Friends from 18 yearly meetings including Baltimore, Canada, Britain, and Rwanda, gathered on June 2-4, 2006, at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina to learn about United States-sponsored torture and to plan how to end it.

This conference had been endorsed by many Friends groups, including BYM at its 2005 sessions. The minute of endorsement said, in part:

“As Friends we abhor the torture and abuse of prisoners of any classification, in any place. We call upon all governments and combatants both to declare their rejection of torture and abuse and adhere strictly to the conventions for the humane treatment of all detainees .We are also deeply dismayed by reports that our own government in recent years has acted in ways that legitimate such practices and make of them an example to others. We are grateful for those prophetic voices speaking out on this urgent matter, and wish for more. We urge Friends to find ways take up such a witness, by public education and organized effort.”

Nine BYMers were among the 126 attenders, who heard from sixteen speakers, including three survivors of torture.

Jennifer Harbury gave a riveting keynote on Friday evening, with a brief but comprehensive overview of U.S. torture. She spoke from her personal experiences with CIA-sponsored torture of her deceased Guatemalan activist husband in the 1980s, through the May 2006 United Nations hearings on the lack of United States compliance with the Convention Against Torture.

On Saturday we were offered a mix of speakers, including two from BYM, (Ruth Flower and Chuck Fager), workshops and planning sessions. One presenter, Hector Aristizibal, used the absorbing techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed to depict his own experience as a survivor of torture. He then engaged the audience in a powerful interactive movement that moved us toward hopeful engagement to end the practice of torture.

Sunday worship was led by our five elders, who held the conference in the Light throughout the weekend and attended every session, workshop, and work group. The conference culminated in a second town meeting in which we heard from each work group and then discussed the future of QUIT.

There was a clear sense of the meeting towards the following actions:

• educating our meetings and others;
• asking for monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting support (minutes, donations, conference attendance);
• using the QUIT website as a resource of information and events (http://www.quit-torture-now.org);
• joining the QUIT listserv via the website to share news and ideas.

The planning team was asked to bring in more members and plan a second conference at Guilford College, June 1-3 2007. Two BYMers, Karen Hanscom and Chuck Fager, are on the 2007 conference planning committee.