Convention Report: Rally Asks: What Have We Become?
A convention report from the Kucinich website:
The sky was gray and the mood was solemn at the anti-torture rally in Copley Square in Boston. About 350 activists, community members and DNC delegates attended the gathering, called, What have we become? Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib.
Sponsored by United for Peace with Justice and Boston Mobilization, in cooperation with Massachusetts ACLU and the Kucinich campaign, the event was organized to encourage national debate on issues of detainee abuse and the protection of civil liberties. Speakers included Nancy Murray, Director of the Bill of Rights Education Project, Massachusetts ACLU; Joshua Rubenstein, Director, NE Regional Office, Amnesty International, USA ; Ron Daniels, former director of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Actors flanked the stage and the square, dressed in orange jumpsuits and standing behind bars to symbolize the prisoners in cages at Guantanamo. The Backbone Campaign's backbone puppet made an appearance, calling for elected officials to show leadership against torture, among other issues.
Rubenstein decried the abuses at Abu Ghraib, and called on America to lead the world on ending the practice of torture. "This country cannot pretend that our government should be held to a different standard than the rest of the world," he said. "In a democracy, we expect more of our leaders, and we expect more of our media."
Daniels said that the current administration used 9/11 to create fear, and said we must fight against it. "This administration is shredding our civil liberties," he said. "We must have a policy of economic justice, not a policy of economic terror. What patriotism means is to stand up to protect our Constitution."
Kucinich agreed. "This administration has made short work of human rights," he said. "It is up to us to be a custodian of these liberties.
"We have to ask ourselves, do we believe in democracy? Do we believe in free speech? And if we do, we must be ready to take a strong stand in [their] defense."
Subscribe to this blog's feed