"Blueprint for Accountability" Event in NYC, June 7

Rescheduled from last April, the Culture Project has put out the following press release concerning their next event. As should be evident to my readers, I have strongly condemned the Obama administration's current interrogation and detention policies, which allow for secret prisons and torture. But as I wrote back in April, "While the fight against torture, state secrecy and surveillance, due process and the rule of law, and against U.S. militarism is not solely about the past administration, I believe those in attendance at this conference are well aware of this. It should be an exciting event."

May 11, 2010, New York, NY – Culture Project (CP) has announced that “Blueprint for Accountability,” a groundbreaking theater/film/journalism series launched at The Times Center in May 2009, will return for an encore presentation on June 7th at 7:30PM at NYU Skirball Center.

Culture Project created “Blueprint for Accountability” as a means of engaging the public in constructing a “blueprint” for a more just and democratic future. Igniting an unprecedented sense of hope and possibility, the election of Barack Obama served to position American resolve and commitment as never before. Spurred by the one-year anniversary of the President’s pronouncement to close Guantanamo, and the fates of nearly 200 detainees still hanging in the balance, the evening will assemble some of the nation’s leading and influential voices to debate the unparalleled events, policies and circumventions of the past administration—urging policy makers, the military, and world citizens to craft a decisive moral response to torture capable of restoring both America’s dignity and standing throughout the international community.

“Blueprint for Accountability” will feature a powerful and provocative panel discussion with former CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, retired Iraq commander Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, author and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., best-selling author and investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, and Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Vince Warren. A brief look at the precedents set by the Nuremberg Trials and Geneva Conventions will inform a probing discussion of the historical framework for America’s policies limiting abuses in war, and our nation’s radical departure from international human rights laws and civil liberties protections post-9/11.

Punctuating the experts’ discussion, Director Fisher Stevens (The Cove, 2010 Best Documentary Academy Award) will screen vital archival footage and bring to life compelling dramatic scenes performed by acclaimed actors James Spader, Liev Schreiber, Julianna Margulies, Mariska Hargitay and Matt Dillon.

In 2002, Culture Project propelled to national prominence with its acclaimed production of The Exonerated, a groundbreaking dramatization of the real-life stories of six innocent prisoners released after decades on death row. The show embodied Culture Project’s mission to use art for social change at a time when executions in Texas were making national headlines. After seeing a performance, Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted his state’s 156 death row sentences to life in prison.

Culture Project’s “Blueprint for Accountability” builds a case against the individuals and institutions threatening our system of democracy, serving as an urgent call to our elected officials for fundamental policy change. The evening will feature several calls-to-action from prominent human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights, Alliance For Justice and Theaters Against War.

Culture Project is proud to partner with FORA.tv, an online forum that helps intelligent, engaged audiences get smart about the people, issues, and ideas changing the world. FORA.tv gathers the web's largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates consistently happening at the world's top universities, think tanks and conferences, for users to watch, interact with and share. The event will be streamed live by FORA.tv and made available on-demand following the presentation.

“Blueprint for Accountability” will be presented at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYU (566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012) on Monday June 7, 2010 at 7:30PM EDT. Tickets are available for $25 (Balcony), $35 (Parterre) and $55 (Orchestra). A limited number of VIP platinum level tickets are available at $250.

A press conference will directly follow the event at the Skirball Center.

Starting May 11th, tickets will be available online, at:

http://skirballcenter.nyu.edu/calendar/blueprint_for_accountability

By Phone: 212.352.3101 or 866.811.4111
In Person: 566 LaGuardia Place, Tuesday-Saturday 12noon-6pm

To watch the live-streaming event on FORA.tv, please visit:
http://fora.tv/live/Culture_Project/Torture_Accountability_Dark_Side