Published: July 20, 2024
by John Calvi
July 15, 2024
The Quaker Initiative to End Torture – QUIT! – was born in May 2005. News of torture and minors kept at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sparked Friends to action. Six of us came together to educate Friends about the history, policy, and practices of American torture. Joe Franko, Scilla Wahrhaftig, Liz Keeney, Chuck Fager, and John Meyer gathered with John Calvi to form QUIT.
In short order, QUIT! received minutes of support from seven yearly meetings and 23 monthly meetings. We created a website and listserve, and we held four conferences two at Guilford College in North Carolina, and one each at Ottawa Friends Meeting in Ontario and at Ben Lomond Quaker Center California. We sponsored presentations at yearly, quarterly, and monthly meeting all across country, plus a keynote at the Friend General Conference Summer Gathering in 2011.
News of American torture was continually posted on our website and Facebook page to update information and keep news in front of all seekers. This manner of outreach has been maintained even as in-person teaching ended in recent years.
Drawing people together to learn and teach about torture waned as the Bush/Cheney years faded in our collective memory. Then Obama falsely assured the country that torture was ended, which people were more than willing to believe and take comfort in. This resulted in less interest in and less support for QUIT!
In light of the above, our board has unanimously agreed to lay down QUIT! We are well aware that the work is not done. Details below reveal the staggering waste of life and other resources due to US torture practices.
The founding members of QUIT! deeply appreciate the support we experienced in our 19 years of service. Our efforts were met with gratitude and with expressions of awareness of the toll that these presentations have taken on the presenters. Thank you for all this support.
by Carol Rosenberg
New York Times, May 24, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html
Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, Guantanamo, Cuba
US Naval Base with 5,000 soldiers, mostly National Guard
January 11 2002- First 20 prisoners arrive Gitmo
About 780 prisoners (numbers uncertain due to CIA Black Site on base)
by Carol Rosenberg
New York Times, 2019
from John Calvi, Putney Friends Meeting (7/15/2024)