What would it take? We are wrangling over this. A lot of people thought
that to close Guantanamo it would take electing Barack Obama. Our guest on
World Can't Wait's national conference call this past Thursday evening, Carlos
Warner, said he thought that in 2008. A federal public defender for Northeast
Ohio, Carlos represents 13 men still detained there, which he has visited "at
least 30 times." He describes his clients as "artists, poets, musicians, and
some just regular guys who have had a very difficult life." These are the
stories and voices we will bring to life this coming Friday in protests around
the world.
Our conversaiton was revealing and inspiring, and delved into the
relationship between the devastating impact of Obama's drone attacks and the
revelations about the NSA scandal, topics for future discussions. Carlos
continues to argue powerfully that Guantanamo MUST be closed, that Obama has
the power to do that, and that what we do - out in the streets, around the
country and around the world - is critical to accomplishing that goal. We
think rousing people to demand an end to Guantanamo and indefinite detention is
the most important, and missing, piece of what it will take to back the
torturers down.
We thank Carlos for joining us on the call and all his work on behalf of
justice for Guantanamo prisoners.
Andy Worthington reports on a Breakthrough on Guantanamo: Judge Orders U.S.
Government to Stop Force Feeding Syrian Prisoners and to Preserve Video
Evidence. "In a hugely important ruling in the US district court in
Washington, D.C., relating to the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay,
Judge Gladys Kessler has ordered the government to suspend the forced-feeding of
a hunger-striking prisoner, and to preserve video evidence of his
forced-feeding.
The prisoner, Abu Wa'el Dhiab, a father of four, is a
Syrian national, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of his
deteriorating health during his 12 years in U.S. custody. Significantly, he was
cleared for release by President Obama's
high-level, inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force in 2009, but is still
held, along with 74 other men cleared for release by the task force. The
majority of these men are Yemenis, who have not been freed because of US
concerns about the security situation in Yemen, but in Dhiab's case, he is still
held because of the civil war in his home country and the need for a third
country to be found to take him in." Read more here.
Be part of creating a political situation
where the U.S. closes its torture camp at Guantanamo
Distribute Fliers & Posters in English &
Spanish in your community, school, church. Write for Spanish flier.
After All These Obama Years...
Close the USA's Torture Camp at Guantanamo NOW!
End Indefinite Detention!
Five years into the Obama regime, why is America's Torture
Camp still open? And what can we do to close it?
Our
government has done its best to hide the torture practiced at the experimental
prison camp of Guantanamo. But thanks to the courageous hunger strike of over
100 prisoners in 2013, which continues today
despite U.S.
military efforts to withhold the current tally of participants, we now know more
details of continuing brutality. Excuses of ignorance about what is transpiring,
short of deliberate head-turning, are no longer plausible.
The hunger
strike by the Guantanamo prisoners is their cry to the world, which we must hear
and support. Right now, today – our voices and our actions can make a
difference.
Evidence against some prisoners is tainted, usually because
of a tortured confession. There is no legal way to get a conviction. Political
calculation notwithstanding, in a free and just society, anyone detained by the
government must be charged, given fair trials, or released. And that
won’t happen by the secret military tribunal system that President Obama has
established to replace real justice. The hated prison camp could be closed with
the stroke of a pen.
It is up to the people to stand up for principle and
morality when their institutions and public officials refuse to do so.
The fates of those who are maimed or killed by our
government’s policies are inextricably intertwined with our
own.
Below is the ad 800
people funded which was published in The New York Times May 23, 2013, the day
Obama spoke at the National Defense University. All seven prisoners whose
photos appeared in The Times for the first time -- even though via Chelsea
Manning & Wikileaks the Times had these images for several years -- are
still at Guantanamo. Adnan Latif had died by this time last year.
We urge you to read the
statement and think about whether anything it says has changed for the better.
You can still sign this message online. See in Spanish here.
Getting Deeper into the NSA Surveillance
Revelations from Edward Snowden
A friend sent me a clip of the
song "Big Brother," by Stevie Wonder.
"Your name is Big Brother
You
say that you got me all in your notebook
You're writing it down
everyday."
In 1972, Stevie sang "You've killed all our leaders," and "You
say you're tired of me protesting." Check it out for its relevance
now.
I am reading two books simultaneously that zing back and forth on
the Big Brother theme, both real-life thrillers that heighten the stakes of
stopping vast surveillance by the government:
The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar
Hoover's Secret FBI, by Betty Medsger.
Medsger was a reporter at
The Washington Post in 1971 when the FBI's Media, PA office was broken into by
peace activists determined to learn if the movement was being spied on. She
covered the story then, and followed up as, 40 years later, the principals in
the burglary - who were never caught - cooperated with her in telling why and
how they risked so much to uncover Cointelpro, the FBI's program of political
spying, disruption and murder.
It's hard to say which is more astounding
in this story: the bravery and selflessness of the burglars who persevered
against all odds to get the truth out, or the hubris and arrogance of the FBI,
who with all their repression did not figure out who stole the documents and got
them to the public. Something to learn on both accounts.
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and
the U.S. Surveillance State, by Glenn Greenwald.
A real-life thriller
from just a year ago, as Snowden, Greenwald, Laura Poitras and other reporters
rush to get the first stories out to the world, as they fear Snowden will be
disappeared, or at least apprehend, by U.S. or Chinese
authorities.
Greenwald gives more dimension to the picture of Snowden as
someone comfortable with risking his whole life. "The stuff I saw really began
to disturb me," Snowden said. "I could watch drones in real time as they
surveilled the people they might kill. You can watch entire villages and see
what everyone was doing. I watched NSA tracking people's Internet activities as
they typed. I became aware of just how invasive US surveillance capabilities had
become. I realized the breadth of this system. And almost nobody knew it was
happening."
Greenwald discusses the "reform" coming from Congress as in
effect more deeply covering up the spying. He covers the pervasive disappearance
of privacy and the expectation of privacy, and the lying on the part of the
government to justify spying in order to prevent "terrorism." Worth thinking
about: "While the government, via surveillance, knows more and more about what
its citizens are doing, its citizens know less and less about what their
government is doing, shielded as it is by a wall of secrecy."
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There is no other time than NOW to demand: Close Guantanamo NOW. We wear
these buttons constantly. You can too, and share with friends.
10 for $10, postage paid, right to you.
Volunteers in the World Can't Wait national office (well, we're all
volunteers) have been shipping orange jumpsuits and palm cards around the
country, and the world to prepare for Friday's Guantanamo protests. We've
prepared materials and been in touch with many people to make these events
happen. This is what your donation supports.
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Upcoming Events:
Albany, New York 12:00 pm Townsend
ParkFacebook event
page
Amherst, MA 11:30 am- 1
pm The Common
Baltimore, Maryland aimlessnee@gmail.com
Boston, MA 10:30 am - 1 pm
Ramsey Park to Boston CommonsFacebook event
page
Bozeman, MT 5:30 pm Main Street in
front of the Courthouse
Buffalo, NY 12:00 pm Niagra Square 68 Court
Street
Chicago, Illinois 4:30 pm Water Tower
ParkFacebook event
page
Cleveland, OH 7:00 pm
4241 Lorain AvenueFacebook event
page
Detroit, Michigan 4:00
pm McNamara Federal BuildingFacebook event
page
Dallas, Texas JHarris866@aol.com
Erie, PA 4:15 pm West 8th St.
and Bayfront Pkwy
Fort Wayne, IN 12:00 pm Summit Park,
DowntownFacebook Event
page
Grand Rapids, MI agebhardt09@gmail.com
Hartford, CT doucot@sbcglobal.net
Honolulu, Hawaii 6:00 pm - 8
pm Seaside & Kalakaua in Waikiki
Memphis, TN
samuelstevenrodgers@gmail.com
Minneapolis, Minnesota 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Federal Courthouse
Montclair, NJ 6:30 pm Park and Bloomfield
AveFacebook event
page
New Haven, CT 12:00 pm
Federal Courthouse stepsFacebook event
page
New York City 12:00 pm
43rd & 7th Ave Times SquareFacebook event
page
Norfolk, VA 12:00 pm
Federal Building
Oklahoma City, OK 4:30 - 6:00 pm Penn Square
MallFacebook event
page
Orange
County, CA 12:00 pm Orange Circle, 118 S. Glassell
St
Pittsburgh, PA nancy.heacock@gmail.com
Portland, OR 12:00 pm
Director Park (downtown)
Raleigh, NV 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Terry Sanford Federal
Facebook event
page
Rochester, NY 4:30 -
5:30 pm 12 Corners area in Brighton
Sacramento, CA late afternoon Tower
Bridge (near Rally Field)
Contact us that day to find out when we will reach
the Bridge
Contact bbinks@comcast.net
San Francisco, CA 4:30 - 6:00
pm Powell and Market (BART plaza)
Springfield, MA 11:45 am - 1:15 pm ntalanian@nogitmos.org
Sunnyvale, CA 12:00 pm -
1:00 pm Lockhead Martin
Tiffin, OH 4:30 pm Courthouse Square Washington
& Market St
Toledo, Ohio Dakotakwolf@aol.com
Tuscon, AZ 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm
Federal building Congress & Granada
Washington, DC 12:00 pm The White HouseFacebook event
page:
Worcester, MA 12:00 -
1:00 pm Lincoln SquareFaceook event
page:
International
events:
Kraków, Poland Where: US consulate, ul Stolarska
annamink@mp.pl
London, England 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Trafalgar SquareFacebook event
page
Mexico City 5:00 pm
U.S. Embassy
Munich, Germany 6:00 pm mayeranya@aol.com
MAY 24: Sydney, Australia 2:00
pm
The Wayside Chapel, 29 Hughes St, Potts Point NSW 2011Facebook event
page
Toronto, Canada 12:00
pm Young-Dundas SquareFacebook Event
page
Wednesday May 28:
Obama to give commencement address to the US Military Academy at West Point,
NY. We'll be taking this message to the graduates:
"Your Commander
in Chief is the Biggest Drone Killer in the World - Don't Do Drone
Killing"
We'll be on public
roads at two West Point gates as cars enter the campus for the ceremony. We
will gather at 6:45 am near the Stoney Lonesome Gate of West Point just off
Route 9W, one exit north of the exit leading to Highland Falls, NY, home of West
Point. The protest will end shortly before 10 am when the commencement is
scheduled to begin. MAP.
Write: nickmottern@earthlink.net
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