Nine Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on October 2, 2024, The Last Before the Presidential Election | Andy Worthington (original) (raw)

Some of the global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on October 2, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Washington, D.C., London, San Francisco and Brussels.

For 20 months now, campaigners around the world — from organizations including Amnesty International, Close Guantánamo, Witness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait, NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture), Veterans for Peace and the UK Guantánamo Network — have held coordinated vigils across the US and around the world, on the first Wednesday of every month, calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

On October 2, campaigners held vigils outside the White House in Washington, D.C., in London, New York City, San Francisco, Brussels, Cobleskill, NY, Detroit, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. Campaigners in Mexico City weren’t able to take part this month, but secured photos of a former prisoner and of supporters holding up “Cierren Guantánamo” signs, and in Strasbourg, at the Council of Europe, a Belgian campaigner successfully persuaded delegates at a meeting to have a photo taken in solidarity with those holding vigils worldwide. Many of the campaigners also held up posters marking 8,300 days of Guantánamo’s existence the day before. The posters, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, mark every 100 days of the prison’s existence, and all of the 8,300 days photos — 70 in total — can be found here.

Campaigners with Witness Against Torture and Close Guantánamo outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on October 2, 2024 — Steve Lane, Judith Kelly, Susan Kerin, Frank Panopoulos and Helen Schietinger, who wrote, “Here’s a photo of the Close Guantánamo vigil, which was as close to the White House as we can get now. They’ve barricaded half the park and all of Pennsylvania Avenue to build the viewing stands and security apparatus for the January inauguration.” Judith is also holding up a poster marking 8,300 days of Guantánamo’s existence the day before. The posters, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, mark every 100 days of the prison’s existence, and all of the 8,300 days photos — 70 in total — can be found here.

Campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network, from across London and the south east, and mostly involved in local Amnesty International groups, in Parliament Square in London on October 2, 2024.

Campaigners on the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue on October 2, 2024. Debra Sweet, the national director of the World Can’t Wait, holding the mic in the photo, wrote, “We were only eleven today, but we attracted some interesting onlookers.” (Photo: Felton Davis).

Campaigners with Amnesty International and the World Can’t Wait in the Castro district of San Francisco on October 2, 2024. Gavrilah Wells wrote, “I think this was our best vigil yet in terms of folks being genuinely receptive and wanting to sign our postcards and learn more and simply talk about Gitmo and the human rights abuses.” Many of those in the photo joined the vigils for the first time.

Campaigners outside the European Parliament in Brussels on October 2, 2024, holding up the posters marking 8,300 days of Guantánamo’s existence the day before. The posters, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, mark every 100 days of the prison’s existence, and all of the 8,300 days photos — 70 in total — can be found here.

Campaigners with the Peacemakers of Schoharie County in Cobleskill, NY on October 2, 2024. Sue Spivack wrote, “Four Peacemakers standing up for justice, love and peace. One of our regular participants is currently in the West Bank with the Meta Peace Team, doing support, mediation and witness work as they attempt to stand between Palestinian citizens and attacks from Illegal settlers.”

Campaigners with Amnesty International outside the Federal Building in Detroit on October 2, 2024. Geraldine Grunow wrote, “Many thanks for all your work, including the wonderful compilation of photos and comments from all over the world. It feels good to be connected in this way. We were only three today at the Federal Building: Dan, Ken, and I. On the good side, there were some supporting comments from employees leaving the building — the first time anyone has said anything. One guy said, ‘Let the prisoners out of Guantánamo, but don’t close it till you’ve locked up all the crooked politicians in it!’ Another guy standing on the street shouted in agreement. And there were several honks, including one from a city bus.”

Gary and Kathy, campaigners with Amnesty International Group 37 on Handshake Bridge between the Sculpture Garden and Loring Bridge in Minneapolis on October 2, 2024, attracting the attention of motorists passing by below. Aaron Tovo wrote, “The weather was beautiful and five of us had a good time at our monthly banner flying. This is the first time I’ve actually danced with someone while they were in their car and I was on the bridge! I feel like my life is complete now.”

