Letelier-Moffitt 30th Memorial Human Rights Award

Tribute to Families of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt

Wednesday, 18 October 2006
National Press Club Ballroom
529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

5:30 pm Reception and light fare
7-8:15 pm Human Rights Program

Special Guests
Vanessa Redgrave
Etan Thomas*
Charmaine Neville
*Game Schedule Permitting

International Award
Maher Arar and the Center for Constitutional Rights

Domestic Award
Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign

2006 Recipients

International Award: Maher Arar and the Center for Constitutional Rights

Maher Arar has taken bold actions to demand justice for the suffering he endured as a victim of the U.S. policy known as "extraordinary rendition". A Canadian citizen, Arar was detained by U.S. officials in 2002, accused of terrorist links, and handed over to Syrian authorities renowned for torture. During nearly 12 months of imprisonment, Arar was brutally tortured, according to an independent Canadian government investigation. Since his release without charge, Arar has successfully advocated for an official Canadian inquiry and testified before a European parliamentary committee regarding his ordeal. He is working with the Center for Constitutional Rights to appeal a case against the U.S. government that was dismissed on national security grounds.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, in addition to their work on the Arar case, is being honored for their 40-year legal crusade against torture and other human rights abuses. Since 9/11, CCR has been at the forefront of work to defend victims of abuses committed in the name of the "War on Terrorism". CCR lawyers faced scores of death threats when they were the first to bring cases on behalf of Guantanamo detainees. In 2004, they won a Supreme Court ruling that allows these men to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. They are now mobilizing pressure on the Bush Administration to comply with that ruling. CCR is also fighting for accountability for abuses committed in Abu Ghraib.

Domestic Award: Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign

The Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign emerged out of the horrors of Hurricane Katrina to advance a poor people’s struggle for accountability and justice. By uniting local activists with national organizers and lawmakers, the Campaign has kept the media spotlight on survivors and their demands for a comprehensive response to the crisis. The GCRC has brought survivors to testify in Congress; organized hearings in New Orleans; successfully pushed for extended housing provision; and opposed the bulldozing of homes without notice.

Spearheaded by Community Labor United, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund And Oversight Coalition, and Common Ground Relief Collective, the Campaign has involved a wide range of groups: National Association of Katrina Evacuees, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Rebuilding Louisiana Coalition, African-American Leadership Project, Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children, Safe Streets, Safe Communities, NO HEAT Coalition, Lousiana’s Environmental Justice Network, Hip Hop Caucus, ColorofChange.org, the Advancement Project, ACLU of Louisiana, AFL-CIO/Voices for Working Families, SEIU, United Steelworkers, The Praxis Project, KIN, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, National Organization for Women, RainbowPUSH, Rebuild HOPE, Institute for the Black World 21st Century, Black Leadership Forum, Operation Hope, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Clergy&Laity Concerned, United for Peace&Justice, Advocates for Environmental Justice and the United States Human Rights Network.

Three Decades of Pursuing Justice and Celebrating Heroes

This year’s program will mark the 30th anniversary of the September 21, 1976 car bombing that killed Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and American Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Until 9/11, it was the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in our nation’s capital. Letelier and Moffitt were colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier had become one of the most outspoken critics of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Moffitt was a 25-year-old fundraiser who ran a "Music Carryout" that made musical instruments accessible to all. A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest levels of Pinochet’s regime.

Since that tragic event, the Institute for Policy Studies has hosted an annual human rights event in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor these fallen colleagues while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the United States and elsewhere in the Americas. This year’s program will feature a special tribute to the family members of Letelier and Moffitt who have worked tirelessly through art, politics, the media and the courts to achieve justice for Orlando and Ronni and other victims of dictators the world over.

Light Among Shadows: A Celebration of Orlando Letelier, Ronni Karpen Moffitt, and Heroes of the Human Rights Movement
Edited by Scott Williams, IPS, 2001, 127 pp, $25.00
Order your copy here