The California Museum of Photography in Riverside, CA will host “Geographies of Detention” beginning June 1, 2013.

Presented on two floors of the California Museum of Photography, “Geographies of Detention” offers a nuanced investigation into incarceration and its architectures. One portion of the exhibition highlights work by artists Sandow Birk, Alyse Emdur, and Richard Ross, each of whom explores different aspects of imprisonment. “Geographies of Detention” also includes the traveling exhibit the “Guantánamo Public Memory Project,” an examination of the over 100-year history of the US naval station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The “Guantánamo Public Memory Project” combines historical and contemporary photography, film, and first-person audio interviews to examine how the naval base has been “closed” and reopened for more than a century leading up to the attacks on September 11, 2001. These new perspectives on Guantánamo’s history as a “legal black hole” provoke discussions about the limits of democracy and the meaning of mass incarceration in a global present and future. Collaboratively curated by eleven universities (including UCR), the “Guantánamo Public Memory Project” is comprised of a deeply researched traveling exhibit, as well as a website, blog, and ongoing public conversation. The panel produced by graduate students in UCR’s Public History Program examines Guantánamo as an international symbol of America’s War on Terror and a lightning rod for debates about torture, detention, national security, and human rights.

For a complete description of the exhibition, please click here.

A U.S. Navy corpsman at the Camp 6 medical clinic shows shelves of Ensure nutritional supplement used in forced feedings of hunger striking prisoners in this image approved for release by the military at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. CAROL ROSENBERG / THE MIAMI HERALD

As the Herald explains at the outset, the presentation draws from multiple sources since the U.S. military delayed acknowledging that the protest was under way. Moreover, “lawyers for the detainees say the strike started earlier, and was larger from the start.”

To view the tracker, click here.

Haitian sea migrants have been held in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on two occasions – in 1991-1992 and in 1994. Haitians seated in the open await processing in a tent city at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in 1991. USCG photo by PA3 Eric Eggen

May 13, 1993: Haitian refugees detained at Guantánamo because they tested H.I.V. positive began their second prolonged hunger strike. 158 adults at a makeshift confinement camp on the base began the strike after their calls for release were ignored. Federal immigration policy barred anyone carrying the virus from entering the United States.

]]> http://blog.gitmomemory.org/2013/05/16/this-week-in-guantanamo-2013-and-1993-2/feed/ 0 http://blog.gitmomemory.org/2013/05/09/poll-shows-american-public-divided-on-guantanamo/ http://blog.gitmomemory.org/2013/05/09/poll-shows-american-public-divided-on-guantanamo/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 17:11:09 +0000 Nathaniel Rojas http://blog.gitmomemory.org/?p=4935 A poll recently conducted by The Huffington Post and YouGov suggests that the American public is deeply divided on what to do about Guantánamo. The poll, which can be seen here, asked people where they stood on military tribunals, the U.S. possession of Cuban land, and the inmate population.

A 96-hour Guantánamo cell vigil in front of the White House protests the ten year anniversary of the detention center. Courtesy Justin Norman.

The results show that many people support the U.S. government’s current policy toward Guantánamo: to indefinitely retain both the parcel of Cuban soil and the people who have been incarcerated there since 2002.  At the same time, the results show that many people are unsure of what to think about Guantánamo.

The Guantánamo Public Memory Project seeks to shed light on this debate, and the broader issues that GTMO has come to represent, by grounding dialogue in rigorous historical scholarship from multiple perspectives.

In addition to regularly visiting our blog, we hope everyone will take the time to share their perspectives and “Shape the Debate” on Guantánamo at our Participate page. We also encourage you to see our traveling exhibit, and to share your take on this history with your mobile device through SMS voting.

A visitor to the traveling exhibit of the Guantánamo Public Memory Project shares his perspective through SMS voting. Courtesy Picture Projects.

Inmate in a Camp 5 cafeteria at Guantánamo. Courtesy Joint Task Force.

