Guantánamo vigils and a song for Palestine
Photos from and my report about the latest monthly global vigils for Guantánamo’s closure, and a song for Palestine recorded with my band The Four Fathers.
Photos from some of this month’s vigils. Clockwise from top L: Brussels, New York, Washington, D.C. and London.
Please check out my latest article on my website, Photos and Report: The 29th Monthly Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure, June 4, 2025, which includes 28 photos from the nine vigils that took place across the US — in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles — and in London, Brussels and Mexico City on June 4, 2025, with former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi holding a solo vigil in Belgrade, and another vigil taking place in Cobleskill, NY on June 7.
The “First Wednesday” vigils have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for the last 29 months, and will continue while the prison is still open. The vigils are small, because Guantánamo has largely been forgotten, but those who take part constitute a truly dedicated global family of activists who refuse to forget that the men still held are people, that some are still held without charge or trial, after 23 years, and that even those facing charges are caught up in a broken trial system that is incapable of delivering justice.
In my commentary accompanying the photos, I also run through the horrors of Guantánamo under Donald Trump, which he usurped to use as a theater of performative cruelty in the “war on migrants” that he declared as soon as he took office, until, after legal challenges, he began to take more interest in sending migrants on a one-way trip to the CECOT prison, a mega-Guantánamo for alleged terrorists in El Salvador, where the dehumanization, brutality and imprisonment without charge or trial of the “war on terror” are replicated on a colossal scale.
I also point out that Trump’s indifference towards the 15 men still held in the “war on terror” prison — who include the men allegedly responsible for the 9/11 attacks and previously regarded as the most significant terrorists in US history — ironically reveals how Guantánamo is no longer of any relevance, although that won’t, sadly, help any of the men still held either secure their freedom or anything resembling justice.
A poignant photo that I took at the London vigil, across the road from the US Embassy in Nine Elms, and next to the Community Camp for Gaza, which has been in place for the last 18 months.
A song for Palestine
At the weekend, a horrendous milestone took place — 20 months since Israel’s genocide in Gaza began. I’ve written extensively about the horrors of the genocide, but today I’d like to share with you a live video of my song ‘O Palestine’, a prayer for the Palestinians recorded with my band The Four Fathers (and beatboxer The Wiz_RD) at an outdoor set we played recently as part of the Brockley Max arts festival in south London.
I hope you have time to watch the video, and, if you do, turn the volume up for maximum effect. It’s from the heart, and I hope it appeals to you. If all goes well, we’ll be making a studio recording of it soon.