Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak can be purchased here.
Hunger Strike Poem
By Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
They are criminals, increasing their crimes.
They are criminals, claiming to be peace-loving.
They are criminals, torturing the hunger strikers.
They are artists of torture,
They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
They are faithless — traitors and cowards –
They have surpassed devils with their criminal acts.
They do not respect the law,
They do not respect men,
They do not spare the elderly
They do not spare the baby-toothed child.
They leave us in prison for years, uncharged,
Because we are Muslims.
Where is the world to save us from torture?
Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?
Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?
But we are content, on the side of justice and right,
Worshipping the Almighty.
ODE TO THE SEA
By Ibrahim al-Rubaish
O sea, give me news of my loved ones.
Were it not for the chains of the faithless, I would have dived into you,
And reached my beloved family, or perished in your arms.
Your beaches are sadness, captivity, pain, and injustice.
Your bitterness eats away at my patience.
Your calm is like death, your sweeping waves are strange.
The silence that rises up from you holds treachery in its fold.
Your stillness will kill the captain if it persists,
And the navigator will drown in your waves.
Gentle, deaf, mute, ignoring, angrily storming,
You carry graves.
If the wind enrages you, your injustice is obvious.
If the wind silences you, there is just the ebb and flow.
O sea, do our chains offend you?
It is only under compulsion that we daily come and go.
Do you know our sins?
Do you understand we were cast into this gloom?
O sea, you taunt us in our captivity.
You have colluded with our enemies and you cruelly guard us.
Don’t the rocks tell you of the crimes committed in their midst?
Doesn’t Cuba, the vanquished, translate its stories for you?
You have been beside us for three years, and what have you gained?
Boats of poetry on the sea; a buried flame in a burning heart.
The poet’s words are the font of our power;
His verse is the salve for our pained hearts.
Death Poem
Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the “protectors of peace.”
Fast Tube by Casper
by 
Hunger Striker's Blog
U.S. Faster in Solidarity w/Gitmo & Pelican Bay Prisoners
Foreground: EMT prepares the tool for the nasal intubation. Background: U.S. Embassy, Buenos Aires, Argentina Middleground:...agony awaits.
The feeding demo is extremely painful, yet it is done with consent. The long-term solidarity fast continues with nasogastric nourishment in front of U.S. governmental symbols of power. The twice-daily force-feeding of Gitmo hunger strikers is nonconsensual and therefore real torture by the standards sponsored by U.S. taxpayers and authorized by members of Congress who just raised the debt ceiling to nearly $17 trillion. President Obama's actions continue to belie his empty words "Close Guantánamo." As Commander-in-Chief, he could easily order an end to what the Pentagon refuses to call "forced-feeding." The force-feeding is premeditated relentless forced penetration of plastic into their innermost sacred cavities !
Andrés Thomas Conteris - fasted on water and coconut water with vitamin and electrolyte supplements. Solidarity fast began July 8, 2013 with 30,000 hunger striking California prisoners urging fulfillment of 5 Core Demands of the Pelican Bay supermax prisoners. Force-feeding protests began Sept. 6 & Sept. 25 in front of the White House & later in front of the Oakland Office of CA Dept of Corrections and Rehab (CDCR) to depict how prisoners in Guantánamo are tortured with force-feeding twice-daily and how CA prisoners as future hunger strikers have been threatened with a court order authorizing force-feeding. On Oct 4 and Oct 8 he was tube-fed in front of the U.S. Embassies in Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Oct 15 a similar protest took place in Santiago, Chile. On Friday, Oct 18 the feeding protest returns to Washington, DC outside a Federal Court hearing on the lawsuit challenging force-feeding in Guantánamo. He is now on a maintenance fast losing about 1 pound per week, unlike the 5 pounds/week the first 11 weeks. In January 2014 with the anniversary of Guantánamo on Jan. 11, the force feeding protests will recommence. Please spread the word.
U.S. Hunger Strikers who have suspended their fast
Diane Wilson - Water only 58 days (lost 48 lbs). Diane, co-founder of CodePink and member of Veterans for Peace, suspended her hunger strike on June 27, 2013 after detention following her arrest for scaling the White House fence the day before. She faced a jury trial in DC District Court on Sept. 5th, 2013.
S. Brian Willson - Suspended Hunger Strike on June 10, 2013 after 31 days on 300cal/day, when a car accidentally hit him. Supporters continue a vigil with a rolling fast, in Portland, OR.
Elliott Adams - Went 80 days on 300 cal/day from May 18, to August 4, 2013 losing 45 lbs. He is past President of Veterans for Peace.
Tarak Kauff - Ended fast on August 4, 2013 after 58 days on 300 cal/day since June 7. He lost 29 lbs. On Board of Directors for Veterans for Peace.
Cynthia Papermaster - After 84 days on 300 cal/day, Cynthia suspended her hunger strike on Sep. 6 which began June 15, 2013. Code Pink member, lost 35 lbs. The transfer of two Algerian prisoners on Aug. 29, 2013, inspired her to suspend her fast.
Collaborative of CloseGitmo.net Organizations
- Campaign for Alternatives to
- Meta Peace Team: "Pursuing peace
- Metta Center for Nonviolence
- NRCAT
Daily Updates
- Articles: Guantánamo: Where Being Cleared for Release Means Nothing January 26, 2014
- Articles: Video: Washington D.C. Protest on the 12th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo January 16, 2014
- Articles: Join Us in Washington D.C. on Jan. 11 to Tell President Obama, "Close Guantánamo Now!" January 6, 2014
