S. Brian Willson Begins Guantanamo Hunger Strike/Vigil
In Solidarity with Guantanamo Prisoners!
Thursday, May 16th, 3:00 PM
In Front of The City Hall in Portland, Oregon
Look for a Large Colorful Banner and People Wearing Prison-Style Orange
Jumpsuits.
Questions Contact Dan Shea at: 503-750-7649
Seventy-one-year-old S. Brian Willson, a Viet Nam veteran member of Veterans
For Peace, Portland Chapter 72, beginning Sunday, May 12 reduced his food
intake by more than 85 percent, fasting on 300 calories a day in solidarity
with the 130 uncharged Guantanamo prisoner hunger strikers now in
deteriorating health, many of whom are being force-fed. Willson, a trained
lawyer and criminologist, anti-war activist and author, lives by the mantra:
"We are not worth more; They are not worth less." He joins 65-year-old
grandmother Diane Wilson, a fifth-generation Texas shrimper, anti-war
activist and author, who began an open-ended, water-only fast on May 1
outside the White House, and intends to fast until the prisoners are freed.
There are more than 1,200 people around the country participating in a
rolling hunger strike to bring attention to the plight of the fasting
prisoners at Guantanamo, who have been illegally detained for over ten years
with little recourse. May 16 is the 100th day of the hunger strike. The
hunger strike/fast demands President Obama take immediate action to close
the prison and release the prisoners.
Colonel Morris Davis, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and one-time
Chief Prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantanamo, has collected
200,000 signatures to be submitted to the White House, appealing to
President Obama to close the Medieval detention center.*
A total 166 prisoners from 25 countries remain housed in the
U.S.-constructed & operated gulag (2002) at Guantanamo, located on Cuban
soil without Cuba's permission. Most have been jailed & tortured for eleven
years without charges, without trials, with no contact with families & only
limited legal counsel when lawyers persist to overcome military obstruction.
Although the U.S. is a signatory to the U.N. Convention against Torture &
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, its maltreatment of these
detainees openly violates international laws & its own Constitution.
Currently as many as 130 of the prisoners are on a hunger strike in protest
of their medieval conditions. Stripped of their dignity, their bodies are
the only place where they retain some control, yet even this is taken away
as their U.S. captors have induced force-feeding to keep them alive in their
misery. The American Medical Association and the World Medical Association
both declared that force-feeding of competent patients/prisoners is in
violation of international law.
These prisoners' names and home countries are now identified. Eighty-six of
them were cleared for release several years ago, yet remain incarcerated.
Fifty-six of these are from Yemen and President Obama has imposed a ban on
releasing them. President Obama could use his bully leverage to close
Guantanamo and release all the prisoners, despite his blaming Congress. U.S.
Professor of Law Marjorie Cohn describes forced feeding as follows:
"They strap you to a chair, tie up your wrists, your legs,
your forehead and tightly around the waist," Fayiz Al-Kandari told his
lawyer, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard. Al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo for
11 years, has never been charged with a crime. "The tube makes his eyes
water excessively and blood begins to trickle from the nose. Once the tube
passes his throat the gag reflex kicks in. Warm liquid is poured into the
body for 45 minutes to two hours. He feels like his body is going to
convulse and often vomits," Wingard added.
"Death is Preferable to Life at Obama's Guantanamo," Global
Research, news site of Centre for Research on Globalization, May 10, 2013.
www.globalresearch.ca/death-is-preferable-to-life-at-obamas-guantanamo/53345
56
The larger context: Of the 2,300,000 prisoners warehoused in 9,000 U.S.
jails and prisons, nearly 1,400,000 are racial and ethnic minorities. As
many as 80,000 are held in solitary confinement. More than 30,000 immigrants
are languishing in indefinite detention. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Torture has concluded that physical isolation of 22-24 hours one day or
longer for young people constitutes cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.
Force-feeding is not unique to Guantanamo; some U.S. prisoners are routinely
and systematically force fed. The U.S. possesses but 4.6 percent of the
world's population, but incarcerates 25 percent of the world's prisoners,
owning the highest per capita detention rate of any country in the world.
www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close-detention-facility-at-guantan
amo-bay?utm_campaign=petition_invitation&utm_content=control&utm_medium=emai
l&utm_source=share_petition#share
Important Links for S. Brian Willson
You Can Email Brian at: [email protected]
Here is Brian's interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on October 28th,
2011: www.democracynow.org/2011/10/28/blood_on_the_tracks_brian_willsons
You can watch Brian's 8-minute segment from: "What I've Learned About US
Foreign Policy" at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rkvl9XHCYU&feature=related
All of Brian's Essays on his Website are well worth Reading at:
www.brianwillson.com
Short Autobiography of S. Brian Willson: www.brianwillson.com/autobiography
Brian's New Book Titled: BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: The Life & Times of S. Brian
Willson: www.addictedtowar.com/SBWillson.html
<http://www.brianwillson.com/>
Here is a 9-Minute Trailer for Film in Progress Titled:
"PAYING THE PRICE FOR PEACE: The Story of S. Brian Willson & The Peace
Movement" - Directed by Bo Boudart
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIjfUAnPvY&feature=player_embedded#
If you feel inspired to help get this important film finished, please send a
donation to:
Beau Monde Image Foundation
PO Box 7395, Menlo Park, CA 94026
(This is a 501 C-3 organization. So it is Tax Deductable)
Bo has already interviewed Daniel Ellsberg, Father Roy Bourgeois, Medea
Benjamin, Col. Ann Wright, Martin Sheen, Alice Walker, Phil Donahue, Blase
Bonpane, Ron Kovic, Ray McGovern,
Charlie Clements, Camila Mejia (Iraq War Veteran), Bruce Gagnon, Charlie
Liteky, Duncan Murphy, Leah Bolger (past President of Veterans For Peace),
Elliot Adams (past President of VFP), David Swanson, Mike Prysner (Iraq War
Veteran), Jeff Paterson (Courage to Resist) & others. He still plans to
interview Amy Goodman, Kris Kristofferson, Ed Asner, Kathy Kelly, Cindy
Sheehan & Jack Ryan.
Bo Boudart is a producer of wildlife, ecology, cultural, human rights,
cultural, educational and science programs. He has initiated productions in
Asia, Indonesia and Philippine Island Archipelagos, South America, Africa,
Australia, the Arctic, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States.
Boudart has produced documentaries, animations, educational, marketing and
informational programs for distribution in all formats. Many of his programs
have aired on the Discovery Channel, Public Television, Canadian
Broadcasting, NHK Japan, French TV, and the Middle East.
Bo Boudart
Director of: "Paying The Price For Peace"
650-644-7228
[email protected]
www.boboudartproductions.org
In Peace,
Frank Dorrel
Associate Producer of: "Paying The Price For Peace"
Publisher of: ADDICTED To WAR
310-838-8131
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.addictedtowar.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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