Contacts:

Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder, medea.benjamin@gmail.com, 415-235-6517

Alli McCracken, CODEPINK Organizer, Alli@codepink.org, 860-575 -692

CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin Available for Interview One Year after her Intervention during Obama’s National Security Speech

Gitmo Demonstrations will take place globally on Friday, May 23

Washington, DC –– May 23, 2014 marks one year since CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin spoke out from the audience during President Obama’s major foreign policy address at the National Defense University. In her latest Huffington Post article, Standing Up, One Year Later: President Obama's Broken Foreign Policy Promises, Benjamin outlines the President’s failure to transfer even those cleared prisoners from Guantanamo prison, his continued use of killer drones in Yemen that have killed innocent people, and efforts to crush transparency by passing the Torture Report to the CIA for redaction and cracking down on whistleblowers. She can be reached now for interviews at (415) 235-6517.

On Friday, May 23, timed to coincide with one year since Obama’s speech, in over 40 cities worldwide, activists will rally to close Guantanamo and end indefinite detention as part of a global day of action. Witness Against Torture, Code Pink, The Center for Constitutional Rights, World Can’t Wait, and more than 30 other groups are banding together to say “Not Another Broken Promise!” They are calling on President Obama make finally good on his commitment to close the prison this year.

The President’s pledge last May came amidst a mass hunger strike at the prison by men protesting their indefinite detention. Since then only a handful of men have been released from Guantanamo, where hungers strikes and brutal forced-feedings continue.

Medea Benjamin says: “When I interrupted Obama's 2013 speech to say that he had the power to free those Guantanamo prisoners already cleared for release, the President said my voice was worth listening to. With most of the prisoners still trapped in the hell of Guantanamo, I wish the President would listen to his own words and release these prisoners.”

Demonstrations will be held in Washington, D.C. (at the White House, 11 am); in New York City (Times Square, noon); in Chicago (Water Tower Park, 4:30 pm); San Francisco (Powell/Market 4:30 PST); and in 40 other cities in 8 countries, including England, Australia, and Germany. A Full list, with time and place info, is at: http://witnesstorture.tumblr.com/post/82873599205/may-23-2014-global-call-to-action-to-close-guantanamo

“In big cities and small towns, the outpouring of support for the Global Day of Action has been amazing,” says Witness Against Torture organizer Chris Knestrick. “Guantanamo continues to shock the conscience. The people of the world want it closed.”

At the protests, activists will wear black hoods and orange jumpsuits, update the situation at Guantanamo, and perform theatre to dramatize the ongoing abuses at Guantanamo.

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