|
Palace Of The End
''Palace of the End'' is a play by Judith Thompson, that consists of three monologues telling tales related to Iraq before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first two are based on real people Lynndie England and David Kelly and the third is fictional. ''Palace of the End'' was published in 2007 by Playwrights Canada Press. The play ran in Los Angeles in 2007, at Canadian Stage Company in Toronto in 2008, at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 2008, at the Frank Theatre Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2009 and at the Arcola Theatre in London in 2010. It won the 2007–08 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Awards at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The monologues The monologue’s titles are "My Pyramids", "Harrowdown Hill", and "Instruments of Yearning". “My Pyramids” refers to the Abu Ghraib human pyramids. The speaker is Lynndie England, the United States Army reservist who become the face of the Abu Ghraib tortur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Thompson
Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canada, the Walter Carsen Performing Arts Award, the Toronto Arts Award, The Epilepsy Ontario Award, The B'nai B'rith Award, the Dora, the Chalmers, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award (a global competition for the best play written by a woman in the English Language) and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, both for Palace of the End, which premiered at Canadian Stage, and has been produced all over the world in many languages. She has received honorary doctorates from Thorneloe University and, in November 2016, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Early years Thompson was born in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter of William Robert Thompson, a geneticist and the head of the Department of Psychology at Queen's University at Kingston, and Mary, who taught in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backstage (magazine)
Backstage is a prominent global casting platform and entertainment industry publication that connects performers, content creators, and behind-the-scenes professionals with casting directors and production teams across film, television, theater, commercials, and digital media. Founded in New York City in 1960 as a trade magazine for working actors, Backstage now operates one of the largest online platforms for hiring creative talent. The Backstage casting platform hosts thousands of vetted casting calls weekly and supports a talent database of more than 700,000 profiles. Its talent-seeking users range from independent filmmakers to major studios, creative agencies, and global brands. Backstage continues to publish original digital content on career development, casting trends, and expert advice for performers and other talent types. Backstage is owned bCast & Crew a provider of production payroll and software solutions for the entertainment industry. History Backstage was fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persian Gulf War
, combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96-10/pdf/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96-10.pdf , strength2 = 1,000,000+ soldiers (~600,000 in Kuwait)5,500 tanks700+ aircraft3,000 artillery systems , casualties1 = Total:13,488 Coalition:292 killed (147 killed by enemy action, 145 non-hostile deaths)776 wounded (467 wounded in action)31 tanks destroyed/disabled28 Bradley IFVs destroyed/damaged1 M113 APC destroyed2 British Warrior APCs destroyed1 artillery piece destroyed75 aircraft destroyedKuwait:420 killed 12,000 captured ≈200 tanks destroyed/captured 850+ other armored vehicles destroyed/captured 57 aircraft lost 8 aircraft captured (Mirage F1s) 17 ships sunk, 6 captured. Acig.org. Retrieved on 12 June 2011 , casualties2 = Total:175,000–300,000+ Iraqi:20,000–50,000 killed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ba'ath Party
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology mixing Arab nationalist, pan-Arab, Arab socialist, and anti-imperialist interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the Arab world into a single state. Its motto, " Unity, Freedom, Socialism", refers to Arab unity and freedom from non-Arab control and interference. The party was founded by the merger of the Arab Ba'ath Movement, led by ʿAflaq and al-Bitar, and the Arab Ba'ath, led by al-ʾArsūzī, on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Ba'ath Party. The party quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in Iraq and Syria. In 1952, the Arab Ba'ath Party merged with the Arab Socialist Movement, led by Akram al-Hourani, to form the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The newly formed party was a rela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iraqi Intelligence Service
: The Iraqi Intelligence Service () also known as the Mukhabarat, General Intelligence Directorate, or Party Intelligence, was an 8,000-man agency and the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The IIS was primarily concerned with international intelligence collection and analysis but also performed many activities inside Iraq in conjunction with the Directorate of General Security as a secret police organization. The most important section of the IIS was Directorate 4: the Secret Service. One of the well known Directors was Rafi Daham al-Tikriti () the former Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey and the last Chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. The Secret Service was tasked with infiltrating both foreign and domestic governments, unions, embassies, and opposition groups. IIS often worked closely with the Iraqi General Security Directorate (the Iraqi equivalent of the FBI) when conducting domestic activities. IIS is alleged to be responsible for a number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Monitoring, Verification And Inspection Commission
