Movement Law Lab’s Director of Movement Partnerships Joey Mogul and Associate Director Ruby-Beth Buitekant joined with scores of lawyers and legal workers to provide legal support to thousands of protestors who demonstrated at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago August 2024.

When building organizing campaigns, we often focus on mapping power within particular state or local bounds in the United States — that is to say, our analysis of political decision-making, the interests at stake, flows of capital, the applicable law and forums for action rarely goes beyond the U.S.

We are inviting you to bravely step into an arc of work upon which all of our other work depends. At a minimum, each of us must deepen the connections between the work we’re already doing and the collective task of defending, building and strengthening a multiracial democracy.

Lawyers must be prepared to help defend the terrain on which we organize, stop the criminalization of protest, and help build ecosystem-wide approaches to safety and security.

While keeping people safe and fighting for immediate material wins, we must also be steadfastly committed to the project of creating long-term governing power.  Ultimately, lawyers are needed to dream and plan alongside organizers as left strategists.

Any issue that progressive lawyers hope to advance–no matter how local–is bound up with the worldwide rise of authoritarianism. We need to better understand the threat so that we can play our part in a pro-democratic front to both thwart authoritarian power grabs and build a better future.

The history of the Right’s campaign to seize the courts reveals how closely the electoral and judicial arenas are linked, and how politics shapes the interpretation of the law. The structural changes that the Right has put into place are going to take decades to address, not only through Congressional action but also through informed action on the part of people.

Nesta breve postagem, explicamos as dimensões mais significativas do programa de Milei e consideramos até que ponto o direito existente pode oferecer proteção contra essas políticas.

Foto de David Berkowitz

En este breve post, explicamos las dimensiones más significativas del programa de Milei y consideramos hasta qué punto el derecho existente puede proporcionar protección contra estas políticas.

Foto por David Berkowitz

Mais de um ano após o ataque genocida de Israel a Gaza, pode-se ficar tentado a descartar a ideia de que o direito internacional tenha algum potencial real para proteger o povo palestino, muito menos para ajudar na sua libertação.

Foto de Gigi Ibrahim

En el último año, la resistencia y fuerza palestinas han generado las condiciones para una reactivación de la solidaridad en todo el mundo y han cambiado los términos de la contestación política en los Estados imperialistas que arman y protegen al sionismo.

Foto por Gigi Ibrahim

Com slogans como “As Ilhas Canárias têm um limite”, “Chega!Vamos impor limites ao turismo”, ou ”Acabou!Vamos reduzir os aluguéis”, as mobilizações em massa se espalharam recentemente por toda a Espanha. Os movimentos são uma reação contra a exploração excessiva do território, a especulação imobiliária alimentada pelo capital internacional e os efeitos da extrema turistificação.

Bajo lemas como “Canarias tiene un límite”, “¡Basta!Pongamos límites al turismo”, o “¡Se acabó!Bajemos los alquileres”, movilizaciones masivas se han extendido recientemente por toda España. Los movimientos son una reacción contra la sobreexplotación del territorio, la especulación inmobiliaria alimentada por el capital internacional y los efectos de la turistificación extrema.

This past July we gathered practicing lawyers, academics, and activists in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how movement lawyers in different global contexts have used law to support social movements in the face of repressive or authoritarian regimes. 

By Lamine Benghazi Avocats Sans Frontières en Tunisie - ASF spotlighting Tunisia as a case study on democratic backsliding - acting as a cautionary tale for what we may lose when we allow authoritarians to seize power and reflecting on the ingredients necessary for building a robust democratic polity post-revolution.

Photo by Xingtu

Under slogans such as “The Canary Islands have a limit,” “Enough! Let’s put limits to tourism,” or “It’s over! Let’s lower the rents,” mass mobilizations have recently spread throughout Spain. The movements are a reaction against the overexploitation of the territory, real estate speculation fueled by international capital, and the effects of extreme touristification.

We asked eight international legal scholars, human rights attorneys, and experts on Palestine to share their reflections on the role of international law in the struggle for Palestinian liberation. How does international law currently hinder this cause? And how might it be used — or how must it transform — to contribute to it?

Foto de Gigi Ibrahim

A Tunísia tem sido aclamada como um farol de esperança democrática na região do Oriente Médio e do Norte da África. O país inspirou revoltas em todo o mundo árabe, adotou uma constituição democrática e progressista, organizou várias eleições livres e justas e até recebeu o Prêmio Nobel da Paz.

Photo by Xingtu

Túnez supo ser aclamado como un faro de esperanza democrática en la región de Oriente Medio y el Norte de África. El país inspiró levantamientos en todo el mundo árabe, adoptó una constitución democrática y progresista, organizó múltiples elecciones libres y justas e incluso recibió el Premio Nobel de la Paz.

Photo by Xingtu

Since Javier Milei came to power in December 2023, his government has combined what is now a familiar repertoire for extreme right-wing governments of the “anarcho-libertarian” variety: it has sought to dismantle all vestiges of the welfare State and social protection, while engaging in an authoritarian denial of any dissent and targeting existing rights as part of left-wing ideologies that must be eradicated.