Walk to Guantanamo: Activist takes steps for justice

DAVID YONKE -- TOLEDO BLADE - JAN 27

Anna J. Brown did not visit Cuba to be a tourist. She traveled to the tropical island nation in December, 2005, as one of 25 peace activists seeking to raise awareness of how prisoners are treated at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

The trip was a step of faith for Ms. Brown, a New Jersey political science professor and peace activist who will give a talk and lead a workshop in Tiffin next weekend.

"When we were out there, we never knew where we would sleep at night," she said in an interview this week. "We were unsure of where or when we would be able to get food. We were really walking in unknown territory on many levels - politically, spiritually, even psychologically and emotionally."

Ms. Brown was participating in the protest as a member of the Kairos Community, a religious group whose mission is to follow the teachings of Jesus and to assert the sacredness of all lives, and the Catholic Worker Movement, which seeks to promote the dignity of every human being.

She and the other walkers were motivated by their concerns over reports from Guantanamo detainees who had been released and from U.S. attorneys representing those still imprisoned at the base, which was opened in 2002 to hold suspected terrorists.

Ms. Brown said most of the 500 detainees are being held without charges and do not have trials scheduled. Many were turned in as terror suspects for bounties, she said, and the prisoners' terrorist links are tenuous or nonexistent.

"It's a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.

U.S. officials say the prisoners are being held for national security reasons - to prevent terrorist attacks - and that the inmates will someday get their say in court.

"The war on terrorism is indefinite and some of the detainees are there indefinitely," Ms. Brown said. "Some of them say they were told by their interrogators that they will be there for life. They've already been away from family and friends for five years now, and under those circumstances who's to say their lives haven't been destroyed already?"

She said the group went to Cuba without informing the U.S. or Cuban governments of their full intent.

"We wanted to be as transparent as we can to do this. We did not want to alert Cuban or U.S. governments about our plans so that we could not be held captive by the government's agendas," Ms. Brown said. "We wanted to go there for human-to-human interaction. We didn't want to be pawns of the governments."

During the walk, which lasted seven days, activists held daily Mass, carried rosary beads, and prayed regularly, she said.

"Many found daily Mass sustaining," she said.

The rosary and the prayer discipline also proved to be sources of strength, she said.

"Many younger people have moved away from the rosary, much to our detriment," the 42-year-old peace activist said.

Each day, the walkers read stories of the men who have been detained at Guantanamo, then the protesters would separate to meditate and reflect in silence.

"We really let the stories sink in. We were in a tricky position because Cuba is astonishingly beautiful and you have to keep reminding yourself that you're not there as a tourist," Ms. Brown said.

"The reason you're there is because some people have never gotten a glimpse of that land, many people have been held there five years now without charge or trial and have endured stressful if not torture-like conditions, separated from family and friends," she said. "Reading their stories and spending time in silence put that in the forefront of one's mind."

The protesters had two specific goals, she said.

"One was to protest their illegal detention and the use of torture, and the other was coming from a Catholic Worker basis, in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, to incorporate the works of mercy." That Scripture says, in part, "I was in prison and you visited me."

The activists had hoped to meet with prisoners but could go only as far as the first gate, about five miles from where the prisoners are kept, she said.

"We set up camp outside the checkpoint and fasted and held a prayer vigil for four days," she said.

Ms. Brown teaches political science at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J., and directs the college's Peace and Justice Studies program.

On Jan. 11, she was among hundreds who protested in Washington on the fifth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo. They marched from the Capitol Building to the U.S. Supreme Court to the U.S. Federal District Court House and Ms. Brown was one of 90 people arrested.

She said she hopes to continue raising public awareness of the conditions at Guantanamo and to encourage Americans to take action, whether it is writing or calling elected officials or praying and fasting.

"Most Americans are not aware [of Guantanamo], or feel it is an aberration," she said. "You first have to be aware. There's no need to protest if you don't know what's going on."

Anna J. Brown will discuss her walk to Guantanamo in a free lecture at 7 p.m. Friday in Elizabeth Schaeffer Auditorium, St. Francis Convent, 200 St. Francis Ave., Tiffin. She also will lead a workshop on "Nonviolence: Rooting Ourselves in Its Risks and Richness," 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 at the St. Francis Spirituality Center, 200 St. Francis Ave., Tiffin. The cost of the workshop is $25 and includes a mid-day meal. Information and registration is available online at www.tiffinpaxchristi.org or by calling Josie Setzler, 419-332-2318.