In Focus

WAT marked 20 years of Guantanamo with rallies around the country

A warm hello, Witness Against Torture Community,
We have our work cut out for us, since President Biden appears to be immobilized when it comes to Guantanamo.  But we still resisted and we hope you enjoy these photos of WAT witness actions across the country on January 11, watch the videos of events you missed, and gear up for a year of raising our voices to demand that this administration close Guantanamo.   In peace and solidarity,
WAT Organizing Team 

On January 11 we were in the streets from coast to coast
….and witnessing in Tiffin, OH, Los Angeles, CA, Raleigh, NC, Greenfield, MA, Asheville, NC, Orcas Island, WA, New York City, Augusta, ME, Boston, MA, and at the White House.  Check out WAT’s post-J11 Facebook posts of photos and our 2022 Fast for Justice photoset on our website. Here is a sampling…

News stories about local rallies

• Protest marks 20th anniversary of Guantanamo Bay prison: ‘The shame of it continues’ (Greenfield Recorder)
• Mainers call for an end to Guantanamo Bay (Fox Bangor)
• It’s time to make Guantanamo Bay prison history by Cyril Mychalejko (Courier Times, Buck County, Pennsylvania)
• Raleigh protests 20 years of Guantanamo prison (NC Stop Torture Now)
• The Sins of Guantanamo Bay by Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland (NC Council of Churches)

J11 videos to watch if you missed the events

• Remembering Guantanamo:  Reflections from a Former Muslim Prisoner and the Muslim Chaplain
• WAT’s J11 noon rally at the White House
• Virtual Vigil on J11:  Disrupt, Confront, and Close Guantanamo

WAT Book Group to discuss Maha Hilal’s new book

Dr. Maha Hilal, one of our WAT organizers, has just published her book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience since 9/11.  Maha’s hot off-the-press book analyzes the past 20 years of the War on Terror and how the US government’s narrative justified the creation of a sprawling apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia.  

WAT Book Group 
What:   Reading and discussing Dr. Maha Hilal’s book together. (In December we discussed Mansoor Adayfi’s book Don’t Forget Us Here.)   

When: Tuesdays, February 1, 8, 5 and 22 at 7 pm ET
To  join us, Email witnesstorture@gmail.com with subject “Maha Hilal Book Group.”  We have complementary copies to send to the first two people who sign up.