Doctors of the Dark Side

Submitted by Matthew on 25 October, 2013 - 6:28

Levels of violence in human societies have fallen drastically since Stone Age times, as shown by Steven Pinker in his excellent but gruelling exposition The Better Angels of Our Nature (Penguin, 2011).

This includes the infliction of torture by the state. By mid-19th century, judicial torture had been abolished in major western countries. This also applied to inhumane treatment of enemies. In the American War of Independence from 1776, George Washington ordered that prisoners of war (soldiers from the British side) be treated humanely, while Abraham Lincoln forbade torture or cruelty to prisoners in the American Civil War in 1863. This was the model for the Geneva Convention of 1929.

However, torture still continued, particularly in fascist and Stalinist dictatorships but also, unofficially, in countries where it had been outlawed. Hypocritically, the USA exported torture techniques and training to right-wing dictatorships that it supported, for instance in Latin America in the 1980s. The UK also applied torture and other inhumane treatments, mostly overseas (during the “Mau Mau” uprising in Kenya, in Aden, Northern Ireland, and Iraq). This is despite “cruel and unusual punishment” being outlawed by the 1689 Bill of Rights.

The US explicitly banned torture and harsh treatment by military interrogators after the Vietnam war. However, in recent years, the US has subjected captives to treatment which had previously been recognised as torture or, at least, as inhumane.

A particularly disturbing aspect has been the involvement of medical professionals, doctors and psychologists, in advising or agreeing to such treatment. This is the subject of the documentary film (by Martha Davis) Doctors of the Dark Side.

This important film is receiving its first UK showing at 6 pm on 29 October at University College London. A discussion follows, including contributions from Philippe Sands and other human rights activists.

The event is free but already fully booked. There is a waiting list or interested people could turn up and see if there are any untaken seats.

Doctors of the Dark Side will be reviewed soon in Solidarity.

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