WHY I AM ON A HUNGER STRIKE TO SHUT DOWN GUANTANAMO

– Diane Wilson May 1, 2013

 Diane images

As a fourth generation shrimper and an environmental activist on the Texas gulf coast, I have gone on many hunger fasts to protect the seas my community of fishermen depended upon. I know how far I would go to be heard. To have a voice. To push for justice. So I can vouch for the experts who say that the 100 + hunger strikes in Guantanamo prison reflect the level of desperation and despair felt by the prisoners there. The detainees are screaming for justice from the outside world. And they are being heard.

Here is one despairing voice:

Adanan Latif spent 10 years in Guantanamo without being charged. He was a poet, father and a husband and had been cleared for release four times. Yet he continued to be imprisoned. He was found dead in his cell, one of 9 men who died at Guantanamo. In his own words, Latif asked, “Where is the world to save us from torture? Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness? Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?”

My question is a lot more down home:

Where are we, citizens of America?

Guantanamo is a US detention and interrogation center. A prison, by all counts. Many have called it a gulag, a shame, a scandal, and they wouldn’t be wrong. The vast majority of the 166 men still trapped at Guantánamo have been held for more than 11 years without charge or fair trial. Eighty-six Guantanamo prisoners were cleared for release more than three years ago. The Navy, Army, and Marines have no reason to press charges.

Currently, more than 100 detainees are on a hunger strike, with 21 being force-fed and 5 hospitalized. The forced tube feeding, according to prisoners who have experienced it, is itself an act of torture and very debilitating. A 40 strong medical back-up team has arrived at Guantanamo Bay as the number of inmates taking part in the hunger strike continues to rise, fueling speculation that the condition of the hung-striking prisoners is deteriorating.

If the chains of good ole American indifference continue, hard and unabated, as they have currently been, then the men of Guantanamo Bay might remain there until hell freezes over.

Where are you, Mr. President?

When President Obama took office in 2009, he vowed to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. It’s 2013 and the prison still stands, prisoners remain– but in solitary confinement to reduce camaraderie and hopefully those hunger strikes! Some consider Guantanamo President Obama’s Shame. However, according to President Obama’s speech on Tuesday, he wasn’t a bit surprised they were having problems. Obama called Guantanamo unsafe and expensive to the US tax payers and said it lessened cooperation with US allies. He said he would really like to shut it down and he was going to work on it!

Diane arrestedOkay, President Obama, the time to talk and ruminate is over with! Now is the time for action. And what can you do? Well, pardon a backwoods shrimper from the Gulf Coast for saying this, but Congress may have imposed unprecedented restriction on detainee transfers, but you still have the power to transfer men. Right now. You can and should use the certification/waiver process created by Congress to transfer detainees.

According to the ACLU, there are two essential first steps the President must take. One is to appoint a senior point person for the administration’s Guantanamo closure policy that is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats. The President can also order the Secretary of Defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared, which is more than half the Guantanamo population.

You, President Obama, must demonstrate immediate, tangible progress toward the closure of Guantanamo or the men who are on hunger strikes will die, and you will ultimately be responsible for their deaths.

Where are you, Congress?

Well, Congress, you must not sleep well at night. And contrary to what you believe or what you might believe the American people believe, you can not incarcerate forever a group of people who have not been tried. Sticking them in Cuba will not hide the fact, either. Just as the infamous prison in Northern Ireland where men such as Bobby Sands conducted hunger strikes, died, and stained forever Britain’s human rights record, so Guantánamo stains America’s.

And where am I? Well, I know where this one American fisherwoman is. I stand in solidarity with the Guantanamo prisoners on their hunger strike and I will fast indefinitely until justice comes. Shut down Guantanamo!  

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

GTMO has been open:

U.S. Hunger Strikers

Hunger Striker's Blog



 U.S. Faster in Solidarity w/Gitmo & Pelican Bay Prisoners


NGTubeBeforeMeFlagBehindMeAgonyAwaits

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. 


Join a Rolling Fast


U.S. Hunger Strikers who have suspended their fast


image-300x183

 

 

 

 

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_wilson_color

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.

 

628x471-300x225

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

 

 

 

 

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.


CynthiaP-on-Bike

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

Arlington West Santa Monica

- Campaign for Alternatives to

   Isolated Confinement - NY

Close Guantánamo.org

Code Pink

Global Exchange

- Fast for the Earth

- The Jericho Movement

The Justice Campaign

The London Guantánamo

  Campaign

Meta Peace Team: "Pursuing peace

   through active nonviolence"

- Metta Center for Nonviolence

NRCAT

No more Guantánamos

Nonviolence International

Nuremberg Actions

Office of the Americas

Peaceworkers USA

Save Shaker

Stop Mass Incarceration

Witness Against Torture

The World Can't Wait

Veterans for Peace


Pelican Bay Hunger Strike

Daily Updates

www.CAhungerstrike.net

RSS Feed via

Witness Against Torture feed-icon-28x28
<a class='rsswidget' href='http://witnesstorture.tumblr.com/rss' title='Syndicate this content'><img style='border:0' width='14' height='14' src='http://www.closegitmo.net/wp-includes/images/rss.png' alt='RSS' /></a> <a class='rsswidget' href='http://witnesstorture.tumblr.com/' title='Calling for an end to torture everywhere, on any person for any reason. www.witnesstorture.org'>Witness Against Torture</a>