From the Archive

Fast for Justice 2012: Day 8

Video: Beth Brockman the morning of day 8.
Today was a the day of perseverance, preparation and gathering. The round-the-clock vigil with the Guantánamo cell has created a strong presence in front of the White House; a constant reminder. Meanwhile, back at the church, various peoples and groups were assigned tasks in order for tomorrow to run smoothly. It will be no small feat of organization and cooperation for the many expected people to manifest as one singular group, simultaneously speaking out in front of four of the main government institutions responsible for the continuation of Guantánamo—the White House, Department of Justice, Congress and the Supreme Court.

This afternoon and evening, many of our folks attended two informative and challenging events focused on Andy Worthington and his work as journalist and documentary-maker. Mr. Worthington has steadfastly brought the continued plight of the men at Guantánamo to light, especially now, when many if not most people have, as he said, “the impression that Guantánamo is a humane place now.” He emphatically concluded, “Tomorrow is important because no one will leave Guantánamo until we push for it, educate people.”

It is indeed a strange anniversary, too, because so many friends are beginning to arrive in DC to participate tomorrow. And many, many more will be streaming in on buses coming from all directions. So, joy abounds as our community grows exponentially. But in the midst of the meetings and vigils and preparation, what we found most encouraging, and challenging, was a message relayed to us today through our friends at the Center for Constitutional Rights which we share with you now:

“multiple clients have told counsel that the men at GTMO were so moved to find out that we were planning a big public demo that they have decided to try and hold a peaceful protest in solidarity *with us* and to protest the ongoing injustice of 10 years of indefinite detention at GTMO! We know there is buy into this among the men at Camps 5 and 6. Camp 6 is communal and there will be hunger strikes and peaceful sit-ins, with signs prepared. Camp 5 is more restrictive, so no communal sit-ins, but a protest involving a refusal to accept food for 3 days. The men informed camp guards about their intentions and reasoning on Monday night, and aim to peacefully protest on Jan 10, 11, and 12. We won’t know in real time if they were successful or were stopped — but we know that men on every cell block in camp 6 will seek to do this, and that men in Camp 5 will participate as well.”

We pray that the efforts of these men, combined with our own and yours, are able to be heard.

In peace,

Witness Against Torture

Contents

1) Day 8 Update – Reflections and Impressions (by Ted Walker)
2) Report on the Guantanamo panel discussion at the New America Foundation (by Dan Olsen)
3) Andy Worthington’s article about the Guantánamo prisoners peaceful protest
4) A Note of Support
5) Chantal de Alcuaz’s “Eight Days of Fasting” Sing-along!

Plus

1) Gitmo: 10 years of injustice and disgrace By Vince Warren, Special to CNN (with a photo from our vigil)
2) A photo from our White House vigil in USA Today
3) Andy Worthington’s new website to petition against Guantánamo
4) Democracy Now! Reporting on the Ten Year Anniversary
5) Catholic News Service Article mentioning the fast and J11 day of action

Day 8 Update – Reflections and Impressions

by Ted Walker

Chantal and Chris, both from Chicago, brought us all together this morning for a wonderful and well-rounded reflections. First, Chantal had us singing and laughing (and you will too when you belt out the lyrics below!), and then she led us in a most moving meditation. The directions were simple: “For the next three to five minutes, slowly look around at the faces of our circle… and as awkward as it may feel, hold your gaze if you should cross with another’s!” So simple, and yet it moved us all, even Carmen to tears. Chris followed this meditation by outlining Bill Moyer’s concept of an “effective rebel” from his book Doing Democracy and led us in thinking how it may apply and challenge our work in Witness Against Torture.

Finally, Chris closed the reflection time by recounting to us the story of Brigadier General Leonard, who was base commander at the very beginning of Guantánamo, charged to create this detention center. Chris related how, during the first 100 days, the detainees went on a hunger strike and Leonard began to research the hunger strikes of Gandhi and Bobby Sands. He was so effected by these stories that he then went cage to cage, begging the men to start eating again, bringing himself to meet the detainees eye to eye. In short, because the hunger strike, Brigadier General Leonard saw the humanity of the men. How even more poignant this story was after having experienced the difficulty of looking our friends in the eye!

