Note: This diary was written by me, but I'm having some difficulties posting and my dear friend, Patriot Daily, helped me out. We aren't trying to circumvent rules. --Avila
Americans have kept the reality of torture far from consciousness. Although we are steeped in fictional torture, we are nearly insensate to the reality of torture. We are unfamiliar with its techniques, its effects on individuals and civil societies, and with how widely it is used.
Let us not be insensate; let us resist that torture-endangered society Dr. Miles speaks of, and the psychic numbing described by Dr. Robert Jay Lifton of the witnesses to the bombing of Hiroshima. And I saw everything, but suddenly I simply ceased to feel anything.
This is a very modest compendium of some human rights news from the week. There are, of course, more human rights violations to note and discuss than space in the diary box, so I humbly invite you to add observations and links of your own.
The words in the title aren't my own. At age 10, my daughter developed a fascination with the "cage prisoners" of Guantanamo. She knew about them because we share an office room, and she had seen stacks of printed fliers and letters on my desk. She asked my grandfather, in Miami, if he could hear the caged prisoners crying. I began to understand that none of us could hear the detainees cry, or speak, or whisper because they have been so effectively silenced by the Bush junta . . . err, administration. If we don't speak about them, if we don't remember their names, who will?
"I was beaten and verbally abused in detention. After a few days, the guards asked me, 'Do you know that your name is all over the Internet?'
After that, I was treated better by the guards before being released. The
appeals sent by Amnesty members definitely had an effect on my case."
How are you, Mr. J. Wells Dixon and Ms. Seema Saifee? I hope that this letter reaches you before you come over, and I hope that it will be a little beneficial for our Turkistani brothers' situation here.
When we arrived in Afghanistan, the U.S. army invaded. We had to depart for Pakistan, since we could not stay in Afghanistan. As we did not know anyone who could help us there, we had no other choice but to leave. The Pakistani people then arrested us and turned us over to the Pakistani government. Subsequently, the Pakistani government sold us to the U.S. Army for bounties. The U.S. Army then brought us to Guantánamo.
Since the very beginning of the interrogations, we have been saying this. Our circumstances are very clear to the U.S. government, the U.S. Army and related agencies. Thus, the East Turkistani people and we, the Uighurs in Guantánamo, have never had any revulsion against the U.S. at any time, and this would never be possible, because our homeland is being occupied and we need the help of others.
More analysis of the Yoo Torture Memo from Obsidian Wings.
Second, while surely recognizing Yoo’s obvious genius and his ability to navigate murky constitutional issues with moral clarity, I suspect the administration remained wary of the legal underpinnings of their actions. And frankly, I think this concern extended to the highest levels (there’s a reason Cheney himself was dispatched to defeat McCain’s anti-torture amendment). This concern explains in part why Roberts and Alito got the nod. The White House likely suspected that these issues would eventually bubble up through the judiciary. It was important then to have Justices who defer to executive authority in place.
Cageprisoners Exclusive: Statement from Hider Hanani. Hanani is an Algerian national who has been held in Britain's Secret Guantanamo without trial for over seven years. He is being threatened with deportation to Algeria where there are grave fears that he may be tortured or killed.
April 7th: A day of remembrance: Remembering Du'a Khalil Aswad and the thousands of other victims of 'honour' killings:
On April 7th 2007, Kurdish teenager Du'a Khalil was brutally stoned to death by hundreds of men, including her uncle and some of her closest relatives. The crime was a so-called 'honour' killing, occasioned by art student Du'a's romantic relationship with a local shopkeeper. The event scandalised the world, as the perpetrators filmed the violence on their mobile phones, which footage found its way onto the internet, where the world could see the murderous glee of the crowd and the collaboration of security forces.
Remember Du'a. 1. Spread The Word. Write a letter to your local papers, raising the issue of so-called 'honour' killing.
2. Blog for Du'a.
3. Send an email to the Kurdistan Regional Government asking what progress there has been in finding and prosecuting Du'a's killers and what they intend to do to reduce the rate of 'honour' killings in Kurdistan (there have been at least 300 other victims since Du'a's death.)
4. Tell someone about it. Whether your friend, relative or colleague, use April 7th to tell Du'a's story and highlight the inhumanity of 'honour' killings across the world.
5. Read a good book. The anthology written in memory of Du'a Khalil, Nothing But Red will be launched on April 7th with proceeds going to Equality Now.
6. Wear Dua's heart over yours. This shirt was created by Joss Whedon. An alternate to buying the shirt is a free downloadable iron-on available here.
If you think the torture gulag at Guantanamo Bay has an island monopoly on human rights violations, sadly, no.
