Trying to find out about how the troops stationed at GTMO live, I put myself in the shoes of a newcomer and searched military websites about the housing situation there. I quickly found that the troops are divided cleanly between the 1600 Naval Station service members and the 1500 Joint Task Force service members. I…

“The distinction between a refugee camp and a prison is razor thin, and rests on the degree of trust and civility between the refugees and their guards.” – Jonathan Hansen, Guantánamo: An American Story   The detention center at Guantánamo Bay is exactly that: a detention center.  It is an area comprised of camps of…

As a project committed to fostering dialogue on the past, present, and future of Guantánamo Bay, we welcome the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA rendition, detention and interrogation. We strongly believe that transparency is vital to understanding the past, and therefore that the release of this report is an important step…

In an interview from 2013, Caribbean American singer and activist Harry Belafonte criticized black celebrities for turning their back on minorities and not using their power as activists for minorities. When asked “Are you happy with the image of members of minorities in Hollywood today?” Belafonte responded, “Not at all. […] They have turned their…

I became fascinated with Cuban media and propaganda while studying in Havana over the summer. While we have overwhelming advertisements lining our highways on billboards, the Cubans have revolution-era propaganda. Now faded red and blue letters that read “¡Viva la Revolución!” convey the chest-swelling pride that fueled Fidel’s victory. As an American, there were moments…

During the last months I became very interested on the topic of Guantánamo Bay. Through books, articles, photographs and videos I became more and more aware of the violence that is committed against human beings that are held within that institution. While watching a documentary called: 4 days inside Guantánamo, I was shocked by the…

Whilst taking the module ‘Ethics of Representation’, as part of my MA at the University of Brighton, part of my study has been to view photographs and discuss the ethical implications of taking and viewing such images; particularly those which portray scenes of conflict or humanitarian crisis. Whilst researching images of this nature I viewed…

We cannot know what really happens in the world. On second thoughts, this claim is a generalisation; an omniscient being does of course know what occurs everywhere at every infinitesimal fraction of time. Nobody I have met, however, possesses this extraordinary capacity, and it is possibly true to say that most of us do not…

In the early 1990s, AIDS was still formidable, frightening, and under-researched. The United States government and the Center for Disease Control maintained that being Haitian was a risk factor for HIV/AIDS. This policy was based upon racism and fear, not scientific evidence, but it influenced public perceptions of both the Haitian community and HIV/AIDS. And…

While uncovering the experience of Haitian unaccompanied minors held at Guantánamo Bay during the refugee crisis in the early 1990s, I found it difficult to face the unresolved legacy that the detention left these children. Many of refugee children suffered a range of psychological issues as a result of the traumas of their ordeal. Consequently,…