Vigil in DC opposes all torture

Washington, DC, June 26--The July 1 MIM Notes with photos of Abu Ghraib torture was right on time at the June 26th Washington DC candlelight vigil of torture survivors opposing torture. It was the U.N. International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture. MIM handed out 150 copies and then proceeded to hand out another 900 in the Black community in particular. Across the united $tates, social workers have reported a rise in problems and anguish from exiles who left their countries to escape torture--because of the widespread publicity concerning Abu Ghraib. The Abu Ghraib and similar tortures in Afghanistan have awakened even those who tried to put past torture behind them and get on with normal lives. Gone are the excuses of the 1980s--to oppose the Soviet Union for example--and this is revealing to the victims of torture from the 1980s. Today, the many exiles who thought the united $tates was some kind of liberal bastion awaken to see on TV the reality: it was always the u.$. government behind most of the world's torture. It is possible to leave El Salvador or Colombia or any country and arrive in the united $tates only to discover that it was Uncle $am behind the torture in the first place, and that even the excuses given for it were not true. Despite some competition from Brezhnev social-fascism back in the USSR of the 1980s, most of the torture victims came from countries where the torturers had the backing of the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government's "School of the Americas" came under special fire for training torturers. One speaker acknowledged that the power behind torture is so great it will require a revolution to overturn. Another speaker read poetry about the death of her son and not being able to recover the body. You can hear the poem in English here (.wav format). Un poema A Salvadoran speaker tried to explain to listeners why the "fascists," the "ARENA party" actually win elections in El Salvador. He explained that fascist violence already threatened the people and drove 3 million out of the country. That's how it wins elections. Such is the reality in most of the world where there is a close relationship between violence and truth, with truth only protected by a People's Army able to handle u.$. imperialism and its lackeys. In the richest exploiter countries, the population may obtain roughly what it "wants" in elections. In that minority of countries generalized bribery known as consumer culture and ignorance play the greater part. In countries like El Salvador where there is actually a super-exploited proletariat, the rulers rely less on bribery and more on torture, prison and murder. Any scum rising to power in such a country can expect military aid and training from the united $tates as long as such tinpot dictators tow Uncle $am's line. By itself, this is sufficient reason to label U.$. democracy complete garbage. A majority of people in the united $tates determines what happens in other countries and then calls itself "democratic." Although the vigil tapped into many of the same things MIM is working against, MIM does not focus its work on torture but the causes of violence generally. Imperialism has engaged the world in war since its birth and in that war torture is one component part. In response to imperialism's World War I, Lenin led the Bolshevik revolution and pulled the Russians out of the carnage. In response to colonial violence, Mao organized revolution against Japan and the united $tates. We at MIM do not equate the violence of the oppressed and exploited with that of the oppressor and exploiter. That is just the oppressor's stupid game to act blithely as if it were all the same. Many disgusting Liberal "patriots" obliterated most of the meaning of the day by working only against torture in Tibet. Their propaganda drew attention to former slave-owner the Dalai Lama while failing to mention the u.$. role in most of the world's torture.