Dr. José Luis García Paneque was arrested in March 2003 as part of a major crackdown on peaceful dissent in Cuba. He was charged under Law 88 and sentenced at a summary trial to 24 years in prison. Since 2005, he has been held in the "Las Mangas" prison in Bayamo, Cuba, where his health has been dangerously deteriorating.
Medical exams at the "Carlos Manuel de Céspedes" Hospital in Bayamo revealed that he is suffering from a cyst on his kidney and from pneumonia. Despite his fragile health, Dr. García Paneque was returned to a humid cell without windows in early August 2007, sharing the space with more then 15 criminal detainees who reportedly subject him to harassment and beatings. On August 28, 2007, a common criminal entered Dr. García Paneque’s cell and beat him about the head. The injuries required four stitches above his eyebrow.
Members of Dr. García Paneque’s family, including his four young children, have been repeatedly harassed at home and at school, culminating in their fleeing the island in March 2007.
What was the crime of Dr. García Paneque? Peaceful protest of the Cuban government's oppressive policies. Member of the Varela Project (Proyecto Varela), a constitutionally-based civic initiative that collected signatures on a petition calling for a referendum on democratic reforms and respect for basic freedoms.
What else, you say? Compadre in nonviolent dissidence with the great organizer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas. Known to have spoken with Jimmy Carter, too.
And what else? Here's the thing. Cuba was George Bush's MCA before George Bush and before the Miliary Commissions Act. You can talk about how wonderful the Cuban health care system is and I agree. But what you can't do, in Cuba, is slander the person of the president or his policies without risk of prison. Same for his family. Same for his cities and his island. Che Guevara? There's the revolutionary martyr/icon. And then there's the truth. I would submit to you that Dr. García Paneque knows the difference. Keep in mind he is one political prisoner of thousands.
You can make this a family activity. On Friday afternoons at my house, my daughter (13 now, but since age 9) and I spend some "rights time" together, an hour or a little more than that. We read the action alerts at Amnesty and Kids For Darfur, write letters, and since Friday is Allowance Day, she can tell me how much money from her chores she wants to send to help.
On $10 a week, she's making small donations but I've encouraged her to ask her abuelo, her aunts, and other family members to "match" her donations. She can also make extra "activist dollars" with extra chores from anyone in our family. When she wanted the Instant Karma CD with proceeds to Darfur relief, she made coupons for babysitting.)
Friday Rights Afternoons are open to any of my daughter's friends. Sometimes we have as many as 12. I try to pre-print whatever we're going to read and discuss, make sure we have stamps, paper, writing supplies ready, and plenty of Snapple and popcorn.
Another part of Rights Afternoon is discussing a person who made a difference in human rights. This week, we watched Dr. King's "Mountaintop" speech on television and also watched Senator Obama's speech on Friday honoring Dr. King. We also, incidentally, had a discussion about what Dr. King meant by "the moral arc of the universe" and this was a very lively discussion, as some of my daughter's friends had different ideas about the meaning. I think you would be surprised (and maybe even encouraged) by the intelligence, compassion and honest curiosity of children from diverse backgrounds openly discussing "that arc . . . is it for real? Did Dr. King see it? What does it mean to put your hand on the arc and guide it Can I really do that? How does it help anyone?"
And maybe you'd be surprised at how one hour a week becomes a tradition, and something you and your children both look forward to (in my experience). When you spend time together writing letters and reading the replies, that's some quality family time. Use your imagination, be creative, but consider this: Kids sometimes know more than we as parents believe they know. They have questions that aren't easy to ask because (to quote a child I know): "It scares me to hear people talk about torture on TV. Could it happen to me, too? Why doesn't someone make this stop?" Well, a whole lot of someones are working to make it stop. We are going to help by not letting people forget the names of those who need help. We're going to do some things every week that you may seem like small things, but you're helping the people who are going to make it stop."
"My elementary age students use the Urgent Action alerts to discuss situations in the world. We then compare violations with the U.N.'s Declaration of Human Rights to see under what sections the violations have happened. Students then send letters to government officials."
--Letters from AIKids' Activists/ Private
- Paul MacDowell, Lyseth Elementary School, Portland, Maine
"My class of 5th and 6th graders write many letters in response to your Children's Edition UA Appeals. It is something they can do in a world where they often feel helpless."
- Ann Angell, Atlanta Georgia
Next week (if there is a next week for a human rights news round-up . . . and that's up to you), the Cuban Five and an overview of conditions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Have suggestions or action items for Never In Our Names? Please mail to neverinournames at gmail dot com. We hope you'll join us for the re-opening of NION on May 1.
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