Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

"...Liberty and Justice for all"? Prisoner Solidarity Protest, US Embassy,4 July

London Guantánamo Campaign | 06.07.2011 09:23 | Guantánamo | Anti-racism | Repression | Terror War

The London Guantánamo Campaign marked American Independence Day on 4 July with a political prisoner solidarity protest in the evening outside the US Embassy in Mayfair. Around 25 people attended.



Ilyas Townsend from the Justice For Aafia Coalition
Ilyas Townsend from the Justice For Aafia Coalition


Nicki Jameson from Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Nicki Jameson from Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

Ray Silk from the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign
Ray Silk from the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign


Naomi Colvin from UK Friends of Bradley Manning
Naomi Colvin from UK Friends of Bradley Manning


The London Guantánamo Campaign marked American Independence Day on 4 July with a political prisoner solidarity protest in the evening outside the US Embassy in Mayfair. Around 25 people attended.

Earlier in the day, a new statue of Cold War president Ronald Reagan was unveiled outside the Embassy. An inscription on the statue reads, in his words: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”. Along with “…liberty and justice for all” at the end of the American pledge of allegiance, these words are all little more than a mantra, contrasting starkly with actual US practice.

For prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, this has translated into almost 10 years of imprisonment without trial or charge. The story is similar for other prisoners held arbitrarily in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.

The situation in American prisons is not much better with prisoners in California starting an undetermined hunger strike on 1 July to demand better prison conditions  http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/ in particular an end to the practice of prolonged solitary confinement, whereby prisoners, particularly at harsh “supermax” prisons may not see another human being for years. These are the same facilities that were proposed to hold Guantánamo prisoners if transferred to the US mainland and would also house terror suspects extradited under the one-sided extradition treaty Britain signed with the US resulting in the 2003 Extradition Act, whereby individuals can be extradited to the US with the need for prima facie evidence to be produced against them. European law finds the conditions of prisoners held at such prisons to be inconsistent with human rights practice and in some cases tantamount to torture.

As well as protesting against Guantánamo, activists were joined by Ilyas Townsend from the Justice for Aafia Coalition (www.justiceforaafia.org) highlighting the hypocrisy of the US in its actions and the betrayal of its founding principles as a nation. US-educated Pakistani neuroscientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui “disappeared” with her three children in 2003 and was reported to be held in secret CIA prisons where she was tortured and abused until she reappeared in Afghanistan in 2008. Following a curious trial, in which dubious evidence was produced and most of the charges were dismissed, she was sentenced to 86 years last year for allegedly attempting to attack US soldiers during an interrogation in Afghanistan.

Nicki Jameson from Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! reminded those attending that the British government too has a poor record on its treatment of political prisoners.

Naomi Colvin from the UK Friends of Bradley Manning ( http://www.ukfriendsofbradleymanning.org/) spoke about the harsh conditions alleged Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning has been held in over the past year and the responsibility the British government has towards him as a joint US-UK national. Manning, who faces a series of charges and potentially the death penalty, has yet to face trial of any kind. An article published in the New York magazine published this week focuses on his story:  http://nymag.com/news/features/bradley-manning-2011-7/

Ray Silk, from the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC) (www.saveshaker.org), the last British resident recognised by the government held at Guantánamo, talked about the failure of the British and American governments to return him to his British family in the UK, even though things had improved under the Coalition government. He read out a letter sent by Joy Hurcombe from the SSAC to the press (unpublished) on 4 July concerning the new statue of Ronald Reagan:

“The statue of former US President Ronald Reagan unveiled today, July 4th, American Independence Day, in front of the US Embassy, is inscribed with his words," Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." How ironic that on this day, British Resident Shaker Aamer will mark ten years of incarceration in Guantanamo without charge or trial. The US cannot claim to protect human rights while it keeps prisoners in indefinite detention for years without hope of release. Reagan frequently warned that freedom should not be compromised by state control. He is known for his firm conviction that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. The US and UK Governments should take note of his words and act on them. Otherwise the ceremony today is just another sentimental celebration that conceals the truth.”

TAKE ACTION FOR THESE PRISONERS:
- Visit the websites mentioned above and write to the prisoners to let them know they are not forgotten and to show your solidarity
- Write to your MP (find them at www.theyworkforyou.com) and raise the issue of the remaining British residents in Guantánamo Bay, Bradley Manning and prisoners facing extradition to the US (details on websites linked above)
- Get your MP to sign EDM on 1093 on the closure of Guantánamo Bay:  http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2010/11/get-your-mp-to-sign-edm-1093-guantanamo.html and EDM 1624 on the treatment of Bradley Manning  http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/1624
- Add your name to our open letter to President Obama demanding the return of Guantánamo prisoner Shaker Aamer to his family in Britain:  http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2011/03/sign-our-open-letter-to-president-obama.html
- Join our next protest – this protest was a part of the monthly demonstrations the London Guantánamo Campaign has been organising outside the US Embassy since 2007 calling for Guantánamo and other illegal prisons to be shut and for justice for prisoners held there. Usually held on the first Friday of every month (next one is 5 August), please contact the campaign or check our blog – probably at lunchtime.

London Guantánamo Campaign
- e-mail: london.gtmo [at] gmail.com
- Homepage: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech