By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General. When activists were tortured at the hands of the South African Apartheid state police, we looked to the democratic countries of the world to condemn police brutality and call on our government to abide by internationally recognised human rights. Because of their active criticism of the use of torture, countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, among others, were able to use their relatively clean records to shame and pressure the South African state. While it is debatable whether these countries may have employed clandestine torture in covert politics of the cold war, none of them publicly acknowledged or condoned its use. And because of this, they were able to use their “moral authority” (premised supposedly on democracy and freedom) to influence the less democratic states. In a frightening turn, however, torture has made its way back into the public debate, with the governments that supposedly advocate democracy and freedom at the helm of its defence.   more »