"From Attica to Abu Ghraib"

Focus Areas

We have divided the conference program into three broad areas of focus and analysis. Each area is a key component of the workings of U.S. empire and provides a focus for linking movements within and outside the U.S.

Our aim is to formulate strategies and concrete plans from the analysis of these focus areas to unite domestic and international organizations in the pursuit of successful anti-imperialist campaigns:

1. Political Prisoners, Torture, and Resistance

The systematic refusal by the US government to apply the Geneva Conventions to domestic and international political prisoners and prisoners of war.

The policy of criminalizing political resistance and of equating all resistance with terrorism.

The systematic use of torture as an instrument of repression.

The systematic use of grand juries, secret detentions, secret evidence and deportations to repress dissent and to avoid civil and international law.

The international promotion of legislation and policies modeled on CointelPro and the Patriot Act.

The training and promotion of torture, including instructional courses and manuals in how to use torture as part of counterinsurgency operations, provided by the U.S. to its allies and proxies.

2. COINTELPRO, Grand Juries, and the Repression of Dissent

The systematic use of grand juries, secret detentions, secret evidence and deportations to repress dissent and to avoid civil and international law.

The international promotion of legislation and policies modeled on COINTELPRO and the Patriot Act.

3. U.S. Empire and the Globalization of Repression

Undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of nations, including the illegal overthrow of legitimate governments through coups and invasions (e.g., Chile, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Haiti) as well as the ongoing subjugation of oppressed people inside U.S. borders.

Providing sanctuary to convicted war criminals, human rights abusers, and terrorists, including exiled Cuban-American mercenaries and death squad leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Chile, Angola, the Philippines, and Haiti.

The privatization of war and security operations, specifically the increasing use of "contractors" to conduct wars and run prisons.

The support and defense of dictatorial regimes (e.g,. Israel, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Zaire) that have systematically violated the human rights of people within their borders and/or occupied territories.

For more information, contact us at: info@attica2abughraib.com

Phone: (415) 273 - 4608