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Professor Cohn Gives Human Rights Day Presentation in Fresno

January 4, 2013

Professor Marjorie Cohn Speaks on Human Rights in Fresno

Professor Marjorie Cohn was invited to give a special presentation for the Human Rights Day Commemoration in Fresno on December 8, that was attended by more than 30 community groups and the college community.

Her talk was titled “Government Sanctioned Torture and Human Rights: What’s really going on and what can we do about it?” and was delivered at the Congregational Church in Fresno.

“The use of torture and abuse by the U.S. government did not begin during the Bush administration,” Professor Cohn told those in attendance. “My presentation addressed how cruel treatment reached its zenith during the Bush years and how some abuses continue in the Obama administration. I was most impressed by the thoughtful discussion following my talk as well as the stellar performance by The Raging Grannies. The visit was a homecoming of sorts as I was a deputy public defender in Fresno many years ago, and I re-connected with old friends.”

The Raging Grannies are a peace activist group started in Victoria, British Columbia and 1987, and have several chapters in California, including Fresno.  They performed peace songs at the Human Rights Day Commemoration attended by Professor Cohn.