Guantanamo yet again…

It’s hard to keep on protesting month after month at the US embassy about the continuing shame of illegal detention at Guantanamo, and I admire the London Guantanamo Campaing for doing so for nine years. A dedicated group are there every month, normally going on to protest at Marble Arch afterwards where they are seen by a much greater number of people.

It’s also hard to keep trying to take photographs to keep these protests and the issues underlying them in the public eye. Few news stories keep on being news for more than a day or two, and my work, submitted a few hours after the events when I’ve had time to properly edit, is often dismissed as being too late, yesterday’s news – even when it usually gets sent the same day. But Guantanamo is still happening, 24/7, 365 days a year (and 366 in leap years) and doesn’t stop because editors get bored; for me it remains news.

It’s a little easier on special occasions than just the normal month by month protests that are actually I think in many ways more important. And for this anniversary there were a few more present than some months. But in general there were the same elements present, the same orange suits, black hoods, posters, banners and mainly the same people as on many previous occasions I’ve photographed these protests. The same brutally forceful architecture with its eagle and flag, with a high fence which is perhaps an appropriate metaphor.

As long as it’s necessary to protest about Guantanamo – which means until it closes down completely – these people will keep up their protests. And while I’m still able I’ll go along when I can and photograph them, trying to make the pictures at least a little different and fresh. I’ll leave others to look at the pictures and decide how successful I’ve been.

Close Guantanamo 9th Anniversary



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