| Witness Against Torture Press Conference January 1, 2012 | Anti-Torture Activists to go on Trial for Speaking Out Against Guantánamo, Indefinite Detention and the NDAA |
| Much to Forgive: The Story of Bibi Sadia | by Kathy Kelly and the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers |
| Witness Against Torture Press Release 12/27/2011 | Anti-Torture Activists to “Occupy” Washington, JAN. 2-12 |
| Assembly Time | Kathy Kelly Writing from Kabul |
| America's longest war should come to an end | Interview with Kathy Kelly about Afghanistan |
| Following Yonder Star | Kathy Kelly Writing from Kabul |
recent additions at a glance
Witness Against Torture Press Conference January 1, 2012
WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE
Press Advisory, For Immediate Release
January 3, 2012
Press Contacts:
Frida Berrigan, , 347-638-4928
Helen Schietinger, , 202-344-5762
Jeremy Varon, , 732-979-3119
ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS TO GO ON TRIAL FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST GUANTANAMO, INDEFINITE DETENTION, AND THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT (NDAA)
PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, 1/4
Much to Forgive: The Story of Bibi Sadia
Kathy Kelly and the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
January 3, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan
Bibi and Granddaughter
Bibi Sadia and her husband Baba share a humble home with their son, his wife and their two little children. An Afghan human rights advocate suggested that we listen to Bibi’s stories and learn more about how a Pashto family has tried to survive successive tragedies in Kabul.
Holding her three year old granddaughter in her arms, Bibi adjusted her hijab and launched into a narrative that began during the Soviet occupation. The mujahideen had asked Baba to bring them medicines two or three times a week for those injured in the war. For each batch of medicines that Baba delivered, the mujahideen paid him a small sum of money. When the Russian occupiers discovered what he was doing, they beat him severely. After that, the mujahideen accused him of spying for the Russians and they also beat him badly.
Witness Against Torture Press Release 12/27/2011
WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE
Press Advisory, For Immediate ReleaseDecember 27, 2011
Press Contacts:Malachy Kilbride, on the trial, , 571-501-3729 Helen Schietinger, on the fast, , 202-344-5762Jeremy Varon, on January 11, , 732-979-3119
ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS TO “OCCUPY” WASHINGTON, JAN. 2-12 MARKING 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO, EVENTS TO INCLUDE 10-DAY FAST, COURTROOM SUPPORT FOR ACTIVISTS WHO SPOKE OUT IN CONGRESS, AND A HUMAN CHAIN FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO CONGRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. — January 11 will mark the tenth anniversary of the first detainees’ arrival at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To remember this travesty, Witness Against Torture is planning 10 days of activities in Washington, D.C. demanding an end to torture and indefinite detention at Guantanamo, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and elsewhere, and that the president reject the just-passed National Defense Authorization Act. Jan. 2-12: WAT sponsors Hungering for Justice, a 10-day fast highlighting the ongoing crimes at Guantanamo and Bagram. Dozens of activists are expected to participate in the fast in Washington as well as other cities. Locations of daily activities in support of the fast to be announced.
Assembly Time
December 27, 2011
Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and Voices for Creative Nonviolence celebrate Maya Evans’s birthday in Kabul photo credit: AYPV
Kabul—Arab Spring, European Summer, American Autumn, and now the challenge of winter. Here in Kabul, Afghanistan, the travelers of our small Voices for Creative Nonviolence delegation share an apartment with several of the creative and determined “Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers” who’ve risked so much for peace here and befriended us so warmly over the past two years.
America's longest war should come to an end
Kelly urged the audience to get involved to end the war and get the United States to rebuild that nation, which for 30 years has suffered from warfare. “People have the capacity to end wars by raising their voices,” she said.
Following Yonder Star
December 23, 2012
Beneath our flat, here in Kabul, wedding guests crowded into a restaurant and celebrated throughout the night. Guests sounded joyful and the music, mostly disco, thumped loudly. When the regular call to prayer sounded out at 5:20 a.m., the sounds seemed to collide in an odd cacophony, making all music indistinguishable. I smiled, remembering the prayer call’s durable exhortation to live in peace, heard worldwide for centuries, and went back to sleep.
Through most of my life, I’ve found it easy to resonate with the ringing and beautiful Christmas narrative found in the Gospel of Luke, but less so with that jangling discord with which westerners are so familiar—the annual collision between (on the one hand) the orgy of gift-purchasing and gift-consumption surrounding the holiday and the the sweeter, simpler proclamations of peace on earth heralded by the newborn’s arrival. I’ve found myself quite surprisingly happy to spend many Christmases either in U.S. jails or among Muslims living in places like Bosnia, Iraq, Jordan and now Afghanistan. My hosts and friends in these places have been people who are enduring wars or fleeing wars, including, as in the case of U.S. jails, a war against the poor in the United States.
Big Shoulders in Chicago and Kabul
December 18, 2011
Kabul—NATO/G8 meetings are scheduled to take place from May 19-21 next year in Chicago. Plans are ramping up everywhere. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen exulted over bringing NATO and the G8 to Chicago, and Clinton promised to call Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and convey Rasmussen’s glowing opinion that Chicago, built upon diversity and determination, shares values that underpin NATO. Activists on the ground, envisioning a different kind of Chicago, and bracing themselves for the crushing, militarized police response that in recent years has consistently met protesters at these events, can only hope that this is not the case.