Before our Indianapolis reception for the opening of the GPMP exhibit, I was concerned that people would not be thinking of GTMO. I couldn’t have been more wrong. During our preparations for the April 10 event, the internet was ablaze with the word “Guantánamo” because invitations had been circulated among fashion circles for a Coachella party named “New Guantanamo.” The associated images (possibly NSFW due to partial nudity) feature “pleasurable torture” framed as gun-toting models commanding a beach full of bikini-clad, kneeling blindfolded hostages. Due mostly to an immediate editorial from online fashion magazine Refinery29, the backlash to the party was quick and forceful. The party’s sponsors first changed the event name, then cancelled the event, then pulled out of Coachella entirely. Although commentators’ reactions were encouragingly critical, the statement from sponsor Flaunt magazine was tone deaf at best:

In its 15-year history, Flaunt has not shied away from controversy or provocation. We routinely cover topics of social and political contention. At our event, we intend to create an atmosphere of fun, and the spirit and theme were never intended to cause offense or harm. Guantanamo has been controversial from its inception, and that an unresolved human rights issue is again fetching headlines is, in our opinion, true to our aims as a publication. We value and respect the public’s concern and are taking action.

As most readers of this blog are well aware, Guantánamo (taken here to mean GTMO, as opposed to the literal geographic area of Cuba) has been controversial since its inception over a century ago. Nonetheless, the fight to keep the fate of post-9/11 detainees in the headlines has also remained an urgent one—although it is certainly not helped by disingenuous claims to “fun.” In response to this struggle, our IUPUI team explored the issue of ongoing human rights issues through an opening event called “Speaking of Guantánamo,” which featured a conversation between guests who had navigated the “legal black hole” of Guantánamo in the 21^st century.

Our featured speakers included Justice Steven H. David (Indiana Supreme Court Justice and former Chief Defense Counsel to the Office of Military Commissions), Richard Kammen, Esq. (an Indianapolis attorney and learned counsel for Abd al-Rahim Hussein Mohammed Al-Nashiri), and Professor George Edwards (Carl M. Gray Professor of Law at Indiana University, expert witness in U.S. Military Commission case against David Hicks, and assisting researcher for the defense of Hicks and Omar Khadr). The event, which counted as a free Continuing Legal Education credit thanks to the partnership of local attorneys and the Robert H. McKinney School of Law, was eye-opening for all of us, from liberal arts students like me to the veteran lawyers in attendance. Although the whole of the speakers’ discussion was fascinating, what I found most striking were additions to the calls we’ve been hearing for so long—calls for courage and dialogue.

In the days after our event, Guantánamo has become a central part of daily news, through the official release of the Detainee Treatment report and heavy coverage of the detainees’ ongoing hunger strikes. In addition, the threat of racial profiling after the bombing of the Boston Marathon and the debate over how and where the surviving bombing suspect should be legally processed remind us of the complex ways our legal system and cultural values have been affected by our fears about national security. Among the most powerful texts published in the last month is an op-ed piece by Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel, in which he relays his current experience of being nasally force-fed a liquid diet. But it is also important that this issue is making fairly regular appearances in media like The Daily Show: real concern about Guantánamo is seeping quickly and continuously into highly public, mainstream conversations. Nearly all of the expert commentators I have heard throughout my work on this project have emphasized that the best hope we have of closing Guantánamo is widespread outcry from American citizens. This is based on the premise, I think, that legislators will more likely support closure when the perceived political liability is lessened. There is momentum in current press coverage, but it can only be sustained through continued attention and response. So, even at the end of an academic semester, at a time when many of us are graduating or moving on to new projects, please keep writing letters, signing petitions, and reading everything you can. The time for courage and dialogue is now.

