On Saturday seventh January 2012 I photographed three occasions in London. Two had been related to Cuba, one celebrating the Cuban revolution and the second calling for the closure of US Guantanamo Bay torture camp there. The third was a protest in solidarity with the moms of political prisoners and people murdered by the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979. Now there shall be many extra of those human rights abuses as Iran clamps down on the present ‘Ladies, Life, Freedom’ protests there.
53 Years Of Cuban Revolution – Angel, Islington
Though Cuba celebrates 26 July 1953 because the ‘Día de la Revolución’ (Day of the Revolution), this was the beginning of the motion with an unsuccessful armed assault on the Cuban navy’s Moncada Barracks which resulted within the leaders being captured and jailed. It was not till 31 December 1958 that the rebels lastly ousted Batista and Fidel Castro got here to energy, main the nation as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008.
53 years and one week later a avenue rally on the Angel Islington organised for Rock across the Blockade by Battle Racism Battle Imperialism celebrated the Cuban revolution’s constructing of a socialist nation regardless of the blockade by its highly effective neighbour USA, and demanded justice for the Cuban 5.
The Cuban 5 had been arrested in 1998 in Miami for spying on teams of Cuban refugees who had been planning unlawful acts towards Cuba. Their remedy in US courts has been criticised as unfair by the UN Fee on Human Rights and by Amnesty Worldwide, who additionally condemned their remedy in jail as “unnecessarily punitive.”
Amongst many internationally calling for his or her launch had been Eight Nobel prize winners from all over the world together with Nadine Gordimer, Desmond Tutu, Wole Soyinka and Gunter Grass. A panel of US judges had overturned their convictions in 2005, however this was overruled by the total courtroom and the US Supreme Courtroom declined to evaluate their case. One of many Cuban 5 was launched in 2011 having served 13 years in jail, however on the time of this rally 4 remained in jail. The others had been later launched in December 2014 in a prisoner swap for a US spy captured in Cuba.
The rally careworn the outstanding modifications the revolution had made in Cuba which in 1958 was a poor and corruptly ruled nation, its pure assets exploited by international corporations, its folks largely dwelling in poverty with low academic requirements and life expectancy. Now it has in all probability the very best well being service on this planet, low toddler mortality and a life expectancy higher than many elements of the UK. Free schooling is offered for all, and shortly most will comply with it to graduate stage.
Cuba has additionally been beneficiant in offering free medical coaching for college students from many African and South American international locations, and in addition has despatched many medical doctors and nurses to work in them, making a serious contribution to controlling AIDS in Africa. Though there some criticise it for a scarcity of freedom, it has proven that there’s a actual various to capitalism, and that has offered a wholesome and dignified life for its folks, bettering their situation over greater than 50 years. And it has carried out all this regardless of US blockade and sanctions and persevering with US help for counter-revolutionary teams – together with the failed Bay of Pigs navy invasion in 1961.
Audio system additionally condemned the persevering with US occupation of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, there since 1903 when the US was given a everlasting lease on 45 sq. miles of Cuba. The lease clearly limits US actions there to these to suit the wants of a coaling and naval station and prohibits the establishing of any business or different enterprise within the space. The establishing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp would seem like a breach of those phrases. The Cuban authorities declare that the lease was “imposed on Cuba by pressure” and is “unlawful below worldwide regulation” and have refused to simply accept US funds for it since 1960.
Shut Guantánamo – Finish 10 Years of Disgrace – Trafalgar Sq.
A rally marking the tenth anniversary of the establishing of the unlawful US jail camp at within the US navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on 11 January 2002 known as for its closure and particularly the discharge of the 2 remaining prisoners with UK hyperlinks held there.
Though President Obama got here into workplace pledging to shut the camp down and finish the discredited navy trials there, he has failed to take action, authorising the continued regime of arbitrary detention with out cost or trial. 171 prisoners had been nonetheless detained there at the beginning of January 2012.
A number of hundred got here to the protest and listed to speeches by Lib Dem Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, solicitor Louise Christian, Lindsey German of Cease the Warfare, Kate Hudson of CND, journalist Victoria Brittain and others, together with pupil representatives, commerce unionists and different activists.
A gaggle of activists wore orange jumpsuits and black hoods as used at Guantanamo, and a few had been additionally in chains. They marched in line holding up the jail numbers of the 177 prisoners nonetheless in Guantanamo, and their numbers had been known as and their names learn out. Amongst these participating and carrying ‘V’ for Vendetta Man Fawkes masks had been ‘Nameless’ protesters who had come from the Occupy London protest camp at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian nationwide who had a residence allow and lived in Bournemouth from 1999 to 2001 whereas claiming asyluk was cleared for launch in 2007 and 2009. In 2009 he was sentenced in absentia in Algeria to twenty years for membership of a international terrorist group overseas – although no proof was given at his trial. It seems that the US intervened on his behalf in Algeria and he was lastly launched and returned to his household in 2014.
Shaker Aamer was equally cleared for launch in 2007 and 2009, however was thought to nonetheless be detained as his revelations of torture over his ten years of imprisonment by the US authorities (and on one event within the presence of a British intelligence agent) can be embarrassing to the US and UK governments. I used to be happy to have the ability to {photograph} him at a rally on the US Embassy in London in January 2016 after his launch on the finish of October 2015.
Shut Guantánamo: Finish 10 Years of Disgrace.
London Mourning Moms of Iran – Trafalgar Sq.
Additionally in Trafalgar Sq. had been The London Mourning Moms of Iran who had been coming there each first Saturday of the month to point out solidarity with the moms of political prisoners and people murdered by the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979.
The Moms of Laleh Park (previously often known as the Mourning Moms of Iran), ladies whose kids or husbands had been killed or imprisoned after the 2009 Iranian election, come commonly to Laleh Park in central Tehran and different places on Saturdays and stand collectively to convey consideration to those injustices.
Iranian safety brokers usually come and assault the moms. On January 9, 2010 over 30 of them had been attacked and arrested and held in jail for a number of days, and main members have obtained lengthy jail sentences. The decision for the discharge of political prisoners, the abolition of the demise sentence and the trial of those that have ordered the killings of the final 30 years.
Tags: Nameless, arbitrary detention, Cuba, Cuban 5, Cuban revolution, detainees, detention camp, FRFI, Guantanamo Bay, unlawful jail camp, Iran, Islamic Republic, Islington, London, Moms of Laleh Park, Mourning Moms, peter Marshall, protest, rally, Rock Across the Blockade, Shaker Aamer, Shut Guantánamo, socialism, The Angel, torture, torture camp, USA blockade
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