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DESCRIPTION:Friends,\n\nWe need your support this Tuesday night at the Berkeley City 
 Council meeting, 7 pm, Old City Hall,   MLK Jr. Way.\nThis Tuesday night I 
 will call on the Council to make a Proclamation acknowledging my hunger 
 strike, and and Cynthia Johnson's long term fast, and asking President 
 Barack Obama to immediately begin releasing the 86 cleared-for-release 
 Guantanamo detainees. My hunger strike is now 31 days old. I have not eaten 
 solid food for 31 days, and am existing on less than 300 calories a day. 
 I've lost about 20 pounds. I am committed to continuing my hunger strike 
 until the President, who has the clear authority to do so, begins to 
 release the cleared, innocent men from the prison. Cynthia Johnson has been 
 fasting on mostly liquids for nearly 25 days.\n\nOur City Council passed a 
 Resolution co-authored by me, Peace and Justice Commissioner Rita Maran, 
 and the national group "No More Guantanamos", in October 2011, which 
 welcomes one or two cleared detainees to settle in our community, at 
 private expense. We've been successfully raising funds for this purpose, 
 and I will ask the Council and Mayor to each donate $1 to the "Berkeley 
 Guantanamo Resettlement Fund" on Tuesday night.  The Resolution also said 
 that the Council would urge Obama to close Guantanamo Prison and Congress 
 to lift the ban against detainees resettling in the United States. Well, 
 that hasn't happened, yet we think that if the men had a place to live, a 
 safe and welcoming place, that Obama could use his Executive Order 
 privilege to allow them to live in the USA, in Berkeley. We also know that 
 there is a waiver in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows him 
 to release detainees. So there's really no reason for him to refuse, 
 especially since I, Elliot Adams and Tarak Kauff are on long-term, 
 open-ended hunger strike. Elliot is on day 60 of his hunger strike. Tarak 
 is on day 47. We are all taking less than 300 calories a day. You can see 
 our profiles and hunger strike statements at www.closegitmo.net. Click on 
 "Hunger Strikes/Fasts" tab. The hunger strikers are blogging at 
 www.closegitmo.net.\n\nBecause my health is at risk, I think it's time to 
 step up the actions for helping the men go free and I would like the City 
 Council to put their full weight and authority behind this.  I'm working on 
 the wording of my statement and the Proclamation. If anyone reading has 
 experience writing Proclamations, please get in touch with me right 
 away.\n\nAs Dr. Martin Luther King said- “These are the times for real 
 choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be 
 placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of 
 humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his 
 convictions, but we must all protest.”\n\ndraft Statement and 
 Proclamation\nCynthia Papermaster, a resident of Berkeley for 48 years, is 
 on an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with the Guantanamo prisoner 
 hunger strike. She has committed to continuing her fast until President 
 Obama begins to release the cleared-for-release detainees from the prison. 
 Cynthia Johnson is also    fasting for Guantanamo detainees who are cleared 
 for release.\nThe Berkeley City Council passed a Resolution in October 2011 
 welcoming one or two cleared-for-release Guantanamo detainees to settle in 
 our community at private expense. Funds are being raised for this purpose, 
 housing has been secured, and private citizens and groups are ready to 
 provide food, clothing, mental and general health care, transportation, and 
 other needs for the detainees.\nIn light of Ms. Papermaster's dangerous and 
 courageous commitment to the cause of the detainees' release, the Berkeley 
 City Council is making the following Proclaimation, and calls on President 
 Barack Obama to do the following:\n\nWe commend Cynthia Papermaster for her 
 courage and commitment and urge President Obama to begin releasing 
 cleared-for-release Guantanamo detainees immediately. Specifically, we 
 would like to work with Special Guantanamo Envoy Clifford Sloane to 
 identify one or two detainees to be released to Berkeley, at private 
 expense, including providing air fare to the San Francisco or Oakland 
 International Airport, housing in private residences in Berkeley, 
 psychiatric and medical care, food, clothing, phone and other necessary 
 support. The funds for this purpose will be deposited in the Federal 
 Cooperative Credit Union immediately, and will  be accounted for and 
 disbursed by a committee of volunteers formed as a finance committee for 
 this purpose. We ask for an immediate response to this request, and upon 
 receiving the reponse will arrange for the transfer of the detainee(s) to 
 our City Manager, City Attorney and Chief of Police for travel to 
 Berkeley.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/16/18739909.php
SUMMARY:BERKELEY CITY HALL TWO Berkeley Hunger STRIKERS FOR GUANTANAMO ASK FOR CITY SUPPORT
LOCATION:BERKELEY OLD CITY HALL MLK JR WAY BERKELEY
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/16/18739909.php
DTSTART:20130717T020000Z
DTEND:20130717T020000Z
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