Ten Things You Can Do

Ten Actions You Can Organize

1. EDUCATE YOURSELF. Read the alternative press. Check out our background page for specific articles. Don't rely on mainstream media.
2. TALK ABOUT IT. When you hear or read something about torture or detentions, talk to people about it. Discuss it with friends and co-workers. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
3. SPEAK OUT. Participate in rallies and demonstrations in your area. Keep informed about events through your local Indymedia site. E-mail us about getting an Act Against Torture bumper sticker and put it on your bike or car:
4. HOLD YOUR REPRESENTATIVES ACCOUNTABLE. Write letters to Bush and to your congressional representatives. Good letter writing information can be found at the websites of Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International, and The Center for Constitutional Rights, or here on our website.
5. PUBLISH. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and mention ActAgainstTorture.org.
6. POST. Print out our posters or make your own and post them at work, in your window, or on the street.
7. SPREAD THE WORD. When you read an article that’s not in the mainstream media, make copies and pass them on to friends, co-workers, or neighbors. Write ActAgainstTorture.org on the front page so people know where to get more information.
8. DISSEMINATE. Print out information cards and leave them in cafes, schools, your work place, or in the pockets of clothes in the store.
9. DONATE. Donate $10 or more to an organization working to end torture and indefinite detions such as Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International, or The Center for Constitutional Rights, or donate to Act Against Torture (for info, e-mail us at ActAgainstTorture@riseup.net.)
10. ORGANIZE. Support friends in taking these actions. Become an organizer.

For questions, suggestions, or support regarding any of these actions, feel free to email us at ActAgainstTorture@riseup.net

1. GET TOGETHER. Hold a house meeting with your friends and neighbors to plan an action against torture.
2. HANG A BANNER. Hang a banners over freeways, alter billboards: don’t let anyone in your town forget what is happening. Check out the Freeway Blogger for banner-hanging ideas and instructions.
3. HOLD AN EVENT. Convince your church, union, or school to host a speaker or lead a discussion about torture and detenion.
4. DISRUPT THE TORTURERS. Disrupt public appearances of CIA, military or Bush administration personnel. Let them know that torturers are not welcome in your town.
5. TARGET CORPORATIONS. Crash shareholder meetings, sit in at corporate headquarters, or visit the homes of executives of corporations like Lockheed Martin that hold government contracts to torture for profit.
6. HOLD MEDIA ACCOUNTABLE. Keep an eye on the alternative and foreign press, watching for stories the U.S. mainstream media doesn't cover well or honestly. Organize friends and neighbors to write and call editors and station managers to demand coverage of what's really going on.
7. PERFORM STREET THEATER or ORGANIZE A PUBLIC READING. Get together with creative friends and do something dramatic in a public place to encourage people to actively confront and and oppose torture and indefinite detion. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is encouraging public readings of the play Guantánamo: ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’ to "focus attion on the shameful and unlawful detions at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." It's not enough to oppose torture silently.
8. ORGANIZE A VIGIL. A group of people standing on a busy street corner at rush hour, with signs, banners, candles, chants, or whatever your friends and neighbors come up with, lets folks know that there's a growing local movement against torture and indefinite detion.
9. JOIN US. If you'd like to help us in the work we're doing, email us at ActAgainstTorture@riseup.net.
10. ORGANIZE A DELEGATION. See Witness Against Torture for information about organizing a delegation to Guantanamo. Demand to speak directly to the prisoners.