Meeting Rual & Shafiq(from the "Tipton Three")
January 12 & 13, 2007
I haven't had a chance to do a proper write-up about meeting with Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul here in Tokyo over January 12 & 13...so will mention it quickly here. They came to promote the film and to talk about their experiences in Guantanamo, as well as to generate awareness about the issues here in Japan. In terms of their goals, they said "we'll keep working and speaking out until that Base is closed down."
I helped out as part of Human Rights Now's co-sponsoring of their visit
, by interpreting from Japanese into English during a public panel discussion (mind you, I was assisting a professional interpreter, but was having a pretty damn hard time of it).
Those guys have emerged from a hellish experience with an enormously strengthened spirit and a deeper commitment to their faith, their families and to a sense of justice.
I helped out as part of Human Rights Now's co-sponsoring of their visit
, by interpreting from Japanese into English during a public panel discussion (mind you, I was assisting a professional interpreter, but was having a pretty damn hard time of it).Those guys have emerged from a hellish experience with an enormously strengthened spirit and a deeper commitment to their faith, their families and to a sense of justice.
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10 November, 2006
Yesterday in my Middle East Studies class I watched the new film by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross called "The Road To Guantanamo".
Despite having already seen some images in the media of the orange-suited detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and always maintaining the position that the US government was guilty of committing extreme human rights violations, watching this film made the grim reality of it all hit home hard!
Being part-documentary and part-dramatization, the experience of the “Tipson Three” - the three young Pakistan-English guys from the British town of Tipson, (and all the other characters for that matter) was really convincingly portrayed. There was no part of the story-telling that even prompted any doubt or suspicion in my mind as to its veracity. And accordingly, I felt like I was suddenly being exposed to a fresh perspective. One that never reaches the mainstream audience, for it is simply too shocking, too appalling and too anti-government to make ordinary headlines.
Thank god for documentaries such as this. Let’s just hope that it’s being widely viewed around the world. I plan to make sure that as many of my friends and acquaintances take the opportunity to watch this film as possible. Amnesty International Japan, Human Rights Now and film distribution company The Klock Worx are screening the film in Tokyo on 13 January 2007, and bringing out the three British men for a speaking tour of Japan. Stay tuned!
Like hearing a very personal testimony of a survivor, this film made me squirm; feel incredulous, deeply sad at the level of suffering, and also contempt for the perpetrators. Most of all, it made me ask the obvious: How does humanity devolve to such a low level that we can behave like this to our fellow humans?
Well, academically-speaking I can understand that it’s all about the “de-humanizing” and “de-personalizing” that takes place in the minds of those who engage in warfare (in the broad sense of the word – ie., including the “war on terror’). All justified in the name of national security, public safety, justice and democracy and the civilized world and so forth. But beyond the plethora of justifications for acts of torture, need we believe that the capacity to behave in an extremely violent and immoral way is within all of us? If that were so, it would surely be a tragic truth.
Having made that strong assertion, I am keen to study the issue of torture and political prisoners in more depth by looking at historical cases from around the world. With all the political and moral implications, torture does seem to be a very current and relevant problem of our time, especially considering its global nature.
I’ve been reading the book “Torture: A Human Rights Perspective” edited by Kenneth Roth and Minky Warden, which talks about how the US position has undermined the global prohibition on torture.
Yesterday in my Middle East Studies class I watched the new film by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross called "The Road To Guantanamo".
Despite having already seen some images in the media of the orange-suited detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and always maintaining the position that the US government was guilty of committing extreme human rights violations, watching this film made the grim reality of it all hit home hard!
Being part-documentary and part-dramatization, the experience of the “Tipson Three” - the three young Pakistan-English guys from the British town of Tipson, (and all the other characters for that matter) was really convincingly portrayed. There was no part of the story-telling that even prompted any doubt or suspicion in my mind as to its veracity. And accordingly, I felt like I was suddenly being exposed to a fresh perspective. One that never reaches the mainstream audience, for it is simply too shocking, too appalling and too anti-government to make ordinary headlines.
Thank god for documentaries such as this. Let’s just hope that it’s being widely viewed around the world. I plan to make sure that as many of my friends and acquaintances take the opportunity to watch this film as possible. Amnesty International Japan, Human Rights Now and film distribution company The Klock Worx are screening the film in Tokyo on 13 January 2007, and bringing out the three British men for a speaking tour of Japan. Stay tuned!
Like hearing a very personal testimony of a survivor, this film made me squirm; feel incredulous, deeply sad at the level of suffering, and also contempt for the perpetrators. Most of all, it made me ask the obvious: How does humanity devolve to such a low level that we can behave like this to our fellow humans?
Well, academically-speaking I can understand that it’s all about the “de-humanizing” and “de-personalizing” that takes place in the minds of those who engage in warfare (in the broad sense of the word – ie., including the “war on terror’). All justified in the name of national security, public safety, justice and democracy and the civilized world and so forth. But beyond the plethora of justifications for acts of torture, need we believe that the capacity to behave in an extremely violent and immoral way is within all of us? If that were so, it would surely be a tragic truth.
Having made that strong assertion, I am keen to study the issue of torture and political prisoners in more depth by looking at historical cases from around the world. With all the political and moral implications, torture does seem to be a very current and relevant problem of our time, especially considering its global nature.
I’ve been reading the book “Torture: A Human Rights Perspective” edited by Kenneth Roth and Minky Warden, which talks about how the US position has undermined the global prohibition on torture.
I’ve also been reading testimonies of former Burmese political prisoners who are also torture survivors. Check out the website for the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) for more information on what's taking place inside Burma.
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