The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999 and its mission lasted until June 2007. UNMOVIC was meant to replace the former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to carry on with the mandate to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and to operate a system of ongoing monitoring and verification to check Iraq's compliance with its obligations not to reacquire the same weapons banned by the Security Council. Background and UNMOVIC's predecessor UNSCOM UNSCOM was created with the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 in April 1991. Lack of cooperation between UNSCOM and the Iraqi government, plus Saddam Hussein's failure to provide unfettered access to UN arms inspectors, led the United States and the United Kingdom to launch air strikes during Operation Desert Fox. Along with founded suspicion o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iraq And Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Iraq actively researched weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and used chemical weapons from 1962 to 1991, after which it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Council. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was internationally condemned for his Iraqi chemical weapons program, use of chemical weapons against Anfal campaign, Kurdish civilians and Peshmerga, military targets during the Iran–Iraq War. Saddam pursued an extensive Iraqi biological weapons program, biological weapons program and a nuclear weapons program, though no nuclear bomb was built. After the Gulf War, UN inspectors located and destroyed large quantities of Iraqi chemical weapons and related equipment and materials; Iraq ceased its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. In the early 2000s, U.S. president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair both falsely asserted that Saddam's weapons programs were still a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Ghraib Torture And Prisoner Abuse
During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were accused of a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses included physical abuse, Sexual abuse, sexual humiliation, physical and psychological torture, and rape, as well as the killing of Manadel al-Jamadi and the desecration of his body. The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs by CBS News in April 2004, causing shock and outrage and receiving widespread condemnation within the United States and internationally. The Presidency of George W. Bush, George W. Bush administration stated that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were isolated incidents and not indicative of U.S. policy. This was disputed by humanitarian organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Red Cross, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, who claimed the abuses were part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Ghraib Prison
Abu Ghraib prison (, ''Sijn Abū Ghurayb'') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1960s and served as a maximum-security prison. From the 1970s, the prison was used by Saddam Hussein to hold political prisoners and later the United States to hold Iraqi prisoners. It developed a reputation for torture and extrajudicial killing, and was closed in 2014. Abu Ghraib gained international attention in 2003 following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when the torture and abuse of detainees committed by guards in part of the complex operated by Coalition forces was exposed. In 2006, the United States transferred complete control of Abu Ghraib to the federal government of Iraq, and was reopened in 2009 as Baghdad Central Prison (Arabic: سجن بغداد المركزي ''Sijn Baġdād al-Markizī''). However, due to security concerns during the War in Iraq, it closed in 2014. Since all of the 2,400 inmates were transferred to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featured more than 51,446 scheduled performances of 3,746 different shows across 262 venues from 60 different countries. Of those shows, the largest section was comedy, representing almost 40% of shows, followed by theatre, which was 26.6% of shows. Established in 1947 as an unofficial offshoot to (and on the "fringe" of) the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The combination of Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. It is an open-access (or " unjuried") performing arts festival, meaning that there is no selection committee, and anyon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freedom Of Expression Awards
Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association with the UK-registered charity Index on Censorship (founded as the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust), which are both chaired by the British television broadcaster, writer and former politician Trevor Phillips. The current CEO is Jemimah Steinfeld. WSI was createdScammell, Michael (1984), "How Index on Censorship Started", in Theiner, George, ''They Shoot Writers, Don't They?'', London: Faber & Faber, pp. 19–28. . by poet Stephen Spender, Oxford philosopher Stuart Hampshire, the publisher and editor of ''The Observer'' David Astor, and the writer and expert on the Soviet Union Edward Crankshaw. The founding editor of ''Index on Censorship'' was the critic and translator Michael Scammell (1972–1981), who still serves as a patron of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members and supporters around the world. The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments". The organization has played a notable role on human rights issues due to its frequent citation in media and by world leaders. AI was founded in London in 1961 by the lawyer Peter Benenson. In what he called "The Forgotten Prisoners" and "An Appeal for Amnesty", which appeared on the front page of the British newspaper ''The Observer'', Benenson wrote about two students who toasted to freedom in Portugal and four other people who had been jailed in other nations because of their beliefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
