Week of 05/02

Torture


GLOSSARY

CAT UN Committee Against Torture

CPT European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (an expert body of the Council of Europe)

ECHR European Court of Human Rights

IACHR Inter-American Court of Human Rights

ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture is a post that was established by the UN Human Rights Commission in 1985 to examine and report to the UN on torture.

The CIA Waterboarded the Wrong Man 83 Times in 1 Month

The Opposition - Chile hosts a decisive World Cup qualifier at Santiago's National Stadium just weeks after the stadium had been transformed into a concentration camp and killing field for opponents of Augusto Pinochet (who had just gained power in a military coup). Though FIFA investigates the matter, the game goes on, with the Chilean team winning in a walkover after their opponents from the Soviet Union boycott in protest over the stadium's use.

NO

Victor Jara - words by Adrian Mitchell, music by Arlo Guthrie

Victor Jara of Chile

Lived like a shooting star

He fought for the people of Chile

With his songs and his guitar

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

Victor Jara was a peasant

He worked from a few years old

He sat upon his father's plow

And watched the earth unfold

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

Now when the neighbors had a wedding

Or one of their children died

His mother sang all night for them

With Victor by her side

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

He grew up to be a fighter

Against the people's wrongs

He listened to their grief and joy

And turned them into songs

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

He sang about the copper miners

And those who worked the land

He sang about the factory workers

And they knew he was their man

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

He campaigned for Allende

Working night and day

He sang "Take hold of your brothers hand

You know the future begins today"

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

Then the generals seized Chile

They arrested Victor then

They caged him in a stadium

With five-thousand frightened men

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

Victor stood in the stadium

His voice was brave and strong

And he sang for his fellow prisoners

Till the guards cut short his song

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

They broke the bones in both his hands

They beat him on the head

They tore him with electric shocks

And then they shot him dead

His hands were gentle, his hands were strong

Repeat first verse

They Dance Alone - Sting - 2nd Video - Amnesty International Concert 1990

Why are there women here dancing on their own?

Why is there this sadness in their eyes?

Why are the soldiers here

Their faces fixed like stone?

I can't see what it is that they dispise

They're dancing with the missing

They're dancing with the dead

They dance with the invisible ones

Their anguish is unsaid

They're dancing with their fathers

They're dancing with their sons

They're dancing with their husbands

They dance alone They dance alone

It's the only form of protest they're allowed

I've seen their silent faces scream so loud

If they were to speak these words they'd go missing too

Another woman on a torture table what else can they do

They're dancing with the missing

They're dancing with the dead

They dance with the invisible ones

Their anguish is unsaid

They're dancing with their fathers

They're dancing with their sons

They're dancing with their husbands

They dance alone They dance alone

One day we'll dance on their graves

One day we'll sing our freedom

One day we'll laugh in our joy

And we'll dance

One day we'll dance on their graves

One day we'll sing our freedom

One day we'll laugh in our joy

And we'll dance

Ellas danzan con los desaparecidos

Ellas danzan con los muertos

Ellas danzan con amores invisibles

Ellas danzan con silenciosa angustia

Danzan con sus pardres

Danzan con sus hijos

Danzan con sus esposos

Ellas danzan solas

Danzan solas

Hey Mr. Pinochet

You've sown a bitter crop

It's foreign money that supports you

One day the money's going to stop

No wages for your torturers

No budget for your guns

Can you think of your own mother

Dancin' with her invisible son

They're dancing with the missing

They're dancing with the dead

They dance with the invisible ones

They're anguish is unsaid

They're dancing with their fathers

They're dancing with their sons

They're dancing with their husbands

They dance alone

They dance alone

Mothers of the Disappeared – U2

Midnight, our sons and daughters

Were cut down and taken from us.

Hear their heartbeat

We hear their heartbeat.

In the wind we hear their laughter

In the rain we see their tears.

Hear their heartbeat, we hear their heartbeat.

Night hangs like a prisoner

Stretched over black and blue.

Hear their heartbeats

We hear their heartbeats.

In the trees our sons stand naked

Through the walls our daughter cry

See their tears in the rainfall.