#opgtmo

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JULY NEWSLETTER: WAT TAKES ACTION TO SUPPORT SURVIVORS OF TORTURE

Report Back from Torture Survivors Week: June 26 Photos, Video and Update

June 27, 2014 / The White House / Source: Flickr

Last week, members of Witness Against Torture gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Day in Support of Survivors of Torture. Our group of about fifteen attended a panel organized by National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) on U.S. sanctioned torture, engaged in nonviolent direct action at Senator Ayotte and McCain’s offices, and participated in an all-day vigil with Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC). On Sunday, we retreated to the Peace Oasis to put in motion a framework for January 11, 2015.

  No pushback now! Release those unjustly bound.

Got 90 seconds? Please watch & share the video of Witness Against Torture delivering letters to Senator Ayotte and McCain. This is our response to an amendment that could stop all transfers from Guantanamo. The bill has passed the House and is now awaiting the Senate before becoming law.

Click here to read full report & see photos.

Extended video

Click here to read the letters sent to Senator Ayotte and McCain Offices. 

  SAVE THE DATE– January 5- 13, 2015

Every January, the Witness Against Torture community gathers to fast and take action in Washington D.C. to remember the opening of the prison camp in Guantanamo.  This year January 11th, 2015 marks 13 years of torture and indefinite detention.  We will be gathering from January 5th - 13th, 2015 to fast for justice and a week of actions. Join us as we stand in solidarity with those that remained unjustly detained. Save the date and stay tune for more information. If you have any questions please email [email protected]

  Friday Fast for Justice

Susan / Boston

Join in solidarity with the men on hunger strike in Guantanamo by fasting on Fridays. We invite you to consider joining the Friday Fast for Justice. Go without food in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Guantánamo.  If you are already participating in or are interested in participating please sign up here. You can commit to fasting on a specific Friday; weekly for a particular time period; until Guantánamo is closed; or whatever works for you. If you join the fast, we would ask you to:

Fast on Friday, in any form you like;

Make three phone calls (click here to see who we are currently focusing our calls on)

Write to a prisoner at Guantánamo. (click here for instructions on how)

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June Update: WAT response to Prisoner Exchange, M23 Report back, and actions you can take this month

*Witness Against Torture’s Jeremy Varon has an important piece on the state of the movement to close Guantanamo at Wagingnonviolence.org. Please read, tweet, post, circulate, and let us know what you think.

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IN THIS UPDATE YOU WILL FIND:

-The Bergdahl-Guantanamo Prisoner Exchange

-Report on May 23rd Global Day of Action to Close Guantanamo

-June 26th – June 30th in Washington, DC

-Witness Against Torture FRIDAY FAST FOR JUSTICE

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The Bergdahl-Guantanamo Prisoner Exchange

In the midst of the media frenzy about the Bergdahl-Guantanamo Prisoner exchange, there has been a deeply troubling national discourse that portrays all the men in Guantanamo as security risks and calls for the prison to remain open indefinitely.

Witness Against Torture has engaged in the conversation, and our own Palina Prasasouk has written this piece for Truthout.org.  Our friend, Andy Worthington, has also written two important pieces, for PolicyMic & CloseGuantanamo.org that speak to the truth of what is happening, and the ongoing crisis of Guantanamo’s existence.

Please take a minute to read and share these pieces, along with Jeremy Varon’s analysis of where we stand as a movement.

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Report on May 23rd Global Day of action to close Guantanamo

The Global Day of Action to Close Guantanamo and End Indefinite Detention garnered national and international participation, with activity in over 50 cities in eight different countries.  It’s inspiring to see the photos and read reports from many of those who participated on May 23rd.

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June 26th – June 30th in Washington, DC

Participate in Torture Awareness Week with Witness Against Torture

June 26th is the date that the United Nations has marked as the International Day in Support of Survivors and Victims of Torture.  Every year Witness Against Torture travels to Washington D.C. to support events organized by the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) and other human rights organizations for Torture Awareness Week. 

This year, we will be gathering in Washington, D.C. from June 26th to June 30th. You are invited to join us.

Email [email protected] if you are interested in participating and/or helping to organize activities while in DC.

