Close Guantanamo – San Francisco Protest, January 11

This article is excerpted from one that originally appeared on the blog Mibba 

The "close Gitmo" protest that San Francisco did today was very moving. January 11, 2012 is exactly ten years since Guantanamo Bay opened up. Every year on January 11, people across America protest Gitmo in a variety of ways.

In Washington D.C, a group called Witness Against Torture has been fasting in solidarity with Gitmo detainees for ten days now. This group has also has a "caged vigil" going on in front of the White House. A protester who is also fasting has been locked in a cage since this protest began.

Today, the group created a human chain to represent the people being held indefinitely and tortured at Gitmo. Chicago did a protest outside of an event Obama was holding there which I love that they did this. Major admiration for Chicago for holding a "close Gitmo" protest right outside of Obama’s event. Here in San Francisco, we held a rally and formed a small human chain. There were multiple other events today as well, but these are the three major ones that happened today.

We met at the Federal Building at noon. Those people who wanted to grabbed an orange jumpsuit and a black hood to dress as the Gitmo detainees must dress. When the jumpsuits ran out, they took to tying an orange armband around people’s arms, that’s what I had on. We had a lot of speakers from the various organizations who helped plan and fund this protest.

After about an hour, the organizers told us it was time to form the human chain. The human chain had 171 people, each person carried the picture and name of one of the current Gitmo detainees. This was done because each protester represented one of the 171 detainees currently in Gitmo. Across the street from our Federal Building is the 9th Circuit Courthouse. Both sides of the streets were lined with protesters. Someone with a mega phone walked down the line as each protester read the name of the detainee they represented. After all of the names were read, we decided to do a small march before coming back to the original place to hear a few more speakers and musicians.

Someone read some poetry that was written by the detainees at Gitmo and published in a book called Poems from Guantanamo. It was amazing.

One speaker who really got me. She came to speak because her son had once been threatened with Gitmo, the only thing that saved him was that Americans were once exempt from Gitmo.. But because of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we too can now be sent to Gitmo. Each and every America now faces the threat of being kidnapped in the middle of the night and being locked away in Gitmo, we’re no longer protected from being thrown into that place.

Also because of NDAA, it is very hard for any person to be released from this heinous place. You get sent there, you may never leave. The woman pointed this out and said how scared she was for every parent because, had NDAA been in play when her son was convicted, her son would be at Gitmo right now. She said how sorry she felt for the parents of the current Gitmo detainees. The entire action was very moving and, just knowing that the detainees inside of Gitmo are also protesting, is another thing that made today so moving. I don’t know how that went, but the detainees currently in Gitmo got word of the day of action that happened today and wanted to show their thanks that so many Americans were standing in solidarity with them and standing up for them. The detainees planned to do peaceful sit-ins and do a three-day hunger strike.

I don’t know how that went or if the guards even allowed them to peacefully protest today. One can only hope these detainees were at least allowed that basic right of being allowed to peacefully protest for just one day. It’s incredible that the detainees, after everything they go through, still have so much courage to stand up like they planned to. The fact that the detainees even planned to do this (on the chance the guards didn’t allow them to in the end) is what made all of the actions done today so much more emotional and better.