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

[Carol Urner]

Thanks Odile.  I see this is War Resisters League sponsored and Frida
Berrigan is involved.  Our DISARM co-chair is also involved in these
particular actions.  I will try to get a report from her to share with other
WILPF members.

Carol Urner
DISARM issue committee


On 5/20/07, Odile Hugonot Haber <odilehh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ---------- 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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-- 
in peace, Carol Urner
cell: 503 320 9108
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