The first one will be in Washington D.C, it will start at the White House and go to the Capitol building. The second human chain will be right here in San Francisco, California and I plan to be there. The chain will begin at our Federal building and go to the courthouse. It will contain 171 people, each person representing one of the inmates currently being held and tortured at Guantanamo. Both cities intend to dress as many protesters as they can in orange jumpsuits, but the organizers of each action is requesting that people come dressed in orange or black in case they run out of the jumpsuits. I'm fairly sure they'll also be putting the black bags over protesters' heads as well. This fashion is common for anti-Guantanamo protesters as it is what the detainees at Guantanamo must wear, detainees also have black bags put over their heads when they're being transported somewhere. Other cities are also doing solidarity actions, from rallies to movie screenings. So look around and see if you can find a solidarity event happening near you on January 11.
Washington D.C already has a protest going on, it is a two week long protest that will end on January 12. The protesters who are a part of this one have been on a fast for the last couple of days, meaning they have had nothing but water and will continue this way until Thursday. They also locked a protester in a cage in front of the White House. I believe he'll be staying in that cage until the protest is finished, he is fully dressed in the orange jumpsuit and black bag fashion common for anti-Guantanamo protesters. This portion of the two-week protest is being called a "caged vigil". The other people do various actions like rallies and marches. I admire the people out there right now, they must have a lot of stamina to do this. I mean, an all-day one-day protest takes so much out of me, I can't imagine what a non-stop 2 week one must take out of a person. Things like that require a lot of stamina and dedication, it's a very admirable thing to be able to do. I'll give you a couple pictures from this protest at the end of the journal.
Guantanamo Bay is a horrible place, it has become nothing but a symbol of torture and violating human rights. Detainees are not treated as human, the soldiers who work at this camp probably don't even look at these people as if they're human. Detainees are subjected to harsh "interrogation techniques". These so-called "techniques" include sleep deprivation, exposure to temperature extremes, serious threats, beatings, forced positions, and forced nudity. Muslim males are often given female interrogators who use sexual tactics in order to break them. And if you were wondering, most detainees at Guantanamo are Muslims. Medical examiners have found that some detainees have suffered such severe beatings that they have suffered bone fractures.
Detainees have made allegations of various types of torture, both physically and mentally. Detainees claim they get beaten for no reason that have resulted in bone fractures, have suffered sexual assaults, have been threatened with rape, have suffered mock executions, have suffered mock disappearances, have almost died from asphyxiation from water, and have been tortured with such things as broken glass, barbed wire, and cigarettes. Guantanamo is nothing short of a torture camp, it needs to be shut down immediately.
For those of you who still support Guantanamo, did you know detainees are not given due process? Many people have been released from Guantanamo (and some of them have told their stories of torture) and they have all been released "without charge". Detainees are not charged with anything, they are simply "terrorist suspects". There is little to no evidence on these detainees, they are also not given a trial. They are denied the basic human right of due process and it's not fair. Everyone deserves a fair chance, indefinite detainment alone is a form of torture. Denying a human their right to due process is a form of torture. If at this point you still support Guantanamo, then I have no idea what to tell you.
Guantanamo has not kept the U.S "safe". In fact, it has made this country give up something we always had, respect for all human life. The U.S government has blatantly been violating human rights for almost ten years now and they will continue to do so as long as Guantanamo Bay is kept open. Guantanamo is not the only camp being accused of torture, a camp in Afghanistan has recently been accused of torturing detainees. But I don't know too much about that at the current moment. Guantanamo has done nothing for this country but put it to shame. Most of the detainees at Guantanamo may not even be "terrorists", there is little to no evidence on any of these people. It is all just suspicions.
This Wednesday, protesters from all over the U.S will make their demands known. We are not asking anymore, we are demanding. We demand that Obama keep his promise and shut down Guantanamo. And we demand that all currently and future detainees of Guantanamo be given fair due process. It is not a request, we are not asking for this to happen. We are demanding that it happen. Detainees at Guantanamo are not treated as human beings and severely abused, there is no excuse for what the U.S government is doing.
Soon enough, Guantanamo will house more than just foreign terrorists. "Domestic terrorists" will also soon be sent there. Because of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Americans are no longer protected from our military, they can now be used against us. Guantanamo is a military camp, therefore Americans could not be sent there as the military was not allowed to work against U.S citizens. But now, if you are declared a domestic terrorist, you can and probably will be sent to Guantanamo where you may never be released. NDAA also made it extremely hard for detainees to be transferred out of or released from Guantanamo. I don't know how that all works, so I'm not going to bother to try and explain it but I do know that NDAA has made it extremely hard to get people out of Guantanamo anymore. Pretty much at this point, if you are sent to Guantanamo, you may never get out.
President Obama has gone back on his promise to close Guantanamo, he has betrayed the American people in multiple ways on this issue. Instead of closing Guantanamo as he promised, he has only extended its use and made it harder for detainees to get their freedom back.
Guantanamo Bay is nothing but a symbol of torture and a place where the U.S government violates human rights. It has been ten years too many and it's time to close Guantanamo. We are not saying to automatically release these people, we are saying they deserve better treatment and due process. Guantanamo cannot be salvaged, it will always be a symbol of torture no matter how it is "fixed". It's beyond being fixed, it will always carry the negative and horrible look that it has been given. I encourage you all to find a solidarity action on January 11 and join the thousands of Americans that will be standing against one of the greatest injustices of this country. If you want to click here and here. Those two stories from the New York Times on former detainees of Guantanamo. Read those if you want.
Now, as I said, I want to give you guys some pictures from the anti-Guantanamo protest currently going on in Washington D.C in front of the White House. Maybe these pictures will make some of you think...
