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Gonzales Speaks at Wash U Amidst Protest, pockets $30,000
On a bitter cold Tuesday evening here in St. Louis, 150-200 people marched and rallied outside a speaking engagement for former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The event was funded by Washington University (specifically the College Republicans, part of the school's tuition-financed Student Union), which paid Gonzales $30,000 for the occasion. This payment came amidst protest from both students and law school faculty.
| Name | detainee_action_clothes.mov |
| Video | quicktime,0x0,, |
| Audio | 8.0 kHz,mono,mu-law 2:1 |
| Duration | 1:20 min |
| Size | 12.26 MB |
| Name | detainee_action_barking.mov |
| Video | quicktime,0x0,, |
| Audio | 8.0 kHz,mono,mu-law 2:1 |
| Duration | 0:33 min |
| Size | 5.10 MB |
| Name | detainee_action_entubation.mov |
| Video | quicktime,0x0,, |
| Audio | 8.0 kHz,mono,mu-law 2:1 |
| Duration | 0:23 min |
| Size | 3.57 MB |
Street theater: detainee torture demonstrated
Photos of Rally
Other Media coverage: Post-Dispatch, Fox, KMOX, KMOV, KWMU, PubDef.net (nice video), Student Life, US News
Of 1100 seats available inside the venue (available only to students/faculty), only 400 were taken. Meanwhile, the rally outside, which was organized by the Wash U Peace Coalition, St. Louis Instead of War, St. Louis CODEPINK, and Amnesty International, featured dozens of protesters dressed as Guantanamo detainees, a funk & salsa band, Fallujah the Camel, and street theater demonstrating torture techniques used in Guantanamo Bay.
Gonzales, who spoke of his activities since resigning as US Torture General, answered pre-approved questions from the audience. The speaking event itself was closed to the media. Gonzales touched on the importance of civic action and protest in his speech, but then belittled his opponents: “many who complain the most do not even vote.” Despite heckles and other acts of protest by audience members, and when compared to his recent appearances at other universities, Gonzales enjoyed a profitable speaking forum engineered to avoid confrontation.
License
License Option:
strike while the iron is hot!
From Adam Schriver of WU Peace Coalition:
I know, I know, the event is over and I'm supposed to stop sending you facebook messages. But for the next few days, while our protest is still in the media's attention, we have a unique opportunity to continue to get the message out that we stand against torture, extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, and stand for human rights.
If you have a moment, please write up a couple paragraphs on what you thought of the protest, Gonzales's speech, the media coverage, U.S. detention policy or whatever you think is relevant and send it to:
St. Post-Dispatch:
E-mail: letters@post-dispatch.com (E-mails should be in plain text, not attachments.)
Studlife: http://www.studlife.com/home/lettertotheeditor/
Alternatively, you could start your own diary at showmeprogress.com or dailykos.com and write about your experiences (and post photos and/or video) there.
We have a great opportunity and we should make the most of it!
If anyone has any other suggestions of where to publish letters, photos, etc., please post them on the wall. And check out Anna's update on the wall as well of more media coverage.
Thanks for your time, and thanks again for making that such a great rally!