The Berkeley Says "No" to Torture coalition was joined by the Berkeley City Council with a unanimous vote on their Peace and Justice Commission's resolution "to educate the community about torture."
- 10-10-10 Authors event: Andy Worthington (The Guantanamo Files...) and Justine Sharrock (Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things) at Revolution Books).
- 10-11-10 Film and discussion: Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo with co-producer Andy Worthington at the BFUU Fellowship Hall.
- 10-12-10 Day of protest of John Yoo, author of the Torture Memos teaching Law at UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall). Also, join World Can't Wait, lawyers and students for a debate over Yoo's theories and legal work defending torture at UC Berkeley.
- 10-13-10 A Round-table of Writers on Torture including Barry Eisler (Inside Out) at the University Lutheran Church. Also, Defying Torture - The Art of Dissent: A conversation with historian/critic/activist Peter Selz and artists Clinton Fein and Richard Kamler at the UC Berkeley Art Museum Theater.
- 10-14-10 Forum on Torture and the Law, Torture and Human Rights: with Marjorie Cohn (past president National Lawyers Guild), Andy Worthington, Shahid Buttar (Bill of Rights Defense Committee) and Debra Sweet (National Director, World Can't Wait)
- 10-15-10 Panel - Psychologists and Torture: Adrianne Aron and Ruth Fallenbaum at UC Berkeley Law school. Also, Readings from "Reckoning with Torture - An Evening of Conscience." An Evening of Conscience with Andy Worthington, Marjorie Cohn, Ray McGovern, Ann Wright, Mimi Kennedy, devorah major, Jeffrey Kaye, Fr. Louis Vitale, Renee Saucedo, Jason Leopold, Kathy Roberts, Abdi Soltani Sponsored by the Boalt Alliance to Abolish Torture (BAAT) and the National Lawyers Guild, Boalt Chapter at UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall).
For detailed information on the growing number of events, participants and other news, go to:
PRESS RELEASE
9-26-10, Contact: Linda Jacobs (415) 410-4484
Berkeley City Council Declares "NO To Torture" Week Oct. 10-16
In a move welcomed by civil liberties and human rights groups nationally, last week the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved a resolution declaring "Berkeley Says No to Torture" Week (October 10-16). The resolution emerged from a grassroots campaign supported by many local organizations and leaders.The campaign will present a week of public educational events, featuring prominent writers, attorneys, protest leaders, artists and religious leaders...
These panels, debates, bookstore and museum events will take place throughout Berkeley. Anti-torture protest demonstrations are also scheduled. A personal statement supporting "Berkeley Says No to Torture" Week from Fernando Botero, the internationally acclaimed artist whose "The Abu Ghraib Series" paintings are now in the permanent collection of the UC Berkeley Art Museum, can be found along with more event details at http://www.WeSayNoToTorture.net.
On their website the organizers say: "[We] are condemning the American torture program made infamous to the world through the leaked photographs from Abu Ghraib and a wealth of damning evidence marshaled in recent years through the work of journalists, legal and civil rights forces, and filmmakers. Under the regime of Bush/Cheney, their program of nightmarish war crimes was committed in our names then - but illegal torture and abuse, and the shredding of basic legal and human rights for whole "enemy" populations, is continuing now, long past Bush and under the new Democratic administration."
The theatrical reading "Reckoning with Torture," originated by the ACLU and the American Pen Center, will take the stage at UC Berkeley Law's Booth Auditorium on October 15. This West Coast premiere production of "Reckoning" will feature nationally known civil liberties leaders, poets and actors, and the voices of torture survivors themselves.
For a full calendar go to http://www.WeSayNoToTorture.net. For more information or interviews with representatives of participating organizations go to that website's ABOUT page. For interviews with World Can't Wait, contact Linda Jacobs.
The "Berkeley Says No to Torture" Week is a collaborative project of these organizations and individuals: World Can't Wait, National Lawyers Guild (San Francisco), Progressive Democrats of America, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, National Accountability Action Network, Code Pink, Fire John Yoo, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, Rev. Kurt Kuhwald, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Flashpoints Radio (KPFA), Haiti Action Committee, La Raza Centro Legal, Moe's Bookstore, Revolution Books, School of the Americas Watch(SOAW) East Bay and SF chapters, Fr. Louis Vitale OFM, War Criminals Watch, and Al Young (California Poet Laureate Emeritus)
On their website the organizers say: "[We] are condemning the American torture program made infamous to the world through the leaked photographs from Abu Ghraib and a wealth of damning evidence marshaled in recent years through the work of journalists, legal and civil rights forces, and filmmakers. Under the regime of Bush/Cheney, their program of nightmarish war crimes was committed in our names then - but illegal torture and abuse, and the shredding of basic legal and human rights for whole "enemy" populations, is continuing now, long past Bush and under the new Democratic administration."
The theatrical reading "Reckoning with Torture," originated by the ACLU and the American Pen Center, will take the stage at UC Berkeley Law's Booth Auditorium on October 15. This West Coast premiere production of "Reckoning" will feature nationally known civil liberties leaders, poets and actors, and the voices of torture survivors themselves.
For a full calendar go to http://www.WeSayNoToTorture.net. For more information or interviews with representatives of participating organizations go to that website's ABOUT page. For interviews with World Can't Wait, contact Linda Jacobs.
The "Berkeley Says No to Torture" Week is a collaborative project of these organizations and individuals: World Can't Wait, National Lawyers Guild (San Francisco), Progressive Democrats of America, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, National Accountability Action Network, Code Pink, Fire John Yoo, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, Rev. Kurt Kuhwald, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Flashpoints Radio (KPFA), Haiti Action Committee, La Raza Centro Legal, Moe's Bookstore, Revolution Books, School of the Americas Watch(SOAW) East Bay and SF chapters, Fr. Louis Vitale OFM, War Criminals Watch, and Al Young (California Poet Laureate Emeritus)
