This Week on GR
by C. L. Cook
 Today, tales of prisons. Beyond the prison-world western power has
brought to Afghanistan, in Colombia a bitter class war has raged for
generations. Once declared a war on communism and Marxist rebellion,
now it is called a drug war. But Colombia's "drug war" bears strange
casualties; its prisons are full of detained activists, and unionists,
and indigenous rights proponents, not the dope dealers you would expect. In fact,
Colombia's war today is against the underclass and indigenous, as it
always has been.
Listen. Hear.
Kevin Neish is just returned from a trip he
took down Colombia way to bear witness to the trial of friend Liliany Obando, a
social rights activist wrongly imprisoned for more than a year, and
finally preparing to face Colombia's version of justice. Kevin Neish in
the first half.
And; Canadian freelance journalist Jon Elmer,
living in and reporting from Occupied Palestine on a deeper newer wall
for Gaza, and stirrings of a massive prisoner exchange from Israel in
the coming weeks.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUv
broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to
keeps us current with Christmas on the streetz. But first, Kevin Neish
and bearing witness for Liliany Obando.
One question determinedly not asked during recent Special Commission hearings in Ottawa looking into Canadian Forces' policies of turning over "detainees" to Afghani authorities is: What about those turned over to American forces? We all witnessed Abu Ghraib, and heard stories coming from Bagram and Guantanamo, and credible accounts of so-called Black Site prisons located in countries run by regimes with horrendous human rights records.
Have we not reason enough to believe those turned over to the U.S. could and will face treatment proscribed by Geneva and other human rights treaties Canada is signatory to?
We know, the abusive treatment prisoners routinely receive at the hands of American forces is systemic. That is to say: Torture is policy. "Softening up," as torture is euphemistically referred, includes: The use of dogs, physical deprivation, sexual humiliation, stress positions, freezing, isolated confinement, forced standing (as Donald Rumsfeld famously commented on), and many other disgusting physical, emotional, and psychical abuses. These are all a part of what falls under what is known as the military's "rules of engagement."
These so-called rules were authored outside Canada, and reflect the values not of Canada and Canadians but others who harbour racist and denigrating attitudes towards "others" they perceive as enemies. Many of those attitudes are represented here, and Canada's adoption of these same rules of engagement may explain why no-one in either the government or media is questioning them.
Today, tales of prisons. Beyond the prison-world western power has brought to Afhganistan, in Colombia a bitter class war has raged for generations. Once declared a war on communism amd Marxist rebellion, now it is called a drug war. But Colombia's "drug war" bears strange casualities; its prisons are full of detained activists, and unionists, and indigenous rights proponents, not who you would expect. In fact, Colombia's war today is against the underclass and indigenous, as it always has been.
Kevin Neish is just returned from a trip he took down Colombia way to bear witness to friend Liliany Obando, a social rights activist wrongly imprisoned for more than a year, and finally preparing to face Colombia's version of justice. Kevin Neish in the first half.
And; Canadian freelance journalist Jon Elmer, living in and reporting from Occupied Palestine on a deeper newer wall for Gaza, and stirrings of a massive prisoner exchange from Israel in the coming weeks.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to keeps us current with Christmas on the streetz.
But first, Kevin Neish and bearing witness for Liliany Obando.
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