83 Arrested U.S. Supreme Court *J11 Solidarity with NVDA to Close Gitmo!
Ciaron-London Catholic Worker | 14.01.2008 06:34
On January 11th., the 6th. anniversary of Guantanamo, 400 people walked from the Washington D.C. mall to the Supreme Court to employ nonviolent direct action to shut down Guantanamo. 83 were arrested inside the court, and on the steps, of the U.S. Supreme Court dressed as Guantanamo prisoners.
Those arrested gave names of Guantanamo prisoners instead of their own.Around the globe, 80+ Solidarity vigils were held at U.S. embassies, and sites of significance, calling for the immediate closure of the U.S. gulag at Guantanamo.
Further reports from D.C. www.witnesstorture.org
Some Visuals of NVDA at Supreme Court
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcivey/sets/72157603695361494/
"A Report & Reflection from U.S. Embassy, London -
J11 Vigil in Solidarity with NVDA to Shutdown Guantanamo"
by Ciaron O'Reilly
Photos from London "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85774
The London Catholic Worker marked the 6th. anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo with a vigil at the U.S. embassy, located near Grosvenor Square in central London.
To vigil is stay awake; to stay awake to the mainstreaming of torture, to attacks on civil liberties, to our complicity with the CIA kidnapping and rendition flights refueling in England to the U.S. gulag that is Guantanamo. As we enter the 7th. year of the Bush initiated war without end, civil society remains asleep, sedated and silenced in the face of a war that escalates in Iraq and Afghanistan and expands into Lebanon, Somalia, Pakistan and who knows where next?
On arrival at the enormous embassy building, it becomes obvious that those waging war are not asleep. They are alert and preparing for the inevitable blowback of their policies of bombing, torturing and invasion. There is major security related construction underway at the London embassy. Martin remarks that it looks like images of the U.S. embassy in Saigon he saw on a recent documentary dealing with the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. Zelda remarks that it looked like the U.S. embassy in Managua during the U.S. war on the Sandanistas. The revamped embassy architecture speaks to London being considered by the U.S. government as part of the theatre of war. The U.S. assumption is that as they, along with British government, escalate the war - terror will be visited on the city of London. The U.S. is circling the wagons near Grosvenor Square to insure it won't be them who gets hit!
The statue of Eisenhower, and the road in front of the embassy, is surrounded by high metal security fencing. We take a walk to scope out where we can get a foothold into this scene to set up our vigil. Grosvenor Square has a long history, thousands have gathered here over the decades to cry for peace and justice in Vietnam, in Central America, in the Middle East whereever the American Empire has extended its reach. Zelda, Martin and I, from the live-in crew at the London Catholic Worker, gathered on the other side of the park for weeks at a time in the late '90's. At that time, we maintained vigil as the people of East Timor risked their lives to vote the Indonesian out of their country. I think of the genocidal Indonesian General Suharto, loyal servant of U.S. imperial interests and one of the biggest mass murderers of the 20th. century, dying tonight in his own bed. No Hague Court or orange jumpsuit for Suharto and others who wield the sword and slay the innocents on behalf of U.S. interests.
We find a space at the public entrance to set up a vigil line. Scott takes up his position dressed in the orange jumpsuit and hood of Guantanamo. A few of us cross the road to set up some sacred space centred around the candlelit names of those who have died at Guantanamo....
*Camp 1
June 10th. 2006
3 Suicides
Manel al Otaibi
Yasser al-Zahrani
Ali Abdullah
*Camp 5
May 30th. 2007
Suicide
Abdul Rahman al-Amri
*Abdul Razzak, 68
December 30th. 2007
Cancer
Martin begins reading the names of those imprisoned at Guantanamo, their places of origin and their ages. Names of those detained indefinitely that have never been read out formally in a public court. Names that are being read out now by our friends occupying the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. as 81 are arrested demanding that Guantanamo be shut down. http://www.witnesstorture.org/jan11release
Twenty of us gathered from the London & Farmhouse Catholic Worker communities, London Menonite Centre, Jesus Christians, Simon Community, three Muslim friends, an actress from the play "Guantanamo - Honour Bound to Defend Freedom" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3605506.stm, the author of the book "Guantanamo Files" http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/?page_id=17 and folks from the London Guantanamo Campaign who have been moving around the city in orange jumpsuits throughout the day. We start and conclude the vigil with a circle, we remember friends presently in prison - Betsy Lamb, Fr. Louie Vitalie, Fr. Jerry Zawada, Fr. Steve Kelly www.tortureontrial.org - for resisting torture training at Fort Huachuca servicing Guantanamo and left the shrines to the dead of Guantanamo at the embassy.
