Friday, June 28, 2013

Today is Day 120 of the Guantanamo prisoner's hunger strike. Reminder: it's also Day 21 since the President said, “to the greatest extent possible, we will transfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other countries.”

Andy Worthington writes in
Don't Forget the Hunger Strike at Guantanamo,
“the Guardian explained, the hunger strike “has worsened” since President Obama’s speech. The paper noted, “On the eve of Obama’s address, there were 103 prisoners on hunger strike, with 31 being force-fed by military authorities and one in hospital. Since then, not a single prisoner has stopped their strike, and now 36 of the detainees are being force-fed to keep them alive, with five of them being hospitalised.” On Sunday, that number had risen to 37.

Carlos Warner, who represents a number of prisoners, including
Fayiz al-Kandari, one of the last two Kuwaitis, said, “The numbers of strikers are not moving downwards. Nothing has changed.” Others, as the Guardian put it, “said they feared the media spotlight would move on from the issue, despite the fact that nothing concrete has yet emerged from Obama’s speech.”
Thirteen prisoners wrote an open letter to their military doctors which begins,
“I do not wish to die, but I am prepared to run the risk that I may end up doing so, because I am protesting the fact that I have been locked up for more than a decade, without a trial, subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and denied access to justice. I have no other way to get my message across. You know the authorities have taken everything from me...”
According to the Miami Herald today, “As of Wednesday, the prison reported that 103 detainees were on hunger strike and 39 of them were being tube-fed by Navy medical staff, three in the prison hospital.”

We join in the call not to forget the hunger strike.
Our message Close Guantanamo NOW is more relevant than ever. It will appear in the July issue of The Progressive, and this week's edition of Revolution newspaper. We are seeking to publish it further internationally, and give blanket permission for any publication as long as worldcantwait.net is mentioned.

Please send your ideas, and your donations to make that possible.


California Prisoners to Begin Hunger Strike July 8, 2013

US
                                    PrisonersOver many years now of talking publicly about torture by the US government in Guantanamo, Abu Ghriab, and black sites we still can't even identify, I've been challenged by ex-prisoners, and family of prisoners here to recognize that in U.S. prisons, people are tortured, including by solitary confinement of probably 80,000 prisoners at any one time.

In 2011, a hunger strike began in the Special Housing Units of CA state prisons, spreading to thousands of prisoners. The state agreed to some of their demands; but two years later, nothing changed. The prisoners, taking the risk and making intense efforts to unite across nationalities, have announced they will hunger strike again. YOU can add your name to this emergency call:
JOIN US IN STOPPING TORTURE IN U.S. PRISONS!

People imprisoned at Pelican Bay State Prison in California have called for a nationwide Hunger Strike to begin on July 8, 2013. They have also issued a call for unity among people from different racial groups, inside and outside the prisons. People who are locked down in segregation units of this society’s prisons, condemned as the “worst of the worst,” are standing up against injustice, asserting their humanity in the process. We must have the humanity to hear their call, and answer it with powerful support!

Stay tuned at stopmassincarceration.org for other ways of supporting the demand to stop solitary confinement and torture in U.S. prisons.



Join us for Three War Criminals Watch/World Can't Wait Panels at the Left Forum at Pace University
Forward Targeted Killing, Drone Warfare, Surveillance & Grassroots Resistance: the Obama Doctrine
Saturday, 8th of June 03:40 pm-05:20 pm, Room W622

Ed Kinane - Upstate Coalition to Stop the Wars & Ground the Drones, Nick Mottern -
KnowDrones.com, Zohra Ahmed - Pakistan Solidarity Network, Debra Sweet - World Can't Wait
No
                                      More Guantanamos Stopping Indefinite Detention by the US: Guantánamo, Bagram and the NDAA
Saturday, 8th of June 05:30 pm-07:10 pm, Room E305

Features a multi-media presentation with slide show of art against torture with Jeremy Varon - Witness Against Torture, Golnaz Fakhimi - International Justice Network, Debra Sweet - World Can't Wait
Bradley The National Security State of Obama v Dissenters & Bradley Manning
Sunday, 9th of June 10:00 am-11 :50 am, Room W510
Featuring a special report on the court martial of Bradley Manning by Kevin Gosztola. Thomas Drake - NSA whistle blower, Jesselyn Radack - Government Accountability Project, Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter at
firedoglake.com, Debra Sweet - World Can't Wait
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait
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