Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force-fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure – Video

[Captain James Mission]

 

As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this four-minute film made by Human Rights organisation Reprieve and Bafta award-winning director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure

 

Warning: some viewers may find these images distressing

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ACE-BBPRs

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jul/08/mos-def-force-fed-guantanamo-bay-video

[Friendly Foil]

I don't get what that video is supposed to do.

[Captain James Mission]

Celebrity undergoes sadistic/unhuman torture to put pressure on Government?

[Friendly Foil]

Would've been more effective without the silly fast cuts and handheld camera.

[Guest 20XX]

peace, and good mornin

[Captain James Mission]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/08/obama-urged-halt-ramadan-guantanamo

[Guest RadarJammer]

o shit mos def went full retard

[Candiru]

*listens to Black On Both Sides*

 

Man those were simpler, more fun times for Mos Def.

[SR4]

As much as I think Ramadan is absolutely retarded, the man has a point. If it's your religious belief to abstain from eating until a certain time, so be it.

 

But ultimately this is small peanuts....I mean didn't we flush the Qu'ran down the toilet on a few occasions in Iraq? What could possibly give you the idea that we are abiding by Islamic rules in regards to food?

 

I dunno....I really really like Mos Def, and I'll support this. Simply because our lack of giving a shit to anyone in the Other category (aka TERRORISTS NUKE THEM NOW).

[luke viia]

I don't care at all about Ramadan, but seeing that procedure is fucking brutal. Two times a day at two hours a session? Christ.

 

I'm sure we'll have a fun-filled semantics argument as we always do when guantanamo is brought up (maybe we can discuss what "force" means this time), but before that, I'd like to say fuck that place and fuck Obama for redacting on his "Day one as president, I'm closing it" promise. That was one of the main reasons I voted for him in 2008. Fool me once.. cain't.. cain't get fooled again. ugh.

[MisterE]

a few angles of this to consider, and just because i'm only choosing one to comment on doesn't mean i'm not aware of or that i don't care about the others. i see what i see and i comment on things i feel like commenting on. so here it is-

 

to me it's funny that 'celebs' (especially ones past their prime) feel the need to interject themselves into current events/politics, and i think there is a bit of a conflict of interests there. i have to question the sincerity with which these people believe in their little pet causes, when their making these kinds of videos and statements also goes such a very very long way towards keeping them 'current' in the eyes of their fan base and on their minds as heroes.

 

you don't see afx doing this shit. and i respect him for that. he makes good tracks. that in no way shape or form necessarily proves he would have 'correct' ideas about politics or that he pays any real attention or actually thinks up his own ideas or theories or critically analyzes events going on in the world instead of grabbing the popular default opinion set and going along with it to be 'in'. the vid is full retard, and it would be almost impossible that catching a little boost in fame from this would be 0% of the motivation behind it. to me that makes it disingenuous.

[Root5]

it would be almost impossible that catching a little boost in fame from this would be 0% of the motivation behind it. to me that makes it disingenuous.

 

Who cares? Just consider how much you agree with the message and judge it on that. Assholes can be right sometimes. Saints can be wrong. You can drive yourself crazy thinking about this, until eventually you hate your friends as much as your enemies.

 

Ultimately I'll support any message that I agree with, even if the individual behind it is just on an ego-trip.

 

Also, I doubt Yasiin Bey is ego-tripping here, but that's a separate point.

[awepittance]

Autechre and RDJ have voiced political opinions albeit sparsely in various interviews. From what i gather they are both pretty liberal dudes who don't appreciate the UK government very much

Gitmo is where the term 'sexing up' came from as far as an interrogation technique is concerned. It was common practice at gitmo confirmed by several guards there that they used female interrogators to pretend that they were finger banging themselves on their period and then rubbing menstrual blood on a particular fundamentalist detainees face. It was in actuality red dye, but the detainees didn't know that. So yeah, they don't really care much about people celebrating ramadan, haha

[Redruth]

what are the qualifications for being eligible to be elected to govern a country in this world? why is it that we elect 'normal' people to govern? the process of qualifying in every country around the world should be of the highest stringency should it not? basically you should have to be a saint, nothing less. why not? i would not want someone with the same problems i have or have had making decisions of this caliber for me, but this is exactly what we are experiencing now, in the world. i mean honestly, what the fuck is going on in this world? look at the state of it. money is god. the world is gone.

[MisterE]

ok i agree with some of the sentiment in those last few posts too. yeah, on the flip side of what i said, celebrities obviously have just as much of a right to express their opinions as anyone. but here's the thing- if a message NEEDS to be packaged with the pretty face of a celebrity to gain ground with the public, then that public isn't very smart, isn't REALLY getting that message, and is just going along with it because it was given to them by their hero. now does everyone who sees this and agrees with it NEED it to be mos def doing it for them to agree with it? no. but there's a reason why it was him. there's a reason why celebrities have organizations seeking them out to use them in these kinds of things constantly. to me that speaks volumes about why things are REALLY this fucked up in the first place.

 

all that anyone should really need is a description of the process to think it's fucked up. not a retarded mos def video. celebs in videos helps sell messages though. this is WHY we are FUCKED. (well not *why* but another symptom and part of the vicious cycle itself i think)

 

and on top of that, i think a lot of celebrities are about as far from understanding or representing or even caring about your actual average citizen or the kind of shit they have to put up with, as you can possibly get.

