On Tuesday, April 21 four Students Against Sweatshops members went to a “town hall” meeting that UH president Renu Khator was presiding over. As usual Khator’s thuglike security just couldn’t handle students wanting to exercise their first amendment rights. Here’s what happened:
Categories: arrest · civil rights · first amendment · police · surveillance
Tagged: police
On Friday November 21 we will receive an award from the Houston Peace and Justice Center.
The Houston Peace and Justice Center’s mission is enhance the work of institutions and organizations in the Houston area that promote non-violence, human rights, and economic, social, and environmental justice. The Center encourages their networking and collaboration. Check out their website for more information: HPJC
The HPJC has supported us since we were founded in June 2007. We are happy to be one of their three Houston based honorees. The others are the Rothko Chapel and Alice Valdez, the founder of MECA.
This year they will present their National Peacemaker Award to the Center for Constitutional Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, over the last four decades CCR has lent its expertise and support to virtually every popular movement for social justice. Its cases involving Guantanamo and Blackwater are making legal history. Representing CCR at the dinner will be staff attorney Pardiss Kebriaei, who provides direct representation to several of CCR’s clients at Guantánamo and helps coordinate CCR’s network of hundreds of pro bono counsel representing other prisoners. She also focuses on using international human rights mechanisms to bring international pressure to bear on the U.S. government and hold other governments accountable for their role in the violations at Guantánamo.
Categories: awards · civil rights
Tagged: awards, Center for Constitutional Rights, Houston Peace and Justice Center, MECA, Rothko Chapel
On July 29, 2008 our founder Timothy J. O’Brien filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the University of Houston. The lawsuit alleges first amendment free speech violations and retaliation. The University of Houston has filed numerous false disciplinary charges against O’Brien for his exercise of his free speech rights. O’Brien is a PhD candidate in the history department and the suit alleges that the history department cut his graduate funding for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years in retaliation for his activism on and off campus.
Read the story the college paper wrote about it: lawsuit story
Categories: civil rights · first amendment · free speech · lawsuit
Tagged: civil rights, disciplinary charges, Elwyn Lee, first amendment, free speech, John Rudley, Sheila Jackson Lee
