by Sue Frankel-Streit

January 11, 2009, about two hundred people processed through the streets of DC, most of them wearing orange jumpsuits and black hood - the trade mark of Guantanamo prisoners. These particular "prisoners", led by camo-clad "guards" and uncle (and aunt) Sam on stilts, were part of a demonstration initiating the Witness Against Torture 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo. Many of them were on the first day of a 10-day fast in solidarity with the real Guantanamo prisoners, some of whom are also fasting. Many of the mock prisoners had done prison time themselves, some for years, some many times, for acts of resistance to state-sanctioned violence.

The march through the streets was long, and the day was cold and windy. At one point, the procession stopped in the middle of road. The constant drum beat ceased and a lone trumpet sounded. Suddenly, the prisoners removed their hoods. The trumpet began to belt out "Guantanamera". The prisoners began to dance and so did their captors. Looking down at the long rows of dancing detainees (from my vantage point as aunt Sam), I saw for a moment an image of the future we demand: freedom for the captives, repentance of the captors, and a street party unhindered by police, who were all apparently at Inauguration practice.

Then the drum started up again. The dancing stopped and the guards, pulled back to the present, re-hooded the prisoners. The solemn procession began again. We are not yet all free. Which means, of course, that none of us are free. Therefore, the fasting continues. Many of those 110 fasters carry with them the name of a particular detainee. Many were arrested last year bringing these names to the Supreme Court (and refusing to leave). And the year before, at the US Federal Court. For the fasters, these detainees have become brothers - 17 year old kids from Pakistan, 65 year-old farmers from Afghanistan, a half-dozen Chinese men cleared years ago of any wrong-doing and still held because, according to their prosecutors, they have been held so long that they are NOW dangerous.

President-elect Obama has promised to close Guantanamo and to restore the rights of these detainees, many of whom have not been to court, despite seven years of torture and imprisonment. Perhaps he will. If so, we will certainly play Guantanamera and dance in the streets. Maybe some of the fasters will actually embrace the men whose names they've carried for the last few years. And hopefully that taste of freedom will strengthen us for the next campaign. Hopefully, the skills we've learned and relationships we've deepened will make us better organizers, as we try to prevent the construction of an immigration prison in Farmville, and to free the captive - prisoners in the Virginia supermaxes, the Cuban five, the Jena six, Mumia Abu Jamal, and all those whose lives have been shattered by the War on Drugs and by the racism and classism of our courts.