Bear Republic Action Group

This just in….

Friends & fellow-activists,

Come out Saturday to protest the impunity granted to war-criminal John Yoo
by the Boalt Law School at UC Berkeley!

The Law School graduation is this Saturday morning, 5/17, and we need your
help to pull together a rousing turnout from AAT and other participating
groups, including the National Lawyer’s Guild, Code Pink, and World Can’t
Wait. We’ve talked to Boalt students who said that most of the graduates
are supportive of the planned protest (despite the shrill blogging of a
few).

We’re going to make our voices heard outside the Boalt graduation ceremony
to lend numbers to the call issued by the National Lawer’s Guild and
endorsed by the Center for Constitutional Rights: “John Yoo should be
disbarred and he should not be retained as a professor of law at one of
the country’s premier law schools. John Yoo should be dismissed from Boalt
Hall and tried as a war criminal.” (See the NLG press release at
http://www.nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry080409-083133).

Will you join us on Saturday?

Where: Hearst Greek Theatre, Berkeley California (east side of campus, on
Galey Rd – see directions below)
When: Saturday May 17, 2008
8am (ticketed guests will all be inside by 9 — you can take
a nap in the afternoon!!!)
A reception at the law school, just around the corner
(southeast corner of the campus) will follow the graduation
ceremony.

A recap of our e-mail of 2.5 weeks ago follows; and at the bottom we’ve
included directions for getting to the graduation, at the Hearst Greek
Theatre on the east side of the Berkeley campus. Want to come but don’t
think you can get there via the transportation options described below?
Drop us an e-mail and we’ll do our best to help out.

To recap: You’ve probably followed this month’s revelation of the
contents of John Yoo’s legal brief of March 14, 2003, advising the White
House how it could get away with torture. Jameel Jaffer, director of the
ACLU’s national security project, said Yoo’s legal reasoning puts
“literally no limit at all to the kinds of interrogation methods that the
president can authorize. […] The whole point of the memo is obviously to
nullify every possible legal restraint on the president’s wartime
authority. The memo was meant to allow torture, and that’s exactly what
it did.” In the wake of the memo’s release, the National Lawyer’s Guild
has called for Yoo’s dismissal from his position at UC Berkeley, his
disbarment, and his prosecution for war crimes. The Center for
Constitutional Rights has released a letter in support of this call.

The graduation ceremony starts at nine, but our protest will happen BEFORE
the ceremony, beginning at 8 am when the gates at the Greek Theatre open
to guests (only folks with tickets will be allowed inside, but we’ll have
plenty of opportunity to make our point as students, faculty, and families
arrive through the two entrances to the Greek Theatre). During the
ceremony we’ll take a coffee break, and will return to line the route
between the Greek Theatre and the Boalt Law School where a reception will
be held.

We plan to have the usual orange jump suits & our cage, lots of orange
ribbons that we’ll ask people to wear inside the graduation, and excellent
signs for the many of you we expect will come out for this action.

Please join us on Saturday!!

Yours,

Act Against Torture
http://www.ActAgainstTorture.org

===================================
Directions to the Greek Theater
===================================

Direction to the Berkeley Greek Theatre FROM INTERSTATE 80:
===================================
* Exit on University Avenue.
* Continue east approximately 1.5 miles to Oxford Street.
* Turn left on Oxford Street.
* Turn right on Hearst.
* Continue east past Euclid Avenue.
* Parking lots will be on the corner of Hearst and Gayley Road, and past
Gayley above the Greek Theatre on the right hand side of the street.

Direction to the Berkeley Greek Theatre FROM HWY 24 WESTBOUND:
===================================
* Exit on Telegraph Avenue
* Continue north on Telegraph approximately 2 miles to Durant Street.
* Turn right on Durant, and turn left on Piedmont Avenue.
* Continue north, and Piedmont will turn into Gayley Road.
* The Greek Theatre will be on your right.
* Continue past the Greek Theatre to Hearst.
* Parking lots will be at the corner of Hearst and Gayley, and also right
on Hearst, above the Greek Theatre on right hand side of the street.

Parking at the Berkeley Greek Theatre:
===================================
* Parking is available at U.C. controlled lots. Unattended lots are
available at varying fees. Upper and lower Hearst lots are also available.
* Disabled Berkeley Greek Theatre parking is available in the lots nearest
to the Greek Theatre.
* Use Parking Machines in unattended ‘S’ Lots throughout campus

In general, during commencements at UC Berkeley, lots that typically allow
‘S’ (Student) Permits will be open to the public for a $10 fee. Drivers
must purchase a $10 dispenser machine ticket (DMT) from the parking
machine in the lot and display it on their dashboard. The $10 dispensing
machine ticket is ONLY valid in “S” permit areas. Please read parking
signs carefully.

Berkeley Greek Theatre Public Transportation:
===================================
BART directions:

* From the RICHMOND LINE –
* Exit at the BERKELEY STATION (Shattuck and Center Streets).
* Walk 1 block east on Center Street to the campus, then consult the
campus map at the West Entrance and walk east across campus to the Greek
Theatre (approximately a 20 minute walk) located on Gayley Rd.

From the CONCORD LINE –
* Exit at ROCKRIDGE station and take a #51 AC Transit bus north on College
Avenue to the campus and exit at Bancroft Way and College Ave.
* Walk east on Bancroft to Piedmont Avenue/Gayley Road. Walk north on
Gayley Road and the Greek Theatre will be on your right.

Alternatives to Parking: Shuttle Bus Service to Greek Theater Commencements
===================================
* Avoid parking stress and consider using the BearTransit shuttles to get
to Greek Theatre Commencement Events.
* Catch an eastbound shuttle near the Downtown Berkeley BART station
[buses stop at Addison and Shattuck Sq. next to Bank of America]; or at
the intersection of Hearst and Euclid streets.
* Shuttle cost is $1 except for graduates and their families.

Shuttle lines make a circuit of campus at approximately 12-minute
intervals. See BearTransit page and shuttle schedules for “P-Line” and
“R-Line” for actual times.

* Perimeter (“P”) Line Stops & Schedule
* Reverse Perimeter (“R”) Line Stops & Schedule

For further information on routes, you can also refer to the BearTransit
system map.

For more info see
http://pt.berkeley.edu/parking/special_events/commencement.html