Join Pioneer Valley No More Guantánamos group
Join GroupPioneer Valley No More Guantánamos



Video of our January 10, 2016, rally and protest marking 14 years of injustice at Guantanamo with readings from Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi. (Thanks to Dann Vazquez, videographer.)
Video of our May 23, 2014, day of action to close Guantanamo was created by Jeff Napolitano, Program Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee of Western Mass.
The Pioneer Valley group has been meeting in Northampton, MA, since May 2009. Its members come from several cities and towns, including Springfield to the south, Amherst to the east, Greenfield to the north, and many towns in between. It is currently working on outreach to other groups, including interfaith, and advocating on behalf of two current Guantánamo detainees.
We supported a resolution in Amherst to welcome the men to our community, which passed Amherst Town Meeting on November 4, 2009, and a second resolution that passed Leverett Town Meeting on April 24, 2010. We held a public forum in Northampton on November 19; watch the video. We have also written letters and signed greeting cards to Ahmed and Ravil.
Our Mission
Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos is a local coalition that has come together as part of a national effort to reverse U.S. policies and practices that have denied hundreds of detainees their rights and freedom and that have made the U.S. and the world less safe. Our goals are to:
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Assure that prisoners whom the United States continues to detain without trial are either charged and prosecuted for federal crimes, in accordance with the U.S. Constitution and international law, or released
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Shift public perceptions of Guantánamo prisoners from faceless, nameless “terrorists” to human beings who deserve human rights and a presumption of innocence until proven guilty
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Use prisoners’ stories to overcome unfounded fears within our community about these prisoners
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Enable prisoners cleared for release but who can't return home to settle in the U.S. or help them get where they want to go
Human Rights Day Program Organized by Amnesty-Amherst
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Please join Amnesty-Amherst for its annual program in honor of Human Rights Day. Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos is proud once again to cosponsor this important observance.
Resolution by the Town of Amherst, MA, to Assist in the Safe Resettlement of Cleared Guantánamo Detainees
Amherst Special Town Meeting
WHEREAS, President Obama has vowed to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base by January 2010; and
WHEREAS, many detainees at Guantánamo have been cleared by our government of wrongdoing and have been determined to pose no threat to the United States; and
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