Radio: I Discuss Guantánamo Vigils, “Forever Prisoners” and Genocide in Gaza with Chris Cook on Gorilla Radio

12.11.23

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On the left, Andy Worthington, at a vigil for the closure of Guantánamo outside the US Embassy in London on November 1, 2023, holding up the poster showing how long the Guantánamo prisoners approved for release have been held since the US decided it no longer wanted to hold them, and, on the right, a protestor near the US Embassy on the March for Palestine in London on November 11, 2023 (Photo: Andy Worthington).

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My thanks to Chris Cook of Gorilla Radio, in Victoria, Canada, for reaching out to interview me last week about the coordinated monthly vigils for the closure of Guantánamo which take place in London, across the US and around the world on the first Wednesday of every month, and which I initiated in February (following up on monthly vigils in London, which began last September) by reaching out to friends and colleagues elsewhere to join us. Chris and I have spoken many times over the years, and it’s always a pleasure to talk to him.

Our interview takes up the second half of the one-hour show, beginning at 28:45, following an interview that is also worth listening to — with William S. Geimer, a peace activist, Professor Emeritus of Law at Washington and Lee University, a military veteran who resigned his 82nd Airborne commission in opposition to the war against Vietnam, the author of the book, ‘Canada: The Case for Staying Out of Other People’s Wars’, and the founder of the Greater Victoria Peace School.

The interview is available here as an MP3, or here on the Gorilla Radio website, and it’s also embedded below.

Chris was following up on my recent article, Photos and Report: The Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on November 1, 2023, and as I explained, although the numbers taking part are small — because, fundamentally, so very few people care about the monstrous ongoing injustice of Guantánamo — the effort is worth it because, as I also explained, it’s “one of those things that you do that’s an important reminder that it hasn’t gone away and that not everyone has forgotten”, and that “there’s a huge difference between nobody turning up and a handful of people bothering to make their presence felt.”

At this point, I should have mentioned the almost legendary vigils against the Vietnam War that were held by A. J. Muste (1885-1967), a Dutch-born US Christian socialist described in a Jacobin article last year as “a leader in the most important social movements of the twentieth century — not only civil rights but socialism, labor, civil liberties, pacifism, and the antiwar movements.” For the last few years of his life, Muste “became utterly consumed with ending the war in Vietnam”, as the article also explains, stating, “I cannot get it out of my head or my guts that Americans are away over there, not only shooting at people but dropping bombs on them, roasting them with napalm and all the rest.” 

Muste helped to form the influential Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, but he also, between 1965 and his death in 1967, held regular candlelit vigils to end the war outside the White House — whatever the weather, and sometimes alone — which eventually led to a reporter asking him, “Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?” Muste’s memorable reply was, “Oh, I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me” — a statement that has stayed with me ever since I first heard it many years ago.

Following up on the vigils, Chris also asked me to discuss the posters that I make every month for the vigils, showing the 16 men still held (out of 30 in total), who have been unanimously approved for release by high-level US government review processes, and also revealing how long they have been held since those decisions were taken, which, shockingly, was between 404 and 5,031 days on November 1.

The reasons, as I explained to Chris, are because the decisions were taken by administrative review processes, and are therefore not legally binding, a shameful situation that, as I also explained, means that, practically, these men are still held as fundamentally without rights as they were when Guantánamo first opened nearly 22 years ago.

After further discussions of Guantánamo’s fundamental lawlessness over the years, and of the significance of habeas corpus, I also spoke about the importance of the visit to Guantánamo this year by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, whose devastating report — exposing an endemically abusive regime at Guantánamo, not just historically, but on an ongoing basis — was absolutely damning for the US government.

However, as I also explained, even the most disturbing news from Guantánamo never survives long in the US news cycle, if it even registers at all, a lack of interest that, sadly, does nothing to stress to the Biden administration the importance of making significant progress towards the closure of Guantánamo before Biden’s presidency ends, just over a year from now.

Chris and I also spent the last 12 or so minutes of the interview discussing the Israeli-Palestine conflict, in which I spoke about the significance of the vast numbers of people around the world who are standing up to be counted, opposing what they’re seeing every day in the media — even with the pro-Israeli bias that is evident in so much of the coverage in the west — which I described as “absolutely horrendous”, and the “systematic genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza”, involving “the out and out slaughter of Palestinian civilians, day after day after day after day.” 

