was a human rights activist group founded in New York City in 1987 [1] by Emile de Antonio, Dore Ashton, Dennis Brutus, John Gerassi, Abbie Hoffman, William Kunstler, C. Clark Kissinger, Conrad Lynn, Sonia Sanchez, Rev.
The organization's national office was located in New York City, with chapters at various times in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.
[2] At that time, the national office closed, and the organization's files transferred to the Tamiment Library at New York University.
opposed censorship,[6] war,[7][8] acts of police brutality,[9][10] and advocated in support of political prisoners and against the death penalty.
[11] The organization advocated reproductive rights[12] and played an active role in the defense of abortion clinics.
The central form of the organization was a National Council which met periodically to "identify new reactionary attacks and to encourage resistance to them.
website as media for information about political and social events of concern in the United States and internationally.
at the New York Palladium,[18] with performances by Sinéad O'Connor, Afrika Bambaataa, De La Soul, Ikey C & Easy-Ad, Karen Finley, Lenny Kaye, Shinehead, and others.
Recipients included health care workers, activists against police brutality, artists, and even small towns.
were vocal and uncompromising opponents of Operation Rescue, a group known for staging protests and civil disobedience against abortion clinics.
joined with many others in exposing his trial and conviction as political persecution and a vendetta conducted by the Philadelphia Police Department.
It was during the first summer that they spoke out against Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who signed a death warrant for Abu-Jamal that June.
That August the execution order was stayed, but Abu-Jamal remains in prison pending the outcome of his appeal.
They revealed photographs of alleged "boot camps" supposedly being used to incarcerate youths as punishment for what they felt were victimless drug crimes.