Tomorrow is the final day of June, designated by the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International and Amnesty International as Torture Awareness Month. Embedded within the month (June 26) was the UN-appointed International Day in Support of Victims and Survivors of Torture.
Computer searches for references over the past 30 days to "torture awareness month" from major U.S. newspapers and heavily trafficked high-end blogs reveal just how much of a shit was given:
Baltimore Sun: 0 references
Boston Globe: 0 references
Chicago Tribune: 0 references
Christian Science Monitor: 0 references
Los Angeles Times: 0 references
Miami Herald: 0 references
New York Times: 0 references
Seattle Times: 0 references
Wall Street Journal: 0 references
Washington Post: 0 references
Okay. We expect silence like this from conventional media. That's why we have progressive bloggers to fill in the gaps. So here are some data from a random selection of big box left-leaning blogs:
Boing Boing: 0 references
Crooks & Liars: 0 references
Daily Kos: 0 references
Majikthise: 0 references (although Lindsay has been mourning the tragic loss of her father this week and hence not posting)
Pandagon: 0 references
The Thinking Blog: 0 references
Think Progress: 0 references (although two very good postings on torture-related news)
But there were a few organizations (almost all of them religious) that took Torture Awareness Month with the gravity it deserves. Kudos to organizations such as Pax Christi, Pace e bene, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Santa Clara Council of Churches, and the hundreds of low-end, small box bloggers who remembered and witnessed. You can get a good idea of who they are by googling "torture awareness month." They may be tiny blips on the blogosphere radar screen, but they're keepin' it real.
By the way: how many people do you reckon were tortured in the time it took to read this post? I dunno, because figures are obviously hard to get. But at least one or two is a safe bet, don't you think?
torture, gitmo, human rights, politics, terrorism
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