Welcome to Andy Worthington

Celebrating 2,400 days since I first began posting photos and essays about London as ‘The State of London’ on Facebook (and later on X), and seeking donations to enable me to continue this unique photo-journalistic project, in which, as I describe it, I look at “London’s history, its social housing, its takeover, in recent decades, by predatory capitalism, the changing seasons, forgotten corners, rivers, hills and canals, parks and graveyards, seats of power, poverty and protests.”

Linking to a video of ‘The Legacy of the War on Terror: Guantánamo Bay’, a panel discussion at SOAS, in London, on November 21, 2023, featuring Andy Worthington, former prisoners Moazzam Begg and Mansoor Adayfi, and academic Deepa Govindarajan Driver.

An overview of Israel’s two-month long war on Gaza, looking at the unprecedented and unforgivable civilian death toll, assessments that it constitutes collective punishment and genocide, the complicity of the west, the unacceptable “complete siege” on all supplies into Gaza, and the Israeli military’s “war” on Gaza’s hospitals and premature babies, bringing the story up to date with the week-long pause for the exchange of hostages and prisoners, the absolutely devastating resumption of hostilities yesterday, and questions about how and when this incomparably horrific “war” on a trapped civilian population might finally be brought to an end.

Promoting an important date in Guantánamo’s calendar: December 6, when the prison will have been open for 8,000 days. Please join me in marking this terrible milestone by taking a photo with the 8,000 days poster via the Close Guantánamo campaign, and, if possible, joining one of the dozen or so monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo, which take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and which, on December 6, happen to coincide with 8,000 days of the prison’s existence.

My report about the inspiring visit to the Houses of Parliament last week by former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi, where he was welcomed by Chris Law MP, the co-chair of the recently established All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Closure of the Guantánamo Detention Facility.

My analysis of how Israel is engaged in a ‘war on hospitals’ in Gaza. This is prohibited under international humanitarian law, because hospitals are protected facilities, which cannot be attacked, or prevented from performing their medical functions. In Gaza, however, Israel has been both attacking hospitals, and preventing them from functioning, claiming, without presenting any credible evidence, that they are being used as a front for military activities. Israel’s intent, as I see it, is to make Gaza uninhabitable, and to facilitate its dream of the total ethnic cleansing of its 2.3 million inhabitants, even though that seems like an empty hope, as well as being a crime against humanity, related to Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza.

My interview about Israel’s war on Gaza with Andy Bungay of Riverside Radio, a community radio station in London, in which we discussed how Israel is engaged in a genocide, my horror at the killing of Palestinian civilians in such huge numbers, and the disgraceful and unacceptable support for Israel in the countries of the west.

I look at the “complete siege” of Gaza — of water, food, fuel and medical supplies — focusing in particular on the truly alarming plight of the premature babies in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, whose incubators no longer work because all fuel supplies for electricity have run out. The siege was imposed 38 days ago, and has generally gained less attention than the relentless bombing, although its impact is truly devastating, and particularly with reference to Israel’s repeated attacks on hospitals, and the plight of the babies, which, as I describe it, “may well end up being the defining focal point for the true horror” of Israel’s attacks.

Linking to and discussing my recent interview with Chris Cook on his Gorilla Radio show in Victoria, Canada, in which we discussed Guantánamo, 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.

Promoting ‘The Legacy of the War on Terror: Guantánamo Bay’, an inspiring panel discussion about Guantánamo, taking place in SOAS in London on Tuesday November 21, featuring myself, and former prisoners Moazzam Begg and Mansoor Adayfi.