Dolly Hayde – M.A. Candidate at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis is participating in the Guantánamo Public Memory Project‘s National Dialogue and Traveling Exhibit. Opening at NYU’s Kimmel Center for University Life Windows Gallery in December 2012 and traveling to 9 sites (and counting) across the country through at least 2014, the exhibit will explore GTMO’s history from US occupation in 1898 to today’s debates and visions for its future. The exhibit is being developed through a unique collaboration among a growing number of universities as a dialogue among their students, communities, and people with first-hand experience at GTMO.

Opening night of “Why Guantánamo?” exhibition, April 10, 2013, IUPUI Cultural Arts Gallery, Indianapolis, Indiana. Photo courtesy Dave Jaynes, IUPUI Visual Media

Nicknamed GTMO, the United States naval station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has a history that is infamous and yet unknown to most Americans. The traveling exhibit of the Guantánamo Public Memory Project confronts this history at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Cultural Arts Gallery through May 12, 2013.

Developed by more than 100 students from the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and 11 other universities, the exhibition, Why Guantánamo?, explores GTMO’s history from the US occupation of Guantánamo Bay in 1898 to today’s debates about its future.

IUPUI Cultural Arts Gallery Hosts the GPMP Exhibit. Courtesy Laura Holzman.

The opening of the exhibit accompanied a conference that addressed the broader issues that the site has come to represent.Indiana Supreme Court Justice Steven H. David and Indianapolis attorney Richard Kammen discussed their experience with post-9/11 Guantánamo detainees.

David was the chief defense counsel to the Office of Military Commissions from 2007-2010.  He oversaw the defense team for post-9/11 detainees in Guantánamo. Kammen is the civilian learned counsel responsible for defending Abd al-Rahim Hussein Mohammed Al-Nashiri. Al-Nashiri is accused of masterminding the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

“Why Guantánamo?” discussion panel. Courtesy David Jaynes, IUPUI Visual Media.

Moderating the lecture was IU McKinney School of Law professor George Edwards. Edwards, director of the law school’s program in International Human Rights Law, was an expert witness in the Guantánamo Bay U.S. Military Commission case against Australian David Hicks. He and his students also provided research assistance for the defense of Hicks and for Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 years old when taken to Guantanamo Bay.

The exhibition is a program of the Guantánamo Public Memory Project, which seeks to build public awareness of the century-long history of the naval station. Currently traveling across the United States, with plans to travel internationally, the exhibit offers a uniquely comprehensive and compelling presentation of the history of the naval base.

Click here to see when the exhibit will be displayed at a venue near you.

GPMP Exhibit in Indianapolis. Courtesy Dave Jaynes, IUPUI Visual Media.

An inmate wanders a recreation yard at Camp 6, Guantánamo. 2008. Courtesy JTF.

May 9, 2003: The detention facilities established to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists at Guantánamo hit their peak population, holding 680 inmates.

Inserting a feeding tube through a nostril. Courtesy macmillan.org.

James Hamblin, the author of the article, writes:

“Will the United States keep these detainees alive for 12 years against their will? If 12 years sounds too long, then what is an appropriate amount of time to keep a prisoner alive by tube feed? Is this torture? Hundreds of physicians around the world have spoken out on behalf of the World Medical Association — in addition to the American Medical Association — in saying that what the U.S. is doing is inhumane. The U.N. Human Rights Commission has said in the past that forced feeding constitutes torture and violates international law.”

Click here to read the complete article.

President Obama is given charge of Guantánamo. 2008. AP Images.

May 1, 1995: In response to the Cuban refugee crisis at Guantánamo, the United States revises its migration policy for Cuban nationals that are interdicted at sea or that escape to GTMO. The new law mandates Cuban migrants be returned to Cuba.

Prisoner Moved Throughout Camp Delta, Guantánamo. 2008. Courtesy Joint Task Force.

April 27th, 2002: The newly constructed 410-bed facility known as Camp Delta opens to replace Camp X-Ray. Inmates begin to be transported to the more permanent facility.