April 2009

To cap the 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End Torture, 150 people in black hoods and orange jumpsuits, joined by 50 others, marched from the Capitol to the White House. After a brief rally, 61 of these, stood on the White House sidewalk holding a banner reading JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. Each person carried the name of one of the 55 detainees cleared for release by the Bush Administration, but not yet released, or the name of one of the 5 prisoners who died at the prison.

After being warned to disperse, they were arrested.

Much more at the 100 Days Campaign site.

Russia Today:

Huffington Post has an article and video of Carmen Trotta at the top of his game.

The Boston Globe reports that Worcester’s Rep. Jim McGovern and others were arrested at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC, this morning for a Darfur protest. Both McGovern and his constituents have committed civil disobedience on the issue in recent years. (via WoMag)

Down at the White House, what seemed to be more than 100 disability activists risked arrest by handcuffing themselves to the fence while agitating for the Community Choice Act.

Update: 91 arrested.

DCist reports some Greenpeace activists were also arrested today.

Witness Against Torture:

Witness Against Torture’s “100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End Torture” will conclude on Thursday, April 30th with an 11:15 am rally at Lafayette Park and a noon protest at the White House, in which 55 activists, representing the 55 men cleared for release but still in Guantanamo, will risk arrest– the first such arrest action at the Obama White House. The demonstrations– in which faith-based activists will play a leading role– reflect mounting frustration at President Obama’s failure to live up to his campaign promise to break with the Bush administration’s detention policies and bring accountability to government. “Despite early, encouraging signs,” says Matthew Daloisio of Witness Against Torture (WAT), “the first months of the Obama administration have been a grave disappointment with respect to detainee issues and torture. Many of the immoral and illegal policies of the Bush administration remain in place, and President Obama has been reluctant to investigate possible, past crimes. We are demonstrating at the White House to push Obama to fully reverse the Bush policies and commit to a criminal inquiry.”

Lydon: And the main question I think is, simply, why are we so tenaciously devoted to discovering ourselves as Christians, and what that means. You, me, lots of people.

Carroll: Well, that’s the big question. I’m mystified, frankly, by my own Catholic Christianity. I love it. I argue with it, I’m in a fierce conflict with it. I’m deeply consoled by it. For me it’s as simple as going to mass. That’s the practice. The practice outweighs all the doctrines, and even all the aesthetic glories of the Church.

James Carroll interview from Lydon’s excellent “Open Source.”

mp3 link

“Band Together” combines street outreach on political issues with live, old-time music. I talked with some of the people behind the concept about their experiences and what advice they’d give to others looking to try it.

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Band Together is a human rights advocacy project. We use live artistic performances in public places to capture people’s attention and turn it toward human rights. We strive to educate people on the most urgent issues of our time, and facilitate action that will lead to a change in legislative policy on these issues.

 

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