Amnesty International had been at the embassy in larger numbers that morning, the London Guantanamo Campaign assembled later outside the Houses of Parliament and other friends in over 80 locations around the globe, from Shannon Airport to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, were demanding the Guantanamo be shut down.
Photos & Report from Dublin U.S. J11 "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85765
Photos & Report from Warsaw J11 "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://cia.bzzz.net/international_day_of_action_to_close_guantanamo_warsaw_jan_11th_08
Further reports from D.C. www.witnesstorture.org
Some Visuals of NVDA at Supreme Court
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcivey/sets/72157603695361494/ "A Report & Reflection from U.S. Embassy, London -
J11 Vigil in Solidarity with NVDA to Shutdown Guantanamo"
by Ciaron O'Reilly
Photos from London "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85774 The London Catholic Worker marked the 6th. anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo with a vigil at the U.S. embassy, located near Grosvenor Square in central London.
To vigil is stay awake; to stay awake to the mainstreaming of torture, to attacks on civil liberties, to our complicity with the CIA kidnapping and rendition flights refueling in England to the U.S. gulag that is Guantanamo. As we enter the 7th. year of the Bush initiated war without end, civil society remains asleep, sedated and silenced in the face of a war that escalates in Iraq and Afghanistan and expands into Lebanon, Somalia, Pakistan and who knows where next?
On arrival at the enormous embassy building, it becomes obvious that those waging war are not asleep. They are alert and preparing for the inevitable blowback of their policies of bombing, torturing and invasion. There is major security related construction underway at the London embassy. Martin remarks that it looks like images of the U.S. embassy in Saigon he saw on a recent documentary dealing with the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. Zelda remarks that it looked like the U.S. embassy in Managua during the U.S. war on the Sandanistas. The revamped embassy architecture speaks to London being considered by the U.S. government as part of the theatre of war. The U.S. assumption is that as they, along with British government, escalate the war - terror will be visited on the city of London. The U.S. is circling the wagons near Grosvenor Square to insure it won't be them who gets hit!
The statue of Eisenhower, and the road in front of the embassy, is surrounded by high metal security fencing. We take a walk to scope out where we can get a foothold into this scene to set up our vigil. Grosvenor Square has a long history, thousands have gathered here over the decades to cry for peace and justice in Vietnam, in Central America, in the Middle East whereever the American Empire has extended its reach. Zelda, Martin and I, from the live-in crew at the London Catholic Worker, gathered on the other side of the park for weeks at a time in the late '90's. At that time, we maintained vigil as the people of East Timor risked their lives to vote the Indonesian out of their country. I think of the genocidal Indonesian General Suharto, loyal servant of U.S. imperial interests and one of the biggest mass murderers of the 20th. century, dying tonight in his own bed. No Hague Court or orange jumpsuit for Suharto and others who wield the sword and slay the innocents on behalf of U.S. interests.
We find a space at the public entrance to set up a vigil line. Scott takes up his position dressed in the orange jumpsuit and hood of Guantanamo. A few of us cross the road to set up some sacred space centred around the candlelit names of those who have died at Guantanamo....
*Camp 1
June 10th. 2006
3 Suicides
Manel al Otaibi
Yasser al-Zahrani
Ali Abdullah
*Camp 5
May 30th. 2007
Suicide
Abdul Rahman al-Amri
*Abdul Razzak, 68
December 30th. 2007
Cancer
Martin begins reading the names of those imprisoned at Guantanamo, their places of origin and their ages. Names of those detained indefinitely that have never been read out formally in a public court. Names that are being read out now by our friends occupying the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. as 81 are arrested demanding that Guantanamo be shut down.
http://www.witnesstorture.org/jan11release Twenty of us gathered from the London & Farmhouse Catholic Worker communities, London Menonite Centre, Jesus Christians, Simon Community, three Muslim friends, an actress from the play "Guantanamo - Honour Bound to Defend Freedom"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3605506.stm, the author of the book "Guantanamo Files" http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/?page_id=17 and folks from the London Guantanamo Campaign who have been moving around the city in orange jumpsuits throughout the day. We start and conclude the vigil with a circle, we remember friends presently in prison - Betsy Lamb, Fr. Louie Vitalie, Fr. Jerry Zawada, Fr. Steve Kelly www.tortureontrial.org - for resisting torture training at Fort Huachuca servicing Guantanamo and left the shrines to the dead of Guantanamo at the embassy. Amnesty International had been at the embassy in larger numbers that morning, the London Guantanamo Campaign assembled later outside the Houses of Parliament and other friends in over 80 locations around the globe, from Shannon Airport to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, were demanding the Guantanamo be shut down.
