video and audio: April 2009 Archives

For several hours last night, a loudly chanting line of two dozen protestors marched slowly back and forth across the entry of the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf.  Some wore the orange jumpsuits and black hoods representing the detainees - some wore giant human billboard signs denouncing torture as a war crime,and John Yoo as a war criminal who should be fired, disbarred, and prosecuted for his role in green lighting torture for the Bush Regime.  The action was planned overnight, with activists learning of Yoo's appearance at this conference only late the previous evening. TV news cameras caught the sunset footage of the demonstration and interviewed World Can't Wait speakers including SF Bay Area KTVU, Fox News, Channel 2. Click the picture below to view:play2.jpgThis TV News coverage aired in juxtaposition with comments by College Republicans praising Yoo and claiming that torture isn't really torture.  (The College Republicans are a campus organizing wing of the David Horowitz school of fascist thought, and actively mobilize for it in this area, for example by promoting the annual Muslim-bashing hate speech of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" and in flag-waving counter-protests at anti-war events.  They invited John Yoo to their state conference to be greeted as a "hero...(to)...tell behind the scenes stories we really want to hear..."College Republican leader and conference co-organizer Leigh Wolf is pictured here being confronted outside the conference. Leigh Wolf frequently leads bigoted radical-right political demonstration like the 2-18-08 "Battle of Berkeley" where nationally syndicated radical-right shock-jock Melanie Morgan's front-group "Gathering of Eagles" protested the Berkeley City Council taking a principled stand against the Berkeley Marine recruiting Center.

Many of the tourists from other countries who happened upon the scene expressed strong sympathies with World Can't Wait's message, were glad to see the action, and gave words of encouragement.

Although hotel security kept non-Republicans out of the convention proceedings, as Yoo rose to speak to his audience of several hundred, their welcoming applause was disrupted suddenly by thundering chants: demonstrators had discovered a (non-see-thru) glass wall between the auditorium and the street, and aimed their voices straight into the room: "TORTURE IS A WAR CRIME!  JAIL JOHN YOO!" "GUANTANAMO  GUANTANAMO! WAR CRIMES, WAR CRIMES....   ABU GHRAIB, ABU GHRAIB! WAR CRIMES, WAR CRIMES...."  For all of Yoo's 30-minute talk, dismayed College Republicans had to listen to their "hero" against a constant echoing string of truthful, powerful chants.


(Unrelated audio is the falungun club doing a presentation nearby.)

Fire John Yoo and World Can't Wait spoke to hundreds of new students and their families about John Yoo's tenure at UC Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall) demonstrating and providing information about Bush's "Architect of Torture" teaching United States Constitutional Law at the UC Berkeley. Cal Day is a big outdoor celebration centered at historic Sproul Plaza where all the student groups and departments gift food and other stuff, meet and greet the families. John Yoo is perhpas the leading US advocate of torture today. As White House legal counsel under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Jay "bugs" Bybee, Yoo legally "authorized" torture and actively worked to confuse and distort the law of torture through his notorious torture memos. UC Berkeley Law Dean Edley is dissembling when he says he cannot do anything except defend Yoo's Academic Freedom of speech. Dean Edely has a right to - and a responsibility to - take a public stand against John Yoo perpetuating torture. Yoo participated in and sometimes led the formulation and development of a broad system of torture and Crimes Against Humanity.
caldaymaryannsuperpicket4-19-09.jpgWelcome to UC Berkeley!

caldaycurtsuperpicket4-18-09.jpg
The FJY blogger coordinating on cell phone from the Sproul Hall steps
Free_as_in_Freedom.jpeg These lyrics by Richard Stallman are set to the tune of the most famous Cuban song, Guantanamera. Before it became tied up with the concentration camp and torture center we've all come to know, Guantanamo was best known for the Cuban patriotic song Guantanamera. Although originally the story of a peasant girl from Guantanamo who broke the narrator's heart, "the Guantanamera became a popular vehicle for romantic, patriotic, humorous, or social commentary lyrics, in Cuba and elsewhere in the Spanish speaking world".


These lyrics to "Guantanamero" are from the point-of-view of a male prisoner

...guantanamera means "of Guantanamo (female)". "Guantanamero" means "of Guantanamo (male).

Get
Adobe Flash Player to listen.

Richard Stallman (aka RMS) is an American software freedom activist, hacker and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project Open Source (free) operating system,  started the free software movement and, in October 1985, set up and now leads the Free Software Foundation. At his urging, Wikipedia was founded. Thanks Richard.


Me odiaba mi primo
Por celos a mi carrera.
Lo arrestaron y dijo
Que terrorista yo era.

Guantanamero, soy preso guantanamero.
Guantanamero, soy preso guantanamero.

Ha decidido el imperio
Tenerme por siempre preso
Y la cuestión es hacerlo
Con o sin falso proceso.

Guantanamero, etc.

Cuando me hieren el cuerpo,
Dicen que no me torturan.
Causan heridas profundas
De esas que nunca se curan.

Guantanamero, etc.

No me permiten que duerma:
Mi fin no es un misterio.
Voy a salir cuando muera
O caiga el gran imperio.

Guantanamero, etc.

Translation:
My cousin hated me;
He was jealous of my career.
They arrested him and he said
I was a terrorist.

Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.
Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.

The empire has decided
To keep me in prison forever.
The question is whether to do it
With or without a fake trial.

Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.
Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.

When they injure my body
They say they are not torturing me.
They cause me grave wounds
Such as never heal.

Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.
Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.

They don't let me sleep:
My end is no mystery.
I will get out when I die
Or the great empire falls.

Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.
Guantanaman, I'm a Guantanaman prisoner.

UC Berkeley Billboard

press conference, protest, photos, video, reports

Donations via PayPal
are not tax deductible.




Events & Calendars

War Criminals Watch Events



Important Reading

Physicians for Human Rights
Broken Laws, Broken Lives

NLG White Paper
ON THE LAW OF TORTURE...

The President's Executioner

Detention and torture in Guantanamo



About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the video and audio category from April 2009.

video and audio: December 2008 is the previous archive.

video and audio: May 2009 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.



Login

  AUTHOR'S LOGIN

Contact

  info@firejohnyoo.net