“Torturing Democracy” to be shown in Bethlehem
Posted September 18th, 2009 by April | Bethlehem
“Torturing Democracy”, a documentary on U.S. interrogations in the war on terror, will be shown at 7 p.m., September 30 at Central Moravian Church’s Christian Education Building in downtown Bethlehem. This evening of film and discussion is sponsored by Amnesty International Group 347 of Bethlehem.
Dr. Christian Rice, visiting assistant professor of Philosophy and Religion at Ursinus College, will moderate the discussion following the showing.
The 90-minute documentary examines how coercive interrogation methods were used by the CIA and then adopted for military interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. Amnesty International USA is sponsoring showings of the film across the country as part of its “Counter Terror with Justice Campaign”, to help stop the use of torture in American’s fight against terrorism. Amnesty International is calling for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the use of torture in America’s “war on terror” and for those responsible to be held accountable.
This documentary is particularly relevant since in late August US Attorney General Eric Holder opened a “preliminary review” of whether CIA operatives broke the law in their use of coercion when interrogating suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Bill Moyers of the Bill Moyers Journal says, “You’ll see and hear some things hard to bear but you’ll also meet some government insiders who refused to go along, who stood up and said, ‘This is wrong.’”
A discussion of the pros and cons of calling for an investigative commission will follow the film. “We are very pleased to share this film with the Moravian community and to have Dr. Rice guide the follow-up discussion,” says Karen Berry of the Amnesty group which has been meeting at Central Moravian since 1998.
Refreshments will be served. The Christian Education Building is on the Church campus between Church, Market and New streets. Access to the building is from New Street, a half block north of the Bethlehem Library, on the left. Call 610-866-2655 for more information. All are welcome.