Further discussing genocide, I described it as “the darkness at the heart of humanity, which is supposed to take place away from prying eyes”, and expressed my alarm about how, this time around, it “is in full view of the world”, and “is a sign of the absolute moral sickness of the Zionist project.”

In response to Chris explaining how not a single member of the Canadian government has called for a ceasefire in Gaza — part of what is, shamefully, the generally unconditional support for Israel’s actions in the west, even after five weeks of the slaughter of civilians — I was able to explain that, in the UK at least, around 100 MPs — 15% of Parliament — have called for a ceasefire, although the problem in both our countries, and in the US and elsewhere, is that all the major parties still largely support Israel unconditionally. 

Musing on the future in the UK, I noted the opportunity for Labour MPs expelled from the Party (like Jeremy Corbyn) or fundamentally opposed to Keir Starmer’s unwavering support for Israel, plus MPs in many constituencies with significant Muslim populations, to stand as independents who, perhaps, might hold the balance of power in the next government.

There was more in our interview that I haven’t managed to mention above, and I hope you have time to listen to it, and that you’ll share it if you find it worthwhile.

* * * * *

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer (of an ongoing photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London’), film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose music is available via Bandcamp). He is the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (see the ongoing photo campaign here) and the successful We Stand With Shaker campaign of 2014-15, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here, or you can watch it online here, via the production company Spectacle, for £2.50).

In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues. He is the narrator of the documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents, he wrote a song ‘Grenfell’, in the aftermath of the entirely preventable fire in June 2017 that killed over 70 people, and, in 2018, he was part of the occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction — and that of 16 structurally sound council flats next door — by Lewisham Council and Peabody.

Since 2019, Andy has become increasingly involved in environmental activism, recognizing that climate change poses an unprecedented threat to life on earth, and that the window for change — requiring a severe reduction in the emission of all greenhouse gases, and the dismantling of our suicidal global capitalist system — is rapidly shrinking, as tipping points are reached that are occurring much quicker than even pessimistic climate scientists expected. You can read his articles about the climate crisis here.

To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to Andy’s RSS feed — and he can also be found on Facebook (and here), Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Also see the six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, The Complete Guantánamo Files, the definitive Guantánamo habeas list, the full military commissions list, and the chronological list of all Andy’s articles.

Please also consider joining the Close Guantánamo campaign, and, if you appreciate Andy’s work, feel free to make a donation.


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8 Responses

  1. Andy Worthington says...

    When I posted this on Facebook, I wrote:

    Here’s my latest article, linking to and discussing my recent interview with Chris Cook on his Gorilla Radio show in Victoria, Canada, in which we discussed Guantanamo, the coordinated monthly vigils for its closure, which I initiated earlier this year, the ongoing assault by Israel on the civilian population of Gaza, and the global outpouring of support for the Palestinians.

    It’s always a great pleasure to talk to Chris, and I hope you have time to listen to the show, which also included the Canadian academic and peace activist William S. Geimer, who also discussed the Gaza conflict.

  2. Andy Worthington says...

    Anna Brown wrote:

    Thank you!

  3. Andy Worthington says...

    I’m glad you appreciate it, Anna. Good to hear from you.

  4. Andy Worthington says...

    Mary MacGregor Green wrote:

    I read Mansoor’s book … incredible human being that he is …

  5. Andy Worthington says...

    Yes, an extraordinary achievement, Mary. People can buy it here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/mansoor-adayfi/dont-forget-us-here/9780306923876/

  6. Andy Worthington says...

    Wajdey Hamdan Alnajar wrote:

    May God help Gaza.

  7. Andy Worthington says...

    It’s good to hear from you, Wajdey. I wish every day for nothing less than the freedom of the people of Gaza from their horrendous suffering right now, and I know that millions of people around the world all feel the same. We are all so sorry and so ashamed that our leaders have failed us, that they haven’t stood up to Netanyahu and his genocidal violence.

  8. Andy Worthington says...

    For a Spanish version, on the World Can’t Wait’s Spanish website, see ‘Radio: Hablo de las vigilias de Guantánamo, los “prisioneros para siempre” y el genocidio en Gaza con Chris Cook en Gorilla Radio’: http://www.worldcantwait-la.com/worthington-radio-vigilias-de-gtmo-prisioneros-para-siempre-genocidio-gaza-chris-cook-gorilla-radio.htm

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Andy Worthington

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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