Critical Race Studies (CRS): Muneer Ahmad at UCLA School of Law

Remembrance of things past: Hope for Peace, Justice, and Love.

Think of prisoners of war for a moment--friends and family of Vietnam or Iraq. Think of the Japanese Internment of the 1940's when thousands of Japanese Americans were interned within US borders, their assets seized, their lives decimated by one swift swoop of the US government's hand. Ponder for a moment the atrocity of the Armenian genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, and the numerous battles, skirmishes, coup d'etats around the world. This is recent history! There are people alive today that have lived through all of these events.

A look at the history of the 1900's reminds us that we've had two World Wars, each with disastrous effects, and a Cold War that economically, ideologically, and politically ravished numerous countries and destroyed whole lives. A look at the 1900's reveals progress--a movement forward, increase, development, advancement. But towards what exactly? One can only hope that we've learned the collective lessons of history about how brutal and evil humankind can be toward one another.

Saga at Guantanamo Bay: UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies (CRS) Event:

The CRS Department held an event at UCLA with featured speaker Muneer Ahmad, a former defense attorney for a Guantanamo Bay detainee, who spoke of the the various human rights violations taking place at Guantanamo Bay.

A) He spoke about how the location of Guantanamo Bay (a military base near Cuba) and the rigorous protocol of speaking with detainees made it difficult to build and sustain trust with clients, an essential piece of the legal realm.

B) He spoke of inhumane living conditions, prisoner mistreatment and abuse, and the gray areas within US law that shelter human rights violations taking place at the base.

C) Muneer also mentioned the racism inherent in US policy and treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees of past and present, from Haitians in the 90's to Middle Easterners post 9/11.

D) Finally, Muneer spoke of detainees who have have sought various methods to assert their own agency, often offering up their bodies in protest to inhumane conditions--the body is supposed to be that object one typically has domain over. So even though some detainees have used to the hunger strike method to combat mistreatment, MORE mistreatment results.

In response to the hunger strikers' tactics, officials have reportedly purchased the chairs at the left to force feed detainees.

First a detainee is offered food. If that is not accepted, the detainee is given IV fluids. If those are pulled out, then the detainee is given the chair and force fed--imagine someone shoving a thick nearly 40 inch tube through your nose or mouth and leaving it there so you can't vomit the food up.

One of the detainees has been on a hunger strike for over a year! He is force fed while restrained in the chair, twice daily.

I've seen restraints like these before. Typically a person is restrained to stop from hurting themselves or others, for example in a hospital ward. But never have I imagined that the dehumanizing concept of restraint could be used to thwart a perfectly sane person's attempt to protest unjust action.

(Original post created on 2/21/08)