Home » Performing Arts Articles » Culture Project's Groundbreaking "Blueprint For Accountability" Event Plays To A Sold Out Audience At The Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, NYU
Culture Project's Groundbreaking "Blueprint For Accountability" Event Plays To A Sold Out Audience At The Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, NYU
Dr. Keller Reveals That The Bush Admin Violated Human Testing Laws Enacted After the Holocaust With Terrorism Detainees. Scahill Questioned the Allegiance of Private Security Contractors Who Collectively Receive 70% of the Federal Security Budget.
NEW YORK, NY, June 11, 2010 /Performing Arts PR News/ -- Culture Project's "Blueprint for Accountability" event—a groundbreaking fusion of theater, film and journalism—played to a sold out audience on June 7th at 7:30PM at NYU Skirball Center.
"Blueprint for Accountability" featured provocative panel discussions with former CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, retired Iraq commander Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, author and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., best-selling author and investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, and Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren.
Punctuating the experts' discussion, Director Fisher Stevens (The Cove, 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary) screened vital archival footage and directed theatrical scenes starring acclaimed actors James Spader, Liev Schreiber, Julianna Margulies, Mariska Hargitay and Matt Dillon.
"Blueprint for Accountability" assembled some of the nation's leading and most influential voices to debate and examine the unparalleled events, policies and circumventions of the previous administration. This forum urged policy makers, the military, and world citizens to craft a decisive moral response capable of restoring both America's dignity and standing throughout the international community and bring back long-held our values of justice and liberty; ultimately creating a 'blueprint for accountability'.
In breaking news, Dr. Keller discussed a new report released by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that charges the Bush administration with experimenting on terrorism detainees and violating laws on human testing enacted after the Holocaust. The report alleges that the CIA's medical professionals monitored interrogations, recorded data on techniques and pain thresholds, and used this information to "enhance" future interrogations. Keller stressed that these doctors provided the medical sanitation necessary to legalize interrogation methods previously classified as torture, harking back to Jay Bybee and John Yoo's infamous torture memos.
General Sanchez spoke at length about the complicity of the American public and politicians in the use of torture tactics, stating, "Yes, we have tortured people. We have to deal with the fact that when we send our young men and women to war we unleash brutality." He advised against closing Guantánamo, adding that a more tenable location for holding enemy combatants has not been proposed.
An interview with the family of Fahad Hashmi, an American citizen held for three years in solitary confinement under Special Administrative Measures, brought home the de facto treatment of all Muslim detainees suspected of terrorism. Dr. Keller stressed that confinement and other forms of military-sanctioned torture can have brutal, destructive effects on prisoners—among them nightmares, paranoia, post-traumatic stress, and family devastation.
"International law has failed," Sanchez said, to the strenuous disagreement of moderator Warren, who stressed that the 1929 Geneva Conventions codified standard operating procedures for detention of prisoners of war. Given the rise of the CIA and private contractors in military programs, Warren questioned our collective ability to hold covert operatives accountable for their actions when no such mechanism exists in our government.
Wilson echoed his sentiment, faulting the degradation of our ability to provide security from inside the government as leading to the rise in private contractors—who typically command salaries 3-to-5 times greater than government officials. Scahill added that these mercenaries collectively receive 70% of the federal security budget though, as hired guns, their allegiance ultimately lies with the government paying top dollar.
Bobby Kennedy, Jr. called for a restoration of the Rule of Law and a return to the democratic ideals enshrined in the Constitution, calling into question President Obama's ability to fulfill the mandate given by the American people in his 2008 election. "But will Obama lead us out of torture?" Warren asked.
Suskind and Styron were cautiously optimistic, touting America's grassroots values and urging concerned individuals to hold public demonstrations and make their voices heard by the Obama administration, putting an end to ongoing abuses in the War on Terror. A number of solutions were offered, including a truth commission to investigate crimes committed in the Iraq War, though Warren remained wary of amnesty for officials implicated in the process.
The event featured several calls-to-action from prominent human rights organizations—including the Center for Constitutional Rights, Alliance For Justice, and Theaters Against War—with a special reading by Hargitay of Sister Dianna Ortiz's letter to President Obama, part of Amnesty International's "Ten Against Torture" campaign.
For more than a decade, Culture Project has been on the forefront in the movement to restore our system of democracy and standing in the international community. In 2002, the company catapulted to national prominence with its acclaimed production of The Exonerated, a dramatization of the real-life stories of six exonerated death row inmates that spurred Illinois Governor George Ryan's decision to commute his state's 156 death row sentences to life in prison.
Culture Project is proud to partner with FORA.tv, an online forum that helps intelligent, engaged audiences get smart about the people, issues, and ideas changing the world. FORA.tv gathers the web's largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates consistently happening at the world's top universities, think tanks and conferences, for users to watch, interact with and share. The event was streamed live by FORA.tv and will be available on-demand after June 11, 2010.
"Blueprint for Accountability" was presented at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYU (566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012) on Monday June 7, 2010 at 7:30PM EDT.
To watch the on-demand streaming event on FORA.tv, please visit:
LINK COMING SOON!
For more information on "Blueprint for Accountability," please visit:
www.cultureproject.org
Connect with "blueprint4acct" on Facebook and Twitter.
"Democracy demands that we have accountability to prevent abuse of power by elected officials. This event was sold out in no time, and it tells me that people really care. If you sweep this under the rug, it festers indefinitely."
- Valerie Plame Wilson, "outed" former CIA official
"I applaud [Culture Project] and CCR's efforts on this most important aspect in protecting America's principled values. Our military is the premier defender of our Nation from its enemy and the face from which accountability is directly involved.
This is most daunting for those in combat."
- General Antonio Taguba
CULTURE PROJECT is dedicated to addressing critical human rights issues by creating and supporting artistic work that amplifies marginalized voices. By fostering innovative collaboration between human rights organizations and artists, we aim to inspire and impact public dialogue and policy, encouraging democratic participation in the most urgent matters of our time.
A venue for acclaimed, prize-winning performance, Culture Project has been a magnet for some of today's best talent, including Meryl Streep, Danny Glover, Mary J. Blige, Robin Williams, Marisa Tomei, Staceyann Chin, Lynn Redgrave, and others who share a passion for theater and social justice. Culture Project has garnered numerous awards, including the Times' #1 Play of the Year (2003), Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award (2005), a Drama Desk Award (2003), an Outer Critics Circle Award (2003), and Lucille Lortel Awards (2003, 2008).
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