Photos & Report from Dublin U.S. J11 "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85765 Photos & Report from Warsaw J11 "Shutdown Gitmo" Vigil at U.S. Embassy
http://cia.bzzz.net/international_day_of_action_to_close_guantanamo_warsaw_jan_11th_08
Ciaron-London Catholic Worker
Homepage:
http://www.witnesstorture.org
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LINK - Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff wants Guantanamo closed....
14.01.2008 12:51
Meanwhile, a 10,000 stong capacity refugee detention centre is being constructed at Guantanamo.........
See link
Chairman U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Homepage:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/g...hiefs
Update on the NVDA 83 Arrests in D.C. & Media Links
15.01.2008 10:31
for an article from Sunday's Washington Post about the arrests, go to:
for an AP article:
for Al Jazeera:
UPDATE ON JAN 11th ARRESTS AT THE SUPREME COURT
**********go to www.witnesstorture.org for photos and more details on the day**********
January 11, 2008 - 82 people were arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court as part of Witness Against Torture's January 11th action to Shut Down Guantánamo. About half were arrested inside the U.S. Supreme Court; the others were arrested on
the steps of the Court.
About 70 of those arrested withheld their identification and instead gave the name of a detainee upon arrest. When the arrestees were called into court after 30 hours in custody, many of their cases on the docket were listed with the names of men in Guantanamo, and when the defendants appeared before the judge, they spoke these names into the court record.
As of 8pm, Saturday, all 82 people have been released. Many of the arrestees were denied food and water for most of the 30 hours they were detained.
46 pled not guilty are going back to trial. Others accepted agreement not to be arrested for the next six months in exchange for the charges being dropped.
People were charged with "unlawful free speech on supreme court grounds." People who were arrested inside the building received an additional charge of "causing a harangue within the supreme court."
Arrestees included people from all over the country; teenagers and octogenarians; first time arrestees; & members of Witness Against Torture's original delegation that walked to Guantanámo to visit the prisoners in December of 2005.
The arrests followed a solemn march from the National Mall of 400 persons that included a procession of activists dressed like the Guantánamo prisoners in orange jumpsuits and black hoods. The procession was preceded with a short rally at the Mall organized by Amnesty International, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and Witness Against Torture. The event was part of an International Day of Action that was endorsed by over 100 groups and that included 83 events around the world.
Witness Against Torture would like to thank everyone who helped make yesterday's action the success that it was. Your prayers, your participation, your endorsements, your publicity and of course your financial support are all deeply appreciated. (If you haven't yet make
a donation to Witness Against Torture and would like to do so, please visit our website to donate on-line or else send a check made out to "Witness Against Torture" to Mary House Catholic Worker, 55 E. Third Street, New York, NY 10003.)
Photos, videos and press clippings will be posted to www.witnesstorture.org in the coming days, so please check our website regularly.
Witness Against Torture
W.A.T. Update
Homepage:
http://www.witnesstorture.org
Haneef Then, Hicks Now, Shrivelled Liberties & the new Australian Labor Govt.
15.01.2008 13:28
Six months ago, a handful of us gathered outside the Brisbane magistrate's court when the first person detained without charge under Australia's new anti-terror law as was being brought to court.
Dr. Haneef an Indian Muslim had been working at a hospital on the Gold Coast when his cousin (once removed and 12,000 miles away)was involved in the attack on Glasgow airport. The then conservative (Liberal Party) Federal government, looking for a fear generating issue that may produce a wedge leading up to an imminent election, swooped on Dr. Haneef on the basis that the year previously he had left his sim card with another cousin in England. This cousin and the sim were in Liverpool, nowhere near the other cousin, London or Glasgow.
Several of us made our way up into the court, to hear the Feds who had finally laid charges a couple of days before. The charges did not contain any notion of "criminal intent" only vague notions of negligence - leaving a sim card with a cousin in England where another cousin had commited an offence.
It was a weird ambience in the court - in contrast to the media hype - the security was lax and the cops didn't look like they were dealing with a hi octane security risk. The only aboriginal magistrate in Queensland had spent the weekend looking at the issues argued by the prosecution who wished to deny the defendant bail and the defense arguents. She ruled that Haneef should be granted bail on $10,000 (the prosecution wanted £100,000 once the application was granted) and should sign on three times a week (the prosecution wanted daily) as the magistrate assumed the good doctor would be returning to his work at the Gold Coast hospital. The prosecution did not appeal the bail. That afternoon the Federal Immigration minister pulled Dr. Haneef's work visa keeping him in indefinite detention. For good measure the State Labor government put Hannef (who a magistrate thought was safe to have on the streets that morning) in maximum isolation on remand.
