Quit Torture Teach-In & Vigil, Nov. 16-18

MONTEREY, CA ~ The Direct Action Task Force Against Torture! will be holding its second annual vigil against torture outside the Presidio of Monterey. This year’s event will focus on education and awareness in calling for a total cessation of the use of torture by any country, and closure of the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The Quit Torture Teach-In & Vigil is ongoing from Friday, Nov. 16 at 12:00 noon through Sunday, Nov. 18 at 5:00 pm outside the gates to the Presidio, at Pvt. Bolio Rd. and Lighthouse Ave.

The 3-day event features speakers, music, workshops and vigil activities to bring to light the terrible persecution of our fellow human beings, the moral and legal issues for our nation, and what we can do to end these unconscionable practices and advance peace. Among the scheduled speakers will be Phil Butler, Ph.D., former U.S. Navy pilot held as a Prisoner of War for eight years, and David Henderson, Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, who will address moral and legal issues. Workshops will cover subjects such as “Your Civic Duty to Stop Torture” and “Non-Violent Communication.” Music offerings over the three days include the Rhythm and Rouge, singer-songwriter Nancy Raven, Sound Out! Community Singing Group, and drumming with Jean Moritz. Poets and storytellers will also perform, and for children there will be non-competitive games and singing.

The Vigil is being held as part of a national protest against torture, and in solidarity with vigils by the School of Americas Watch, an organization devoted to ending the teaching of brutal practices by U.S. military personnel at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

An updated schedule can be found at http://www.peacemonterey.org (follow the Quit Torture link).
The public is invited to join us in learning and sharing information about the critical issue of torture, and to stand with us to call for its end.

Sponsored by:

Direct Action Task Force Against Torture!
Monterey Peninsula Friends Meeting
Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF – Monterey Branch)
Peace Coalition of Monterey County
The Other CODEPINK
Monterey Peace & Justice Center


Background:

Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person and degrades everyone involved—policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation’s most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.

Torture and inhumane treatment have long been banned by U.S. treaty obligations, and are punishable by criminal statute, and prohibited by international conventions. Recent developments, however, have created new uncertainties.

With the passage of the Military Commissions Act in September 2006, Congress and the administration replaced the Geneva Conventions standard of treatment for detainees with a U.S. standard that could allow humiliating, degrading, and even brutal treatment. The act also changed U.S. law so that certain detainees who are not citizens can now be denied the ability to question in federal court whether they are being wrongfully detained; this erodes habeas corpus law. This 110th Congress presents new opportunities for Congress to challenge the Military Commissions Act.

By reaffirming the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as well as torture, the McCain Amendment, now signed into law, is a step in the right direction. Yet its implementation remains unclear. President Bush’s signing statement, which he issued when he signed the Amendment into law, implies that the President does not believe he is bound by the amendment in his role as commander in chief. The possibility remains open that inhumane methods of interrogation will continue.

In June of 2004, President Bush gave a “Statement on the U.N. International Day in Support of Victims and Survivors of Torture,” in which he said:
Today, . . . the United States reaffirms its commitment to the worldwide elimination of torture. The non-negotiable demands of human dignity must be protected without reference to race, gender, creed, or nationality. Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right, and we are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.

But in a troubling development, for the first time in our nation's history, legislation has now been signed into law that effectively permits evidence obtained by torture to be used in a court of law. The military tribunals that are trying some terrorist suspects are now expressly permitted to consider information obtained under coercive interrogation techniques, including degrading and inhumane techniques and torture.

The Direct Action Task Force Against Torture! was established in Monterey, California, by Janet Louise Wilson two years ago. Wilson states: “Torture is a moral issue. To simply redefine torture so we can claim as a nation that we don’t endorse it goes against everything America stands for that is good. We need to keep the moral high ground, as it is the only way we can demand fair treatment of our Troops should they be taken captive. The America I believe in doesn’t engage in torture and we need to return that core American value to the CIA and our Constitution. Torture hurts not only the victim, but the perpetrator, as well as our country’s standing in the eyes of the rest of the world. We stand in solidarity with those demanding the closure of the School of the Americas and the abolition of torture everywhere. We seek to educate our community by shedding light on this unconscionable situation.”

Since 1990, the School of the Americas Watch has kept vigil at the gates to Fort Benning, Georgia, calling for the closure of the School of the Americas. This facility is involved in training Latin American military officers, many of whom went on to be involved in brutal torture and massacres of entire villages. Another major group, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), is a coalition of religious leaders and representatives dedicated to the abolition of inhumane practices.

Amnesty International states:

Fundamental human rights are under threat. The ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment—one of the most universally accepted human rights—is being undermined. In the "war on terror," governments are not only using torture and ill-treatment, they are seeking to justify it. They argue that interrogation methods which amount to torture or ill-treatment, and detention conditions which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, are both justifiable and necessary. This is a crisis in the struggle to eliminate torture. We are urging the widest possible network of people to join us in reasserting the absolute ban on torture and ill-treatment, including methods currently being described as "coercive interrogation." No euphemisms can justify the unjustifiable.

# # #

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For more information and interviews:
Contact: Janet Louise Wilson (831) 643-2705 or during the event 262-1229 / 277-0949
Email: supportanactivist [at] redshift.com
Monterey Peace and Justice Center: (831) 373-1061
Online Info & Schedule: http://www.peacemonterey.org Follow Quit Torture Link


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES:

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture
http://www.nrcat.org
http://www.tortureisamoralissue.org

Organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Over 130 religious groups have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Roman Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh communities.

Amnesty International USA http://www.amnestyusa.org
School of the Americas Watch http://www.soawatch.org
The Quaker Initiative to End Torture (QUIT) http://www.quit-torture-now.org

The White House:
President's Statement on the U.N. International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
(June 26, 2004) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040626-19.html

Executive Order: Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (July 20, 2007) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070720-4.html