Close Guantanamo March & Rally Against Torture

Posted on Jan 03, 2013 by Women Against Military Madness

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Message Action: Close Guantanamo March & Rally Against Torture

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January 11th marks the beginning of the twelfth year of the operation of Guantanamo Bay Prison where 166 men still languish indefinitely detained without charges, without trial, 55 of whom have been cleared for release. Gitmo prison concentrates the worst of the Bush doctrine of indefinite detention, extrajudicial murder, torture, and lawlessness which under Barack Obama has somehow become both accepted and forgotten in the American psyche.

On Friday, January 11, insult will be added to injury. On that day those behind the film Zero Dark Thirty will release it nationwide. Anyone who believes the film is simply unbiased theatrical journalism should look at this "coincidence" carefully. So what are thinking and caring people to do?

• 166 prisoners remain, most held without charge and without justice--contrary to US and international law. 55 of those are already cleared but continue to be imprisoned anyway.

• The Guantanamo military commissions are fundamentally unfair. Prisoners should either be charged and fairly tried in federal court or be released.

• Guantanamo ’s history of torture, mistreatment and lack of justice is a blot on our nation. The continued existence of this prison—and indefinite imprisonment and unfair trials--deeply damages our reputation and creates enemies of the US .

On Friday, January 11, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., join Tackling Torture at the Top and other anti-torture activists as we protest Guantanamo’s 11th anniversary with a silent slow walk through the skyway system. Orange jumpsuits and black hoods are available to borrow or to purchase if you wish to wear them. We also plan to distribute “Close Guantanamo” postcards asking people to sign them for sending to the President as well as to our Minnesota Senators on the Judiciary Committee and other elected officials requesting the closing of Guantanamo . Please join us, and let our government know that we will not rest until Guantanamo is closed and the innocent released from their indefinite detention without charge or trial. (Meet at 1:00 pm at the doors of Hennepin County Government Center , 300 6th Street South , Minneapolis , leading to the Plaza facing the light rail on 5th Avenue across from the Minneapolis City Hall .)

Last year hundreds of us marched in Washington DC , from the White House to the Supreme Court and Capitol. This year our Minneapolis event is in solidarity with a similar march in Washington DC being organized by Amnesty International, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and other anti-torture groups.

At 6 pm, join our pre-film discussion outside the torture propaganda film at Southdale Mall.

ZERO DARK THIRTY depicts the world simplistically through the CIA's eyes & falsely depicts torture as necessary to find Osama Bin Laden. We as a people are further brutalized and degraded by the celebration and justification of torture in this film. Torture produced no useful intelligence in the pursuit of Bin Laden. Even the government has admitted this. Yet this film claims the opposite.

So we will meet outside the AMC Theater at Southdale Mall near the 69th St. entrance closest to the theaters showing this film at 6 pm or so to say NO to TORTURE IN OUR NAMES! CLOSE GUANTANAMO and STOP ALL TORTURE NOW! The following postcards will be signed and sent to political leaders as well as to the film producers and to the Academy Awards.

TORTURE IS ALWAYS AND ONLY WRONG

• Torture is immoral.

• Torture is illegal under US and international law.

• Torture is never permitted.

Help get the truth out about CIA torture. US Senators Feinstein, Levin and McCain, who have reviewed thousands of pages of CIA classified information, write that Zero Dark Thirty is “grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of Bin LadenOe[and] the film's producers have an obligation to state that the role of tortureOeis not based on the facts, but rather part of the film’s fictional narrative.”

Ensure that the Senate report on CIA torture is made public!