The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Attica to Abu Ghraib: Human Rights, Torture, and Resistance’ Conference Convenors: International Human Rights Initiative (IHRI)

Friday, February 25th ’ Saturday, February 26th, 2005
Oakland, CA - Laney Community College

Contact Info:
Email: info@attica2abughraib Kali Akuno
Website: www.attica2abughraib.com (under construction) (510) 593-3956
Phone Number: (510) 433-0115 kaliaw@sbcglobal.net

Conference Brief

Torture, illegal detention and other human rights abuses have always been weapons used by the US government to crush resistance. Today we see a terrifying escalation in that repression, whether against Iraqis and Afghans half a world away or immigrants, prisoners and political activists here at home. Our strength lies in building on the experiences of those who resist-here in the US, in Latin America, Palestine, the Philippines, the Caribbean, and in countless communities throughout the world.

Faced with the globalization of repression, how can we globalize our resistance? Help plan a conference to:

Declare an International Day of Solidarity to draw attention to, support, protect and demand freedom for all Political Prisoners;

Urge, propose and support litigation and/or other forms of redress in domestic and international forum against the U.S. government and its agents for committing systematic violations of human rights, domestic law and international law;

Develop and implement coordinated access to and use of institutions of civil society, i.e. schools, media, grassroots organizations, to condemn violations of human rights and international law by the U.S. government and its agents.

We want to involve as many organizations and voices as possible in the planning process.

For more information, contact us at
www.attica2abughraib.com or

Goals and Objectives

The overall aim of the Attica to Abu Ghraib International Conference is to develop strategies for and coordinate resistance to U.S. government policies that violate human rights and international law. A structure will be established to create a network to coordinate solidarity work among domestic and international groups to achieve the following objectives:

Initiate an international campaign to stop the systematic use of torture, illegal detentions, grand jury abuses, secret probes, immigration raids, registrations and other violations of domestic and international by the U.S. or its agents;

Increase domestic and international support for Political Detainees, Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War who were detained before and after 9/11 within and out side the U.S. borders;

Pursue litigation and redress in domestic and international forums against the U.S. government and its agents for systematic human rights abuses and violations of domestic and international law.

Practically support this undertaking by compiling relevant evidentiary documentation of these violations and abuses.

General Strategy Points

1. We see the conference organizing process as a vehicle for building an international campaign to challenge the human rights record of the United States, and to ignite an international campaign to challenge these ongoing abuses.
2. We are eliciting international support and presence at the conference to build the international campaign. We are aiming specifically for representation from South Africa, Cuba, and Venezuela. Our aim is to have one or more of these nations represent our case to the UN and various international legislative and/or judicial bodies (like the International Court of Justice/ICJ). We are also aiming for representation from various international bodies of the UN, like the International Labor Organization (ILO), and from various international NGO’s that focus on defending human rights.

Focus Areas

To meet the goals of the campaign we have divided the conference program into three broad areas of focus and analysis. Each area is a key component of the workings of U.S. empire domestically and internationally, and provides a focus for linking movements within and outside the U.S. to more effectively resist imperial strategies of repression, criminalization, and assaults on the sovereignty of the worlds peoples and nations. Our aim is to formulate strategies and concrete plans from the analysis of these focus areas to unite domestic and international organizations in the pursuit of successful anti-imperialist campaigns.

Methods of Repression:
a. The systematic use of racial profiling, mass incarceration, domestic militarization, torture and sensory deprivation to criminalize oppressed peoples and peoples’Äô struggles, and as instruments of repression.
b. The training and promotion of torture and terrorism, including the production of instructional courses and manuals in how to use torture as part of counterinsurgency operations, provided by the US to its allies and proxies (such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Salvadorean Army).
c. The systematic use of grand juries, secret detentions, secret evidence and deportations to repress dissent and to avoid civil and international law.
d. The international promotion of legislation and policies modeled on COINTELPRO and the Patriot Act.

Criminalization and Detention:
a. The privatization of war and security operations, specifically the increasing use of "contractors" to conduct wars and run prisons.
b. The systematic refusal by the US government to apply the Geneva Conventions to domestic and international political prisoners and prisoners of war.
c. The policy of criminalizing and/or falsely labeling resisters as "terrorists" and the equation of all forms of resistance with criminal activity or acts of terrorism.

Assaults on Sovereignty
a. The support and defense of dictatorial regimes (e.g. Israel, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Zaire) that have systematically violated the human rights of people within their borders and/or occupied territories.
b. Undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of nations, including the illegal overthrow of legitimate governments through coups and invasions (e.g. Chile, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Haiti) as well as the ongoing subjugation of oppressed people inside US borders.
c. Providing sanctuary convicted war criminals, human rights abusers, and terrorists, including exiled Cuban-American mercenaries and death squad leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Chile, Angola, the Philippines and Haiti.

Partial List of Sponsors and Endorsers

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Africa Initiative
Amnesty International - Western Region
Arabs Building Community
Black Radical Congress (BRC) ’ SF Bay Area
California Prison Focus
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA)
Challenging White Supremacy Workshops
Critical Resistance (CR)
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC)
GABRIELA Network
Global Exchange
Haiti Action Committee
Jericho Movement
Justice in Palestine Coalition
LAGAI Queer Insurrection
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) San Francisco
Out of Control
Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC)
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!)
San Francisco Women in Black
School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch)
SUSTAIN-Bay Area Chapter Stop U.S. Tax Aid to Israel Now
Trans Africa Forum