Revolution #71, December 3, 2006

 

December 10-11
A Call from World Can't Wait: Take a Stand Against Torture—Pledge to Wear Orange Jumpsuits

A Suggestion from Revolution to Our Readers We encourage our readers to download and duplicate the two new Revolution graphics on war criminals Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld—and get these posters up widely as part of the anti-torture actions on Dec. 10-11 called by organization The World Can't Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime. The graphics are available as downloadable PDF files. "Wanted" - (Poster - pdf) Vice-President of Torture (Poster - pdf)

In the U.S. military's torture camp at Guantanamo, prisoners are shackled, locked in cages, forced to wear orange jumpsuits, and sometimes hooded. These brutal practices—and other torture carried out by the U.S. around the world—were legalized with the Military Commission Act of 2006, passed by Congress and signed into law by Bush this fall.

The organization World Can't Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime is calling on people to take a stand against the legalization of torture on December 10th and 11th, in honor of International Human Rights Day.

World Can't Wait is also encouraging people to participate in town hall meetings on impeachment on Dec. 10 across the country. A coalition of organizations have declared Dec. 10 “Human Rights and Impeachment Day.”

Revolution newspaper gathered the following from the website of the World Can't Wait organization (worldcantwait.org):

“Spend the whole day wearing what Guantanamo detainees have to wear everyday. Dress in the orange jumpsuit, hood, shackles, etc. Wear it to school. Wear it to work. Wear it to church or religious services…

“On Dec. 10th and 11th, make the torture that is being carried out by our government in our names a reality that people have to confront in their daily lives. Distribute the World Can’t Wait Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime and 'Silence + Torture = Complicity' statement. Challenge people to join you by putting on an orange armband and collect their email address for the movement to drive out the Bush regime.

“Already 14,000 people are being detained by the U.S. without charges. In September, Congress approved Bush’s Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) that:

• Grants George Bush the sole authority to define what torture is – giving him the legal right to sanction sleep deprivation, extreme cold, personal degradation, waterboarding (simulated drowning), ‘temporary’ disablement, and psychological disorientation.
• Gives the president the right to hold people indefinitely without charges and without the option of review from the courts, nullifying habeas corpus rights.
• Denies defendants the right to see evidence used against them, and allows the use of ‘evidence’ gained through torture.

“This is part of a package coming from the Bush regime that includes an atrocious, nightmarish occupation of Iraq, the threat of war against Iran, an assault on critical thinking and serious motion toward a theocracy. It includes the criminal response to Hurricane Katrina, a systematic attack on women’s reproductive rights, and the demonization of gay people. It includes the scape-goating of immigrants and severely repressive new legislation aimed at them. And it gets worse with every passing week. As the call for The World Can’t Wait–Drive Out the Bush Regime states: 'The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.' ”

Further information on the Dec. 10-11 actions and to order orange jumpsuits and to download flyers and other organizing material, go to the World Can't Wait website at worldcantwait.org.

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