Psychology Association: Okay, We’ll Stop Helping Torturers

“The American Psychological Association voted Friday in favor of a resolution that would bar its members from participating in national security interrogations.

The resolution by the country’s largest professional organization of psychologists passed overwhelmingly. The only dissenting vote came from Col. Larry James, a former Army intelligence psychologist at Guantanamo.”

— “Psychology Group Votes To Ban Members From Taking Part In Interrogations,” Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News

“The association’s ethics director, Stephen Behnke, coordinated the group’s public policy statements on interrogations with a top military psychologist … and then received a Pentagon contract to help train interrogators while he was working at the association, without the knowledge of the association’s board. Mr. Behnke did not respond to a request for comment.”

— “Outside Psychologists Shielded U.S. Torture Program, Report Finds,” James Risen, New York Times

Related:

“Larry James,” Center for Torture Accountability

“US torture report: psychologists should no longer aid military, group says,” Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian

Ai Weiwei Got His Passport Back

Artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei got his passport back from Chinese authorities this week and is free to leave his homeland. His papers were seized in April 2011 when he was taken into custody by the Chinese government, detained and questioned for 81 days then put under virtual house arrest for a year, and his passport was withheld until now. Without his passport, Mr. Ai was unable to attend openings of major exhibitions of his work in the US and Europe, and could not visit his son, who lives in Germany.

More:

“Ai Weiwei free to travel overseas again after China returns his passport,” Tom Phillips, The Guardian

“After 4 years, Chinese authorities return passport to artist Ai Weiwei,”Jonathan Kaiman and Juli Makinen, Los Angeles Times

“Ai Weiwei’s Freedom by Fiat,” Evan Osnos, The New Yorker

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Federal Government Recognizes Utah Marriages

The U.S. Government recognizes 1,300 Utah same-sex marriages, even though the state government refuses to. Couples rushed to the altar in December after a Federal judge ruled that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the U.S. Constitution. A Federal appeals court refused to halt the weddings until it hears the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay, putting the status of the earlier marriages in question.

Today Attorney General Eric Holder announced that, as far as Federal benefits, taxes, and laws are concerned the 1,300 gay couples are married:

Mississippi Abolishes Slavery. In 2013. WHAT?

On February 7, 2013, the state of Mississippi officially ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. Of course the Constitutional amendment was adopted 148 years ago, on December 6, 1865, after ratification by 27 other states, but the Mississippi legislature, miffed that Magnolia State slave owners weren’t compensated for their loss of human property, voted against it.

Actually, Mississippi ratified the amendment in 1995 but never notified the Federal government, so the act wasn’t official. This oversight was discovered by Dr. Ranjan Batra, professor of Neurobiology and Anatomical Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, after he saw the movie Lincoln and searched the Internet. Dr Batra told his Ole Miss colleague Ken Sullivan, and he informed Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, who sent a copy of the 1995 state resolution to Washington, and when it was received by the Office of the Federal Register on February 7th, ratification became official.

So henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States — even in Mississippi.

Ai Weiwei: Jailhouse Bound

China’s Chaoyang District Court upheld a $2.38 million tax evasion penalty imposed on dissent artist Ai Weiwei on Thursday. In the old days, Chinese authorities used psychiatric commitments to isolate dissents; now they use tax law.

Ai Weiwei says he won’t pay. A major show of the Chinese artist’s work opens at Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum next week, but the authorities are holding his passport. Looks like Mr. Ai is going to jail instead of DC.

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Chen Guangcheng Leaves China for USA

Self-taught legal activist Chen Guangcheng, accompanied by his wife and two children, left China on United Airlines Flight 88 to Newark. The blind lawyer describes his departure as a “leave of absence.” This follows his dramatic escape after seven years of imprisonment and torture and a month of diplomatic wrangling.

“Blind Chinese activist leaves for U.S.,” Didi Tang and Gillian Wong, AP via USA Today

Related:

“In China, Where ‘Attorney-At-Law’ Is An Ever More Dangerous Occupation,” B. Pe, Le Monde via Worldcrunch

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Newsweek’s Newest Writer: Ai Weiwei

Two months after he was released from government detention, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has written an essay for the online version of Newsweek. It’s about economic oppression, human rights, and urban sprawl in Beijing:

“Every year millions come to Beijing to build its bridges, roads, and houses. Each year they build a Beijing equal to the size of the city in 1949. They are Beijing’s slaves.”

Read it here.

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Ai Weiwei Tweets Again

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is back on Twitter, condemning the Chinese government’s detention of bloggers and artists who had previously protested his own 2-month prison detention. It is believed that this violates a gag order that was a condition of Ai’s release.

Twitter is blocked in China but the censorship can be circumvented through use of VPNs and other tactics. Ai speaks English but his primary audience is domestic so he’s tweeting in Chinese. His messages are being translated into English here and on a Tumblr.

Ai Weiwei has also joined Google+ and given an interview to the Communist Party’s official English-language tabloid Global Times.

Internet Access is a Global Human Right

Frank La Rue, special rapporteur to the United Nations “on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression”:

“Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states.”

Ai Weiwei Website Attacked by Hackers

Change.org, the website hosting an online petition to free dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, has been experiencing denial-of-service (DNS) attacks from hackers. While the source of the attacks has not been determined, they are believed to originate in China.

The petition, organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, is addressed to Cai Wu, Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. As of this writing, over 119,000 people have signed.

 

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