Boston, MA, May 2007. ©2007 Ellen Shub

I've been watching the unfolding of the Quaker Initiative to End Torture (QUIT). This is a beginning that took place within many people. The pictures from Abu Ghraib caught many people in the gut. Among Friends (Quakers), the response was similar to learning of a rape, or a particularly painful disability after a car accident -- many people tried to look away, to think of something else. But the thought of young soldiers from our communities learning torture in "service" to security was too ugly either to face or to ignore. Such a spiritual dilemma can be good for catching the attention.

The first time I worked with a torture survivor was in 1983. And now, 25 years later, I've worked with survivors from every continent. I know what the outcome looked like in the body and mind of the receiver. I know covert operations have involved the torture of thousands of people over many years, countries, and wars. Still, the photos of our young people gleeful at wounding and terrifying captives, fell like stones on my soul.

Making time out of no time

When I began to talk with Friends about the need to gather to oppose this increasing use of torture, there was certainty that something needed to be done and a great reluctance to initiate. Checking the websites of several Quaker organizations, I found only one that spoke to the topic -- and the information was more than a year old.

Talking with leaders of Quaker groups the response was nearly identical -- shortages of staff, money, and time meant they would join an effort but could not lead at this time. Clearly, all wanted more to be done, but none had the room to move.

I already had my hands full, and didn't want to add a new job! But then I attended an Amnesty International meeting where particular news was shared -- Barbara Olshansky, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, reported that some of the detainees in Guantànamo were under 16 when they were imprisoned, and that in the many detention facilities either operated or directly overseen by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, there are detainees as young as seven years old. And suddenly, I heard, not the voice of holy calling, but my Italian grandmother's voice suffused in outrage and calling for correction immediately without compromise, delays, or excuses -- clear as a bell.

All manner of gifts

That was May 3, 2005. I thought about who might help me do this. I needed various skills, various connections to Friends theologically and geographically. Liz Keeney in Ohio knew something of the topic and had good attention to detail for difficult learning situations. John Meyer at Pendle Hill knew about organizing conferences and had some of the necessary legal background. Chuck Fager at Quaker House in North Carolina knew direct social action and publicity. Joe Franko in California, formerly with the American Friends Service Committee, had just organized a girls' school in Afghanistan -- surely that would bring good skills. And all said, "Yes, let's do this." Thank heavens.

Suddenly, once the there was a group, all manner of gifts came forward. Blake Arnall of San Francisco created a wonderful website (www.quit-torture-now.org [5]). Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, CA offered to receive donations for the work. Primary to the effort was the seed money for the conference offered by the Peace Issues Working Group of the Friends World Committee for Consultation.

The first particulars were choosing what to teach and who would best represent current knowledge. Jennifer Harbury was chosen as keynote speaker. She is a human rights attorney, author of Truth, Torture, and the American Way, and widow of a man tortured to death by CIA-paid informants. Hector Aristizabal was chosen as a survivor who teaches about what torture means to the soul, and about the politics of oppression. Carlos Mauricio was a chosen speaker not only because he survived torture but also as the winner of a lawsuit against the Salvadoran generals, retired in Miami, who had ordered his torture. A legal overview, an overview of history, the status of treatment, torture in US prisons, and possibilities of direct action -- all would be offered.

A spiritual curriculum challenge

And now another challenge revealed itself. Ten years as a Montessori teacher with young children and twenty-five years as a Quaker healer/massage therapist with torture survivors meshed within me to understand that we needed to create a conference that would educate Friends and move us to action without being overwhelmed or causing despair and paralysis -- an excellent spiritual curriculum challenge.

How could we set the right tone for the conference? How could attenders witness the most horrible potential of human beings without losing personal resources to fear, anger, confusion, or despair? One of our answers was to have five "elders" (a Quaker term for someone of any age with special gifts and experience in attentive, centered listening and prayer) attending the first conference, and more than two dozen at-large elders holding the entire effort in the Light. The effect was tangible during each meeting for worship, plenary, and workshop.

Next, we began with a clear statement that this work would be very hard and so each Friend was charged with the good self-care of deep breathing, relaxing the body during difficult learning, and above all, knowing that bringing the end of torture would take at least two generations of good hard spiritual work. In view of this, each conference participant was asked to watch closely for the piece of work they wanted to take up and to choose carefully.

The work grows and deepens

Over 100 Friends came together June 2-4, 2006, at Guilford College in North Carolina for three days of learning and choosing actions. Friends from 18 regions returned to their home meetings to educate and inform. Many Friends reported their actions on the QUIT listserve. Over the course of this year, a small group of Friends has been able to coalesce the yearning of many for more definite action to take place in our faith community.

This June 1-3 2007, again at Guilford College, the second QUIT conference will offer more information and discussion to foster more learning and action. Alfred McCoy, author of A Question of Torture, will give us an overview of the 50-year history of CIA experimentation with torture along with recent changes in US law making torture "legal" for the first time in the US. Retired interrogator Tony Lagouranis will describe his journey from torturer to anti-torture activist. The spiritual disciplines of breathing deeply while learning difficult things, and choosing our work carefully, will continue. The task of taking home a new piece of work for others to learn will grow, in the tradition of John Woolman and Rosa Parks.

An important work will come of age as QUIT discusses how its future is to be shaped and led. Some will call for a board, budget, and 501c3 status. Some will say that the first conference was able to happen in a single year because a small group worked swiftly and effectively and that these elements should not be lost. Still others will point out that there is a tradition among Friends that once an organization is assigned an issue, work can get bogged down in bureaucratic detail.

How do we get important work done, large work, over a long term and keep it vital, moving, and breathing? We can do it by heeding the call, supporting with funds, showing up, and sharing our hopes.

What would it feel like to have torture exist only in history?