Open-Ended Fast in Solidarity with Cleared-for-Release Guantánamo Prisoners– Cynthia Papermaster, June 2013Cynthia concluded her hunger strike on September 6, 2013 after the release of two Algerians.
open-ended fast will begin on June 15 and will continue until President Obama begins to free the 86 prisoners who were cleared for release, some years ago, back during the Bush Administration. I hope to help President Obama see that freeing these men is of immediate and critical importance to the United States and the world– that we must act in accordance with U.S. and international law if we wish to hold our heads up and to embody the values of a truly humane and civil society. Indefinite detention is inhumane, force-feeding is inhumane, cruel and painful, these men deserve their freedom, and they deserve our assistance in getting released and resettled. We must act now, before there are any more deaths, any more suffering, at the hell that is the U.S. Prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 2011 the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution welcoming cleared-for-release Guantanamo prisoners to resettle in Berkeley, using private funds. We’re ready for them to come here if they wish, and will provide all they need to heal and rebuild their lives. We want to show compassion to these unfortunate men whom the U.S. government has treated with such cruelty. I’m putting my life on the line for this. I only hope that Barack Obama acts quickly to free the men and let me live. - pledge here www.codepink.org to join the global hunger strike and actions for justice for Guantanamo prisoners by fasting for at least 24 hours
are 86 cleared-for-release prisoners at Guantanamo; President Obama has the authority to release then NOW. The Berkeley City Council passed a resolution welcoming one or two cleared prisoners to settle in Berkeley, at private expense. Should they wish to settle in Berkeley they will find a community eager to help them in every way to heal from their terrible ordeals. Please go to www.codepink.org and take the suggestion actions right away to help free cleared-for-release prisoners. Then go to www.closegitmo.net to see what else is happening. Thank you for reading.Cynthia Papermaster is a community, peace, and justice activist in Berkeley, California, and is Director of Berkeley No More Guantanamos and a member of Codepink Women for Peace, Golden Gate Chapter. She holds BA and Masters degrees from UC Berkeley and is a law librarian, gardener, cook, reader, traveler, explorer of new energy technologies, dancer and companion to a shih-tzu/poodle mix called Jimminywinks, who is also a Codepink Woman for Peace and the same kind of dog Kurt Vonnegut had. She founded the National Accountability Action Network, which works for the prosecution of U.S. officials for complicity in torture and murder, and has a special interest in holding U.S. torture policy makers accountable for crimes against humanity, especially Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee, as well as the many others complicit in crimes of inhumane treatment, torture, and murder of people whom John Yoo labeled ‘enemy combatants’, which included children and innocent detainees turned over to the U.S. for bounty. Cynthia is a former Berkeley PTA Council President, candidate for both Berkeley School Board and U.S. Congress, formerly on the National Steering Committee of the Justice Party USA, a major new U.S. political party aiming to replace Democrats and Republicans with a President and Congressmembers who work for the people and not their corporate-military-fossil fuel campaign funders. She is one of the “Vandenberg 15″, arrested, along with Dan Ellsberg, Cindy Sheehan, Toby Blome, Leslie Angeline, John Amidon,Louis Vitale, OFM and 8 others, for trying to stop an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile launch. She received a bronze “Peace Warrior” medal, and in 2012 she was awarded the first Annual Tom Paine Courageous Spirit Award by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee. Cynthia is not sitting on her laurels. She works daily for peace and justice, and is, as the award states, “truly a renaissance woman in the brilliant spirit of Tom Paine.”
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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: Guantánamo: Where Being Cleared for Release Means Nothing January 26, 2014
- Articles: Video: Washington D.C. Protest on the 12th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo January 16, 2014
- Articles: Join Us in Washington D.C. on Jan. 11 to Tell President Obama, "Close Guantánamo Now!" January 6, 2014
