[WCUSP] Fwd: [sds] Theatre Against Torture: Bearing Witness In Times Square

[Odile Hugonot Haber]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Good <tmgood at loveandstruggle.net>
Date: May 20, 2007 1:12 PM
Subject: [sds] Theatre Against Torture: Bearing Witness In Times Square
To: Movement for a Democratic Society <mds at lists.riseup.net>
Cc: SDS Announcements <sds at lists.mutualaid.org>, Staten Island Vigil
<statenislandvigil at lists.riseup.net>, NYC WRL
<nycwrl at worldnet.att.net>


Theatre Against Torture: Bearing Witness In Times Square




May 20th, 2007 by Thomas Good




 Witness Against Torture in Times Square (Photo: Thomas Good)

New York, NY - May 19, 2007. New York City's Times Square military
recruiting center - the busiest in the nation - was the site of a
Witness Against Torture (WAT) street theatre action Saturday, May
19th.

The vigil featured a street theatre performance that told the story of
capture, torture and indefinite detention. Organizers "called on the
American people to take responsibility for the cruelty and inhumanity
being perpetrated in our name." A colorful skit was repeated several
times. The skit featured a critique of the US payment of "a bounty" to
Afghanis - prompting them to turn in their neighbors as "enemy
combatants". This was followed by a graphic illustration of the
torture procedure known as "waterboarding" - used at the Guantanamo
concentration camp to elicit forced confessions. "Prisoners" were clad
in the familiar orange prison jump suits and black hoods while
"guards" wore all black uniforms and black combat caps. Actors sat
atop stepladders at either end of the stage - holding aloft signs
reading "Guantanamo", "A Bounty", "Enemy Combatant" and "Beatings".
Dramatic tension was palpable when the "inmates" held signs stating
"Habeas Corpus = Fair Trial" and "Geneva Convention" - only to have
these signs snatched away in a rough manner by guards. The
presentations concluded with the waterboarding of prisoners - first
with actual water being dripped onto hoods and finally with a bucket
of paper scraps being dumped on the head of a prisoner. Tourists and
New Yorkers walking by stopped and crowded the sidewalk to see the
torture scenes played out in a surreal setting - behind the street
theatre were the bright billboards of Times Square and a news ticker
with stories from the Wall Street Journal.

Live music lightened the mood between performances. Members of WAT
engaged with tourists as well - distributing educational materials and
asking passersby to sign petition to shut down Guantánamo.

Next Left Notes was there shooting stills and video.



 A "Prisoner" is waterboarded. (Photo: Thomas Good)

Witness Against Torture organizers hold monthly vigils and encourage
interested parties to get involved in their campaign. The next meeting
is Wednesday, June 6, 7pm. The next vigil is Sunday, June 10 (the day
a year ago that three Guantánamo prisoners were found dead, apparently
the victims of suicide). See witnesstorture.org for more information.

 Frida Berrigan of Witness Against Torture (Photo: Thomas Good)

 View Photos From The Action…




 (c) 2007 Next Left Notes
 All articles, photographs and other materials on NLN are released
under the "GNU Free Documentation License".

--

Thomas Good, Organizer
SDS New York City
NYC War Resisters League
IWW x358303 / IU 560

www.nextleftnotes.net
www.myspace.com/loveandstruggle
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