FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elliott Adams - (518) 441-2697 - [email protected]
or Mary L. Hanna – (517) 484-3178 at Meta Peace Team - [email protected]
Elliott Adams is a nonviolence trainer and member of the Training Committee for Meta Peace Team.
Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 10:00am EST
June 16th marks 31 days without food for
Solidarity Hunger Striker, Elliott Adams
Sharon Springs, NY
VIDEO:
On May 16th, Meta Peace Team’s Nonviolence Trainer, Elliott Adams, joined others in an act of solidarity with at at least 100 men on hunger strike at Guantanamo (a.k.a. “Gitmo”). Today marks 31 days that Adams has gone without food while trying to bring to light the plight of the detainees imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.
At the onset, Adams said,“Eighty-six of those detainees have been cleared, they’re innocent, (and) they need to be out of there. Their treatment is in violation of every American principle we hold. There’s been no trial, they’re being force fed, which is also deemed as torture by most international organizations.”
On June 13th, two doctors and a medical ethics professor wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine article that U.S. military doctors should refuse orders to force-feed hunger strikers at the Guantanamo detention camp because it violates their ethical obligations. “Force-feeding a competent person is not the practice of medicine; it is aggravated assault,” they said.
Today, 31 days later, Adams has lost 30+ pounds, but not his determination to bring this issue into the mainstream.
“Thirty days of fasting, it is just an arbitrary line in the sand. As I cross it, I realize this is the point I have thought of as a transition: The first thirty days are about self-discipline to not eat. While the first 30 are fraught with many serious medical risks, now is when the fast transitions into true medical problems, closing in on being an emergency. And as I cross it I think of the many Guantanamo hunger strikers who are not giving into the torture of force feeding but have been on hunger strike for…I think this is their 129th day. With no threat to anyone, no motion of violence, taking all the pain and risk on themselves, they stand up to our oppression. And they do it in silence unless we give them a voice through our actions.”
The website CloseGitmo.net has been created to follow Adams and at least 12 other solidarity fasters as they work to hold President Obama to his word, release the 87 cleared detainees, and close Guantanamo.
by 
Hunger Striker's Blog
U.S. Faster in Solidarity w/Gitmo & Pelican Bay Prisoners
Foreground: EMT prepares the tool for the nasal intubation. Background: U.S. Embassy, Buenos Aires, Argentina Middleground:...agony awaits.
The feeding demo is extremely painful, yet it is done with consent. The long-term solidarity fast continues with nasogastric nourishment in front of U.S. governmental symbols of power. The twice-daily force-feeding of Gitmo hunger strikers is nonconsensual and therefore real torture by the standards sponsored by U.S. taxpayers and authorized by members of Congress who just raised the debt ceiling to nearly $17 trillion. President Obama's actions continue to belie his empty words "Close Guantánamo." As Commander-in-Chief, he could easily order an end to what the Pentagon refuses to call "forced-feeding." The force-feeding is premeditated relentless forced penetration of plastic into their innermost sacred cavities !
Andrés Thomas Conteris - fasted on water and coconut water with vitamin and electrolyte supplements. Solidarity fast began July 8, 2013 with 30,000 hunger striking California prisoners urging fulfillment of 5 Core Demands of the Pelican Bay supermax prisoners. Force-feeding protests began Sept. 6 & Sept. 25 in front of the White House & later in front of the Oakland Office of CA Dept of Corrections and Rehab (CDCR) to depict how prisoners in Guantánamo are tortured with force-feeding twice-daily and how CA prisoners as future hunger strikers have been threatened with a court order authorizing force-feeding. On Oct 4 and Oct 8 he was tube-fed in front of the U.S. Embassies in Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Oct 15 a similar protest took place in Santiago, Chile. On Friday, Oct 18 the feeding protest returns to Washington, DC outside a Federal Court hearing on the lawsuit challenging force-feeding in Guantánamo. He is now on a maintenance fast losing about 1 pound per week, unlike the 5 pounds/week the first 11 weeks. In January 2014 with the anniversary of Guantánamo on Jan. 11, the force feeding protests will recommence. Please spread the word.
U.S. Hunger Strikers who have suspended their fast
Diane Wilson - Water only 58 days (lost 48 lbs). Diane, co-founder of CodePink and member of Veterans for Peace, suspended her hunger strike on June 27, 2013 after detention following her arrest for scaling the White House fence the day before. She faced a jury trial in DC District Court on Sept. 5th, 2013.
S. Brian Willson - Suspended Hunger Strike on June 10, 2013 after 31 days on 300cal/day, when a car accidentally hit him. Supporters continue a vigil with a rolling fast, in Portland, OR.
Elliott Adams - Went 80 days on 300 cal/day from May 18, to August 4, 2013 losing 45 lbs. He is past President of Veterans for Peace.
Tarak Kauff - Ended fast on August 4, 2013 after 58 days on 300 cal/day since June 7. He lost 29 lbs. On Board of Directors for Veterans for Peace.
Cynthia Papermaster - After 84 days on 300 cal/day, Cynthia suspended her hunger strike on Sep. 6 which began June 15, 2013. Code Pink member, lost 35 lbs. The transfer of two Algerian prisoners on Aug. 29, 2013, inspired her to suspend her fast.
Collaborative of CloseGitmo.net Organizations
- Campaign for Alternatives to
- Meta Peace Team: "Pursuing peace
- Metta Center for Nonviolence
- NRCAT
Daily Updates
- Articles: Major Obama Supporters Call for Action to Close Guantánamo as Promised February 13, 2014
- Articles: Torture Began at Guantánamo with Bush's Presidential Memo 12 Years Ago February 7, 2014
- Articles: GTMO Clock Marks 250 Days Since President Obama's Promise to Resume Releasing Prisoners from Guantánamo; 77 Cleared Men Still Held January 30, 2014
