Occupy Wall Street Legal Hotline

PLEASE NOTE: THE LEGAL HOTLINE FOR OCCUPY WALL STREET HAS A NEW NUMBER. 831-373-3327. The legal hotline is provided by the Monterey Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. If you have problems with the police, call the hotline and we will do our best to find you an attorney who can provide you with free legal assistance. The new number is 831-373-3327.

Guild is occupied with protecting protesters’ rights

BY ALINE REYNOLDS

Throughout Occupy Wall Street’s more than five weeks of demonstrations, legal witnesses have been monitoring the activity of both the Police Department and the protesters to keep tabs on who might be violating the law.

Sporting bright green caps and known as legal observers, they are volunteers for the National Lawyers Guild. They are charged with observing O.W.S. activity in hopes of deterring police abuse.

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_445/guildisoccupied.html

Two Valuable Trainings for Occupy Activists

The Monterey Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is offering two valuable trainings to Occupy Wall Street Activists this Saturday, November 5.

These trainings will be offered at Monterey College of Law, 100 Colonel Durham Street, Seaside, CA, beginning at 9:00am (sharp).

Know Your Rights

This training covers all of the basic legal information for interactions with police. Topics range from questioning to searches to safety. The interactive format allows participants to explore their options in realistic settings.

Legal Observer/Media Witness

This training was designed to prepare Legal Observers for mass actions. The focus is on collecting information that will be useful in criminal defense of activists or in civil prosecution of police and government.

These trainings are free. However, space is limited. You MUST pre-register for these trainings by sending an email to phillipjcrawford831@gmail.com no later than 5:00pm, Friday, November 4.

The email must contain your name and phone number and which training(s) you plan to attend. Your registration is complete when you receive a confirmation e-mail.

Only people who have pre-registered will be admitted.

Please direct any questions to Phillip Crawford of the National Lawyers Guild at 831-869-2834 or phillipjcrawford831@gmail.com

Scott Olsen's example for the Occupy movement

From The Guardian (London):

"The incident in Oakland is just the latest attack by police around the US on the nascent Occupation movement. This movement has brought people who have never protested before into the streets with a sense of empowerment. But that sense is in danger of being blunted by police actions that punish people for exercising their first amendment rights. And while brutality toward protesters has captured most of the media attention, law enforcement agencies are quietly using arbitrary rules and local ordinances such as anti-camping laws to constrain occupations and make it impossible for them to continue."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/28/scott-olsen-example-occupy-movement

The Whole World Is Watching

From Aljazeera:

Police use tear gas and concussion grenades in attempt at ending demonstration in "one-sided" eight hour street fight.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/10/20111026135124919772.html

From The Guardian (London):

Oakland's police review body looks into clashes between officers and protesters after Iraq war veteran suffered fractured skull.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/26/scott-olsen-occupy-oakland-review

Police Attack Occupy Oakland Protesters

On Tuesday, Oakland police attacked Occupy Oakland protesters with tear gas, bean bags, wooden dowels, flash grenades, and rubber bullets at protesters. A woman in a wheelchair was reportedly hit by a tear gas cannister (see photo).

Rather than using the weaponry once in a final effort to subdue the crowd, officers reportedly used them over and over again in what protesters described as a relentless assault on the thousands of activists gathered near City Hall.

See:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12184/police_turn_oakland_into_war_zone/

The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street

In many respects Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is indeed a mirror image of the Tea Party. To the Tea Party government is the enemy. To OWS the huge corporation is the enemy. OWS wants to raise taxes on billionaires. The Tea Party wants to considerably reduce them. OWS wants to rebuild and strengthen the safety net. The Tea Party wants to weaken it.

http://onthecommons.org/tea-party-vs-occupy-wall-street

Mass Defense Committee Initiates Massive Occupy Legal Support Program

For Immediate Release: October 18, 2011
Over the past month the Mass Defense Committee of the National Lawyers Guild has initiated an unprecedented nationwide effort in support of Occupy protests, coordinating hundreds of attorneys, law students, and legal workers to protect the First Amendment rights of demonstrators.

For more information, see:

http://www.nlg.org/news/press-releases/nlg-mass-defense-committee-initiates-massive-occupy-legal-support-program%e2%80%94hundreds-of-attorneys-join-in-unprecedented-effort/

LUST FOR JUSTICE: THE RADICAL LIFE AND LAW OF J. TONY SERRA

Lust for Justice: The Radical Life and Law of J. Tony Serra is the biography of San Francisco’s charismatic counter culture lawyer, acclaimed as one of the ten top criminal defense lawyers of the century. His long career has made him an icon of the underdog and a champion of civil rights leaders. Get the inside-scoop on the law through the eyes of one of its greatest practitioners in this newly-released biography.

Serra’s successful defense of Black Panther leader Huey Newton launched him into the orb of great criminal defense lawyers. His cases are the subject of the Hollywood film “True Believer” and TV docudramas. His tax issues with the IRS landed him in Lompoc Prison Camp for 10 months, which he chronicled in essays and poetry sampled in this book.

Meet Tony Serra and author/artist Paulette Frankl at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at Monterey College of Law. Books as well as signed courtroom art in original and print form will be available. More about Lust for Justice can be seen at www.lustforjustice.net

This book took seventeen years to come to fruition. Frankl spent over a decade in and out of the courtroom with Serra in order to know her subject in depth.

Saturday, March 14, 7:30pm

Monterey College of Law

100 Colonel Durham Street

Seaside, CA

Admission is free.

Sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild - Monterey Bay Area

For more info, call: 831-869-2834

National Lawyers Guild Convention 2011

The 74th annual Law for the People Convention will be held in Philadelphia, PA at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The host chapter has secured a group rate of $127/night. Check back soon for more details but mark your calendars for October 12-16, 2011!