hi friends,

i'm working on my syllabus for law and social movements. in general, i'm interested in teaching it from a perspective that helps the students critically engage the assumption that some people have that the way to think about "law and social movements" is that legal reform is primarily a beneficial element in social movements. instead, i want us to see how law often criminalizes and coopts social movements, and then think through strategic questions about how that works, how some lawyers and activists try to avoid that while still engaging in law reform, how the focus on legal reform has shaped demands of social movements, etc.

an initial part of the syllabus is about the criminalization of social movements, and i'm having a hard time picking readings. if you have favorite texts (or even films) about the criminalization of social movements, and specifically the role of lawyers (either defending or prosecuting) in those battles, let me know. autobiographies that include discussion of legal strategy or dilemmas faced by lawyers or criminalized activists, critical articles or books, interesting histories all welcome. so far some of my thoughts are:
the part in Assata where she refuses to participate in her trial
the COINTELPRO Papers
some of the autobiographical stuff from the Weather Underground (do you have a favorite book or passage?)
some of the stuff by or about Angela Davis' prosecution
discussion of the SF8 case
other good discussions of criminalization of contemporary social movements?

if you can think of specific things within what i have listed, or other things, that might be a good way to think about the criminalization of social movements, especially for future lawyers interested in social movements, that is great. some students, i imagine, will be familiar with some of this history and others totally new to it.

i'll post the syllabus when i get it in better shape. thanks for the help!