WarCriminalsWatch Events

UC Berkeley School of Law Graduation Ceremonies

UC Berkeley continues to harbor and employ a war criminal.  Torture is a war crime
under all U.S. and international law, and John Yoo was a principal legal architect
of the Bush/Cheney torture machinery, before returning to Berkeley Law where he now
teaches ethics, constitutional law and other core courses to the next generation of
lawyers and judges.

The torture operations designed, ordered, and carried out under Bush and which
continue today under Obama, whose promises to close Guantanamo and end illegal
torture have evaporated in the wind only became possible through the work of the
"torture team" lawyers including UC's infamous John Yoo.

Despite a worldwide outcry, UC has still not taken a single step to investigate John
Yoo's status on the faculty.  A lawyer whose career hallmark is his stint in Bush's
Justice Department providing legal-sounding excuses so that illegal torture could be
used under color of presidential power, can not be a role model mentoring students.

Law students' appeals to Chancellor Birgineau and Dean Edley for investigation under
university procedures have been ignored.  When many students refused to enroll in
Yoo's course, Boalt merely added an additional section.  From journalists, lawyers,
and protesters outside UC, there has been an ongoing stream of new evidence of the
criminal harm Yoo's work has done.  All this is dismissed by Edley because, he
claims, Yoo is a prolific scholar and is popular.  And to excuse this moral
cowardice and shameful complicity with Yoo's escape (so far) from justice, Edley
raises "academic freedom."  Edley is wrong: academic freedom is an important
principle which protects ideas, writing, thinking, vibrant debate, all critically
necessary to the fundamental goals and purpose of the university.  Yet academic
freedom does NOT protect criminal actions, or unprofessional and unethical work by a
lawyer employed by the government who, on demand from the White House, gave illegal
governmental actions the force of law.

Outside this year's Boalt Hall graduation, people of conscience will stand to greet
the graduates and to protest torture, and the complicity with torture of the
University of California and UC Berkeley Law.  We'll be there because the torture
victims cannot speak for themselves and because justice and the law mean nothing if
war criminals walk free, rewarded with academic respectability and public celebrity
while their victims go unheard.
 
Students -- and graduates, and alumni, and professors -- can make this a memorable
Graduation Day.  To all those students determined to use your education to serve
justice, with your hearts and minds committed to making the world a better place
take this morning to stand up and say NO TORTURE IN MY NAME  -- NO UC COMPLICITY, I
WILL NOT BE SILENT.  You will be welcomed, and seen and heard -- and respected by
generations to come.

PROTEST DETAILS SO FAR:  The basic action will involve many people in orange
jumpsuit line-up formation to witness for the detainees, and signs.  Your own
creative contributions are welcome! To volunteer, for details, and to suggest ideas
for this protest, please contact World Can't Wait to tell us how you want to help.
The morning's plans are in progress.  We will be acting together with other groups
and organizations (all anti-torture and pro-justice friends), so while a wide range
of ideas is truly welcome, we ask that everyone at the protest respect the group
plans that will by then exist through the cooperation of all these groups.

NOTE: the traditional Saturday graduation has been moved to a weekday early morning,
obviously making it more difficult for many people to be there.  However, please
think about the great message it will deliver if this schedule change does NOT deter
the protest!  Take off work or school - the protest will gather starting at 7:30 AM
outside the Greek Theater, take a break during the actual ceremony, then reconvene
as the graduation crowd heads for the reception a walking distance away.

And yes, there IS public transportation even at that hour (including a free
graduation shuttle from Berkeley's Downtown BART:  http://pt.berkeley.edu/park/special/commencement