What was interesting was how few sections of civil society came out in defence of the rights of the Doctor and the civil liberties being denied this Muslim professional. The Indian government - no fan of Islamic militancy - were furious demanding that the civil rights of their citizen should be immediately reinstated and he be released on bail. Yet the churches, artists, activist scene, doctors, nurses and journos were quiet, the Labor Federal Opposition (now the government) supported the government's position.
As the case began to unravel thanks to the courageous tactics of the defense lawyers and a campiagning journo in Murdoch's "The Australian" (go figure!), the Federal government reluctantly released Haneef and let him leave for India. Haneef's wife had just given birth to their child - so he was keen to reunite with his family. The government position was that Haneef was still a "security risk" and would not be allowed to return to Australia to resume work.
60 MINUTES INTERVIEW WITH HANEEF AFTER RELEASE FROM PRISON
In the last few daze, the appeal/counter-appeal process has exhausted itself Dr. Haneef has been totally vindicated and the actions of the former conservative government exposed as the cheap stunt to generate pre-election fear that it was....but what of the new Labor Government that had maintained its aquience in opposition? The following article in today's Guardian examines those issues and how they are playing themselves out in terms of the continued persecution of David Hicks recently released from Guantanamo
Ciaron
Homepage:
http://www.londoncatholicworker.org
Update on the NVDA 83 Arrests in D.C. & Media Links
15.01.2008 13:59
for an AP article:
for Al Jazeera:
UPDATE ON JAN 11th ARRESTS AT THE SUPREME COURT
**********go to www.witnesstorture.org for photos and more details on the day**********
January 11, 2008 - 82 people were arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court as part of Witness Against Torture's January 11th action to Shut Down Guantánamo. About half were arrested inside the U.S. Supreme Court; the others were arrested on
the steps of the Court.
About 70 of those arrested withheld their identification and instead
gave the name of a detainee upon arrest. When the arrestees were called into court after 30 hours in custody, many of their cases on the docket were listed with the names of men in Guantanamo, and when the defendants appeared before the judge, they spoke these names into the court record.
As of 8pm, Saturday, all 82 people have been released. Many of the
arrestees were denied food and water for most of the 30 hours they were detained.
46 pled not guilty are going back to trial. Others accepted agreement not to be arrested for the next six months in exchange for
the charges being dropped.
People were charged with "unlawful free speech on supreme court
grounds." People who were arrested inside the building received an
additional charge of "causing a harangue within the supreme court."
Arrestees included people from all over the country; teenagers and
octogenarians; first time arrestees; & members of Witness Against
Torture's original delegation that walked to Guantanámo to visit the
prisoners in December of 2005.
The arrests followed a solemn march from the National Mall of 400
persons that included a procession of activists dressed like the
Guantánamo prisoners in orange jumpsuits and black hoods. The
procession was preceded with a short rally at the Mall organized by Amnesty International, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and Witness Against Torture. The event was part of an
International Day of Action that was endorsed by over 100 groups and that included 83 events around the world.
Witness Against Torture would like to thank everyone who helped make yesterday's action the success that it was. Your prayers, your
participation, your endorsements, your publicity and of course your
financial support are all deeply appreciated. (If you haven't yet make
a donation to Witness Against Torture and would like to do so, please visit our website to donate on-line or else send a check made out to "Witness Against Torture" to Mary House Catholic Worker, 55 E. Third Street, New York, NY 10003.)
Photos, videos and press clippings will be posted to
www.witnesstorture.org in the coming days, so please check our website regularly.
Witness Against Torture
W.A.T.
Homepage:
http://www.witnesstorture.org
R.I.P. Peter McGregor - Anarchist, Anti-War & Anti-Apartheid Activist
16.01.2008 09:50
Peter was a longtime Australian anarchist, anti-war and anti-apartheid activist. Peter was one of the major organisers in the successful anti apartheid movement that mobilised against the racially selected South African tour of Australiain 1971. We first made contact when I was in prison in the United States in the early '90's. Peter was always sound in his solidarity when one was before the courts or in jail. Peter died, aged 60, last Friday January 11th, as we were on the streets and outside U.S. embassies acting up and speaking out against Guantanamo.
More background, photo etc on link......
Last year, Peter attempted to carry out a citizen's arrest on the then Australian Attorney General (and belive it or not Amnesty International member) Philip Ruddock responsible for the trashing of habeus corpus, outback and offshore detention gulags for refugees and abandoning Australian citizen David Hicks in the hell hole of Guantanamo. See link
Peter will be missed by many who continue the struggle in Australia.
OBITUARY OF Anarchist Peter McGregor
Ciaron
Homepage:
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/permanent-love-and...-2008