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Witness Against Torture FRIDAY FAST FOR JUSTICE

Join in solidarity with the men through the Fast for Justice

Please consider joining WAT’s Friday Fast for Justice.  If you join the fast, we would ask you to:

-Fast on Friday, in any form you like;

-Make three phone calls (click here to see who we are currently focusing our calls on

-Write to a prisoner at Guantánamo. (click here for instructions on how)

If you are already participating in or are interested in participating in theFriday Fast for Justice, please sign up here.

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WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE SOCIAL MEDIA

  Please ‘like’ us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witnesstorture & Follow Us on Twitter & Instagram: https://twitter.com/witnesstorture -http://instagram.com/witnesstorture#

Post any pictures of your local activities to http://www.flickr.com/groups/witnesstorture/, and we will help spread the word onhttp://witnesstorture.tumblr.com/

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DONATE

Witness Against Torture is completely volunteer driven and run.  We have no paid staff, but do have expenses associated with our organizing work.  If you are able, please donate here.

www.witnesstorture.org

*to unsubscribe, email [email protected] with ‘remove’ in the subject line

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A summary from Witness Against Torture in DC

Dear Friends,

Seven of us stood vigil yet again in front of the center of imperial power at noon today to bear witness to the truth. The main focus of the vigil was the prisoner exchange negotiated between the White House and Taliban. I offered a brief reflection which was followed by a reading of the excellent Witness Against Torture statement on this matter (see below). We also read a riveting article about the tortuous force feeding of Emad Hassan, a Yemeni Guantanamo detainee.

  Our friend George Pauk,  a doctor of some 40 years who is visiting from Arizona, was on hand to speak. He commended the many organizations that have spoken out against the tortuous practice of force-feeding. He also stated that the medical profession should be ashamed that some of its members have directly participated in this immoral dehumanizing practice.

  We then read Andy Worthington's most recent powerful commentary on the subject titled: "Missing the Point on the Guantanamo Taliban Prisoner Swap and the Release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl."

See: PolicyMic & CloseGuantanamo.org.

  To conclude the vigil we did some singing and ended with a closing prayer circle.

  We continue to keep our eyes on the prize and hold on!!!

  With gratitude,

Art

    June 6 White House Program/Reflection

  We greet all who have come to the White House in a spirit of peace. We, members of the DDCW and WAT come to the White House today to say YES to love and justice and NO to the lies and death-dealing policies of a national security state and warmaking empire. 

  The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker began a weekly Friday peace vigil in 1998 here at the White House to call for an end to U.S. criminal warmaking in Iraq and that we embrace God's command to renounce all war and killing and reverence and protest all of life and creation. Since then our vigil has included calling for an end to all U.S. warmaking and military intervention in our world, for the abolition of all weapons of war--from nuclear weapons to killer drones, for an end to all U.S.-sponsored oppression and torture and justice for the poor and all victims. We remember and pray for all victims of our warmaking empire, including the nine men who have died at Guantanamo over the past seven years.

  The U.S. continues to operate with impunity as it has waged lethal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, uses deadly killer drones as part of its kill-list and assassination program in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia, and continues its criminal policy of indefinite detention and torture at Guantanamo. We stand here today to say loud and clear: Abolish the Crime of War! And during this month of June, which marks Torture Awareness Month, let us also redouble our efforts to End the Crime of Torture and Indefinite Detention! Let us Close Guantanamo Now!

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Reflection from a rolling faster on Good Friday

"O Father, this is a prison of injustice.

Its iniquity makes the mountains weep

I have committed no crime and am guilty of no offense...

I have no fellows but the Truth.

They told me to confess, but I am guiltless;

My deeds are honorable and need no apology.

They tempted me to turn away from the lofty summit of integrity,

To exchange this... for a pleasant life...

O God - who governs creation with providence...

Who brings comfort and happy tidings,

Whom we worship - 

Grant serenity to a heart that beats with oppression,

And release this prisoner..."

-from a poem, "To my father," by Abdullah Thani Faris Al Anazi

It resurfaced today unexpectedly during a period of reflection dedicated to Jesus' time on the cross 

I believe our awareness and prayers will contribute to the work of those who are trying to release the many still bound unjustly and shut Guantanamo down.

