Andy Worthington: Guantánamo events, November and December 2008

The following is a list of Guantánamo-related events that Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, will be involved in for the rest of the year.

Saturday November 15, 2 to 6.30 pm: Under Siege: Islam, War and the Media, A Conference hosted by Media Workers Against the War.
Venue: London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE.

Speakers include journalists Nick Davies (Flat Earth News) and Peter Oborne, solicitor Louise Christian, and Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. Workshops include a session on Afghanistan with Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, and Moazzam Begg, former Guantánamo prisoner and spokesman for Cageprisoners.

As the organizers state, “The ‘war on terror’ continues to have an intensely damaging effect on the mainstream British media — and in turn on British politics. This conference will examine what media workers and students can do to improve coverage of the ‘war on terror,’ to bring critical views into the mainstream, raise the profile of the anti-war movement, and create our own sources of critical news and comment.”

Admission is £15 (£10 concessions). For further information and to book a ticket, visit the website.

Monday November 17, 7.30 pm: The Guantánamo Files, hosted by Bristol University Amnesty International.
Venue: Bristol University Union, Training Suite (4th Floor).

Speaker: Andy Worthington.

Andy will be discussing his research for The Guantánamo Files, his shocking discoveries about the lack of evidence against the prisoners and the circumstances of their capture, and will also address the future of Guantánamo, in light of Barack Obama’s recent election victory.

For further information, please contact Clare Hayes.

Tuesday November 18: Guantánamo: What Next?

Andy will be discussing the future of Guantánamo as part of a panel discussion on Yvonne Ridley’s show, The Agenda, on Press TV.

Tuesday November 25, 7.30 pm: 60 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — How Much Has Been Achieved? Organized by Amnesty International Guildford Group.
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, High Street, Guildford.

Speakers: Bruce Kent (CND), Deborah Haynes, the Times’ Iraq correspondent, Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, Gill Hinchelwood of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and Carole Seymour-Jones (PEN). This is a free event.

Tuesday December 2, 7.30 pm (tbc): Taxi to the Dark Side film showing, plus Q&A with Andy Worthington. Organized by SOAS Amnesty.
Venue: SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG.

Speaker: Andy Worthington.

Andy will be discussing Bagram, Guantánamo and the CIA’s secret prison network following a screening of Alex Gibney’s Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, which tells the story of the “War on Terror” through the murder of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver, at the US prison at Bagram airbase, Afghanistan.

For further information, please contact Amy Beaumont.

Wednesday December 10, 6 pm: After 60 Years, Why Human Rights? Organized by CAMPACC, the London Guantánamo Campaign, London Against Injustice and People in Common.
Venue: London School of Economics, New Theatre, East Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE.

Speakers include: Professor A.C. Grayling, Vivienne Westwood and Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files. More to be confirmed.

A public meeting on International Human Rights Day, marking the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For further information, please phone 07809 757176 or email.
Websites: CAMPACC (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities), London Guantánamo Campaign, London Against Injustice, People in Common.

Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed, and also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, published in March 2009.