While a few of our group attended the first Andy Worthington event (see Dan’s report below), over to the White House the rest of us went to join the cage vigil in a larger demonstration. For two hours we stood in orange jumpsuits and black hoods before the white house and were marched by Carmen around the grounds with the cage in the lead. Diminished as my body feels from just from eight days of fasting, the pain of holding my hands behind my back for this time was sharp. I found myself counting down the time before the church bells rang the hour when we would stop. Just from the experience of my own weakness, it dawned on me how unimaginable is the utter desperateness of indefinite detention.

Tonight’s event at Bus Boys and Poets was a screening of Andy Worthington’s documentary Outside the Law, followed by a panel discussion with several lawyers who are defending five of the Yemeni men currently detained in Guantánamo. The point that each of the lawyers struggled to express (and even to believe themselves) is that Guantánamo is more of a political problem than a legal problem. One of the lawyers went so far as to say that “the only progress really made at Guantánamo [with the exception of winning habeas corpus for the men] was through political and diplomatic pressure, not legal cases.” They each spoke of their frustration in the “court”, that even with little to no evidence, the judges will invariably side with the government. “The legal setting has become worse and worse,” and that is why they encouraged and were encouraged by the events planned for tomorrow.

As I write this last sentence, it is “tomorrow” already. The overnight cage vigil is about to switch hands, and collectively we are gathering our strength for the demonstration near at hand.

Report on the Guantánamo panel discussion at the New America Foundation

by Dan Olsen

A ragamuffin group of ten Witness Against Torture fasters walked into the New America Foundation’s panel discussion entitled, “Guantanamo forever?” Winding around CSPAN cameras and well-dressed reporters, fasters sat near the panel of four. Each member brought their different disciplines into bearing against the policies surrounding Guantanamo and the recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va) started out the discussion with a succinct overview of the Guantanamo facility currently. He reported of the 171 men at the prison, only 36 are slated to be formally prosecuted and the six that have court dates scheduled are more than a year away. 48 have been slated for “preventative detention” without trial. This leaves 87 men cleared for release, but unable to leave due to strict standards put into place by the NDAA and other legislation. Later during questions, Moran stood up and gave an impassionate declaration of why every American Citizen should be outraged over the blatantly unconstitutional and threatening NDAA that has been tacitly accepted by the public.

As a British Journalist, Andy Worthington, pointed out the shame our country bears for keeping open this legacy of Guantanamo, while expressing his fear that Guantanamo is slated to be open forever. He also promoted a new online campaign, www.closegauntanamo.org, which he hopes will get more people educated. Ret. Col. Morris Davis, pointed out that a policy of torture negatively affects our interests by making our military ineffective, and providing fodder for other terrorist organizations. He also called for us to be more compassionate as a country, expressing his concern that the political rhetoric that gets the most attention is the most hateful and degrading. Attorney Thomas Wilner was able to humanize the discussion by talking about some of the cases he has handled at Guantanamo, expressing his hope that “the only way a lie can exist is in the absence of truth.”

All expressed regret that this is the third year of the panel discussion, and were doubtful that this would be the last. When asked by a Witness Against Torture faster about the injustices happening at Bagram, Ret. Col. Davis replied, “Guantanamo is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Video available here.

Guantánamo Prisoners Stage Peaceful Protest and Hunger Strike on 10th Anniversary of the Opening of the Prison

10.1.12

Today, prisoners at Guantánamo will embark on a peaceful protest, involving sit-ins and hunger strikes, to protest about their continued detention, and the continued existence of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, three years after President Obama came to office promising to close it within a year, and to show their appreciation of the protests being mounted on their behalf by US citizens, who are gathering in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to stage a rally and march to urge the President to fulfill his broken promise.

Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York, and one of the attorneys for Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo, said that his client, who is held in isolation in Camp 5, told him on his last visit that the prisoners would embark on a peaceful protest and hunger strike for three days, from Jan. 10 to 12, to protest about the President’s failure to close Guantánamo as promised.

