Photos and report: global vigils call for Guantánamo’s closure — and no more migrant prisoners
Photos and my report from ten vigils that took place on March 5 across the US and around the world.
Please check out my latest article on my website, Photos and Report: Monthly Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure Also Call on Trump to Stop Lawlessly Holding Migrants in the Prison, which features photos from, and my report about the coordinated monthly global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US — in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Portland, Los Angeles and Phoenix — and in London, Brussels and Mexico City on March 5, 2025. An additional vigil is taking place in Cobleskill, NY tomorrow (March 8).
The "First Wednesday" vigils have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for the last two years, and are, of course, continuing under Donald Trump, because, out of nowhere, he cynically, cruelly and illegally decided to use the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo to hold migrants as part of the racist "war on migrants" that he declared when he took office seven weeks ago.
Check out the photos for some great handmade placards celebrating immigration and diversity, and taking aim at the Trump administration’s overt racism. One of my favourites, from Portland, Oregon is posted below.
The next vigils are on Wednesday April 2. Do join us if you can, and if Trump hasn’t been persuaded to drop his use of Guantánamo by then, either because of legal challenges or because of dissent within his administration, we hope we’ll also be able to work with groups involved with migrant issues to highlight the ongoing lawlessness of Guantánamo — now in its third iteration, after the migrant camps of the 1990s, and the "war on terror" prison that is now, shamefully, in its 24th year of existence.
Below is another photo — of a poster I created, photographed on a phone at the London vigil.
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Today is also Bandcamp Friday, when the online music distributor waives its fees to help promote artists, so, if you’d like to support my band The Four Fathers, and our folky punky reggae protest music, there’s no better time to buy downloads of our albums or of individual songs, including our most recent album, “Songs of Loss and Resistance.”
That’s it for now. Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you next week!