[pjw] REPORT BACK: Shut It Down!: Friday rally #147 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello supporters of peace, justice and human rights:

Last night at our special Friday Rally for Peace and Justice marking 21 
years since the opening of Guantanamo Bay prison, we had 17 people in 
attendance! About a quarter of the crowd was from our cosponsor Amnesty 
International Group 48 (Portland). Two PJW members who had not been to the 
rally for a few years attended, along with two folks who came from 
Washington state based on a web posting they saw and a member of a Cuba 
solidarity group. There was some rain but it was very light. We had a lot 
of supportive honks and other reactions from cars and pedestrians. Mostly 
between just two people who attended, we handed out 97 fact sheets!

The fact sheet is now posted at
https://pjw.info/Guantanamo21ylfacts.pdf

I will send it out as text tomorrow, though most of it is encapsulated in 
the following report-back.

You can also see a photo of us marching down the sidewalk on Broadway, as 
captured by an Amnesty  member, here:

https://pjw.info/images/guantanamo21yl_action.jpg

Last little fun factoid: This was the 1107th Friday rally in a row. I 
previously noted that I "missed" the 1100th, what I meant was that I 
forgot to figure out which one it was. For the record, it was the rally on 
the day after "Thanksgiving" where we highlighted the Mohammed Mohamud 
case.

Much of the talk focused on the Guantanamo anniversary-- though at the end 
I also noted this weekend is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. A man who 
stood for human rights, equality and peace. And, you may recall, whose 
birthday was used by George Bush Sr as a deadline for Iraq to get out of 
Kuwait... but more on this next week.

So, here are some facts about the notorious prison:

--Guantanamo opened on January 11, 2001, 21 years ago this past Wednesday.

--Over 770 people were brought there, but only 35 remain.

--Of those 20 have been cleared for release but are awaiting processing, 
which takes a long time.

--Three are "forever" prisoners, not convicted but won't be released, one 
is serving a life sentence and two are there based on plea deals.

--The oldest inmate, who is 75 years old, was released in 2022, shortly 
after they build wheelchair ramps at the prison for the aging population.

--Torture was used there, which along with indefinite detention does not 
show America as upholding its supposed values of freedom and democracy.

--Although President Biden objected to a provision in the December 2022 
National Defense Authorization Act prohibiting using funds to transfer 
Guantanamo prisoners to the US, he signed the bill anyway.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-defense-authorization-act-voices-concerns-2022-12-23/

--This week, 150 International groups signed a letter to Biden calling for 
him to close Guantanamo.

  https://theintercept.com/2023/01/11/guantanamo-bay-letter-biden/

Time to shut it down!

In other news we briefly mentioned:

--News broke this week that the US knew the Afghans they targeted with a 
drone strike as they withdrew were ordinary civilians, but covered it up. 
Amnesty International said this shows the US must change how it uses 
lethal force. We agree-- they should stop using it!

  https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2023/01/08/pentagon-doc-reveals-us-lied-about-afghan-civilians-killed-in-2021-drone-strike/

--Ukranian troops are coming to Oklahoma to learn how to use Patriot 
anti-missile missiles. Can you think of another country involved in an 
active war that's had its troops trained at US bases? (No, really, it's 
possible it's happened, I just don't ever remember hearing it.)

  https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-politics-6bb6e815e77b0d6b83590d344eb884bb

--The US and the UK are claiming Russia is destabilizing Africa, which 
Russia points out was already done when those western powers destroyed 
Libya in 2011.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/11/us-and-russia-clash-over-violent-extremism-in-africa

--Facebook is allowing "Death to Khameni" posts saying they are not 
"credible threats" against the Iranian leader; if someone posted that same 
thing about a US leader do you think they would shrug it off this way?

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-meta-oversight-board-allows-death-khamenei-posts

--In 2022 US airstrikes in Somalia went up to 15, from "just" 11 in 2021.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/01/08/us-airstrikes-in-somalia-increased-by-30-in-2022/

--A drone was shot down over an Iraqi air base hosting US forces. Why are 
there still US forces in Iraq?

  https://www.newarab.com/news/drone-shot-down-over-iraqi-air-base-hosting-us-forces

In local news, there is another $75,000 settlement for a person harmed by 
Portland Police at a 2020 protest. This is again described as an 
"encounter." I wonder if they're trying to have so many close encounters 
to encourage contact with alien life forms. Meanwhile your tax dollars 
keep going to pay for people injured by "public safety officers."

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/settlement-erik-hoofnagles-bodily-injury-lawsuit

Along the march route I described how Israeli police have been ordered to 
ban Palestinian flags in public. What a great beacon of human rights and 
free speech!

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-ben-gvir-orders-police-bar-palestinian-flag-public-spaces

In the last stretch as we headed back to the Square, I talked about an Air 
Force Times article saying that Republicans may cut the military budget 
(reflecting the news from last week), but significantly the Times admitted 
the military budget is 1/2 of the US' discretionary funds. Of course, this 
is not about redirecting that money for human needs, just "fiscal 
conservatism."

  https://www.airforcetimes.com/congress/budget/2023/01/12/republicans-eye-pentagon-savings-after-mccarthy-spending-agreement/

I was able to recall and update the message about Guantanamo from last 
year on the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign. While it was Friday the 13th 
the sign stayed on, but froze up, by the Gucci store... but then went out 
around the corner on Yamhill St. again.

Please join us any week you can, we're back to the 5 PM start time next 
Friday, and remember to mask up and stay distanced!

peace
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group