ACLU and PEN American Center Present Readings to End Torture and Abuse
LEARN MORE
> PEN American Center Festival (off-site)
> Torture: Seeking Truth and Accountability
> Military Commissions Act
> Ideological Exclusion: Censorship at the Border
> “An Evening Without…”FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – Tonight leading writers, activists and journalists from around the world will be joined by luminaries from the United States for “Dirty Wars,” a night of readings to end torture, arbitrary detention and rendition.
The event is co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union and the PEN American Center. Detentions without trial, torture and secret prisons are all hallmarks of what were once called dirty wars. The two organizations said today that these policies, traditionally targets of U.S. criticism, are now touted as necessary tools in the “war on terror.”
“The Bush administration has claimed that secret prisons, the abuse of prisoners, and detention without charge are policies that are necessary to protect the nation from foreign threats,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “But these misguided and unlawful policies have only undermined the nation’s security, and by adopting them the Bush administration is turning its back on the very values that make the nation worth protecting.”
Readers will include Canadian novelist Lisa Appignanesi, writer Antoine Audouard, South African writer and activist Breyten Breytenbach, journalist Mark Danner, essayist and literary critic Dorothea Dieckmann, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, Nobel Prize-winner Nadine Gordimer, Dutch writer and journalist Arnon Grunberg, actor Daoud Heidami, actor Daniel Oreskes, National Book Award-finalist Francine Prose, Emmy Award-nominated actress Gloria Reuben, poet Rose Styron and others.
The reading begins at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 for PEN and ACLU members. Tickets can be purchased at the Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, by visiting www.joespub.com or calling (212) 967-7555.
The ACLU is involved in several lawsuits to expose government abuse and challenge practices like the U.S. government’s policy of illegal kidnapping and rendition. For more information go to www.aclu.org/safefree/index.html or www.findhabeas.org.
“Dirty Wars” is a part of the PEN World Voices festival. For information on the participants and the festival go to www.pen.org/festival.
Stay Informed
Every month, you'll receive regular roundups of the most important civil rights and civil liberties developments. Remember: a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy policy.
The Latest in National Security
-
ACLU Acknowledges Improvements to DOJ Racial Profiling Policy, But Says Far More is Needed
-
ACLU Applauds Court For Allowing Case Challenging FBI’s Wrongful Prosecution of Chinese American Physics Professor To Move Forward
-
Shen v. Simpson
-
Chinese Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional and Discriminatory Law Banning Them From Buying Land
ACLU's Vision
The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.
Learn More About National Security

The ACLU’s National Security Project is dedicated to ensuring that U.S. national security policies and practices are consistent with the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights.