Torture is the most widespread human rights crime in the modern world, practiced in more than one hundred countries, including the United States. How could something so brutal, almost unthinkable, be so prevalent? The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary is designed to answer that question and many others. Beginning with a sweeping view of torture in Western history, the book examines questions such as these: Can anyone be turned into a torturer? What exactly is the psychological relationship between a torturer and his victim? Are certain societies more prone to use torture? Are there any circumstances under which torture is justified—to procure critical information in order to save innocent lives, for example? How can torture be stopped or at least its incidence be reduced?
Edited and with an introduction by the former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, The Phenomenon of Torture draws on the writings of torture victims themselves, such as the Argentinian journalist Jacobo Timerman, as well as leading scholars like Elaine Scarry, author of The Body in Pain. It includes classical works by Voltaire, Jeremy Bentham, Hannah Arendt, and Stanley Milgram, as well as recent works by historian Adam Hochschild and psychotherapist Joan Golston. And it addresses new developments in efforts to combat torture, such as the designation of rape as a war crime and the use of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators. Designed for the student and scholar alike, it is, in sum, an anthology of the best and most insightful writing about this most curious and common form of abuse. Juan E. Méndez, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide and himself a victim of torture, provides a foreword.
Table of Content
Foreword, by Juan E. Mendez xiii
Introduction 1
1. TORTURE IN WESTERN HISTORY
Torture and Truth 13
The Torture of Jesus 16
Torture and the Law of Proof 19
Torture 27
Discipline and Punish 30
An Essay on Crimes and Punishments 34
On Torture and Capital Punishment 36
Preventing Torture 38
2. BEING TORTURED
The Railway Man 49
And Night Fell 53
Statement by Abu Ghraib detainee 60
The Gulag Archipelago 63
A Miracle, a Universe 66
The Method 71
Torture 80
Against Our Will 88
Report Uzbekistan 95
Prison of Women 97
3. WHO ARE THE TORTURERS?
King Leopold’s Ghost 101
The Torturer’s Tale 104
The Perils of Obedience 110
The Official Torturer 120
Ritual Abuse 124
Hidden Terrors 127
The Winter Soldier Investigation 132
Torture 134
The Torturers’ Notebooks 136
The Battle of the Casbah 137
The Wretched of the Earth 139
In Their Own Words 141
4. THE DYNAMICS OF TORTURE
Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual 155
The Politics of Cruelty 163
Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number 167
The Body in Pain 172
What’s Wrong with Torture 178
Intimate Terror 180
5. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF TORTURE
Torture 195
The Origins of Totalitarianism 196
Republic of Fear 201
The Psychology and Culture of Torture and Torturers 204
How to Make a Torturer 210
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People 215
6. THE ETHICS OF TORTURE
Of Torture 221
The Case for Torture 227
Kidnapping Has Germans Debating Police Torture 230
Why Terrorism Works 233
Torture 241
Suggestions for Japanese Interpreters 249
Does Torture Work? 255
Tainted Legacy 260
Landau Commission Report 267
Supreme Court of Israel Judgment 275
7. HEALING THE VICTIMS, STOPPING THE TORTURE
Treatment of Victims of Torture 285
Police Officers Convicted of Torturing Man in Detention 297
Torture Spoken Here 299
Aydin v. Turkey 304
International Criminal Court Q & A Sheet 308
An End to Impunity 311
The Case of General Pinochet 314
Filartiga v. Pena-Irala 325
The Contribution of Truth Commissions 333
Human Rights Education for the Police 347
EXCERPTS FROM DOCUMENTS 357
UN Convention against Torture 357
International Standards Against Torture 360
U.S. Army Field Manual 363
How to Get Involved 365
Notes 367
Bibliography 377
Acknowledgments 381
Credits and Permissions 383
About the author
William F. Schulz, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA from 1994-2006 after having been President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. He subsequently became a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, taught at New York University and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and was President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Currently, Dr. Schulz is a Senior Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the recipient of eight honorary degrees and the author or editor of seven books on human rights. He and his wife live overlooking the ocean on the north shore of Massachusetts.
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