 February 2005
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
We Oppose Confirmation The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), a multi-partisan advocacy organization, was founded in Fresno, California in 1963 and has chapters throughout California. It is dedicated to the constitutional and democratic principles of political freedom and representation for the Mexican, Mexican American and Latino people in the US. For more information about MAPA's statement, edited below, call 323/269-1575 or visit www.mapa.org. The Mexican American Political Association categorically opposes the confirmation of current White House Legal Counsel, Alberto Gonzales, as the US Attorney General of the Department of Justice. Nativo Vigil Lopez, National President of MAPA, explained, "While this is an extremely important appointment by President George Bush to his cabinet, and laudable and unprecedented that a Mexican American would be so appointed, the Mexican American Political Association has expressed grave reservations about this candidate. Ethnicity, race, and gender are all important considerations when such appointments are made by the top executive officer of the US, but both merit and substantive policy positions by such candidates must be of paramount consideration." It is now unequivocally clear that the Gonzales interpretation of both the Geneva Convention and US law, related to the use of tactics of torture on enemy detainees, became the basis for the operational use of torture and human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Iraq by US military and contractor personnel. This was in contravention to the rule of law -- international and domestic. The position of US Attorney General is the highest legal position of the government charged with protecting the citizenry, most particularly the civil rights of the historically disenfranchised sectors of the population - minorities, females, the disabled, seniors, and minors. The Justice Department is a bastion of recourse for these sectors whose rights have been violated in the areas of voting, employment, immigration, and education. "We can only support a candidate who has a demonstrated commitment to the rule of law, most especially during trying times and circumstances of social unrest, war, civil disturbances, protest, and real or supposed threats to our security. The treatment of arrestees and detainees under such circumstances, and the observance of constitutional protections, are real life indicators of the respect for the rule of law. Alberto Gonzales does not merit favorable consideration for this charge," concluded Lopez. 
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