Farewell from the Midnight Special Law Collective

Dear Friends,

Midnight Special has been engaging in months of discussion and critical analysis about the role of law collectives, both amongst ourselves and with other members of the law collective movement. We have also been looking at our own internal process as an anti-authoritarian collective. We have reached various conclusions: that we have been unable to break out of the service provider model; that we are dissatisfied with jumping from action to action, and leaving little infrastructure behind; that we often emulate the oppressive structures we seek to change; and that these problems are much harder to solve than we had believed.

Our final conclusion is that, because of the state of the movement and ourselves, Midnight Special will not be able to overcome those challenges. So it is with sadness and hope that we write to you today. After 10 years of work, we, the members of the Midnight Special Law Collective, are closing our doors.

We have mixed feelings about ending the collective. On the one hand, we have achieved so much over the last decade. We trained hundreds of people how to legal observe and thousands more how to use their rights to (more) safely agitate for social change. We provided legal support for some of the most significant protests of the last 10 years, from the anti-globalization demonstrations at the end of the Clinton administration to the anti-war protests of the Bush years to the protests against the financial and political bullying of the G8/G20 today. We are proud of the work we have done the the relationships that we have formed with you all over the years.