"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture, and I'm going to make sure that we don't torture."
— President-elect Barack Obama, November 16, 2008
FAST FOR JUSTICE
On January 11, 2010 — the eight year mark of the opening of detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — people will come from across the country to Washington D.C. to begin an eleven-day, liquid-only??Fast for Justice??demanding that Guantanamo close and torture end. There are currently over 125 people signed up to participate in the fast.
Fasting is an important part of many religious and spiritual traditions. It has been used, notably by Mahatma Gandhi, as an expression of political principle, with the power to move hearts and minds and change policies. And it has a particular connection to Guantanamo, where dozens of inmates engaged in hunger strikes to protest their abuse. Honoring all these traditions and meanings, the Fast for Justice is:
On January 11, 2010 — the eight year mark of the opening of detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — people will come from across the country to Washington D.C. to begin an eleven-day, liquid-only??Fast for Justice??demanding that Guantanamo close and torture end. There are currently over 125 people signed up to participate in the fast.
Fasting is an important part of many religious and spiritual traditions. It has been used, notably by Mahatma Gandhi, as an expression of political principle, with the power to move hearts and minds and change policies. And it has a particular connection to Guantanamo, where dozens of inmates engaged in hunger strikes to protest their abuse. Honoring all these traditions and meanings, the Fast for Justice is:
- an act of moral witness against the crime and sin of torture, indefinite detention, rendition, and the denial of legal and human rights
- a political demand that Guantanamo close, tortured be definitively banned, and that all U.S. detainees receive true justice and e uality before the law
- an act of solidarity with the suffering of the men, boys, and women, whether in Guantanamo or other U.S. detention facilities around the world
- an act of atonement for our nations violation of domestic and international law, human rights, and its own principals,
- an expression of hope that President-Elect Obama will honor his words by closing Guantanamo and banning torture in his first days of office
- an act of renewal that calls America back to its senses and to its core values; that seeks to make those values stronger, inviolable; and which helps to reconnect America to the peoples of the world
- Participants in the Fast for Justice will be participating in vigils, lobbying, and public events in and around Washington, DC over the course of the fast.
FASTERS BY THE NUMBERS
- There are over 125 people signed up to participate in the fast!
- 25 folks will be coming to DC for all 12 days of the fast
- 25 folks who live in DC will be participating in all 12 days of the fast
- Over 50 fasters will be coming from out of town to spend a few days with those in DC between Jan 10-23
- Over 25 other folks around the country will be fasting in their own communities
WHY AM I FASTING?
My name is Frida Berrigan. I'm 35 and live in Brooklyn, NY. ??Mahatma Gandhi once said: "under certain circumstances, fasting is the one weapon God has given us for use in times of utter helplessness." In the Summer of 2005, men at Guantanamo began a hunger strike. Were they familiar with that quote? Probably not, but they expressed it fully, pushing against the outer limits of that sentiment as they continued to refuse to eat. ?? ??
One of the men, Binyam Mohamed, wrote to his lawyer in August 2005, explaining the hunger strike: "we ask only for justice: treat us as promised under the rules of the Geneva Conventions for civilians prisoners while we are held and either treat us fairly for valid criminal charges or set us free." Binyam Mohamed was 30 when was captured in 2002. He was tortured while in U.S. custody in Morocco, he says, and then brought to Guantanamo in 2004. Binyam Mohamed was released from Guantanamo in February 2009. Upon his return to Britain, he issued a statement: "I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, torture was an abstract word."
I do not relish the idea of fasting. I like food, a lot. But, the promises of change have atrophied into empty rhetoric. And, I watch in horror as my country rises up in fear and vengeance once again. I watch in horror as torture is once again embraced as a tool of foreign policy, as water boarding is once again declared a critical component of national security. And so, I fight against the feelings of "utter helplessness" with Gandhi's weapon, with Binyam's weapon-- by fasting, by entering into a community of action, reflection and discipline, and by answering the question???how do we resist the war on terror and attend to its victims? Which is another way of saying: how do we conquer fear and remain human?
My name is Frida Berrigan. I'm 35 and live in Brooklyn, NY. ??Mahatma Gandhi once said: "under certain circumstances, fasting is the one weapon God has given us for use in times of utter helplessness." In the Summer of 2005, men at Guantanamo began a hunger strike. Were they familiar with that quote? Probably not, but they expressed it fully, pushing against the outer limits of that sentiment as they continued to refuse to eat. ?? ??
One of the men, Binyam Mohamed, wrote to his lawyer in August 2005, explaining the hunger strike: "we ask only for justice: treat us as promised under the rules of the Geneva Conventions for civilians prisoners while we are held and either treat us fairly for valid criminal charges or set us free." Binyam Mohamed was 30 when was captured in 2002. He was tortured while in U.S. custody in Morocco, he says, and then brought to Guantanamo in 2004. Binyam Mohamed was released from Guantanamo in February 2009. Upon his return to Britain, he issued a statement: "I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, torture was an abstract word."
I do not relish the idea of fasting. I like food, a lot. But, the promises of change have atrophied into empty rhetoric. And, I watch in horror as my country rises up in fear and vengeance once again. I watch in horror as torture is once again embraced as a tool of foreign policy, as water boarding is once again declared a critical component of national security. And so, I fight against the feelings of "utter helplessness" with Gandhi's weapon, with Binyam's weapon-- by fasting, by entering into a community of action, reflection and discipline, and by answering the question???how do we resist the war on terror and attend to its victims? Which is another way of saying: how do we conquer fear and remain human?
January 11 - January 22, 2010
Daily Vigil and Fast for Justice
We will provide housing for those gathering with us in Washington DC, and resources to those who will be fasting in their own communities.
For up-to-date details, as well as information about housing, food, rides and directions, legal support and more, please visit www.witnesstorture.org.
January 21, 2010
Direct Action Against Torture, Indefinite Detention
While we vigil and reflect, we will also be planning a dramatic direct action aimed at drawing attention to the ongoing suffering and injustice of Guantanamo and other "war on terror" facilities. Visit www.witnesstorture.org for more information on our action plans.
WHO WE ARE
In December 2005, Witness Against Torture drew international attention after it walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners. Since its return, the group has organized vigils, marches, nonviolent direct actions, and educational events to expose and decry the administration's lawlessness, build awareness about torture and indefinite detention, and forge human ties with the prisoners at Guantanamo and their families. Last January Witness Against Torture organized the highly visible 100 Days Campaign in Washington, D.C.
The Fast and Vigil to Close Guantanamo is being organized by Witness Against Torture with the support of Center for Constitutional Rights, No More Guantanamos, Pax Christi USA, School of the Americas Watch, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, United for Peace and Justice, the War Resisters League, World Can't Wait and many others.
Ask your group to endorse the Fast!
SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN
- Buy a Witness Against Torture T-Shirt.
- Donate online or send a check made out to "Witness Against Torture" to Mary House Catholic Worker, 55 E. Third Street, New York, NY 10003.
- Post your local community's anti-torture event to our calendar.
- Spread the word! Forward this e-mail, download and distribute flyers, or put a button on your website.