Dan Shea of Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland, Oregon on October 2, 2024. Dan initiated the Portland vigils last month, and invites others to join him on November 6. A video of him explaining why the vigils are important can be found on Facebook here.

Mariefrance Deprez, a regular participant in the Brussels vigils, sent this photo, and stated, “After attending a press conference on the situation of political prisoners in Turkey, at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on October 2, several participants and speakers agreed to take a photo to support the monthly vigil for the closure of Guantánamo and the rapid release of the 16 prisoners who have long been approved for release but are still held. The second picture, of former prisoner Sabri Al-Qurashi’s painting depicting Julian Assange and Mansoor Adayfi, wasn’t featured in the photo because it had been presented as a gift to Stella Assange a little earlier.”

The reasons for campaigning get more pressing every month, as the Biden administration’s inaction increases the suffering of the men still held. 30 men are still held at the prison, and no one has been freed for the last 18 months, even though 16 of these 30 men have been approved for release for between two and four years — and in three cases for nearly 15 years.

They are still held because the decisions to approve them for release, taken by high-level US government review processes, were purely administrative, meaning that no legal mechanism exists to compel the government to actually free them if, as is shamefully apparent, neither President Biden nor Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, can be bothered to prioritize their release.

These were the last vigils before the Presidential Election on November 5. The day after, Wednesday November 6, we’ll be gathering as usual to reinstate our demand that, whatever has happened the day before, Joe Biden and those around him need to ensure that, at the very least, the men approved for release are freed before he leaves office, and, we urge, that plea deals in the 9/11 trial, which were agreed with prosecutors and the military commissions’ convening authority in August, after long negotiations, but were then revoked by Lloyd Austin, be reinstated.

We hope you’ll join us on November 6!

Another photo of the London vigil.

Debra Sweet of the World Can’t Wait on the mic at the New York City vigil, holding up a poster of Khaled Qassim (Khalid Qasim), one of the 16 men approved for release but still held. Khaled is a talented artist, and also the subject of ‘Forever Prisoner‘, a song by Andy’s band The Four Fathers, which can be found on their new album, ‘Songs of Loss and Resistance.’ (Photo: Felton Davis).

Richie Marini of the World Can’t Wait at the New York City vigil, with posters made in 2009, opposing Israel’s attacks on Gaza at the time, and the US’s “war on terror”, whose last bastion is Guantánamo.

Another photo of the San Francisco vigil.

Making a statement with hoods at the San Francisco vigil.

Publicity and promotional materials at the San Francisco vigil.

Another photo from the Brussels vigil, featuring my longtime friend and colleague Luk Vervaet.

Sue Spivack at the Cobleskill vigil.

Paul and Wilbur at the Minneapolis vigil.

Dan Shea with Veterans for Peace flags, and the Palestinian flag, at the Portland vigil.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Ahmed, with the “Cierren Guantánamo” poster he made as a replacement for the Mexico City vigil this month.

Andy Worthington with the “Cierren Guantánamo” poster he made as a replacement for the Mexico City vigil this month.

And finally, the updated poster showing how abominably long the 16 men approved for release from Guantánamo but still held have been waiting to be freed since those decisions were taken.

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Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer (of an ongoing photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London’), film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose music is available via Bandcamp). He is the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (see the ongoing photo campaign here) and the successful We Stand With Shaker campaign of 2014-15, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here, or you can watch it online here, via the production company Spectacle, for £2.50).

In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues. He is the narrator of the documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents, he wrote a song ‘Grenfell’, in the aftermath of the entirely preventable fire in June 2017 that killed over 70 people, and, in 2018, he was part of the occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction — and that of 16 structurally sound council flats next door — by Lewisham Council and Peabody.

Since 2019, Andy has become increasingly involved in environmental activism, recognizing that climate change poses an unprecedented threat to life on earth, and that the window for change — requiring a severe reduction in the emission of all greenhouse gases, and the dismantling of our suicidal global capitalist system — is rapidly shrinking, as tipping points are reached that are occurring much quicker than even pessimistic climate scientists expected. You can read his articles about the climate crisis here.

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Please also consider joining the Close Guantánamo campaign, and, if you appreciate Andy’s work, feel free to make a donation.