Citizens Protest Torture at John Yoo Classroom

Citizens Outside Classroom Being Filmed by a Policeman Shout Fire John Yoo! Stephanie Tang of World Cant Wait Speaks Out Against Torture & John Yoo! Many citizens from the Fire John Yoo demonstration outside Boalt Hall went into the building to gather outside of classroom 105 where John Yoo arrived to teach on the first day of fall classes, August 17, 2009. There was an escort of policemen sent to protect John Yoo and to keep protestors out of the classroom. Cynthia Papermaster of the National Accountability Action Network and Code Pink Goldengate walked up to Yoo and confronted him about his memos that were used to justify torture. She was physically grabbed and pushed out of the classroom. According to the International Red Croos, children were tortured and over 100 prisoners died in the Bush administration sanctioned tortures. Yoo was one of several Department of Justice lawyers who produced legal briefs that stated that the President had the authority to use extraordinary methods to get information out of prisoners. The actual goal now appears to have been to get false information to use to justify war with no intention of ever using such testimony in court or in ever going to a court of law. After some remarks from the crowd, Stephanie Tank of World Cant Wait makes a short speech. She was one of four persons arrested for civil disobedience later that day. (4:07)

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Torture
• John Yoo
• G W Bush
• Dick Cheney
• Berkeley
• law
• justice
• CA
• code pink
• code pink goldengate
• world cant wait
• accountability
• Cynthia Papermaster
• Stephanie Tang
• Abu Ghraib
• Guantanamo
• Condoleezza Rice
• Donald Rumsfeld

[MerryGoFuckYourself]

Just a question. Everytime protesters filming the cops/security get told to stop filming indignant rage ensues about the right to film etc etc plus there are people in the crowd filming the police. So why is that bald dude getting so outraged at the cops/security filming them in return. Seems a little hypocritical to me.

[vasyvic]

@MerryGoFuckYourself If you don't get the difference, then you don't know about COINTELRO or your Bill of Rights. There is a vast difference between government surveilance of citizens exercising their rights and the surveillance of criminals in the act of commiting a crime. Citizens filming cops has made cops think twice about acting out with brutality. For example, the cop who shot Oscar Grant in the back in Oakland got convicted only because citizens used cell phones to record the murder.

[vasyvic]

Yoo has academic freedom. But when he took a leave from UC Berkeley to write legal briefs to justify torture, he violated the Constitution ("cruel & unusual punishment") & the Geneva accords & he helped to put US soldiers at risk of retributive torture. Academic Freedom has nothing to do with breaking laws while serving a criminal regime.

[ericclaptonismygod31]

Does Yoo not have academic freedom?

[vasyvic]

@ericclaptonismygod31 Yes, Yoo has academic freedom. See the video where Dan Siegel addresses that question. It is what Yoo did while on leave from UC Berkeley that is criminal. He wrote legal briefs for the Bush-Cheney regime to justify torture of people never charged with a crime, and according to the International Red Cross, over 100 prisoners died in those torture sessions. This is also not good for US troops as it opens the use of torture on them too. Think it through if you can.

[marcomariaz26]

john yoo is a buttwipe.

[erikshu]

The cops are obviously there for the safety of all the near by students and protesters, in no way by standing there do they support torture

[arnaldo717]

@BrandenburgConcerti u really dont have a clue do u

[arnaldo717]

@samn100 thats cause ur a unintelligent asshole

[naizret]

Torture Stephanie Tang!

[UmofoN]

f' u attention seeking whores. thank yoo for killing all the sandnigger that killed american.