Feedback from events last week

[Lambert, Emily]

Hi Everyone,

 

Last week there were two excellent events on campus, and I thought it would be worthwhile to pass on some links for more information and some feedback to those who were unable to attend.

 

Last Monday, Sarah Irving visited the university to present a documentary filmed by activists working with the ambulance service during Israel's siege on Gaza last year. There are no words to describe the images shown in this film, or the emotions it provokes. It was extremely disturbing, but also a very important documentary to watch and encourage others to see. 

Sarah has also recently co-authored a book written by a volunteer working in the Gaza Strip during the same period, called Gaza Beneath the Bombs. Sarah read a number of very moving passages from the book, and provided us with some astonishing tales of her own experiences working in Palestine. One of the things we discussed following the film was what can we do here in Aberdeen? We talked about establishing greater links with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, writing to our MP's, and especially our MEP's, helping to raise awareness (as individuals as well as as a group), and maintaining a strong and focused boycott and divestment campaign. Speaking of which, I've been told that there is a stall in union square which sells Dead Sea Products. These are often produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. If this is the case, maybe we could organise a Saturday action sometime soon, and transform the feeling we all felt after watching the documentary into action? I will check the stall this week and get back to you on this....

 

So, links:

'Erased: Wiped off the Map' documentary on utube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aU1H-knuSw

Book website: http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745330242

The Free Gaza Movement (this is the organisation that some of the activists both in the film and the book were working with): http://www.freegaza.org/

Sarah's website: http://www.sarahirving.net/

'To Shoot an Elephant' website: http://toshootanelephant.com/

 

 

On Tuesday, the university Amnesty International Society welcomed director and journalist Andy Worthington, and former Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes as part of their UK film tour "Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo". The film was excellent, (if its possible to call something that  unravels the idiotic, inhumane and repulsively unjust Guantanamo, as 'excellent' at all.....), and the discussion which followed was deeply upsetting, yet extremely inspiring. A key motivation for the film and the tour is to raise awareness of the ongoing detention of the 198 prisoners who remain in Guantanamo, one of whom is Shaker Aamar. There are numerous campaigns trying to urge the British government to do more to help his return - Shaker has been in Guantanamo since 2001, has not yet met his seven year old son, nor has he been trialled or even charged with anything. Andy and Omar were handing out copies of a letter addressed to David Miliband, asking for Shakers' release. The template for the letter is copied under the links below:

 

Documentary trailer: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/03/18/trailer-for-outside-the-law-stories-from-guantanamo/

Andy Worthington website: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/

Amnesty website for "Help bring Shaker home" campaign: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=675

Cageprisoners website, a human rights organization working to campaign for the release of Guantanamo detainees: http://www.cageprisoners.com/

 

 

ok, i think thats enough info to take in!

Emily

 

 

David Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London, SW1A 2AH

Dear Foreign Secretary,

You will be aware that, as of 22 January this year, the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay was still open, despite the fact that one of President Obama’s first pledges as President was to close it by this date. 188 prisoners are still held there, and many of those men, cleared for release by the President’s own task Force, cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will be tortured or subjected to other ill-treatment, and are effectively stateless.

The government has succeeded over the past six years in securing the release of all the British nationals held there, and all but one of the British residents. Given our strong relationship with the US, there is far more that the British government could — and should — be doing. You have asserted your commitment to closing Guantánamo Bay, but this has yet to be demonstrated in the case of the final British resident, Shaker Aamer, who was cleared for release from Guantánamo in 2007.

We have been told that the return of Shaker Aamer to his British wife and four British children is being sought, and that discussions between the UK and the US are ongoing. Nevertheless, Shaker is still held, and intervention must be made at the highest levels to secure his release, as happened with other prisoners.

Other European countries have demonstrated over the past year that it is possible to offer new homes to cleared prisoners, even when they have no prior ties to the country. France, for example, having secured the return of its own nationals, accepted two Algerian nationals last year, as well as the family of one of these men, and Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland have also accepted prisoners on a purely humanitarian basis. There are no reasons for the British government not to accept a small number of prisoners on a humanitarian basis to help close Guantánamo Bay.

Over the past eight years, for example, you have argued that there is no basis to accept Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian man who lived in Bournemouth and cannot return to Algeria for fear for his life, because he was a failed asylum seeker. Mr. Belbacha was also cleared for release in 2007, and yet he remains in Guantánamo because no other country will take him, and because the British government, which could so easily offer him a new home, has turned its back on him.

The British government must demonstrate its commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law by helping to close down Guantánamo Bay, and it can — and should — do this by pressing for the return of Shaker Aamer, accepting Ahmed Belbacha and accepting other prisoners on a humanitarian basis.

Yours faithfully,

The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.