Friday, April 22, 6 - 9 p.m.: Opening Event featuring keynote speaker Cynthia McKinney.
St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St., Berkeley, California

Saturday, April 23, 8:30 a.m. - 9 p.m: Working Conference.
U.C. Berkeley, Dwinelle Hall


Email: info@attica2abughraib.com

Website: http://www.attica2abughraib.com

Phone: 510-593-3956



Torture, illegal detention and other human rights abuses have always been weapons used by the United States government to crush dissent and social justice movements. Today, the criminalization of people of color in the US, mass illegal detentions and deportations of Arabs, Muslims and immigrants, torture in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in US prisons are evidence of a terrifying escalation in US repression both at home and abroad.

What can we do? Our strength lies in building on the experiences of those who resist: here in the US, in Latin America, Palestine, the Philippines, the Caribbean, and in countless communities throughout the world. The International Human Rights Initiative was conceived by a strong diverse coalition, including US political prisoners, to help unite the emerging global resistance movement.

Conference Goals

This is a conference for organizers, activists and members of the community to strategize and coordinate resistance to U.S. Government policies that violate human rights and international law. Activists will share their current work, experiences and strategies, and interactive working sessions will develop proposals for joint work which will be refined into a campaign plan.

The priorities of the conference are:

1. Develop strategic plans and launch an international campaign to stop the U.S. and its agents’ use of torture, detention, grand juries, immigration raids, and other human rights abuses.

2. Document these violations of human rights, domestic and international law in order to pursue redress in domestic and international forums.

3. Organize an International Day of Solidarity to demand freedom for political prisoners, within and outside the U.S.

4. Share resources and strengthen relationships among local, national and international organizations.

Focus areas

The conference program is divided into three broad areas of focus and analysis. Each is a key component of the workings of U.S. empire and provides a focus for linking movements within and outside the U.S. Our aim is to use the analysis of these focus areas to formulate concrete plans to unite domestic and international organizations in a successful anti-imperialist campaign.

1. The Criminalization of Resistance: Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, and Systematic Torture.

2. The Repression of Dissent: COINTELPRO, The Patriot Act, and Grand Juries.

3. U.S.-sponsored Terrorism: Occupation, Colonization, Racial and Religious Oppression, Attacks on Arabs, Muslims, and Immigrants, and the globalization of repression.

How You Can Participate

We want you (and your group, if you are part of one) to join in planning, publicizing, financing and putting on the conference, and building campaigns and networks growing out of the conference. Get in touch with us at the email address and phone number above.
Tax deductible contributions can be made to International Human Rights Initiative (IHRI)/Agape, and mailed to IHRI, P. O. Box 3585, Oakland CA 94609.


Partial List of Sponsors and Endorsers

AfricanAnti-War Front (AAWF)
Al-Awda,the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
All-AfricanPeoples’ Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)
Allianceof South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
AmericanArab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
AmericanFriends Service Committee (AFSC) Africa Initiative – SF
AmericanMuslim Voice
ArabsBuilding Community
ArabStudents Association (ASU) – UC Berkeley
BAYANUSA
BayArea Local Organizing Committee (BayLOC) – National Hip Hop PoliticalConvention (NHHPC)
BlackRadical Congress (BRC) – SF Bay Area
Breakthe Chains
CaliforniaPrison Focus
Centerfor Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Centerfor Justice and Accountability (CJA)
ChallengingWhite Supremacy Workshops
ClubKnowledge – Laney Community College
CollisionCourse Video
Committeefor Human Rights in the Philippines (CHIRP)
CriticalResistance (CR)
EastSide Arts Alliance (ESAA)
Educationnot Incarceration (ENI)
EllaBaker Center for Human Rights (EBC)
DataCenter
GABRIELANetwork
GlobalExchange
HaitiAction Committee
HeadsUp Collective
InternationalLeague of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)
JerichoMovement
JusticeNow
Justicein Palestine Coalition (JPC)
LAGAI– Queer Insurrection
LegalServices for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
MalcolmX Grassroots Movement (MXGM)
MuslimStudents Association (MSA) – UC Berkeley
NationalCommittee to Free the Cuban Five
NationalLawyers Guild (NLG) – San Francisco
Out ofControl
Peaceand Justice Foundation
PrisonActivist Resource Center (PARC)
PrisonersJustice Action Committee – Toronto
PrisonLegal News (PLN)
QueersUndermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!)
RadicalArab Women’s Activist Network (RAWAN)
SanFrancisco Women in Black
Schoolof the Americas Watch (SOA Watch)
StopU.S. Tax Aid to Israel Now (SUSTAIN)
TransAfricaForum
Truthand Justice Coalition – Masjid Al Islam
Womenof Color Resource Center (WCSC)
World Organization for Human Rights USA