The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) mourns the tremendous loss of life in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel over the past month. We grieve the lives of those already lost, wish for freedom for those in captivity, and remain committed to a future where every life is recognized as precious, and all people live in freedom and safety.
We condemn the violence against civilians. There is no justification in international law for the indiscriminate killing of civilians or the taking of civilian hostages.
We are appalled by Israel’s retributive attacks and actions which will only increase human suffering. We stand fully committed to supporting Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, security, and human rights.
The work of our Chapter is focused on supporting social movements for justice in Massachusetts. We work to unite the legal community with organizers and activists in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests. The movements that we support have been under attack in recent years: racial justice work, LGTBQ organizing, transgender rights, environmental justice advocates, people organizing within prisons, and most recently organizers who are speaking out in support of Palestine and against genocide in Gaza. We are also committed to supporting progressive activists who are subject to antisemitic threats and violence in Massachusetts.
In the last few weeks our work supporting Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activists includes: sending Legal Observers to more than two dozen marches and vigils, numerous consultations with activists facing harassment, meeting with people who are being threatened with losing their jobs for their public statements, consulting with families responding to inaccurate and one-sided statements from schools, “Know Your Rights” and “Direct Action” legal trainings for activist groups, and representation of activists arrested at weapons manufacturers and in elected officials’ offices.
We are receiving daily requests for Legal Observers at demonstrations, vigils and actions. If you are interested in getting trained as a Legal Observer, let us know! We also need attorneys for pro bono representation for about 100 people recently arrested at demonstrations across the state. Please join us in this work at this critical moment.
https://nlgmass.org/wp-content/uploads/2023_11-War-on-Gaza.pdf
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