when her project was based at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland's Fruitvale District.  We spoke briefly about her recent work on the voting rights of people in jail, and I introduced her to other TUPOCC xicanas as the conference ended.

+++

As I've tried to show, the ARC's Facing Race was a powerful meeting of what Liepollo L. Pheko, of The Trade Collective, dubbed "the manys" who remain committed to the compact for racial justice.  I encourage you to read more reporting on Facing Race.

Muchismas gracias a Renée y Aliya for motivating and organizing TUPOCC to represent at Facing Race.  We did good outreach work in identifying allies and nurtured relationships con nuestr@s compañer@s across the law / non-law divide.

As Betita wrote, "Thank you for your good work, ¡Adelante juntos!"

STATEMENT - US-BASED WOMENS ORGANIZATION DEMANDS RELEASE OF THE GABNET 3. DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS! NO TO POLITICAL HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION, REP

STATEMENT - US-BASED WOMENS ORGANIZATION DEMANDS RELEASE OF THE GABNET 3. DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS! NO TO POLITICAL HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION, REPRESSION!




Please distribute far and wide





STATEMENT





For Immediate Release Contact: Doris
Mendoza, Secretary General,


9 August 2007
secgen@gabnet.org ; (212) 592- 3507, (718) 753-0257;

Milady Quito, GABNet3OffTheList@gabnet.org



US-BASED WOMENS ORGANIZATION DEMANDS RELEASE OF THE GABNET 3. DEFEND HUMAN
RIGHTS DEFENDERS! NO TO POLITICAL HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION, REPRESSION!



The Philippine Government, headed by de facto President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, has once again brandished an undemocratic, unjust and
cruel rule. She has placed three GABRIELA Network (GABNet) leaders on a
"watch list" and has already prohibited GABNet Chair Dr. Annalisa Enrile
from returning home to Los Angeles.



On August 5th, 2007, Dr. Enrile was barred from boarding her return flight
home from Manila, Philippines. Dr. Enrile was informed that she was on the
"hold" list of the Phil Department of Justice. Two other GABNet leaders
Ninotchka Rosca and Judith Mirkinson are reportedly on the same hold list
and are likely to face the same restriction of movement. The GABNet 3 had
attended the 10th bi-annual Women's International Solidarity Affair in the
Philippines (July 29-August 5 2007). Dr. Enrile also led a delegation of
USC Social Work Masters students on a Philippine summer immersion program.



It is no coincidence that the GABNet 3 have been targeted by the Philippine
Department of Justice. They have been instrumental and most vocal in the
international campaign to defend GABRIELA Women's Partylist Representative
Liza Largoza-Maza who has suffered and continues to suffer intense political
persecution, including baseless charges of murder and sedition. They also
led last year's all-women human rights legal mission to the Philippines, a
report from which points to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other
military elements as perpetrators of the murders/assassinations of close to
nine hundred activists, ninety of whom were women who worked closely with
GABRIELA.



The scheme is obvious: harass, intimidate all the dissenters, all those who
criticize Macapagal-Arroyo's regime. The GABNet 3 are virtually being held
hostage by the Philippine Government. The ransom: silence from all critics
- Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike. For GABNet though, such inhumane
tactics leads only to heightened vigilance and determination.



We demand that the Philippine Government release the GABNet 3 so that they
may return to their homes and their lives in the US. We demand that the US
Embassy in the Philippines and the US Ambassador to the Philippines act on
behalf of the three U.S. citizens/permanent resident and demand that the
Philippine Government release them at once.



We call on our friends and allies to defend the GABNet 3. Help us get them
safely home. Contact your Congressional and Senate representatives to urge
their safe return. Contact via fax the US Embassy, American Citizen
Service, at 011-632-522-3242 or fax the US Embassy, Ambassador Kenney, at
011-632-522-4361.



###




FW: STATEMENT - US-BASED WOMENS ORGANIZATION DEMANDS RELEASE OF THE GABNET 3. DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS! NO TO POLITICAL HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION, REPRESSION! -----Original Message-----

International Campaign for Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva - please distribute

International Campaign for Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva - please distribute

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Campaign for the Right of two Cuba Women

to Visit their Husbands Imprisoned in the United States

 

Since September 1998, five Cubans have been suffering unjust sentences in U.S. prisons. The five men were monitoring Miami-based terrorist organizations of Cuban-American origin. For more than four decades, these organizations have perpetrated hundreds of terrorist attacks resulting in the death and disability of 5000 Cuban citizens.

 

The Five were collectively sentenced to four life sentences plus 74 years. Furthermore, another cruel punishment has been added to their family members, obstructing the visits of mothers, wives and children of the Five.

 

On average, these prisoners receive family visits once a year. This violation of the prisoners’ rights is even more severe for two of the Five: Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, whose wives the U.S. government has consistently denied visitation rights.

 

Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene has not been able to visit her husband for 6 years. Adriana Perez wife of Gerardo has not been able to visit him since he was arrested. Olga and Adriana are both model citizens and pose no threat to the U.S.

 

Both women have requested visas on 7 occasions and every single time, the United States government has denied them.

 

The United States government has no reason to deny these families the right to see each other.

 

In the English edition of the book “Letters of Love and Hope” that includes correspondence between the Five, their wives and their children, Alice Walker, the North American writer tells us:

 

“The treatment they have received is shameful. The silence around this treatment even more so. Where are the Congress members, the Senators and representatives, we should be able to rely on in cases such as this? People with the courage to insist that prisoners not be subjected to torture? That their children not be denied access to them, that their wives and mothers not be driven to despair by the many failed attempts they make to see their wrongly, in this case incarcerated kin.”

Mendocino, California, July 24, 2004

 

We make a call to all the women of the world to rise up against this tremendous injustice and to demonstrate by all means possible our solidarity with them and to demand that the U.S. government must immediately grant visas so that they can visit their husbands in prison.

 

In this battle thousands of men and women join us in solidarity, including 9 Nobel Prize winners. Most recently, on January 17, 2007, Amnesty International published a public statement about this issue.  

 

We make a call to all women world-wide to organize a strong International Campaign between March 8^th and May 14^th, to coincide with International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.  

 

We propose the following:

 

• To incorporate the demand for the granting of the visas to Adriana and Olga into all actions organized on International Women’s Day;

 

• To ask female journalists and other writers to mention the violations that these two Cuban women are suffering;

 

• To send messages to Condoleezza Rice demanding the granting of visas;

 

• To deliver protest letters to U.S. Consulate personnel throughout Latin America and Europe; and

 

• To organize Colloquiums that among other themes, raise the issue of these flagrant violations as a new form of torture of prisoners and expose these two women as victims of the violations.

 

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH ADRIANA PEREZ AND OLGA SALANUEVA!

 

WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE GRANTING OF VISAS FOR BOTH WIVES!

 

STOP THE VIOLATIONS OF VISITATION RIGHTS OF THE FAMILY OF THE FIVE!

 

FREE THE CUBAN FIVE NOW!

 

ALL THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD, RISE UP FOR THESE TWO WOMEN!

 

TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOAL!

 

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five

 

Friends and committees of 10 countries have already joined this campaign including: Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, United States, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Ukraine.

---

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