Hunger strike in Guantanamo, the citadel of injustice and torture
The Obama administration’s simplistic explanation for the hunger strike by the Guantanamo prisoners, “to attract media attention”, doesn’t really do justice to the cause.
And the U.S. government’s forced feeding program is against medical ethical standards. It serves only to prolong the torture that moved the prisoners to choose to stop eating. British courts accept the right to starve oneself, but American courts have failed to do so. Most of the world disagrees with America on this issue.
The World Medical Association’s (WMA) Tokyo declaration states that “Where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the doctor as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially”. http://jme.bmj.com/content/29/4/243.full
Why choose hunger? It has been known to work. From Bobby Sands onward, the tactic has been used successfull, and this is a motivator. But that’s not all.
Guantanamo forces not guilty prisoners to view their plight as without hope. Living in isolation from the external world, except for sporadic visits from attorneys and the ever present functionaries of the facility, there is no ear to hear. It is a perfect situation to allow self-radicalization to occur. Prisoners may even seek to outdo one another in coming up with ideas of rebellion. The conditions they live in “result in elevated rates of depression, anxiety, and other emotional disturbances, as well as increased susceptibility to disease, heart attacks, and other serious medical conditions.” (PsySR) The torture and humiliation they have experienced has reduced their self-esteem. This resulted in a pervading feeling of powerlessness. They are suffering from traumatic stress disorder. When an idea like hunger strike appears it will be accepted without reason. Cut off from seeing any possible path to freedom, they see no other way out of their continued torturous existence.
So they seek to better their lives, i.e., end the torture, by any means possible, even if the method kills them. It’s a contradiction in logic, but they live in a contradictory universe in which their internally held truth (“my innocence”) is ignored by the external world. This is a powerful torture.
There have been many hunger strikes since Guantanamo’s first in 2005. Desperate acts will continue until this monument to America’s disregard for the rule of law, this citadel of injustice and torture, is closed.
Please act now and contact your representatives and tell them how you feel. It’s the least you can do.
Wanna do more? Contact Code Pink.
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