In 2007 "poems from Guantanamo, the Detainees Speak" was published.  At its printing, this writer had been imprisoned there five years.  It is said that Abdullah  "is a double amputee, having lost both of his legs in a U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan while he was employed as a humanitarian aid worker.  After his first leg was amputated he was arrested on his recovery bed by bounty hunters and turned over to U.S. forces.  While in U.S. custody, his second leg was amputated... held at Guantanamo since 2002...received inadequate medical care.  At times ... forced to walk on prosthetic limbs held together with duct tape." 

According to the Dept. of Defense, he was repatriated in 2007.

There's so much wrong in this world and then there's love of enemy, non-violence, hope and joy!

Blessings,  Mary Kate Small

[witnesstorture]

A reflection from WAT's Chantal on the 12th anniversary of Guantanamo

That Our Hearts May Be Broken… and Filled:  Reflection on Our 2014 Fast to Close Guantanamo and End Torture

Many of you know that for the last five years I have joined Witness Against Torture (WAT) in January in Washington DC for fasting and public witness calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo and an end to torture. Having journeyed over 4000 miles this year I was compelled to reflect more deeply on why I make this journey.  Wanting to understand my reasons more fully and realizing with much regret, that I have not spoken about my motivations with so many of you I decided to share some thoughts on why I go.

I join with Witness Against Torture because Guantanamo exists.

·      779 men have been detained at Guantanamo since the first men arrived wearing goggles and earmuffs, strapped to the floor of a plane on January 11, 2002.  155 men remain 12 years later.

·      147 of the 155 men who remain have never been charged with a crime.

·      Despite systematic attempts at distorting the truth, we now know that the large majority of men brought to the prison were never guilty of conspiring against the U.S.  In fact, 77 men currently detained are “cleared for transfer” by the U.S. government.

·      One of the only remaining recourses for protesting their unjust detention – hunger strike – has been quelled by the military’s grotesque practice of forced feeding.  Forced feeding has been condemned by numerous groups, including the UN Human Rights Commission.

·      While most people of conscience agree that Guantanamo should not exist (including President Obama), our “dirty rotten system” is so entrenched that men continue to be held unjustly for over a decade despite desperate attempts on many fronts to close the facility.

·      In short, the reality of Guantanamo’s story and continued existence is an affront not only to our country’s supposed claim to value life and uphold justice, but to our very humanity itself.

I join Witness against Torture because of who I am and who I know we can be.

The reality of Guantanamo is horrific, but articulating the reasons I continue to make the journey to Washington require deep introspection.  I am aware that while it is the plight of the men at Guantanamo that drew me, I continue to go in part because my identity has been formed and my convictions cemented amidst this transformative community.  This aspect of why I go is more difficult to articulate.  Perhaps I can say simply that Witness Against Torture helps bring out the best in me and allows me to see the beauty in all of us.  Amidst this incredible community:

·      I care deeply for others.  I am literally moved to tears not only by the haunting voices of Guantanamo detainees, but also by the pain of fellow community members and even my own struggles.

·      I am invited to use my gifts and abilities on behalf of a cause that matters: prisoners unjustly bound, with very few advocates speaking out on their behalf.

·      I seem to possess unlimited energy; energy to care, converse, confront, write, plan, laugh, protest, sing, reflect, pray, and love.

·      I am invited into deep introspection:  I sit with my own brokenness and begin processes of healing.  Delusions of unworthiness are shattered as I admit my own goodness and my own power.

·      My spirituality is shaped.  I am given a context to understand discipleship more deeply and to put my faith in practice.

·      I recognize my connectedness with all people.  I begin to grasp the reality that I am not free unless all are free.

·      I witness and believe in the power of community. To build our movement we build relationship, in relationship comes trust, though trust we find the courage to take risk, in our willingness to take risks for what we believe we realize our capacity to change the world.

Throughout my time in DC I am emptied I many ways; emptied of my daily routine and preoccupations, emptied of food, comfort, and my own personal agenda. Yet amidst this emptiness I am nourished and filled in the most extraordinary way; nourished by community and filled with love.

  Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for the important role that each of you hasplayed in my life.  I am so very grateful.

Sincerely,

Chantal

Link to two minute video with clips from fast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBafjeYQXg&feature=player_embedded

Link to 12 minute video about January 11th action:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYPdfIasyGE

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Make Guantanamo History: Activists Fast & Rally in Washington, D.C. to Close the Torture Prison

WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE

www.witnesstorture.org

  Press Advisory - For Immediate Release, January 10, 2014

Press Contacts: Matt Daloisio, [email protected], 201-264-4424

Jeremy Varon, [email protected], 732-979-3119

  Make Guantanamo History: Activists Fast & Rally in

Washington, D.C. to Close the Torture Prison

  WASHINGTON, D.C. — January 11 marks the beginning of the thirteenth year of the operation of the US detention detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.  Activists from throughout the country have gathered in Washington, D.C. this week to engage in street theatre, demonstrations, fasting, and direct action to demand that Guantanamo be closed immediately. 

  As part of these activities, Witness Against Torture will gather today, Friday, January 10, at 12 noon at the White House.   

  Furthermore, a larger coalition of human rights and grassroots groups will rally at the White House on Saturday, January 11 at noon, followed by a “detainee procession” through the streets of Washington.

  Responding to the hunger strike of the men at Guantanamo and global solidarity with their plight, the Obama administration has at last resumed the transfer of innocent men from the prison and renewed its pledge to shutter it. Nevertheless, the administration remains far from fulfilling its promise.  The torture of indefinite detention without charge or trial and the force-feeding of hunger strikers continues daily.

  Since the hunger strike started in February, members of Witness Against Torture have participated in a rolling fast in solidarity with the prisoners.  This week in Washington, we participate in anti-torture activities, which include a group fast of several dozen people, a national solidarity fast, and street protests in the nation’s capital.  On January 11, anti-Guantanamo protests and vigils will take place throughout the country, including in Los Angeles, CA, Boston MA, Chicago IL, Santa Monica, CA Erie, PA, and Cleveland, OH.

  “Through their hunger strike the prisoners in Guantanamo have again made the prison a matter of broad public concern and presidential action,” says Chris Knestrick, an organizer with Witness Against Torture. “But indifference or even hysteria can again set in.  We need to close Guantanamo, without delay, and we’ll keep saying that to the President until he fulfills his promise and it’s done.”

  “We know that Guantanamo is a crime and a sin,” says Chrissy Nesbitt, a faster from North Carolina. “We need to make Guantanamo history. We can do this by both closing the prison and facing up to torture as part of the U.S. national experience.  In doing so, we must demand accountability and restitution to the victims of torture.”

  Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. January 2014 will be the eighth year the group has gathered annually in Washington, DC to call for justice and accountability. To learn more, visit www.witnesstorture.org

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A list of events and vigils this week

Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie Catholic Worker

Jan 6-13. 5:15PM to 5:45PM at the federal building.

Contact: [email protected]

Saratoga, Florida

Saratoga Peace Alliance

Jan 5-10 12PM-1PM at the downtown post office.

Contact: [email protected]

Boston, Massachusetts

Committee for Peace and Human Rights

Jan 11 1-2PM at Park Street Station on the Boston Common

Contact: [email protected]

Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo

Jan 10 4:30-5:30PM  Dearborn and Jackson

Facebook page for the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/347886498681792/

12 Years Too Many, An Evening to discuss and dissent

Jan 11 6:30PM-9:30PM

Chicago Danz Theatre

Facebook page for the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/546163325473444/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar

Santa Monica, California

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace

Jan 11 3PM-4PM Santa Monica Palisades Park

Contact: [email protected]

London

London Guantanamo Campaign

Jan 11 2-4PM Trafalgar Square, outside National Gallery

Facebook page: for the event https://www.facebook.com/events/246710665485484/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar

The World Can’t Wait Tour with Andy Worthington and Debra Sweet

Jeff Kaye, Michael Kearns, Jason Leopold, and Todd Pierce will join Andy and Debra

Jan 9-17

https://www.facebook.com/events/1444264625791804/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar

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Friends in New York: pass this graphic around to help promote the demonstration at Foley Square tomorrow!