[pjw] EVENTS (mark your calendar!): Guantanamo rally, talk Jan 8&12 2021

[Peace and Justice Works]

PJW supporters

Below are the preliminary announcements for two events we're planning for 
January to mark 19 years of the Guantanamo Bay Prison -- seems like a long 
way away but the first one is only six weeks from this Friday.

The first will be an expanded Friday rally, running from 4:30 to 6 PM on 
January 8, and the second one-- which I'm particularly excited about-- will 
be an online presentation with author/editor Sarah Mirk, whose nonfiction 
graphic book about Guantanamo is informative and heart-breaking. That 
event will be at 7 PM on Tuesday, January 12.

The events each have their own web pages:
  Jan 8:   http://www.pjw.info/guantanamo19yl.html
  Jan 12:  http://www.pjw.info/guantanamo_smirk011221.html

with links to the flyers.

Feel free to circulate, and if your group wants to join the Iraq Affinity 
Group and Amnesty International Group 48 in cosponsoring these events, let 
us know. There's no formal cosponsorship fee but we'd appreciate donations 
to help us keep doing our work.

Thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

                    No More Excuses: Shut Down Guantanamo!
                     Friday, January 8, 2021 4:30-6:00 PM
                  Expanded Friday Rally for Peace and Justice
              Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway

    January 11, 2021 marks 19 years since the opening of the US prison camp
    in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prison now holds just 40 people (from a
    height of nearly 800 at one point). Although it stands as a symbol of
    the United States' lack of respect for due process, human rights and
    the rule of law, it has still remained active. In 2018, President Trump
    reversed President Obama's policy directive that called to shut down
    Guantanamo; President-elect Biden has not prioritized closing the camp
    despite calling it "an advertisement for creating terror." Local
    Portland groups join worldwide voices calling to Close Guantanamo Now!

    This event will also be used to promote an online presentation by Sarah
    Mirk to talk about her graphic nonfiction book "Guantanamo Voices"
    followed by Q&A. That event will be held on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
    at 7 PM. Get more information at
    http://www.pjw.info/guantanamo_smirk011221.html .

    Event cosponsored by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group;
    cosponsors include Amnesty International Group 48.

    For more information, especially if your group would like to cosponsor
    or endorse this event, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065
    or iraq at pjw.info.

      __________________________________________________________________


                          ILLUSTRATING IMPRISONMENT:
                    Sarah Mirk Presents "Guantanamo Voices"
                       Tuesday, January 12, 2021 7:00 PM
                         Streaming live on Youtube at
                   https://youtube.com/peaceandjusticeworks

    Portland area author/journalist Sarah Mirk compiled an amazing graphic
    non-fiction book ("Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's
    Most Infamous Prison") exposing the human rights abuses at Guantanamo
    Bay prison, which the US opened in Cuba exactly four months after 9/11.
    Mirk will speak on a livestream event Tuesday, January 12 at 7 PM at
    the Peace and Justice Works (PJW) youtube page:
    https://youtube.com/peaceandjusticeworks. . The presentation will be
    followed by an audience Q&A.

    Guantanamo held close to 800 prisoners, and 40 remain in legal limbo.
    President Obama promised to close the prison in 2009. Mirk invited a
    diverse set of artists to illustrate discussions with former prisoners,
    guards, lawyers and others whose lives have been forever changed by the
    US' use of an offshore facility to torture and imprison people
    indefinitely.

    Sarah began as a reporter including at the Portland Mercury, where she
    covered political issues including police accountability. She also
    edited a national feminist magazine and now is a contributing editor at
    graphic journalism website the Nib. She also works as a digital
    engagement producer for Reveal at the Center for Investigative
    Reporting. Sarah is also the author of several books including You Do
    You: Figuring Out Your Body, Dating, and Sexuality.

    Instructions for adding to the Q&A period will be posted at the time of
    the event. The presentation is coordinated by Peace and Justice Works
    Iraq Affinity Group and cosponsored by Amnesty International Group 48.

    For more information, especially if your group would like to cosponsor
    or endorse this event, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065
    or iraq at pjw.info.