What Are You Doing About It? 7 Years of Guantánamo
London Guantánamo Campaign | 03.12.2008 17:35 | Repression | Terror War | World
The LGC is currently putting together its actions for January 2009 to mark the seventh anniversary of Guantánamo Bay opening up. It’s a real shame that it has come to this: that seven years later, Guantánamo Bay and other secret, illegal jails where people are held arbitrarily (imagine being locked up in a dark, narrow box for years on end with no end in sight…) and subjected to horrific psychological and physical torture are still up and running. What does it say about the state of the world and humanity in our day and our age? As the world moves towards celebrating sixty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December this year, will they be celebrating at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere?
This year there will be two days of action, focusing on the theme of “WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?” This is a question that, while targeted at the likes of Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, is equally posed to each and every one of us…what have you been doing for the last seven years while over 800 men, innocent for the most part, and their families and communities have been “to hell and back” and “felt like they buried alive”? Barack Obama’s election slogan was the need for a change; let US help him make that change.
The LGC is organising two days of action:
Sunday 11 January: day of action to mark the seventh anniversary of Guantánamo Bay opening up. To mark this sad anniversary, the LGC will be holding local stalls/actions at the following locations and times across London:
Wandsworth: 10.30-12.30pm – outside Asda, Lavender Hill (SW11)
Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park: 12-2pm (W2)
Camden Market, 11.30-1.30pm (NW1)
Kilburn Square, Kilburn High Road, 12-2pm (NW6)
Whitechapel Road, 12-2pm E1
The stalls will involve several people dressed in orange jumpsuits and they and others will hand out leaflets about Guantánamo Bay and speak to the public. We will also be documenting on video and in writing the public’s views on Guantánamo Bay. Please join a local stall! For more information, see the contact details below.
A demonstration outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, at 3-5pm.
Confirmed speakers include Andy Worthington (journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files), Jean Lambert (Green MEP), Bruce Kent (Pax Christi), Imam Shakeel Begg (Imam of Lewisham Mosque) and Mohammed Yahya (hip hop artist). This is an action in solidarity with the detainees still held there and their families, calling on those with the power to act to end this injustice to do so. Set nicely behind Oxford Street, take a break from shopping and make a positive statement for humankind on your day off.
Tuesday 20 January: 6-8pm demonstration to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama and in international solidarity with campaigners in the US from Witness Against Torture, who will start a vigil opposite the White House calling for the closure of GTMO and other illegal prisons under the “war on terror” within the first 100 days of the new presidency.
Please join us on the day, get involved in preparations and if you can help out by advertising these events to your networks, friends, colleagues, families, etc., please get in touch. If you have any creative ideas for the action on 20 January, which will focus on extraordinary rendition, please get in touch. Freedom and justice are the inalienable rights of every human being. This is an action for everyone and its success depends on you!
To get involved or more details, please call 07809 757 176 or email
london.gtmo@googlemail.com
The LGC is organising two days of action:
Sunday 11 January: day of action to mark the seventh anniversary of Guantánamo Bay opening up. To mark this sad anniversary, the LGC will be holding local stalls/actions at the following locations and times across London:
Wandsworth: 10.30-12.30pm – outside Asda, Lavender Hill (SW11)
Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park: 12-2pm (W2)
Camden Market, 11.30-1.30pm (NW1)
Kilburn Square, Kilburn High Road, 12-2pm (NW6)
Whitechapel Road, 12-2pm E1
The stalls will involve several people dressed in orange jumpsuits and they and others will hand out leaflets about Guantánamo Bay and speak to the public. We will also be documenting on video and in writing the public’s views on Guantánamo Bay. Please join a local stall! For more information, see the contact details below.
A demonstration outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, at 3-5pm.
Confirmed speakers include Andy Worthington (journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files), Jean Lambert (Green MEP), Bruce Kent (Pax Christi), Imam Shakeel Begg (Imam of Lewisham Mosque) and Mohammed Yahya (hip hop artist). This is an action in solidarity with the detainees still held there and their families, calling on those with the power to act to end this injustice to do so. Set nicely behind Oxford Street, take a break from shopping and make a positive statement for humankind on your day off.
Tuesday 20 January: 6-8pm demonstration to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama and in international solidarity with campaigners in the US from Witness Against Torture, who will start a vigil opposite the White House calling for the closure of GTMO and other illegal prisons under the “war on terror” within the first 100 days of the new presidency.
Please join us on the day, get involved in preparations and if you can help out by advertising these events to your networks, friends, colleagues, families, etc., please get in touch. If you have any creative ideas for the action on 20 January, which will focus on extraordinary rendition, please get in touch. Freedom and justice are the inalienable rights of every human being. This is an action for everyone and its success depends on you!
To get involved or more details, please call 07809 757 176 or email
london.gtmo@googlemail.com
London Guantánamo Campaign
e-mail:
london.gtmo@googlemail.com
Homepage:
http://www.guantanamo.org.uk