Silicon Valley Accountability Coalition
(Formerly Silicon Valley Impeachment Coalition)

How to work for Accountability

As we move to a new Administration, so we move from Impeachment to Accountability. ie. the bringing of those who committed criminal acts to trial in a court of law. How do we go about it? What follows here is not a complete program, thought out in every detail but rather a list of ideas to get us started.

1) Consciousness raising
Accountability has to be a center piece of our struggle, not some vaguely remembered thing that we discussed a while ago and shouldn't we do something about it soon? Without Accountability as a center piece, all else is just rhetoric without consequence.

2) Pedagogy
We have to teach ourselves and others who the actors are: Congress, local prosecutors, the ICC, and National Governments or rather prosecutors acting under the doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction. What can these bodies do and not do legally and the political constraints.

3) The role of Congress
We should be continually pressuring Congress to use its formidable powers of investigation to probe the crimes of the Bush Administration. SVAC can probably do most of this by adoption. It can take cues from Amnesty, CCR, International Center for Transitional Justice, and other such bodies and adopt these as issues to be communicated through emails and on the web site to member groups asking them to write to committee chairmen, call Representatives, Senators, etc, write editorials, op eds, letters to the editor, picket with signs - all the usual stuff that we already know how to do because we've been doing it so long. Let's see if this time around we can do it in a more concentrated and coordinated manner.

4) Universal Jurisdiction
The special category of Crimes Against Humanity can be brought to trial in any country in the world that has signed the treaty; that's most countries. The arrest of Pinochet served notice that this doctrine isn't just fine sounding rhetoric. However, there are obstacles to getting members of the criminal Bush regime arrested and tried. It isn't lack of evidence or jurisdiction; it's fear of the hegemonic power. We should try to build an international network so that not one of the criminals can go anywhereÊoutside the US without huge demonstrations demanding their arrest. To get this working will require hard work and patience but it may well be the most important action that we undertake. Besides keeping the issue of Accountability alive in the public mind, somewhere in the world some prosecutor may find the courage to actually make an arrest. Just with one arrest, the world changes.

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CA NIN Coordinator: Cynthia Papermaster, Berkeley, CA. Email: cynthia_papermaster@yahoo.com