10 Against Torture

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Please support Amnesty International’s powerful new campaign urging President Obama to hold accountable those who have made torture our national policy.

The time to yell louder is now.

Below the fold, 10 renowned poets, activists, authors, interrogators, and torture victims have written their own letters to the President, and ask that you send one of these letters to the White House in their names.

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Amnesty International page Ten Against Torture, where you can read each of the ten letters and select one to automatically email, with your own introduction, to the President.

President Obama reads 10 hand-picked letters every day to get a glimpse of what’s on people’s minds and in their hearts.

Amnesty International has compiled powerful letters written by 10 influential thinkers – from an exiled poet to a former military interrogator to an esteemed actor and activist – that boldly make the case against torture.

Read the Ten Against Torture letters and send the one you find most moving to President Obama.

The 10:

Sister Dianna Ortiz,  Torture survivor, anti-torture activist

Matthew Alexander,  Former senior U.S. interrogator in Iraq

Juma Al Dossari,  Former Guantánamo detainee

Stephen King,  Novelist

Martin Sheen,  Actor and activist

Ariel Dorfman,  Novelist, playwright and essayist

Don Goodrich,  9/11 family member

Malcolm W. Nance,  Counter-terror intelligence specialist and combat veteran

Tom Parker,  Amnesty International USA Policy Director for Terrorism & Counter-terrorism and former MI5 agent

Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, short story writer and poet

11 comments

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  1. donate to Amnesty International here, or become a member here.

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  2. (link is above in the essay) is unbelievably powerful.  Thanks for putting this up.

  3. thanks Lisa.

    wow.

  4. I know this is a pretty short diary, but I thought I’d let the 10 letters speak for themselves. Amnesty International deserves all the support we can give, even if it’s just generating a few extra emails to pressure the White House.

    Straw vs camel’s back 😉

  5. for putting this up.  

    I received the e-mail and have read through the letters to the to Ariel Dorfman one, have yet to read the rest.  It really is a very good compilation of letters — varied backgrounds and experiences.

    We need to support Amnesty International, as well as the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Doctors for Human Rights (not sure if that’s exactly the correct name).

    Thank you again!

    • zett on July 17, 2009 at 00:32

    Hearing the words of a survivor…my God.

    I think I will send that one with a message that says:

    What if some day that were to be Sasha or Malia saying words like that?  

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