Brain Drain Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Torture’

From the ACLU:

This Friday, you can join thousands of people across the country in marking a sad anniversary with an act of hope.

The first prisoners arrived at the U.S. prison at Guant?namo Bay on January 11, 2002. Guant?namo quickly became an international embarrassment. It has made a mockery of our laws and values for six long years. We won?t allow seven; this is the year we are going to end the national disgrace.

Nationwide, the ACLU has set January 11th as a day of protest, declaring that it?s long past time that we put an end to illegality and close down Guant?namo. The ACLU and organizations across the country are asking people of conscience to wear orange to protest Guant?namo. I hope you will consider standing in solidarity by wearing orange on Friday as well.

Guant?namo is a reminder that fundamental values of justice and fairness can sometimes be violated by the very government entrusted with upholding them. That?s why we hope you will get involved in one of the following ways:

Pledge to stand up for American ideals and values. Sign the Pledge. And ask your friends to get involved.

Throughout this week, there will be events across the country- protests, prayer vigils, marches, and more – to bring focus to the injustices being perpetrated at Guant?namo.

Check out the materials available online: you can print out a poster and fact sheet, download a blog badge and get a toolkit with tools and tips on how to get further involved on January 11th.We?re running online ads on over 100 blogs to raise awareness and ignite further activism in new audiences. If you have a blog, please consider downloading and posting a badge, and blog about closing Guant?namo this week. Let us know about your blog and we?ll keep you on the inside track with updates, interviews and additional resources.

Guant?namo has become a stain on our nation?s honor. That is why it is so important you join the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are demanding the closure of the prison at Guant?namo on January 11th.

Thank you for standing with people of conscience to demand the US government close Guant?namo once and for all.

Thank you,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director ACLU

P.S. There is so much more we can do to spread the word and encourage others to join in this protest. Check here for more ways to get involved.

? ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004

June 26th – Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice

It’s 0′dark hundred. Generally unfamiliar with this part of the day, I’m?making a?trial run for tomorrow’s journey to Washington DC. The bus leaves at 3 a.m.?and I still need to get my sign and tee shirt together.

I’m off to fight for the restoration of Habeus Corpus and the closing of Guantanamo Bay. This administration may think?it has?the power to revise the constitution at will, Bush may think “It’s just a piece of paper,” but I’m not buying it.

Torturing hundreds of terror suspects who have yet to be charged with any viable evidence,?human beings who have been traded to the military for a reward?or who have been turned in falsley by those who want to save themselves, it is unconscionable to keep these people prisoners indefinitely. The families who have suffered without fathers, husbands and brothers, the men who have been released without apology only to be?banished by their own country, the children who were imprisoned at fifteen and are now adults… nothing breeds fruitful terror more than this type of arrogant injustice.?And to think that this has been allowed to continue for?five full years.

It’s time for the citizens of the United States?to make our politicians acknowledge the International Acts of the Geneva Convention, not bow with eyes closed to a president on a crusade just as dangerous as Bin Laden’s. Obviously, Guantanamo is just the tip of the iceburgh, but it also the greatest symbol of our country’s own horror and arrogance.

If you too would?like to fight for the?restoration of?human and?constitutional rights?pulverized by?Resident Bush, those?rights which remain?defenseless in the hands of a gutless Congress,?read the ACLU petition.?Take back the power?as “We the People.” Sign today and I’ll be glad to hand deliver?your sentiment?in person tomorrow… along?side the thousands of concerned citizens from all over the country who will be pouring into our nation’s?Capital.

The ACLU is not alone in this fight.
Visit the following organizations for more info:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
And many, many more…

The Executive Office (and Cheney’s too) does?NOT equal unlimited power!

“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” — Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820