16-05-2016, 06:02 AM
For those not familiar with the CCR [Center for Constitutional Rights] which Ratner founded and was long the leader of, here is their website and their great work: https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do
Michael not only was the lead lawyer on many cases, but the inspiration for others to join CCR or similar groups of progressive lawyers that formed in the USA and elsewhere. He long had a weekly show on the Pacifica radio network - now archived in the Pacifica Archives and some on the WBAI archives - entitled 'Law and Disorder'.
While there a many other very committed and competent lawyers at CCR, there is no one to replace Ratner and it is a huge loss. His FBI and other intelligence files kept on him must be HUGE, a sign of how righteous was his work against the tyranny of the system and the legal system in particular. He was the first to take on a case in support of release of a Guantanamo detainee [and many other cases no other lawyer would touch with a ten foot pole]...he led the way and others now have followed. Brave leaders and clear thinkers like this don't come often and we are all much poorer for loosing him. I will miss his soothing voice on WBAI radio each week telling the new horrors of the government and how CCR was trying to combat them.
Michael Ratner Presente!
Michael not only was the lead lawyer on many cases, but the inspiration for others to join CCR or similar groups of progressive lawyers that formed in the USA and elsewhere. He long had a weekly show on the Pacifica radio network - now archived in the Pacifica Archives and some on the WBAI archives - entitled 'Law and Disorder'.
While there a many other very committed and competent lawyers at CCR, there is no one to replace Ratner and it is a huge loss. His FBI and other intelligence files kept on him must be HUGE, a sign of how righteous was his work against the tyranny of the system and the legal system in particular. He was the first to take on a case in support of release of a Guantanamo detainee [and many other cases no other lawyer would touch with a ten foot pole]...he led the way and others now have followed. Brave leaders and clear thinkers like this don't come often and we are all much poorer for loosing him. I will miss his soothing voice on WBAI radio each week telling the new horrors of the government and how CCR was trying to combat them.
Michael Ratner Presente!
Quote:What We Do
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. We do that by combining cutting-edge litigation, advocacy and strategic communications in work on a broad range of civil and human rights issues, listed below.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand."
- Frederick Douglass
Issues We Fight
Abusive Immigration Practices
The U.S. government has a long history of violating the civil and human rights of immigrants who often lack political power and access to justice. From our early support of the Sanctuary Movement and our representation of HIV-positive Haitians held in Guantánamo to our legal challenges to...
Our cases and advocacy work
Corporate Human Rights Abuses
Since our founding in 1966, the Center has pioneered legal strategies to ensure that courtroom doors remain open to those with the least access to justice. In few instances is this more difficult than when our clients are seeking justice for human rights violations committed or facilitated by a...
Our cases and advocacy work
Criminalizing Dissent
CCR was born out of dissent. Growing directly out of Civil Rights struggles in the South, we have consistently worked to protect the right to dissent, not simply as an individual liberty but as the starting point for social change. Historically, CCR established the right to challenge the...
Our cases and advocacy work
Discriminatory Policing
CCR has tenaciously challenged discriminatory policing for decades, recognizing that discrimination and police violence do not arise as isolated incidents but are deeply embedded within our criminal justice system. We have challenged both local law enforcement (most notably the NYPD) and...
Our cases and advocacy work
Drone Killings
Since 2002, the United States has operated a secretive killing program using armed drones and other weapons in multiple countries, far removed from any legitimate battlefields. These so-called targeted killings have left thousands of people dead and injured, including hundreds of children. Both...
Our cases and advocacy work
Government Surveillance
From the stunning revelations of the FBI's COINTELPRO program just a few years after CCR was founded to the broad-ranging surveillance of the post-9/11 era, CCR has consistently sought to expose and oppose government surveillance. We have worked to protect individuals and communities from...
Our cases and advocacy work
Guantanamo
For over a decade, CCR has been at the forefront of the legal battle against indefinite detention and torture at Guantánamo, representing many current and former detainees. We sent one of the first civilian lawyers to the base; organized a network of hundreds of lawyers (the "GITMO bar") to...
Our cases and advocacy work
LGBTQI Persecution
CCR has long had a deep commitment to protecting members of LGBTQI communities from discrimination, censorship, violence and persecution. Throughout the 1990s, the Center fought for the rights of gays and lesbians to serve in the Peace Corps, march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, receive...
Our cases and advocacy work
Mass Incarceration
CCR works hard to empower those who have been imprisoned, supporting movements begun by prisoners and foregrounding their stories and voices in our work. With the National Lawyers Guild, we provide our Jailhouse Lawyers...
Our cases and advocacy work
Muslim Profiling
CCR fights tirelessly to obtain justice for those who have fallen victim to domestic government abuses perpetuated in the name of the so-called "war on terror." Our challenges to discriminatory profiling, torture, and illegal detentions of Muslims in the U.S. began in the days immediately after...
Our cases and advocacy work
Palestinian Solidarity
CCR has long challenged impunity for the Israeli government's violations of international law related to its illegal occupation of Palestine, U.S. support that enables Israel's violations, and efforts to punish activists for speaking out in solidarity with Palestine. We have sought transparency...
Our cases and advocacy work
Racial Injustice
CCR has been fighting for racial justice since our first day. We organized legal support for and defended marchers who were arrested on the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965; litigated scores of Voting Rights Act cases; led challenges to de facto segregation that held states...
Our cases and advocacy work
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Since the 1970s, combating sexual and gender-based violence has been an integral part of CCR's mission. We fought for recognition of the right to self-defense for victims of domestic violence, winning the first ever appeal of a murder conviction on these grounds, and helped to strike down New...
Our cases and advocacy work
Torture, War Crimes, & Militarism
CCR has been relentless in its efforts on behalf of victims of torture and war crimes. The Center pioneered the use of the Alien Tort Statute to allow foreign victims of international human rights violations to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts. From taking Bosnian-...
Our cases and advocacy work
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass