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
 Over 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
 |
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 |
 |
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 |
 |
The
National Security State of Obama v Dissenters & Bradley Manning
Sunday,
9th of June 10:00 am-11 :50 am, Room W510Featuring 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 |
|
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