[SR4]

to me it's funny that 'celebs' (especially ones past their prime) feel the need to interject themselves into current events/politics

 

really? I could have sworn in a representative democracy that these actions would be allowable. I guess once you hit a certain point, you shouldn't be talking about politics? Pretell, what's your situation with the Koch Bros, Karl Rove, the Bush II Old Guard, Sarah Palin, etc. etc. ad infinitum? I would love to hear why they have earned a free pass to interject themselves into politics (especially past their prime) while Hollywood cannot.

what are the qualifications for being eligible to be elected to govern a country in this world? why is it that we elect 'normal' people to govern? the process of qualifying in every country around the world should be of the highest stringency should it not? basically you should have to be a saint, nothing less. why not? i would not want someone with the same problems i have or have had making decisions of this caliber for me, but this is exactly what we are experiencing now, in the world. i mean honestly, what the fuck is going on in this world? look at the state of it. money is god. the world is gone.

 

redruth, honestly, no disrespect or insult here. how does this make you feel ultimately? I mean, how does this make you feel?

[MisterE]

i never said it wasn't or shouldn't be allowable. i said it was funny, and to me disingenuous, and further that the fact that political messages are commonly being sold by celebs just shows how fucked this country really is.

[SR4]

i never said it wasn't or shouldn't be allowable. i said it was funny, and to me disingenuous, and further that the fact that political messages are commonly being sold by celebs just shows how fucked this country really is.

 

by celebs do you just mean hollywood, or the factions and multimedia shills within that have been discussing "politics" at the front lines from FOX and MSNBC for the past 10 years?

[MisterE]

i would lump a lot of those types into what i said too. large fucking swaths of them.

 

people need to stop worshiping other people so much. our presidential fucking elections are nothing but a popularity contest. this is why things are so fucked up. people look at how 'cool' someone is before deciding if they have a good point about something. you get out of high school and grow up only to find out that the world at large is just another, bigger, and possibly stupider high school.

[Redruth]

 

what are the qualifications for being eligible to be elected to govern a country in this world? why is it that we elect 'normal' people to govern? the process of qualifying in every country around the world should be of the highest stringency should it not? basically you should have to be a saint, nothing less. why not? i would not want someone with the same problems i have or have had making decisions of this caliber for me, but this is exactly what we are experiencing now, in the world. i mean honestly, what the fuck is going on in this world? look at the state of it. money is god. the world is gone.

 

redruth, honestly, no disrespect or insult here. how does this make you feel ultimately? I mean, how does this make you feel?

 

 

sad, aggravated, but also relieved by the fact that i can see the flaws in what others in the world consider to be acceptable, functioning systems of government

[SR4]

 

 

what are the qualifications for being eligible to be elected to govern a country in this world? why is it that we elect 'normal' people to govern? the process of qualifying in every country around the world should be of the highest stringency should it not? basically you should have to be a saint, nothing less. why not? i would not want someone with the same problems i have or have had making decisions of this caliber for me, but this is exactly what we are experiencing now, in the world. i mean honestly, what the fuck is going on in this world? look at the state of it. money is god. the world is gone.

 

redruth, honestly, no disrespect or insult here. how does this make you feel ultimately? I mean, how does this make you feel?

 

 

sad, aggravated, but also relieved by the fact that i can see the flaws in what others in the world consider to be acceptable, functioning systems of government

 

 

why would you be relieved? are you going to ascend to heaven when everyone is trapped in the chaos of apocalyptica?

[jules]

Maybe I'm being naive but it seems like they should have 2 options:

 

a. give them an iv

 

2. let them starve

 

 

both of these options seem easy. 1 takes 1 person, 1 takes none. too simple?

[SR4]

Maybe I'm being naive but it seems like they should have 2 options:

 

a. give them an iv

 

2. let them starve

 

 

both of these options seem easy. 1 takes 1 person, 1 takes none. too simple?

 

 

i agree with this. but a country of upstanding western moral principles would never allow people to die of their own volition in a prison they were illegally apprehended in

[jules]

but aren't they in u.s. custody?

 

[Redruth]

 

 

 

what are the qualifications for being eligible to be elected to govern a country in this world? why is it that we elect 'normal' people to govern? the process of qualifying in every country around the world should be of the highest stringency should it not? basically you should have to be a saint, nothing less. why not? i would not want someone with the same problems i have or have had making decisions of this caliber for me, but this is exactly what we are experiencing now, in the world. i mean honestly, what the fuck is going on in this world? look at the state of it. money is god. the world is gone.

 

redruth, honestly, no disrespect or insult here. how does this make you feel ultimately? I mean, how does this make you feel?

 

 

sad, aggravated, but also relieved by the fact that i can see the flaws in what others in the world consider to be acceptable, functioning systems of government

 

 

why would you be relieved? are you going to ascend to heaven when everyone is trapped in the chaos of apocalyptica?

 

 

i'm sure your not serious, but that is archaic rhetoric. the concept of leaving while others suffer is not truly spiritual in itself. it is the 'haves and the have nots' all over again; precisely what is wrong with what we are experiencing now. no one is first. if a person thinks they are first, they will be last.