He explained that the men intended to inform the Officer in Charge ahead of the protest, to let the authorities know why there would be protests, and added that the prisoners were encouraged by the “expression of solidarity” from US citizens planning protests on Jan. 11, the 10th anniversary of the opening of the prison. Kassem also said that another of his clients, in Camp 6, where most of the prisoners are held, and where, unlike Camp 5, they are allowed to socialize, stated that prisoners throughout the blocks were “extremely encouraged” by reports of the protests in Washington D.C.

The prisoner, who does not wish to be identified, also said that banners and signs had been prepared, and that there would be peaceful sit-ins in the communal areas. He added that the prisoners were concerned to let the outside world know that they still reject the injustice of their imprisonment, and feel that it is particularly important to let everyone know this, when the US government, under President Obama, is trying to persuade the world that “everything is OK” at Guantánamo, and that the prison is a humane, state of the art facility.

He also explained that the prisoners invited the press to come to Guantánamo and to request interviews with the prisoners, to hear about “the toll of a decade” of detention without charge or trial, and said that they “would like nothing more” than to have an independent civilian and medical delegation, accompanied by the press, be allowed to come and talk to the 171 men still held. In Camp 5, Shaker Aamer and the other men still held there will not be able to stage a sit-in, as they are unable to leave their cells, but they will participate in the protests by refusing meals.

No one knows how the authorities will respond to the protests, especially as the new commander of Guantánamo, Navy Rear Adm. David Woods, has gained a reputation for punishing even the most minor infractions of the rules with solitary confinement.

According to Kassem, prisoners have complained that the new regime harks back to the worst days of Guantánamo, between 2002 and 2004, when punishments for non-cooperation were widespread.

Of the 171 men still held at Guantánamo, 89 were “approved for transfer” out of Guantánamo by a Task Force of career officials and lawyers from the various government departments and the intelligence agencies, and yet they remain held because of Congressional opposition and President Obama’s unwillingness to tackle his critics. 36 others were recommended for trials, and 46 others were designated for indefinite detention without charge pr trial, on the basis that they are too dangerous to release, but that there is insufficient evidence against them to put them on trial.

That is a disgraceful position for the government to take, as indefinite detention on the basis of information that cannot be used as evidence indicates that the information is either tainted by torture, or is unreliable hearsay. It remains unacceptable that President Obama approved the indefinite detention of these men in an executive order last March, even though he also promised that their cases would be subject to periodic review.

Just as disgraceful, however, is the fact that all of the 171 prisoners still at Guantánamo face indefinite detention, as none of them can leave the prison given the current restrictions. That ought to trouble anyone who cares about justice and fairness, and the protests by the prisoners, on the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, ought to convey, more eloquently than any other method, why the pressure to close the prison must be maintained.

Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison

Dear Witness Against Torture,

Just wanted to send my prayers and solidarity your way. I have arranged for a remembrance service at a chapel on Sunday where we will read poems and say prayers for those who have died, those who are still there, and those who are now released but still live with the ongoing scars of Guantanamo.

Thank you for all that you do. I really wish I was there with all of you.

Peace,
Aloysia

Supporting Human Rights, Transparency and Fairness for David Hicks

Chantal de Alcuaz’s “Eight Days of Fasting” Sing-along!

(sung to the tune of you-probably-know-what!)

On my first day of fasting, my body said to me: Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my second day of fasting, my body said to me: I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my third day of fasting, my body said to me: Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my fourth day of fasting, my body said to me: Take it easy on the tea (I feel like I’m drowning)… Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my fifth day of fasting, my body said to me: I’ve stopped pooping! … Easy on the tea… Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my sixth day of fasting, my body said to me: What happened to your mattress? … I’ve stopped pooping! … Easy on the tea… Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my seventh day of fasting, my body said to me: Chantal, you’re not eating, what’s with all the walking around all day? What happened to your mattress? … I’ve stopped pooping! … Easy on the tea… Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

On my eighth day of fasting, my body said to me: Take another shower… Tone down all the walking… What happened to your mattress? … I’ve stopped pooping! … Easy on the tea… Time to take a shower… I feel a little dizzy… Chantal, I’m very hungry!

(To be continued!)