August/September 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

Guantanamo Testimonies

On July 4th in New York City near Herald Square, there was a demonstration to shut down the huge U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in which there was a dramatic reading of excerpts from the play Guantanamo by Victoria Britton and Gillian Slovo.

First, the announcer Margarita Lopez, a City Council member in New York City, gave a brief introduction. She stated that torture, of the type that has been reported by several survivors of Guantanamo, was immoral and against international law, and urged that detainees be given a fair trial. The United States should give up torture or it will happen to all of us, Lopez warned.

The next speaker, a representative from the Center For Constitutional Rights, a legal organization that has been at the forefront of challenges to U.S. repression at home and abroad, also gave a brief introduction. According to the Bush administration, ever since September 11, the “enemy” has no rights; however, according to the Constitution, every detainee must have at least a hearing. The speaker emphasized the unconstitutionality of military tribunals, with secret proceedings and selective approval of lawyers. Despite the assertions of the U.S. government to the contrary, detainees' rights are protected by international law. This announcer connected the Guantanamo tortures to the ongoing war on Iraq, which has witnessed U.S. torture in various Iraqi prisons, including the notorious Abu Ghraib, emphasizing the costs of the war in the United States. The Iraqi people are the front-line victims of the war being waged upon their nation, but even in the United States, soldiers enticed into the military by financial incentives and promises of education die as victims of this imperialist war, said the CCR representative. On a far smaller scale than the devastation in Iraq, the war also devastates Americans; soldiers’ families continue to suffer because of the U.S. government’s imperialist war on Iraq.

Following these speeches, participants presented a dramatic reading of excerpts from the play Guantanamo. The play consists of a series of monologues in which the detainees speak about their lives and the circumstances of their imprisonment. The first detainee said that he and other detainees were subject to a military tribunal and that they were put beyond protection of international law.

The second detainee had been unconscious during the plane trip. When he came to he was only given over the counter medicine. Eventually he developed high blood pressure due to shackles. He was also put into solitary confinement which was a freezer box.

The third detainee said that there suicide threats but none of them were actually carried out. The fourth detainee said that he had not seen the sun for a year. The fifth detainee said that mail was constrained. The wife of this detainee read a letter from him saying that he hoped she had not forgotten him. The sixth detainee said that heat and a bright light that was on twenty four hours a day kept him from sleeping.

The last detainee said that there was a likelihood that the prisoners would be executed and that Guantanamo makes martyrs.

The event closed with a reading of a speech by Frederick Douglass, urging that abuses be exposed and that struggle continue against abuse and exploitation.

Among those who read the Guantanamo testimonies were Eva Ensler, Gloria Steinem and members of Code Pink, Not In our Name, WEDO and other antiwar groups.

There were also petitions to shut down Guantanamo. Chants such as 'Guantanamo has got to go' were heard. Copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were handed out.

This demonstration was much smaller than massive rallies, such as the March 19 demonstration in Central Park, but there were a fair number of signers of the petition. The microphone was not working but all the speakers could be heard by the Press, the crowd, the passers by, and those on top of the double-decker tour buses who also waved their support.