San José activists skate against torture

Activists marked the new year by skating against CIA torture flights in downtown San Jose, Calif., Jan. 1. Joining the

unusual protest were non-skating activists who held up signs outside the rink and passed out informational flyers to other skaters and passersby. Some 50 activists participated, many wearing orange, the color worn by prisoners at the U.S. Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, torture center.

Channel two television covered the protest, and Pacifica station KPFA conducted a phone interview with South Bay Mobilization activist Charlotte Casey.

Every year in mid-December the San José Downtown Association sets up an ice rink for public use. The association is a city of San Jose-chartered non-profit that includes all businesses in the downtown area. Companies that co-sponsor and help defray the cost of the ice rink are recognized with large banner ads displayed around the rink.

One of those businesses is Jeppesen DataPlan, the division of a subsidiary of aerospace giant Boeing that has been implicated in the notorious torture flights organized by the CIA. Click here to read more about an earlier San José protest against Jeppesen.

Activists report that the responses from the other skaters and passersby were supportive. Downtown Association head

Scott Knies even greeted the protesters wearing a “Resist Illegal War” button. So far, though, neither the association nor the City Council has acceded to the protesters’ demand that Jeppesen’s co-sponsorship of the family-oriented rink be repudiated on grounds of public decency. Knies has said that next year they will “re-think” the sponsorship.

The anti-Jeppesen campaign will continue to target the city of San Jose (activists intervened at the last City Council meeting), since the primary sponsor of the ice rink is the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

The protest was co-sponsored by South Bay Mobilization, Act Against Torture, Amnesty International-San José, Friday Peace Vigil and the National Lawyers Guild.