3rd International Law Symposium this weekend in Istanbul

On 28-29 September, the 3rd International Law Symposium will be held in the Küçükarmutlu area of Istanbul. This year’s theme is uprisings, and ‘being a revolutionary lawyers in the struggle for bread, justice and freedom’. Download a copy of the flyer here.

“LAWYERS ARE CONGREGATING TO TALK ABOUT JUSTICE

Lawyers are coming together for the third time.

Which lawyers? Lawyers of workers, of ghettos, of favelas and barrios, of serves without any land to their name, of students without any financial aids, of women who were attacked and violated, of natives, of massacred revolutionists, of patriots, of those in captivity, of the poor, the ignored and those who are held in disregard and
those who are being tried to erased out of existence in masses.

Lawyers of billions, who – had they gotten together themselves, instead those who speak for them – could decimate their common enemies.

Advocates not only of the political leaders fighting in the jungles, forests and cities, but also of the Northern Africans who were able to arrive at Europe on wooden rafts and the dead Southerners who will never be able to. Advocates and lawyers of those who we have lost are being called together by the call of the lawyers who we have lost!

This is a call from Fuat Erdoğan, a revolutionist lawyer who was massacred by the police in 1994. This is a historic gathering. Along with the lawyers of those who are still breathing and struggling on the face of the planet, those of the ones who have not taken their first breath yet and take the fight over in the future are congregating.

But, against whom are we fighting? Who is this international enemy that has managed to stand the test of time become the common enemy of a such a massive and diverse group?

The enemy is the same entity that spoils, breaks, destroys and steals what belongs to us. The enemy is the entity that operates all the penitentiaries, dungeons and jails – from Tekirdağ Type-F and Diyarbakır Type-D penitentiaries to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamoin the world. It is the entity represented by the collaborationists, engaged by the colonial regimes solely out for fear, and internalized by the new-age colonial regimes. The enemy is the sum of all the governor generals, prime ministers, high judges, journalists, banks who are capable of stretching a thousand differnet smiles on their sole faces. The enemy is the one lashing out on us with thousands of guns ablaze, held tight by thousands of arms sprouting out from its body: IMPERIALISM!”