Debra Sweet | March 10, 2023

Each first Wednesday of the month, vigils will be held globally to demand the U.S. release the (now) 17 prisoners who have been cleared. On March 8, vigils were held in London, Mexico City, Washington, and NYC. An activist in Mexico City explains why she participated.

New York City NY

World Can't Wait initiated the rally in which we gathered outside the main branch of the NY Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street on January 11. The open violations of human and legal rights of those detained – secret “renditions,” torture by third country allies, “enhanced interrogation" via the CIA – shocked the world. And yet, the U.S. has upgraded Guantanamo.  The demands of the rally were: 

• Close Guantanamo Now
• End indefinite detention without trial, allow prisoners to defend themselves
• Immediate release and repatriation to join their families for 21 men who have been “cleared” for years
• Health care and financial support for those men who have been “freed” but unjustly denied years of their lives through detention outside the law

Co-sponsoring with World Can't Wait were: Witness Against Torture, NYC War Resisters League, Peace Action NY State, Veterans for Peace NYC Chapter 34, Brooklyn For Peace, Pax Christi NYS, NYC Democratic Socialists of America (The Anti-War Working Group Organizing Committee), Veterans For Peace Chapter 113-Hawaii, World Beyond War, Raging Grannies, Granny Peace Brigade NYC, Veterans For Peace Chapter 90, Broome County Peace Action, September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, Uptown Progressive Action and Code Pink.

Eleven activists representing various organizations appeared in NYC Municipal Court on Monday, August 22, 2022. They had been arrested on August 2nd while non-violently blocking the doors of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, while diplomats from around the world gathered at the UN for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

At the press conference outside the courthouse after their court appearance, the activists explained their reasons for drawing attention to the continuing and, indeed, heightened threat of nuclear weapons with an act of civil disobedience. Watch Richie Marini of World Can't Wait deliver his statement starting at 8:37 on this video.

40 years ago in 1982, one million people marched and rallied in NYC demanding an end to nuclear weapons and nuclear war and 1700 people were arrested during acts of non-violent civil disobedience outside the UN missions of the 7 nuclear states. You can watch the one-hour webinar discussing that historic time here.

June 12, is an historic date. It marks the time 40 years ago in 1982 when at least one million people marched and rallied in NYC demanding an end to nuclear weapons and nuclear war. A great on-line program, from 12:00-4:00 pm EST with wonderful speakers and important topics has been lined up. Do register now.

Other related online and in-person events and actions are planned for today and the next couple of weeks - more will be added. Please take a look here.

Earth Day? It's being used to sell things, like the Democrats' claims their unrealized plans could ever limit climate destruction, or to sell electric vehicles, or to focus people on objectives like recycling or gardening more.

But I want the earth and its people to survive, and so do you if you're reading this. So we can't settle for platitudes, or worse yet, accept the idea that things are just going to get worse.

As a freshman student on the first Earth Day in 1970, I organized a collection of garbage on the campus, which we dumped in a big mound at the administration building. (I was already a protester!) I knew the custodians at the college weren't the problem, that it was "the system" at fault, and that mere conservation efforts weren't enough. I couldn't identify "the system;" I was just outraged at the destruction of the environment, which at that point could have been turned around if not for the system.

Tuesday January 11 4:00 - 6:00 pm
New York Public Library steps, 5th Avenue @ 41st Street
Facebook event: organizations invited to sign on.

Initiated by World Can't Wait. Co-sponsored by War Criminals Watch, NYC War Resisters League, Witness Against Torture, NYC-DSA Anti-War Working, Brooklyn for Peace, Granny Peace Brigade NYC and Peace Action New York State Group. (list in formation).

Confirmed Speakers: Guantanamo attorney Nancy Hollander; Seth Farber, attorney & writer; Debra Sweet for World Can't Wait; Jeremy Varon, Activist & Professor of History.

U.S. actions at this camp are war crimes in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and international law.

That’s what Martha Hennessy said when asked if she is sad about the possibility of going to prison. Martha is one of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 who walked onto the largest U.S. Navy Trident Nuclear Submarine base in the world, carrying an indictment charging the U.S. government with crimes against peace. On April 4, 2018, the seven members entered the base in Georgia, cut fencing, hammered a concrete missile monument, poured out their own blood, draped crime scene tape around the area and spray-painted “Love One Another” on the ground. That day was the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, who admonished: “The greatest purveyor o violence in the world is my own government."

I had the privilege of talking with two Veterans For Peace who are being detained in Ireland because of their antiwar actions there. Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers are U.S. military veterans who went to Ireland with a delegation to join Veterans For Peace Ireland and Ed Horgan, its founder, in ongoing opposition to U.S. military presence at Shannon Airport.  Ed Horgan is a 20-year veteran of the Irish military.  

Cat Watters | July 4, 2018