Justice Now: Close Guantanamo, End Torture
Day 1 Update 

• Thursday's panel on witnessing and resisting our carceral society, 7:00 pm, Festival Center
• Friday's concert featuring song, poetry, and political comedy, 7:00 pm, First Trinity Lutheran Church
• Saturday's rally: 1 pm rally at the White House followed by march to Trump Hotel.

Update/reflection: Day 1 WAT's Fast for Justice

Gathering at First Trinity on Tuesday evening--opening circle

“The only shame is in betraying your ideals
And failing to stand by your beliefs.”
--Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed from Yemen. 
one of 23 “forever prisoners” at Guantánamo who as of today have been held 18 years.

Eighteen of us here the first evening, a mingle of new faces amidst veteran witnesses. We all bring our ears back to hope (‘I hear a beautiful sound, it is the breaking of chains … Let them go home…’). 

“This song touched me. The somber sound. My family is Irish and I learned the fiddle. When I first heard this, I pictured a march or a brogue” said Quin, from Cleveland-based IRTF

Missile Strike

We receive word 7:45pm… a wave of feeling. Wade in the Water, we sing. Down by the Riverside… 

“Let’s pause to take this in” Mike from Cleveland says. Let’s feel this. Breathe.”
“I’m feeling Raw Anger” says Josie from Ohio.
“I’m reaching to something Biblical, adds Mike. “Rend our garments, call a fast.”
“I resonate with that image of repentance” says Lor, retired Lutheran pastor. This war aggression is “in our name.”

Second Circle on Wednesday morning

Twenty-four strong now, we discuss shared agreements and messaging. Step up Step back means, for Chris, W.A.I.T. Why Am I Talking? “As a White Person,” Cheryl from Western Mass says, “sometimes I don’t know. Call me out.” Helen adds, “We have learned we have to work on our white privilege.”

White House Rally Against War in Iran

We marched (in jumpsuits and hoods) to the White House for a rally put on by Code Pink--among other organizations--to protest acts of war against Iran and occupation of Iraq.

Along the way back, Quin from Cleveland spoke with different individuals about their experiences at WAT:

Marie-

This is her 2nd year coming to WAT facing "the people who are ruling the world."

Brian-

Brian remembers WAT directly connected John Brennan with acts of torture during his confirmation hearing to be CIA director, which landed WAT on the front page of the NYT and of which Brian is very proud. Brian said: " Things are not worse but they are a whole new type and level of bad."

Don-

Don has been coming since 2016 because “until Guantánamo is closed, the work is not done. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, torture and indefinite detention are impermissible." Don outlined to me the difference between a life sentence in prison and an indefinite detention, the latter being an act of psychological warfare that leaves you question where you will be tomorrow, next week, or next decade, as is the case for the 40 men left at Guantánamo.

Thanks for your solidarity as together we insist: Justice Now: Close Guantanamo and End Torture! 

Here are our event posters:
January 9: Exhibit and Panel

Guantanamo 18 Years Later: Witnessing and Resisting Our Carceral Society

Join the Center for Constitutional Rights, Justice for Muslims Collective, and Witness Against Torture as we mark the 18th anniversary of Guantánamo’s opening and bring the offshore “War on Terror” prison into a larger conversation on resistance within and to the U.S.’ carceral society.

Reflecting on Japanese-American incarceration during WWII, mass incarceration, migrant detention, and the prison at Guantánamo Bay, panelists will explore the criminalization of communities and the state’s use of confinement as a tool of social control. The discussion will center the ways in which prisoners and detainees have resisted their captivity, and how advocates have organized against those systems.

The event is free and open to the public. Dinner will be served. Please RSVP.

The Justice for Muslims Collective poster exhibition, Shattering Justice & Re-Making the Muslim Threat, will be on display beginning at 5:00 pm and throughout the evening.  The artwork and words provide a visual timeline of the ways Muslims have been marginalized, criminalized and dehumanized from 9/11 until now.   

Facebook event page with speaker list.

January 10: Music, Poetry and Political Comedy
Until Justice, We Resist

January 11: Rally at Lafayette Park, 1 pm
Justice Now: Close Guantanamo and End Torture