NRCAT; June 26 2011

[anni]

Here's the poster:



Anyone interested?

[Brian]

We loved the previous events organized by the Los Angeles Region Religious Campaign Against Torture, as have other members of Montrose Peace Vigil, so Anni and I will definitely be going two Sundays from now -- and we invite others to travel with us to Studio City for "Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from 'The War on Terror.'" Quoting the e-mails sent out last week by LARRCAT and NRCAT:

Please join us as communities of faith and conscience come together to continue to work toward a full investigation and accountability for the U.S. torture program after Sept. 11th, and to bring a permanent end to all U.S.-sponsored torture...

A group of accomplished actors will present this dramatic reading, based on a script developed by the ACLU, which uses documents that demonstrate the abuse and torture at Guantanamo. Interspersed between the readings will be videos of interviews with former Guantanamo detainees.

The event will be held on Sunday, June 26, 3:00 PM at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 3646 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City. There is no cost for this event.

The dramatic reading will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Stephen Rohde, past President of the ACLU-Southern California. The panel will include Julie Gutman, Director, Program for Torture Victims, and Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, Professor at American Jewish University and member of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America.

A reception will follow.

Parking is available just south of the church off of Avenida del Sol.

Co-sponsors: Los Angeles Region Religious Campaign Against Torture, a Regional Partner of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture; ACLU-Southern California; American Friends Service Committee, Pacific-Southwest Region; Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; Progressive Christians Uniting; Program for Torture Victims; Rabbis for Human Rights-North America; St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.

In an e-mail to me, LARRCAT's Virginia Classick noted that "Reckoning with Torture" has been performed at Sundance in Utah, at Lincoln Center in New York and at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington.

[Jeanne]

I'm so glad that you and Anni are planning to go to the NRCAT event, Brian. I will be busy with bowls, especially since we won't have Anni's outstanding wedging, bowl making, and cheerleading skills with us that day. I hope to read and hear a report.

Also, I have some NRCAT postcards to bring to the corner for people to sign. They ask Senator Feinstein to make public the findings of her committee's investigation of interrogation practices. Virginia Classick is going to deliver them to her office. We want her to have a big pile.

[Brian]

Two and a half years after we attended our first event sponsored by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Anni and I were back at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Studio City for “Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from ‘The War on Terror.’” Like all of the other folks who turned out Sunday afternoon, we believe that we can prevent U.S. sponsored torture in the future only if we confront what has already been done in our names, demand accountability and try to repair the past.

We had been familiar with a lot of the evidence, but we were still astounded by its power when rendered by seven professional actors. They portrayed detainees, interrogators, high government officials, lawyers and FBI agents, reading from a Guantanamo tribunal transcript, a CIA report, Red Cross testimony, a legal opinion, e-mails, autopsies and even a “60 Minutes” interview.

In the panel discussion afterwards, we were inspired by the words and the work of Julie Gutman, executive director of the Program for Torture Victims in Los Angeles, which has helped to rebuild the lives of immigrants from 65 countries and counting:

www.ptvla.org/

We added eight postcards signed by members of Montrose Peace Vigil to the pile that event coordinator and NRCAT board member Virginia Classick will deliver today to Senator Dianne Feinstein, calling upon the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to release a public version of their report on torture.

[anni]

Here's a much longer report about Sunday's "Reckoning with Torture" program, with photos and a video embed, published Monday on the LA Progressive website:

www.laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/reckoning-torture/?utm_source=Tea%20Partiers%20Corner%20Redistricting%20Reform&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Tea%20Partiers%20Corner%20Redistricting%20Reform