Organize to Shut Down Guantánamo and Demand Accountability! January 11

BORDC is endorsing the January 11 action of Witness Against Torture (www.witnesstorture.org) to shut down Guantánamo. Your local action on January 11 will help amplify the voices around the country demanding that the Guantánamo detainees are provided due process. By raising awareness in our own communities, we will build the strength of our local groups and coalitions to demand accountability from our elected officials.

This message contains suggestions and resources for taking immediate action on January 11 as well as ideas for carrying on the struggle long term. Please let us know what you will be planning locally for January 11, and any feedback you have about our long-term campaign!

Contents:

Resources: January 11, 2008 Global Day of Action to Shut Down Guantánamo

Witness Against Torture is organizing a major gathering in Washington, DC to Shutdown Guantánamo. Your organization can endorse by clicking here. Witness has also assembled resources to help people create actions in their community on January 11: http://www.witnesstorture.org/what_you_can_do
(Highlights for Witness Against Torture: order "Shut Down Guantánamo" T-shirts; print and distribute a Guantánamo fact sheet; contact Witness directly for a script of a 8-10 minute street theater piece that dramatizes the plight of Guantánamo prisoners.)
The ACLU has also created an activist toolkit for January 11: http://aclu.org/closeguantanamo
(Highlights: a visually engaging fact sheet, an activist toolkit that contains resources for letter to the editor, suggestions about wearing orange as a sign of support for closing Guantánamo.)
A coalition of national groups are supporting local film screenings of Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, especially for January 11: http://ghostsofabughraib.org/
(Highlights for Ghosts of Abu Ghraib: Under “Take Action”: Sample letters to the editor; Resources for teachers. Under “Host a Screening”: publish your event in a national registry.)
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has created a Facilitator's Guide for Faith-Based Screening Events in conjunction with this film.

Guantánamo: What Would it Take to Make This the LAST Anniversary?

What is at Stake Here?

January 11, 2008 marks the sixth year of indefinite detention and torture at the U.S Military's Guantánamo Bay detention camp. The question now is how can we act to stop the crimes being done in our name? And the answer is, it ain't simple, but we have some ideas.

Since 2002, detainees have languished at Guantánamo without rights or hope of due process -- human beings, both guilty and innocent, have been reduced to pain-sensitive sources of information. Inside the suffocating cells of Guantánamo and outside in the homes and communities of those who have been disappeared, the kidnapping and torture that our government practices terrorizes entire populations. The message being sent is that nowhere on this planet are you safe. We must stop the lawlessness of our government and restore the rule of law.

A Broken System

These abuses continue because the U.S. constitutional system is failing to correct itself. The Supreme Court's decision in Rasul v. Bush (2004) that detainees have the right of habeas corpus was circumvented when the President replaced that right with Combatant Status Review Tribunals. These CSRTs only have the power to review a detainee's status, but not to free him when sufficient evidence of a crime is lacking.

In 2006, Congress legitimized this dubious substitute for habeas corpus by passing the Military Commission Act, which explicitly stripped the right of habeas corpus from detainees. In that Act, Congress abdicated its sworn duty to safeguard basic constitutional rights. Once again, on December 5, attorneys for Guantánamo detainees called on the Supreme Court to restore the constitutional right of habeas corpus for these men. Even if the Court rules in favor of habeas corpus rights this time as it did in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Rasul (2004), the abuses won't necessarily stop -- so long as the President's power goes unchallenged by the Congress and the American people.

At this crucial time, our best hope is for the people to form an independent check on all three branches of government and to hold all members of government accountable to the oaths they have made to the Constitution (See People's Campaign below).

Staying in it for the Long Haul

We strengthen our movement to restore our basic rights by helping each other express deeply held beliefs and values. This can helps us discover what beliefs we share enough to fight for as communities. Change rarely happens as fast as it should, and the only thing that ever seems to make it happen is when people join together and stubbornly fight for it. If you are hosting discussions on or around January 11 in your community and you are looking for ways to help your community connect with the values that lead them toward action, please contact us (info below) for ideas and discussion guides.

"People's Campaign for the Constitution" -- A new initiative for Demanding Accountability from Elected Officials

In 2008, BORDC’s “People's Campaign for the Constitution” (current working title) will actively challenge the so-called “War on Terror,” which has provided a misleading banner for shredding our Constitution. This "war" is unlike any war ever before, because there's no clear enemy and there is no realistic end in sight. The "War on Terror" assaults our basic rights and constitution in multiple ways. The assaults on our rights to privacy, due process, a fair and speedy trial, and free speech are inextricably linked to how our government is waging war abroad. Each time the government is allowed to wage more war, our rights at home come under greater attack. We can't just focus on one abuse, one violation, one war at a time. We have to see the common logic that binds these abuses together.

One key aspect of the "War on Terror" that links many of the constitutional abuses we've seen is lack of accountability. High-ranking officials responsible for torture are war criminals, but they have been promoted rather than tried in court. The president and vice president who lied to the public to build the case for war on Iraq and still threaten Iran -- despite reports from the nation's top intelligence agencies that directly contradict their primary claims -- have been allowed to remain in office rather than be impeached. Meanwhile, Congress has presided over these crimes with indefensible reticence. At times, Congress has openly endorsed crimes like torture, indefinite detention, and warrantless wiretapping by passing laws to make them legal. We can't let them off the hook like they have let the president get off the hook.

We need to demand accountability now. That means that we need to change how we relate to our leaders. We need to have the courage to expect and indeed demand from them that their decisions must be bound by the Constitution. BORDC will be releasing new materials and hosting a series of conference calls on opportunities for grassroots organizing including public accountability forums, renewed municipal resolution campaigns focused on accountability, and tactics to hold presidential candidates answerable to matters of constitutional principles.

Together, we can make accountability a reality -- both locally, and nationally. Indeed, we must, because no matter who’s elected in 2008, our work will continue until the Bill of Rights is fully restored.

Thanks for all you do!
Hope Marston (West Region Organizer) west@bordc.org
Ben Grosscup (East Region Organizer) east@bordc.org