PsySR's End Torture Action Committee is engaged in a variety of projects. Below are highlights of some of relevant news and committee activities over the past several months.
- In mid-March, 2009, the Social Justice Group of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology hosted a symposium entitled "The APA and Coercive Interrogation" addressing the recent referendum of the American Psychological Association (APA) which prohibits psychologists from participating in settings that violate International Law or the US Constitution. Speakers included PsySR members Frank Summers and Brad Olson. More information is available HERE.
- Under the leadership of PsySR members Jean Maria Arrigo and Stephen Soldz, PsySR has received grant awards from the Open Society Institute and the Arca Foundation to develop a Psychology and Military/Political Intelligence Casebook for Interrogation Ethics. The Casebook will address a broad range of ethical issues surrounding psychologists’ involvement in interrogations, including: situational, financial, and career pressures on psychologists; interrogations in combat zones where coordination with local counterterrorist police is necessary; and discrediting of dissident personnel through clinical assessment of psychopathology. Pertinent historical cases, such as the CIA behavioral modification Project MKULTRA will also be explored, because procedures tend to persist in organizations. More information about this important project is available HERE, where regular updates will also appear.
- California SJR 19, "Torture by Licensed Healthcare Professionals", authored by State Senator Mark Ridley Thomas, was adopted on August 14, 2008. The resolution aims to prevent California health professionals from engaging in coercive interrogations of detainees at Guantánamo and other U.S. military prisons. More information on the legislation can be found HERE. PsySR End Torture Action Committee member Jean Maria Arrigo testified during the hearings and her testimony can be read HERE. PsySR President Anthony Marsella provided a letter to the Senate Committee Chair, Mark Ridley-Thomas, which can be read HERE.
- In June 2008, PsySR's End Torture Action Committee issued a call for international colleagues to protest the APA's position on psychologists participating in U.S. interrogations of so-called "enemy combatants." The committee's full statement and more information is available HERE. In response to the appeal, the Nordic Committee of Psychologists' Associations has written a letter of support available HERE.
- Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition's (TASSC) 11th annual 24-hour vigil was held June 28-29, 2008 at Lafayette Park in front of the White House. Jill Flores, co-chair of PsySR’s End Torture Action Committee, spoke early Sunday morning, essentially delivering a “wake up” call to the White House. She insisted that the administration respect international law and treaties, repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and stop the practice of kidnapping, secret detention, torture, and related abuses. Dr. Flores also shared good news about the efforts ethical psychologists have made to eliminate psychologists’ complicity in Bush regime abuses and to defend the role of psychologists as professional healers--and not as tormentors of the mind. You can lend your support to TASSC by signing their petition HERE.
- End Torture Action Committee co-chair Stephen Soldz helped organize and spoke at a forum in Boston on May 3, 2008 entitled "Torture and the American Psyche: Blurring the Boundaries Between Healers and Interrogators." Also speaking were Physicians for Human Rights President Leonard Rubenstein, former interogator in Iraq Eric Fair, and David Sloan-Rossiter, a Boston psychoanalyst. Video and audio of this event are available HERE.
- With Brad Olson, PsySR members Stephen Soldz and Martha Davis recently published an online article entitled “The Ethics of Interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A Critique of Policy and Process” in Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine.
- PsySR member and End Torture Action Committee co-chair Stephen Soldz was recently quoted in an article entitled “US Psychologists Resign Over Torture” in The Psychologist, a publication of the British Psychological Society. Stephen was also quoted by Prensa Latina, the Cuban press service in their article entitled "Cuban Drama, US Expert on Fear"" (the article incorrectly reports that he visited Guantanamo Naval Base).
- PsySR member Stephen Soldz and Brad Olson provided "A Reaction to the APA Vote on Sealing Up Loopholes in the 2007 Resolution on Interrogations" in a recent online ZNet article.
- Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, in December 2007, this Special Issue of the Journal of Peace Psychology is based on a seminar for psychologists and former military interrogators sponsored by PsySR and Georgetown University, with contributions from PsySR members Jean Maria Arrigo (Ed.), Clark McCauley, Fathalhi Moghaddam, and Richard Wagner (Ed.). A related press release from Georgetown University is available HERE.
- PsySR member Jean Maria Arrigo and David DeBatto offered "An Intelligence Perspective on the APA Antitorture Resolution" in Psyche, Science, and Society.
- Action Committee co-chair Stephen Soldz was featured in the Swedish Journal of Psychology, including a picture of him addressing the rally at the 2007 APA Convention in San Francisco. The entire special section, in Swedish with English translation, is available HERE.
- In February 2008, PsySR member Jean Maria Arrigo gave conference presentations on “Messages from U.S. Interrogators to Human Rights Advocates” at the International Seminar on Torture, Núcleo de Estudos da Violência , Universidade de São Paulo, São Paolo, Brazil; on “Health Professionals and National Security Interrogations in the United States” (with David DeBatto) at Centro de Ciências, Biolôgicas e da Saúde, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, Brazil; and on “American Psychological Association Policy on Psychologists and Torture Interrogation” at Conselho Regional de Psiciologia SP, São Paolo, Brazil.
- In January 2008, PsySR members Jill Flores and Kathleen Dockett and executive director Colleen Cordes participated in a demonstration in Washington, DC calling for the closure of Guantanamo. PsySR’s statement issued that day can be read HERE.
- Jean Maria Arrigo also presented two workshops: “Torture Is for Amateurs: Civil and Military Perspectives on Abusive versus Non-Abusive Interrogation Techniques” at the International Society on Military Ethics (University of San Diego) and “Involvement of Medical Professionals in Military and Intelligence Interrogations: Operational Issues” at the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Medical Professionals, Interrogations, and Hunger Strikes (Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, Cambridge, MA).
Jill Flores, co-chair of PsySR’s End Torture Action Committee, provided a workshop at the 2007 Annual School of the Americas Watch (SOAW): "Addressing Complicity During Anti-Torture Advocacy.” SOAW is an independent organization that seeks to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. More information about the SOA torture manuals is available HERE.
Join Our Action Committee Today!
For more information about the committee’s projects, recent actions, and how to join, please email action committee co-chairs Jill Flores (jillflores@centurytel.net) and Stephen Soldz (ssoldz@bgsp.edu) or contact PsySR's Central Office at info@psysr.org. You can join the committee’s listserv by sending an e-mail message with a blank subject and body to psysr-endtorture-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.