[pjw] EVENT UPDATE: Fri 4:30 PM- "Guantanamo: 22 Years of Imprisonment without End... for 30 People"

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hey Iraq Affinity Group supporters

This is the last reminder I'm planning to send for Friday's special event 
around Guantanamo prison's 22nd year anniversary (ugh). Yes, it may snow 
Friday but we'll be there either way, bundle up and join us! Also since we 
want to focus on this theme, if you have signs about "close guantanamo" 
"end torture" "stop creating terrorists" etc please bring those. (We'll do 
the regular headlines in the announcements after the main comments about 
what's up with Guantanamo).

As you'll see below, I've updated the title of the event to accurately state 
there are 30 people in the prison; I fixed the website
  https://www.pjw.info/guantanamo22yl.html
and poster
  https://www.pjw.info/guantanamo22yl_flyer.pdf
as well if you want to hand out newer ones between now and Friday or just share 
the info digitally.

OK, thanks to everyone who's gotten us this far!
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group


     "Guantanamo: 22 Years of Imprisonment without End... for 30 People"
                      Expanded Friday rally and march
                         Friday, January 12, 2024
                               4:30-6:00 PM
                        Pioneer Courthouse Square,
                          SW Yamhill and Broadway

     On Friday, January 12 at 4:30 PM Portlanders will gather for a rally
     and march calling once again to close down the prison camp in
     Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US opened this "detention facility" on
     January 11, 2002, twenty-two years ago. Thirty (30) people remain
     there. Most of the active military aspects of the "war on terror" have
     subsided and over 700 prisoners have been released. Many of those
     remaining have never been charged with a crime. Guantanamo is seen as a
     blemish on human rights, including its history of torture and endless
     incarceration. Brigadier General Jackie Thompson of the United States
     Army Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps recently said "Guantanamo is
     a symbol of what not to do" (Telesur, November 7, 2023). The event is
     titled "Guantanamo: 22 Years of Imprisonment without End... for 30
     People."

     Efforts to shut down Guantanamo have been hampered by Congressional
     bills prohibiting funds being used to do so. Instead, America spends
     hundreds of millions of dollars a year to maintain this site of
     injustice.

     The Friday Rally for Peace and Justice has been held weekly since
     November, 2001. For the first 18.5 years it was coordinated by Portland
     Peaceful Response Coalition, and since March, 2020 by Peace and Justice
     Works Iraq Affinity Group. Normally the rally begins at 5 PM; this
     event begins at 4:30 to underscore its importance. Due to the ongoing
     pandemic we ask that participants mask up and stay distanced. The
     January 12 event marks exactly 200 weeks since the IAG began hosting
     the Friday Rally.

     Event coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group,
     cosponsored by Amnesty International Group 48.

     For more info or to cosponsor the event contact Peace and Justice Works
     Iraq Affinity Group: (503) 236-3065 or iraq at pjw.info.