June, 18 2013, 01:27pm EDT
Veterans Join Hunger Strike to Close US Prison at Guantanamo
Large Protest Action Outside White House on Wednesday, June 26
WASHINGTON
Four members of Veterans For Peace are fasting in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Diane Wilson has not eaten for 47 days. She has been on a water-only fast for most of that time and has lost over 40 pounds.
Brian Willson, fasted publicly in Portland, Oregon for 28 days, taking in less than 300 calories a day, while losing 24 pounds. While riding his three-wheeled handcycle last week, Brian was hit by a car and forced to suspend his fast in order to heal from his wounds. Brian will consider re-joining the hunger strike at a later time.
Elliott Adams, former national president of Veterans For Peace, is on day 33 of his hunger strike. He is also taking in less than 300 calories a day, and has lost over 30 pounds, about one pound a day.
Tarak Kauff, who serves on the Board of Directors of Veterans For Peace, is on day 11 of his hunger strike.
"What is happening in Guantanamo is despicable," said Elliott Adams, who was a paratrooper in Vietnam. "Just think about it: 86 prisoners are cleared by the government -- the Department of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security over a year ago, and they're still being held. Many of them have been held for over 11 years! This is a violation of our moral and religious principles, international law, and national law. It is also a violation of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the things that are supposed to define America.
"It goes against the very principles I thought the American flag stood for when I was a young man," said Elliott Adams. "I just can't sit and enjoy my life when my country is doing such terrible things to these people. It's up to us to force our government to get them out of there".
Diane Wilson. a former Army medic and fourth generation shrimp boat captain in Texas, said
". . .where am I? Well, I know where this one American fisherwoman is. I stand in solidarity with the Guantanamo prisoners on their hunger strike and I will fast indefinitely until justice comes."
Veterans For Peace national board member Tarak Kauff, on the 11th day of his fast, said,
"It is up to human beings of conscience to take the risks, step out of our comfort zones and do our utmost to end this disastrous reign of U.S. military and corporate-controlled government. If we do not act with determination and courage now, we can be assured that we, our children and their children will reap the results of our inaction. Is that what we want? Rise up America! Shut down Guantanamo!
June 26 Actions in Washington, DC - Shut Down Guantanamo!
The Veterans For Peace hunger strikers will be joined by dozens of organization and hundreds of protestors outside the White House on Wednesday, June 26.
Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.
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"These mass, illegal firings will not stop us," said organizers. "Make no mistake, we will continue organizing until the company drops Project Nimbus and stops powering this genocide."
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The peace coalition No Tech for Apartheid accused Google of a "flagrant act of retaliation" late Wednesday night as the Silicon Valley giant announced it had fired 28 workers over protests against its cloud services contract with the Israeli government.
The firings came after Google organizers held two 10-hour sit-ins at the company's offices in Sunnyvale, California and New York City, demanding the termination of Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract under which Google and Amazon provide cloud infrastructure and data services for Israel—without any oversight regarding whether the Israel Defense Forces uses the services in its occupation of Palestinian territories and bombardment of Gaza.
Workers have denounced Project Nimbus since it was announced in 2021, but Israel's killing of at least 33,970 Palestinians in Gaza since October and its intentional starvation of civilians led employees to escalate their protests.
No Tech for Apartheid said in a statement that Google officials called the police to both offices to arrest nine protesters—dubbed the Nimbus Nine—on Tuesday morning, before utilizing "a dragnet of in-office surveillance" to fire nearly two dozen other employees on Wednesday.
"They punished all of the workers they could associate with this action in wholesale firings," said the coalition, which includes Jewish Voice for Peace and MPower Change, a Muslim-led anti-war group.
Google accused the workers of "bullying," "harassment," defacing property, and physically impeding other employees—allegations No Tech for Apartheid rejected as it noted organizers "have yet to hear from a single executive about" their concerns over Google's collaboration with Israel.
"This excuse to avoid confronting us and our concerns directly, and attempt to justify its illegal, retaliatory firings, is a lie," said the workers. "Even the workers who were participating in a peaceful sit-in and refusing to leave did not damage property or threaten other workers. Instead they received an overwhelmingly positive response and shows of support."
The organizers staged the sit-ins on the heels of reporting in Time magazine about new negotiations between Google and the Israeli government regarding further potential tech contracts.
Kate J. Sim, a child safety policy adviser at Google who said she was among those fired this week, said the terminations show "how terrified [executives] are of worker power."
Google employees have a history of harnessing worker power to change policies at the company. In 2018, Google terminated a deal with the U.S. Defense Department to develop drone and artificial intelligence (AI) technology through a contract called Project Maven. The decision followed the resignations of several employees and the condemnation of thousands of workers.
Calling Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian "genocide profiteers," No Tech for Apartheid said Wednesday that they will not stop demonstrating against Project Nimbus until they get a similar result.
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The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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