S. Samuel
Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (a.k.a. Mos Def) has taken part in a video demonstration to show people the conditions and procedures Guantánamo Bay detainees undergo when they are force-fed.
The disturbing footage of Bey undergoing the horrific procedure surfaced online Monday (July 8).
Yasiin Bey is always less than conventional. While his music hasn’t really reached his classic Black On Both Sides levels in a while, he’s still pushing the envelope in other ways. Recently, he put himself through the force-feeding procedures Guantánamo Bay detainees go through twice a day in a four-minute film created by Human Rights organization Reprieve and award-winning director Asif Kapadia. As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers continue their protest and more than 40 of them are being force-fed in a manner similar to what’s seen here with Yasiin. (Smoking Section)
While the standard procedure typically lasts for extended periods of time, Yasiin could only last a few minutes.
The video is an upsetting watch, tears stream down Bey’s face as he is force fed and he shouts continually throughout until he can’t take any more and they release him. The rapper then tells us what the experience was like, describing a ‘burning’ sensation, his face still wet from the tears. Bey ends his role by announcing ‘Good morning’ to the viewer, presumably this is meant as a ‘wake up’ call to the world, that everyday people are suffering like the viewer has seen. Captions appear at the end informing us that the normal procedure would last for two hours, putting in context how little someone could take voluntarily. (Gigwise)
The force-fed procedures have sparked wide debates, especially from Islamic leaders that want President Barack Obama to cease the operations.
Islamic community leaders are calling on the Obama administration to rethink its policy of force-feeding hunger-striking detainees in Guantánamo during the month-long fast of Ramadan that begins on Monday. The US government has said that barring “unforeseen emergency or operational issues” it will respect the daylight fast by trying only to force feed 45 detainees at night. Muslim groups say that by refusing to suspend the practice during Ramadan the US is adding insult to injury. “We believe it’s wrong to force feed at any time but it is particularly upsetting to do it through Ramadan,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman of the largest US Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, the Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He said the situation was Kafkaesque: “It’s not just a religious issue, it’s also a human rights issue in violation of international norms and medical ethics.” (The Guardian)
Various religious groups have also stepped forward to speak out.
Last month Bishop Richard Pates, chair of the committee on international justice and peace for the US conference of Catholic bishops, wrote to the defence secretary Chuck Hagel noting the opposition of the International Committee of the Red Cross to force-feeding. “Rather than resorting to such measures, our nation should first do everything it can to address the conditions of despair that have led to this protest.” (The Guardian)
Watch Yasiin Bey’s experience:
