Vigil at US embassy in Dublin Calling to Close Guantanamo

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Saturday January 12, 2008 20:23

by Seán Ryan

Day

Brief summary of the vigil held outside the Dublin embassy.

Activists turned out yesterday in the freezing cold outside the US embassy in Dublin to protest the continued existence of the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and in solidarity with their fellow-activists from around the planet who’d chosen the 11th as the time to jointly protest the 6th anniversary of the opening of this abomination.

The vigil took place between 4pm and 6pm and the transition from day to night seemed to say something profound about the way the disappeared are treated with regard to their being kidnapped and hidden from the world. One activist who’d stationed himself on a traffic island with a sign that invited motorists to honk if they believed in closing Guantanamo ensured a constant reminder was heard that showed that nobody condones the existence of Guantanamo.

Many passers-by signed a petition that was to be handed into the embassy at 6 O’clock. The vigil provided an opportunity for activists to convey a fuller picture of the nature of the Guantanamo facility to members of the public who’d only been given a rudimentary and facile picture of this by the mainstream media. It was heartening to know that despite the depth of knowledge that people lacked about this facility, that our fellow human beings still deplore the existence of concentration camps in the 21st century.

As ever, we were joined by our good friend in his orange Gitmo suit, seasoned activist, Colm Roddy, who spent most of the two hours on the ice-cold footpath on his knees, in a stress-position. How he manages this is beyond me as I have sore knees just from kneeling to take a handful of photographs.

The Gardaí were present, but not in large numbers and they gave us plenty of room for the vigil, the only interaction being some good-natured banter.

Guantanamo Bay is still populated by approximately 300 forgotten souls, many who’ve been put beyond the protection of international law and American law. All of them have been tortured in one way or another and many of them were taken there, if not through Shannon or other Irish airports, then through Irish airspace, which John Gormley a few weeks back told me was hard to police. Colin Powell and even George Bush have said that they wish to close Guantanamo. Even the American Supreme Court has said that these inmates are entitled to the recognition of law and that they must be tried and convicted or tried and found innocent - that there must be no grey area in this matter. And still the abomination stays open.

Lest we forget, Guantanamo is not the only place where human beings are held without basic human rights, there are many more. Not least of these is Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan which currently holds 20,000 or more miserable prisoners. Facilities like Bagram are considered worse than Guantanamo with regard to the treatment of prisoners. The US has said that it wishes to close the makeshift prison that would be overcrowded if it held only 10,000. They say that they cannot close this facility and hand the prisoners over to the authorities in Afghanistan as they cannot be sure of the prisoners’ fair treatment at the hands of the authorities from Afghanistan. The irony surely bleeds from this position.

Human beings are entitled to basic human rights, regardless as to what they’re suspected of. Human beings are entitled to a process whereby their guilt or their innocence is established. Human beings are entitled to live freely and not be placed into a state of tortuous limbo by their fellow human beings. We as free persons by our very nature illustrate the need and the right to be free and our very existence by its nature screams that abominations like Guantanamo be closed.

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Comments (13 of 13)

Night

Sat Jan 12, 2008 20:26

Those Crazy Kids...

by Elaine

Sat Jan 12, 2008 20:59

I did a quick check of the ages of the protesters at the embassy yesterday and the youngest person there was 38! I didn't count the children that had come with parents. The oldest protester was in his 70's. I assume that the youngsters were at College/ Work or whatever. We waited in vain for the usual rant from passers-by of 'get a job' ( as most of those there were retired) but it never came.

Last Years Banner - amended

Fintan Does His Thing

On Vigil

Braving The Cold

As It Got Later...

Sat Jan 12, 2008 21:15

and the night started to draw in, the rush hour traffic increased. Fintan ensured the car horns kept beeping in support. One parent walking his young son home from school was faced with an awkward question when the boy spotted Colm kneeling in his orange suit. 'Daddy, why is the man dressed like that?' The Father had to explain about Guantanamo and that prisoners were kept there. The child came back with that question that still hasn't been answered - 'But why?'

Colm

Line Up

Crescent Moon Above

Collecting Signatures

Well done to ye all!

by Jacqueline Fallon

Sat Jan 12, 2008 22:51

Well done to everyone who turned out to protest at the continuing use of the US military's Guantanamo base for the torture of people suspected of being enemies of the US. It is heartening to see such dedicated people highlighting the plight of those detained indefinitely by the US military at this most secretive base.

Well done to Colm Roddy who is such a dedicated activist and who I frequently see manning a protest outside Leinster House and letting the politicians know what he thinks of their decision to permit the US military's use of Shannon Airport as a stopover whilst en route to perpetrate an illegal war.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, Mr. Bush has looked into his crystal ball and has declared to himself that when the history books are written he predicts his decision to invade Iraq will be viewed as a victory for the USA - it would indeed be funny if such a proclamation had not such bloody serious implications for peace and stability in the Middle East, could someone tell him to actually think before he speaks, what a lúdramán!

Congrats.

by Damien Moran

Sat Jan 12, 2008 23:34

Great report and wonderful to see the images. Well done to all involved.
Here is my report of our action in Warsaw:
http://cia.bzzz.net/international_day_of_action_to_clos...th_08

82 Arrested at U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

by 82 Arrested D.C.

Sun Jan 13, 2008 08:29

Reports
www.witnesstorture.org

Some Visuals of NVDA at Supreme Court
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcivey/sets/72157603695361494/

More visuals, updates and reports on
www.witnesstorture.org

Guantanamo?

by Andrew - None

Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:08

I'd rather be in Guantanamo, than in the care of of Al Qaeda. I know just because you oppose one does not mean you support the other. However why are there never any protests outside the Iranian embassies or the Saudi embassy?

Clarification

by Ciaron

Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:10

I'd be up for a weekly anti-death penalty vigil when they do their weekly executions at the Saudi embassy if you would initiate it Andrew.

Why folks have prioritised the U.S. embassy here is that it is the 6th. annniversary of the Gitmo gulag and CIA rendition (kidnapping)flights are passing through Shannon Airport regularly. You intend to prioritise the shite you're most complicit and ocnnected with. etc etc

Why the US embassy and not Iran ?

by Biker

Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:26

Because the Iranians aren't using Shannon Airport as a military base.

Andrews contribution

by paul cassidy

Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:48

We've all been where Andrew's at, trying to assume a balanced perspective in an imbalanced world.
It's hard to get your head round the reality of modern state backed corporate imperialism and its portfolio of resource war. It's distressing to concede that you soaked up the bullshit for so long and then when you see the light to realise that activism is not a black and white arena, complicated as it is by semantics, conspiracy and futility.
What we are witnessing today is the emergence of a pattern leading up to the opening of a century of resource conflict. The struggle is to get the public in the west to realise the implications of our lifestyle, our corporate and political affiliations and of our intellectual naivety.
As for a death penalty campaign... it needs to be universal in character, which would of course lead you back to the US as well as the Saudi Embassy, not to mention of course the uncanny propensity of our own police to accidentally kill those in custody (Terence Wheelock) victims of depression (John Carthy) and of drug addiction (Dean Lyons).
Mistakes will happen but sometimes the pattern is symptomatic of an underlying malaise. The convenient scape-goating of the vulnerable in a society where patronage determines who's in and who's out of the loop, ultimately leads to the death of reason and the acceptance of the farcical, the absurd, the outlandish, as alternatives to truth.
What we have is Paddywhackery and Gombeenism vandalizing the civic and political mindscape of Ireland, while dressed up in sophisticated Celtic
Tiger clothing. But still, it is what it is and is, and is increasingly been seen for what it is.
Take the latest episode in our absurd Tribunals where Bertie - the one time Min of Finance who said he'd chase someone for not declaring €20 - is caught out... Need I go develop the point? And just after the Dail mega-rise debacle, which effectively constituted buying of dissent in advance of the
Mahon Tribunal crisis, telling us in the process all we need to know about the true motives of our political elite: ‘Comfort is a drone zone called Dail Eireann’. Perhaps we could brand it as an alcoholic drink to be consumed during episodes of Dail TV.
Anywhos Andrew welcome to the mind-value game where you get to decide what’s more important your preconceived assumptions or your values. The truth is that right now your trying to get your values to fit into a world-view that’s distorted by vested interests, a world view you’ve downloaded for free from society.
To make sense of your world or of yourself you can either chip away at this world-view or at your values. If you choose the latter you will find that your values become variables to be redefined from place to place from scenario to scenario. And you will find much comfort there and many fair weather friends to boot. But you will never ever find YOURSELF because YOU are not a compromise…. so make sure not to get lost in one.

Mmmmmmmmmmmaybe Paul....

by maybe

Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:33

....but then again "Andrew -none" could just be another contrary fucker!

How many times have you been staging an under resourced underpersoneled demonstration in the street like these good folks outside the embassy here, when someone like Andrew comes up and says "Why aren't you do something else?"

A. "Well sunshine I'm pretty busy trying to sustain this statement against enormous corporate and state interests right now, maybe you could go and do what you just suggested and I'll send you all the supportive vibes I can muster!"

There's a deep confusion amongst such people between being rebelious and merely passive aggressive contrary, between cynicism and wisdom.

Guantanamo

by Etain - Green Party Member

Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:37

Well done! to all who protested against the horrendous torture of so many troops. It is truly remarkable that this is going on, on a day to day basis and that so many are aware of the situation and still refuse to do anything about it.

What is totally sickening is that anyone who dares to speak out in the name of human rights is labelled an agitator with ulterior motives. What has happend to our society, that we are afraid to voice our opinions.

What are our standards, and who sets them?

by Coilín - Self-Appointed Citizens of Ireland

Mon Jan 14, 2008 17:51

aatchoo at gmail dot com

Andrew wrote:
"I'd rather be in Guantanamo, than in the care of of Al Qaeda."

You might also say: "I'd rather eat moss peat than horse manure." We compare good things with other good things, and bad things with other bad things.

And he wrote:
"However why are there never any protests outside the Iranian embassies or the Saudi embassy?"

This raises a few questions:
1. How many countries have Iran and Saudi Arabia invaded since these states were founded in the last century?
2. How many political prisoners has Iran captured in overseas wars, or by abducting them in Germany, Italy or the Balkans?
3. How many Iranian intelligence aircraft registered to shell companies have landed at Shannon since the airport was built?
(Please give registration numbers of recent ones so that Conor Cregan and Ed Horgan can keep an eye out for them.)
4. Why do you thiink there should be protests outside these embassies?
5. When are you going to call one? Put it up on Indymedia events, post a story to Indymedia and send me an e-mail.
NB: Remember to invite Alan Shatter. I never saw him demonstrating outside the Iranian embassy.

Here's a report on a demo criticising the Iranian death penalty, which was held on Dame Steet in July 2006:
Iran Hangs Two Gay Teens: Protest
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77340
Note the picture of David Norris, and comment that he "spoke exceptionally well."
Note also NO pictures of Alan Shatter. (Ctrl-F Shatter finds nothing. Zip. Nada. Dada ar bith.) Where were you, Alan?

---

Speaking in Abu Dhabi yesterday, George W. Bush said:
“Iran is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. It sends millions of dollars to extremists around the world, while its own people suffer… at home.’’

Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad might make a simple substitution and make the same accusation against the United States:
“The US is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. It sends millions of dollars to extremists around the world, while its own people suffer… at home.’’

For example, the United States has been fickle in its support of a variety of unlawful militias in Iraq. In recent months, the United States has been backing unlawful Sunni militias in Anbar province. And these militias have inflicted great violence on the civilian population:
American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq
November 25, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/articl...4.ece

So, for supporting extremists around the world, Bush need look no further than the Pentagon.

---

Andrew, maybe you can understand this as a matter of friendhip. We demand more from our friends. We are embarrassed by the bad behaviour of our friends in breaching the values we hold most dear. We look to our friends for leadership in promoting freedom, justice and peace. We are being disappointed, but we go on asking our friends to set the standard. Not to sink to the standard of Al-Qaeda, as your comparison above indicates, but to set a high standard and strive to reach it.

Best,
Coilín.

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Vigil at US embassy in Dublin Calling to Close Guantanamo

Comments (13 of 13)