Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

Follow Us

NHI Newsletter

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

“What Does It Mean To Be a Christian In The Face Of Torture?”

by Melinda Tuhus | Feb 28, 2006 11:22 am

Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: The Hill

Mark Colville is at it again. The Catholic Worker activist who lives on Rosette Street in the Hill was part of a contingent of 25 Catholic peace activists who journeyed to Cuba in December in an attempt to visit prisoners being held at Guantánamo Naval Base. He spoke on Monday evening at the parish house of Sacred Heart Church about his experience and what it now commands him to do.

The group wasn’t able to carry out its work of mercy (visiting the prisoners), so members fasted and prayed for more than three days on the Cuban side of the demarcation line. (The U.S. has occupied the eastern tip of the island since the Spanish-American War more than a century ago.) And now the members of the group are heading to Washington, D.C., to make another public witness against torture in their name.

Colville showed a 20-minute video made by a member of the group that featured interviews with many of them explaining their hope of revealing the anonymous prisoners as human beings — human beings who have not been charged with any crime, despite spending more than four years in the prison. The video also showed interactions between the Americans and Cuban military personnel and Cuban school children, who sang for them as they passed by their schools. The Americans sang “Queremos Paz” (“We Want Peace”) back to the children.

“One of the real purposes of putting them there was so we couldn’t get there, that the average citizen can’t go there,” Colville said of the approximately 500 detainees at the base. “It’s almost like they’ve been torn out of the human community.” He said that the scant information that’s been made available by the U.S. government reveals that 55 percent of the men being held have not been determined to have committed any hostile act against the U.S., and that only 8 percent have been determined to be fighters with Al Qaeda. Men are there from dozens of countries, and only 5 percent were arrested by the U.S. military. Most were taken prisoner by Pakistanis or warlords from the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and turned over to the U.S. for hefty bounty.

Last week, a United Nations report concluded that torture and abuse is still going on in the prison, despite U.S. claims to the contrary. The report calls for the prisoners to be brought to trial or released without delay. Most of the prisoners have been there more than four years and have not been charged with any crime. Colville showed many graphic photos of abuse at Guantánamo.

“I feel sick, sick to my stomach that that’s even going on,” said Jim Richardson, the pastor at Sacred Heart. “It’s unbelievable.” But he said it’s important to know about it.

“You’ve got to bring things like that to light, and let people know what’s going on.”

Colville pointed up a difference between the torture that was condoned and supported by the U.S. against revolutionary movements in Central America in the 1980s and what’s going on now. “Then, the U.S. tried to hide it,” he said. “Now, they’re trying to legalize it.”

Colville is one of nine members of the group of 25 recently served with legal papers by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for violating the U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba. He could face a fine of up to $250,000 and a prison term of up to ten years. But he’s not focused on that. He’s given half a dozen talks since his return, and at each one he engages audience members (some of whom are at left in photo) in a discussion about what their faith commands them to do.

“What does it mean to be a Christian in the face of torture, like Jesus was tortured?” he asked. For one thing, he prays every morning for the men being held at Guant√ɬ°namo, and names the ones whose names he knows.

Then he answered his own question: “Resistance becomes a real imperative of faith.”

That’s why he’s heading to Washington on March 1. But there are plenty of ways that people who don’t want torture to go on in their name can make their voices — or their silence — heard. One suggestion was for people to dress like the prisoners, their heads covered with hoods, and stand in public places in cities around the country. Then it will be harder to forget the prisoners who are treated that way every day.

Share this story with others.

Share |

Post a Comment

Comments

There were no comments

get ANDI

Events Calendar

loading…

SeeClickFix »

Pics - the dirt bikers of Chatham Square
May 25, 2012 6:30 pm
Address: Maltby And Grafton New Haven, CT
Rating: 3

These two, at it again, pulling wheelies up and down Maltby and Clinton

Alarm Noise
May 25, 2012 2:24 pm
Address: 610 Whitney Avenue (Alarm Noise Coming From This Direction) New Haven, CT
Rating: 1

Alarm noise coming from 610 Whitney Avenue direction

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

smartpill design