I couldn't watch it with the sound on, as my family was in the room (but out of view of the screen). You may not want to watch it at all. However, I felt I owed it to the men in Guantanamo to watch it, since my country's government (Canada) supports the American regime, and I felt I owed it to Bey, for having the balls and empathy to undergo it.
But you say 'the terrorist are guilty'? Fuck you. Maher Arar certainly wasn't, and he very nearly didn't get out after all he suffered. And those who are guilty of something that would stand up under international law, under judges not under American control? 'The Rule of Law' can address that, and so can humane incarceration. The issue is not primarily the 'feeding': they are fasting because they are enduring inhumane punishment, whether guilty or innocent. America is committing war crimes there, among its multitude of them, and the agents of it, from the grunt forcing the tube in to the president endorsing it, all should hang from gibbets, if America is going to honour the principles it insisted on at Nuremberg.
Torture defines the torturer, and his society. We used to believe that about Fascism. We aren't brave enough to hold up a mirror, or smash those who represent us this way. Not very nice to know how Germans felt in the '30s, is it? That video is America, and Canada, and Britain, and the EU, and...
There are various events that made me switch from being a 'small c conservative' to a raging leftist, but I remember the initial epiphany as the bloodlust of America in Gulf War I, and its disinterest in the obligations of the conqueror under international law and norms to protect civilians; most of all it was the war crimes of 'the Highway of Death'.
American Football (the first American invasion of Iraq)
Hallelujah!
It works.
We blew the shit out of them.
We blew the shit right back up their own ass
And out their fucking ears.
It works.
We blew the shit out of them.
They suffocated in their own shit!
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord for all good things.
We blew them into fucking shit.
They are eating it.
Praise the Lord for all good things.
We blew their balls into shards of dust,
Into shards of fucking dust.
We did it.
Now I want you to come over here and kiss me on the mouth.--Harold Pinter
Dude's got heart, I'll give him that. We'll have to wait and see if he made a dent...
ReplyDeleteThis video is like what is said about democracy: 'it wouldn't be allowed if it made a difference'. On a more positive note, it may rather be something like how Elvis Costello once introduced his song about Thatcher, 'Tramp the dirt down': such doesn't create change, but stands as a record of what we've endured, so at least history's not only written by the 'winners'.
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Maybe that video during my morning yogurt snack was not the wisest to watch. But I was curious, as I have gotten older, I think often about the lengths my family went through to keep my grandfather alive while honoring his DNR. Medically he was unable to eat so was fashioned with a feeding tube. Were we keeping him alive for our own sake? Would it have been more humane to let him starve since he could not eat normally? These are thoughts I have about a loved one.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on people in Guantanamo are roughly the same. Though I don't know the people in Guantanamo, they are still people. That feeding tube business doesn't look right. If someone is choosing to fast (or even starve to death) why torment them with feeding tubes? Though detained, do they also lose their freedom to choose between their life/health/death? As far as I understand it when you are detained it is not supposed to have an added dose of torture, right? Are these people not protected by the Geneva Conventions?
I agree with both paragraphs. I'd like to add a thought, which I should add to the post, as I had it in mind when writing: they are fasting because they are enduring inhumane punishment, whether guilty or innocent. America is committing war crimes there, among its multitude of them, and the agents of it, from the grunt forcing the tube in to the president endorsing it, all should hang from gibbets, if America is only going to honour the principles it insisted on at Nuremberg.
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