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Report Back from Torture Survivors Week: June 26 Photos, Video and Update

June 27, 2014 / The White House / Source: Flickr

Last week, members of Witness Against Torture gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Day in Support of Survivors of Torture. Our group of about fifteen attended a panel organized by National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) on U.S. sanctioned torture, engaged in nonviolent direct action at Senator Ayotte and McCain’s offices, and participated in an all-day vigil with Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC). On Sunday, we retreated to the Peace Oasis to put in motion a framework for January 11, 2015.

  No pushback now! Release those unjustly bound.

Got 90 seconds? Please watch & share the video of Witness Against Torture delivering letters to Senator Ayotte and McCain. This is our response to an amendment that could stop all transfers from Guantanamo. The bill has passed the House and is now awaiting the Senate before becoming law.

Click here to read full report & see photos.

Extended video

Click here to read the letters sent to Senator Ayotte and McCain Offices. 

  SAVE THE DATE– January 5- 13, 2015

Every January, the Witness Against Torture community gathers to fast and take action in Washington D.C. to remember the opening of the prison camp in Guantanamo.  This year January 11th, 2015 marks 13 years of torture and indefinite detention.  We will be gathering from January 5th - 13th, 2015 to fast for justice and a week of actions. Join us as we stand in solidarity with those that remained unjustly detained. Save the date and stay tune for more information. If you have any questions please email [email protected]

  Friday Fast for Justice

Susan / Boston

Join in solidarity with the men on hunger strike in Guantanamo by fasting on Fridays. We invite you to consider joining the Friday Fast for Justice. Go without food in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Guantánamo.  If you are already participating in or are interested in participating please sign up here. You can commit to fasting on a specific Friday; weekly for a particular time period; until Guantánamo is closed; or whatever works for you. If you join the fast, we would ask you to:

Fast on Friday, in any form you like;

Make three phone calls (click here to see who we are currently focusing our calls on)

Dear Friends,

Seven of us stood vigil yet again in front of the center of imperial power at noon today to bear witness to the truth. The main focus of the vigil was the prisoner exchange negotiated between the White House and Taliban. I offered a brief reflection which was followed by a reading of the excellent Witness Against Torture statement on this matter (see below). We also read a riveting article about the tortuous force feeding of Emad Hassan, a Yemeni Guantanamo detainee.

  Our friend George Pauk,  a doctor of some 40 years who is visiting from Arizona, was on hand to speak. He commended the many organizations that have spoken out against the tortuous practice of force-feeding. He also stated that the medical profession should be ashamed that some of its members have directly participated in this immoral dehumanizing practice.

  We then read Andy Worthington's most recent powerful commentary on the subject titled: "Missing the Point on the Guantanamo Taliban Prisoner Swap and the Release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl."

See: PolicyMic & CloseGuantanamo.org.

  To conclude the vigil we did some singing and ended with a closing prayer circle.

  We continue to keep our eyes on the prize and hold on!!!

  With gratitude,

Art

    June 6 White House Program/Reflection

  We greet all who have come to the White House in a spirit of peace. We, members of the DDCW and WAT come to the White House today to say YES to love and justice and NO to the lies and death-dealing policies of a national security state and warmaking empire. 

  The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker began a weekly Friday peace vigil in 1998 here at the White House to call for an end to U.S. criminal warmaking in Iraq and that we embrace God's command to renounce all war and killing and reverence and protest all of life and creation. Since then our vigil has included calling for an end to all U.S. warmaking and military intervention in our world, for the abolition of all weapons of war--from nuclear weapons to killer drones, for an end to all U.S.-sponsored oppression and torture and justice for the poor and all victims. We remember and pray for all victims of our warmaking empire, including the nine men who have died at Guantanamo over the past seven years.