A Call to Action Against Torture: A Teach-in Against Torture

(update of 4/19/2005)

The date for the UC Berkeley Teach- in on Torture is Thursday, April 28. The following speakers have confirmed their participation: Barbara Olshansky, CCR lead Guantanamo lawyer; Lucas Guttentag, ACLU case against Rumsfeld; Marjorie Cohn, International Human Rights Law Professor and Vice President of NLG, Uwe Jacobs, Director of Survivors International, Terry Karl, Stanford Political Science Professor expert on Latin American Torture; Carlos Mauricio, torture survivor and human rights advocate and As'ad AbuKhalil.

There will be four sequential sessions on Thur., April 28 :

1) 12:00-1:00 p.m. Teach-in at the SproulHallPlaza (Upper Level)

2 ) 1:30-3:30 p.m. Human and Political Impacts of U.S. Government Promotion of Torture

Panel to include: Carlos Mauricio, a survivor of torture, Marjorie Cohn, Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild, Professor of Law and expert on International Human Rights, and Uwe Jacobs, Director of Survivors International (which counsels torture survivors).

3 ) 4-6 p.m. Defending U.S. and International Laws on Torture from Government Impunity

Panel with: Barbara Olshan s ky, Center for Constitutional Rights lead lawyer defending Guantanamo detainees, Lucas Guttentag, ACLU’s lead lawyer in the U.S. case filed against Secty of Defense Rumsfeld, and Terry Karl, Stanford Professor of Latin American Studies and Political Science, chief witness in several war crimes trials pertaining to torture in Latin America.

4 ) 7-9 p.m. To Construct a Successful National Movement Against U.S. Sponsored Torture and War Crimes

An open plenary discussion session to engage attendees, develop plans and follow through efforts to build a movement to end U.S. sponsorship of torture. This session will be guided by an experienced facilitator toward formulating implementation strategy; participants will be asked to define their own roles in future local, regional and national activities against torture. The International Human Rights Initiative (IHRI) consisting of many activist organizations will participate.

Further details to come.

Please help us circulate the call to other faculty, especially at UCB. We especially need people to join the working committee to energize an effective effort. You do not have to be faculty, but only need to be committed to the aims of the Call and willing to work.

Professor L. Ling-chi Wang, Co-convenor
Dr. Marc Sapir, M.D., Co-convenor

UC Berkeley Teach- in on Torture

lcwang@berkeley.edu 510-642-7439

marcsapir@comcast.net 510-848-3826

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ethnicst/torture/