Michael Ratner, in Memorium

- 30 Cooper Sq, New York, NY 05/23/2016

Join us at Cooper Union for a memorial service in remembrance of Michael Ratner.

Michael was always in solidarity with the Cuban people since as a

very young person he joined the contingents of the Venceremos

Brigade. That solidarity remained unwavering at all times. His

participation in the legal battle for the freedom of our

comrades, including the “amicus” he presented to

the Supreme Court on behalf of ten Nobel Prize winners, was

decisive.



A tireless fighter, for him no cause was alien. He stood always

on the side of the victims and faced with courage, even at the

risk of his life, the oppressors who dominated that judicial

system. He also did it with rigor, integrity and love. More than

a brilliant legal professional, he was a passionate fighter for

justice.He was present in 1968 at the Columbia University strike

before completing his studies, and fought racial discrimination

together with the NAACP. Soon after graduating he represented the

victims of the brutal repression at the Attica prison. Thus he

began a remarkable career –impossible to describe in just

one article– which knew no borders: Nicaragua, Haiti,

Guatemala, Palestine, a never ending list.



When nobody did, he undertook the defense of the hostages in the

illegal naval base in Guantanamo. He convened more than 500

lawyers to do so –also for free– and achieved an

unprecedented legal victory with a decision by the Supreme Court

recognizing the rights of the prisoners.



Many other cases absorbed his time and energy, working in a team,

without necessarily appearing in the foreground. He did not

hesitate, however, to legally prosecute powerful characters like

Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush whose

“impeachment” he tried very hard to obtain.



He also accused Nelson Rockefeller, when he was governor, and

more recently Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He published

books and essays in favor of legality and human rights. He was

considered one of the best American lawyers and chaired the

National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights

and founded Palestine Rights. He combined his work as a litigator

with university teaching at Columbia and Yale and helped train

future jurists able to follow his example.



He was the main defender of Julian Assange and Wikileaks in the

United States. An insuperable paradigm of a generation that aimed

for the stars, he was an inseparable part of all their battles

and will remain so until victory always.