Join Us - January 11 to Shut Down Guantanamo!

Friday, January 11, 2008: The 6 year anniversary of the first prisoners being brought to Guantánamo.

Last year on January 11th, after 500 people processed from the Supreme Court to the Federal court, 150 people risked arrest on behalf of the men in Guantanamo, with 88 being arrested inside the Federal Court in DC. Many of those arrested withheld their identification and took the names of men at Guantanamo. It was a very powerful day, made possible by the contributions of many in the extended Catholic Worker family.

This year, we again are working with many groups on a demonstration in Washington, D.C. The day will begin with a press conference at the White House led by Amnesty International followed by a “prisoner procession” to the Supreme Court.

Come to DC or organize a vigil, demonstration or speaker in your own community!

Additionally, and as a recruiting mechanism for Jan. 11th, we are asking people to participate in a 24 hour fast for justice on December 5th, the day the Supreme Court will hear two cases related to Guantanamo prisoners. [Download flier]

• ENDORSE the Jan 11 Day of Action
• DOWNLOAD flyers, web buttons, adaptable press release, and more.
• FIND housing, food, transportation, legal and other logistical info.
• POST your event to our calendar.
• DONATE and support the Jan 11th mobilization




International Day to Shut Down Guantánamo

“If it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but thisafternoon…We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it.”–Colin Powell, June 10, 2007, Former Secretary of State

“The Guantánamo camp was created on a myth…It was built on a lie…And it was organized around a fiction…It is time to get rid of it.” –New York Times Editorial “Gitmo: A National Disgrace,” June 6, 2007

Guantánamo is “a stain on the character of the United States.” –Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“Immediately close the detention center for at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and either release its inmates or bring them before an impartial tribunal.”–United Nations Human Rights Commission


• Find resources for action, order T-shirts and jumpsuits, and get complete and up-to- date details about the day’s events on our website: www.witnesstorture.org
  
  Prisoners of Guantánamo march to the Supreme Court:
  A provocative street theater performance involving people wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods. We will march in an orderly, silent procession, hauntingly evoking the moral disgrace that is Guantánamo.
  • All participants are strongly encouraged to attend a final planning meeting and training on Thursday (January 10th), 4–6pm.
  
  After dinner, there will be a public program on Guantánamo from 7–9 pm. Location: St. Stephens and the Incarnation Church,
  1525 Newton Street NW, at 16th Street.
  
  For more information or if you have any questions, please email Matt Daloisio (Daloisio@earthlink.net) or Frida Berrigan at (Frida.berrigan@gmail.com).
  
  • Organize a vigil, speaker or demonstration in your own community if you cannot come to Washington, DC.
  
  In December 2005, a group of twenty four friends, following the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker walked to Guantánamo to visit the prisoners, calling themselves
  “Witness Against Torture.” When they returned, they launched the “Campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo,” which consists of public education and community outreach, networking and resource
  sharing, and acts of nonviolent civil resistance to draw attention to the plight of prisoners in Guantánamo, and victims of the war on terrorism everywhere.
  
  Friday, January 11, 2008
  
  Marks Six Years of Torture, Detention and Abuse at Guantánamo
  
  10:00am– Gather at Lafayette Park for Orientation to Prisoner March (1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW)
  
  11:00 am – Amnesty International and National Religious Campaign Against Torture demonstration in Lafayette Park
  
  Noon – Guantánamo Prisoner Procession from the White House to the Supreme Court (2 plus miles)
  
  1:30 pm – Funeral Ceremony at the Supreme Court remembering the four men who died in custody at Guantánamo and mourning the death of Habeas Corpus

From: Of course, Cageprisoners.com