Seattle Convention

mw HOT K PRE-CONVENTION ISSUE „^älMUlu.*..., v.523 40th Anniversary SEATTLE CONVENTION 5 Focus Areas Highlight Activity The 40th anniversary convention of the National Lawyers Guild takes place in Seattle, Washington, August 18th through 21st. Over 1,000 lawyers, legal workers, and law students will »celebrate the rich history of the Guild, a history of intense involvement in the day to day struggles of poor and working people and the liberation struggles of Third World peoples, women and gays. The convention program emphasizes our committment to continue the development and implementation of programs in a wide range of political legal areas and to strengthen and build the Guild as we enter our fifth decade. The formal opening of the convention will be preceded by a full day Criminal Law Skills Seminar on Wednesday, August 17th. Jointly sponsored by ness misidentification. voir dire, women and self defense, suppression of evidence, "Black rage" defense, cross examination and problems of con tempt. The convention agenda, prepared by Guild members in the Bay Area, will highlight five areas of special focus. A series of workshops will seek to police crimes, illegal surveillance and harassment, Other workshops will concentrate on the Guild's develop an approach to the increasingly vital fight and the death penalty. The Guild's labor program, program in relation to housing struggles, military for affirmative action and minority admissions, including safety and health issues, support for rank law and organizing, grand juries, criminal justice, including opposition to the recent Bakke decision. and file organizing, and practice under federal labor Native Americans, prisons and jails, unemployment, Support for the ever growing struggles against legislation, will be the fourth focus area. And the legislative and state bar work, and the fight to oppression of women and gays will be the subject of international work of the Guild will be further preserve and improve the trial jury system. workshops on the Guild's anti-sexism program. developed through workshops on Southern Africa, Anti-repression workshops will include discussion of the Middle East and Puerto Rico. —continued on page 5 Should visas be granted, these individuals would be the first Cubans to appear before a major Cubans Accept gathering in the United States since the ending of formal relations by the United States in 1961. Since then, the U.S. has imposed a blocade against Cuba which has encompassed both trade and travel Convention Invitation between the two nations. Only recently has the government lifted formal restrictions against travel to Cuba. An invitation to send observers to the Guild's 40th Arrangements are being made for the delegates to Anniversary has been extended to the National participate in Convention activities, including parti Union of Jurists of Cuba and the Federation of cipation in relevant workshops and plenaries. Cuban Women (FMC), and as of press time, the The Federation of Cuban Women is the national invitation had been accepted by the Union of Jurists. mass organization in Cuba which has dealt with An answer is expected momentarily from the FMC. questions of women's oppression and sexism in The invitations were extended by the Guild's recent Cuban society. The National Union of Jurists is a delegation to Cuba. newly formed organization which held its first Constituent Congress in early June. Its objectives include the furthering of the sociojuridical aware Address Correction Requested ness of the people of Cuba and of promoting the professional and technical training of jurists in all walks of life. In Cuba since all levels of courts have workers sitting as lay judges in addition to V8 professional judges, and lawyers work in collectives bUAKUlAN designed to make legal assistance accessible to all, 33 M i?TH ST there is^a high priority given to de-mystifying the NEW YURK NY 10011 process, and seeing to it that the legal processes serve the needs of society. The formation of the Union of Jurists is to help integrate that process. The assistance of local chapters may be needed to help assure the granting of the visas. Please call Frnaklin Siegel in the national office for details. (212) 260-1360. • OFFICERS9 COI/I/itfiV by MARY ALICE THEILER While writing this column, certain events took place in the state of Washington which have also Growth And occurred in other parts of the country in the past few weeks and which underlines for me the importance of organized groups of progressive people remaining vigilant in their defense of democratic rights. At the Washington State Conference for Women, one of Development many state conferences being held to discuss issues relating to women and to elect delegates to the National Conference of Women to be held this fall in Houston, a very large group of highly organized In The Guild right wing women showed up and succeeded in swaying tfe"\êIêctTon "of national delegates to the anti-ERA forces, as well as putting the conference on NEB delegates are elected for a term and make a ^record against the ERA. In the political struggle that commitment to serve for a definite period as well as energetically attempting to formulate a pattern of ensued, issues relating to day care, abortion, gay assuming certain other chapter responsibilities. We activity, getting away from the spontaneity and rights and third world women were lost in the are becoming more successful in making the NEC a disconnectedness that has plagued much of our shuffle. At one point, it even seemed possible that functioning leadership body that operates more international work in the past. anti-gay resolutions would emerge from the gay consistently between national meetings—this was a By defining programmatic work as "activity" it is caucus due to packing of the meeting by right-wing stated goal of the national office when I was a staff obvious that the mere passage of resolutions of forces. This same maneuver has occurred through member. The out-going national officers succeeded support does not qualify for program. Learning how out the country, where right-wing forces have been to a significant degree in operating collectively and to develop program is perhaps one of the hardest similarly successful, and in many cases will control working as a unit, which in my opinion has greatly lessons for an organizer. Social activism is not a state delegations to the national conference* These benefited the growth of the organization. Another virtue that is taught or encouraged in this society. In state conferences are by no means revolutionary in important aspect is the development of well-esta this sense, the importance of a national organization perspective. In fact, the purpose of the national blished chapter structures with more and more becomes most apparent. While most chapters do not conference is to make recommendations for a chapters opening staffed offices and creating viable have the skilled resource people or the ability to take Presidential report on women. However, progressive leadership and decision-making bodies. The quality on by themselves all the areas of work that need people can unite with almost all aspects of their of our project and chapter newsletters is constantly support in their city, the Guild brings to those program. And the effect that the right-wing improving, with Guild Notes being an outstanding chapters the experiences and the resources of other delegates will have on the national conference may example. people who have tackled the same problems. But well be a set-back to the passage of the ERA. As a result of these and other developments, we unless we are willing to make commitments, and to What this should teach us is that our enemies are have become a more effective organization. But a follow through with our time and our skills we will well-organized—nationally and at all levels—are number of areas still need attention. soon become irrelevant. While time is often our most determined, and are thinking strategically. To the The most glaring area is fundraising. While a elusive resource, it is at the same time our most extent that we forget this, particularly as legal number of chapters have succeeded in taking control important contribution and should perhaps become people who have set for ourselves the task of of their financial needs and regularizing their part of an unwritten dues structure. supporting the causes of poor and working people, fundraising, the state of national finances is constant The third part of the definition of program— we are making a serious mistake. crisis. Despite emergency appeals and constant "designed to achieve or further some articulated In attempting to make some observations on the letters, we simply have not succeeded in bringing goal"—is the aspect which is perhaps the best development of the Guild during the last year and a our financial development to the level of the rest of developed in our programmatic work. My own half that I have served as a national officer, this our development. In my opinion, we are well able to experience in the Guild is chronologically short—I incident illustrates for me the importance of raise the money to keep the organization operating joined the Guild as a first year law student in organized efforts in achieving social change. The from the strongest and most reliable of all September 1971 and am in that sense a "jjost-Boul- importance of organization is something we try to sources—from ourselves and from the people we der' ' member—but in the context of the last period, I impart to our rank and file or rent-striking clients, support—but we still have not succeeded in doing believe that we are now more than ever evaluating but progressive legal people too often forget to apply tiiis.

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