cariaso (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cariaso) wrote,@ 2006-10-09 00:36:00 |
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In my first blog post of this trip I mentioned carrying a heavy bag of laptops. What I failed to mention is a deep thank you to the folks who made that possible. Don Handley, Jeanne and Linda Simon, Paul Jarret and Christine Green were the kind donors. Mike Kreidler and Monica Chheda get extra points for introducing me to these folks and supporting this trip. Greg Lennon further supported the important work that goes on out here. New photos are up. Among the highlights are
- vaccinations for the students
- World Teacher's Day. Normally I celebrate this somewhat casually, but the school uses this as an opportunity to have the students perform
- used a fake ID to enter a refugee camp and spent the night setting up computers
Thanks for clicking through. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, and respond to any questions. Instead I'll tell a story. I hear blogs are good for that.
This is Moses.
In
1990 the election in his country was rigged (ref 1). He became a student activist, and when that became dangerous he joined the military resistance as a radio operator. In 1995 he was caught, thrown in prison for 11 years and interrogated by torture. They pulled the fingernails from his hand, causing great pain and a serious infection. He was released 4 months ago, and has just come to this school to teach Burmese.
Yesterday I went to Umphium, a refugee camp holding 20,000 people in bamboo shelters. Some have lived here for 20 years -- more arrive each day.We are high in the hills, just inside the Thai side of the border. I'm here to setup the computers for the English Immersion Project (EIP). Neither cellular phone towers, nor power lines come out here. Internet will be impossible. Electricity is only possible since EIP runs its own generator from this shelter a few hours each day.
There were significant wiring challenges, but the effort was successful and I am glad I came. But all day long I was uncomfortable. Not from crawling across a muddy floor to pull cables, or mountaintop cold and wetness. But because there was a poster.
The text reads "Is torture a crime in your country?" with a fairly graphic image of a man's face bloodied and swollen. And I thought about Moses's fingernails. Because the answer is yes.
Torture is now legal in America. Not for the military, but now expressly for the CIA. The McCain compromise is an embarrassment to everything you were ever told America stood for. It is simply a way to prevent it being done by rank amateurs (ala Abu Ghraib), and instead leaving it to the professionals. It protects those that will carry out the deed from facing any consequences for their actions. Everyone can now trace their responsibility directly to the top (ref 2). And just to avoid the awkward tarnish of needing a pardon, when the president does it its no longer a crime (3).
Shock and awe indeed.
This is Moses. In
1990 the election in his country was rigged (ref 1). He became a student activist, and when that became dangerous he joined the military resistance as a radio operator. In 1995 he was caught, thrown in prison for 11 years and interrogated by torture. They pulled the fingernails from his hand, causing great pain and a serious infection. He was released 4 months ago, and has just come to this school to teach Burmese. Yesterday I went to Umphium, a refugee camp holding 20,000 people in bamboo shelters. Some have lived here for 20 years -- more arrive each day.We are high in the hills, just inside the Thai side of the border. I'm here to setup the computers for the English Immersion Project (EIP). Neither cellular phone towers, nor power lines come out here. Internet will be impossible. Electricity is only possible since EIP runs its own generator from this shelter a few hours each day. There were significant wiring challenges, but the effort was successful and I am glad I came. But all day long I was uncomfortable. Not from crawling across a muddy floor to pull cables, or mountaintop cold and wetness. But because there was a poster.
The text reads "Is torture a crime in your country?" with a fairly graphic image of a man's face bloodied and swollen. And I thought about Moses's fingernails. Because the answer is yes.
Torture is now legal in America. Not for the military, but now expressly for the CIA. The McCain compromise is an embarrassment to everything you were ever told America stood for. It is simply a way to prevent it being done by rank amateurs (ala Abu Ghraib), and instead leaving it to the professionals. It protects those that will carry out the deed from facing any consequences for their actions. Everyone can now trace their responsibility directly to the top (ref 2). And just to avoid the awkward tarnish of needing a pardon, when the president does it its no longer a crime (3).
Shock and awe indeed.
