WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE A campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo

Hello friends-

*We are writing with an important invitation.*

On January 11th, 2002, the first prisoners arrived at Guantánamo. January 11th, 2007, will mark five years of indefinite detention.

*We are calling for January 11th, 2007, to be an International Day to Shut Down Guantánamo.*
In addition to local demonstrations being organized, we are working with members of the Catholic Worker, Center for Constitutional Rights, War Resisters League, CodePink, The Declaration of Peace, Act Against Torture, and the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance on a demonstration in Washington, D.C. The day will include a press conference led by lawyers representing the men at Guantánamo and family members of those detained.
*We are also hoping to have as many people as there are prisoners, around 430 at last count, risk arrest in an act of nonviolent civil resistance, bringing the names of the men from Guantánamo into US courts. *

Please consider joining us in DC, or organizing locally in your own communities.
Members of Witness Against Torture will be available beforehand to meet with you in person to go over the scenario and other details, or you can call or e-mail Frida Berrigan or Matt Daloisio for more information. There will also be a meeting in DC the evening of January 10th, 2007 to go over details and prepare for the day.
At a recent teach-in hosted by Seton Hall Law School, Joseph Margulies, a lawyer challenging the indefinite detention of the prisoners at Guantánamo, framed the issue: “There is little question of how history will respond to Guantánamo…it will be looked back on with condescension and bemusement. How could we be so foolish, misguided, cruel? How we will respond is a legal question and a political question. But it is most of all a moral question. Will we respond with courage or cowardice? This is our choice.”

Please consider joining this day in any way you can. We ask that you seriously consider coming to DC to stand on behalf of those men who have been denied justice for far too long.

Peace-

Frida Berrigan 347.683.4928(c) Matthew W. Daloisio 201.264.4424(c) frida.berrigan @ gmail.com, daloisio @ riseup.net on behalf of Witness Against Torture - www.witnesstorture.org