Lest We Forget: Guantanamo

Today is Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, a public holiday here in the Czech Republic. All week I have been asking my students what freedom and democracy mean. The answer is enigmatic.

Next Thursday, Americans will give thanks for their blessings, largely forgetting their own history and the suffering their state has wrought abroad as the standard-bearer of lawlessness. As wars rage in Gaza and Ukraine and the earth burns, lest we forget the flagrant violation of international law that continues in Guantanamo, Cuba—a reminder of the ongoing agony of the cruel and cynical so-called global war on terror.

The transformation of Guantanamera to Gitmo is something we cannot abide. The suffering there continues, even as the media turns away.

Almost 22 years on there remain some 30 prisoners held under inhumane conditions at this prison run by the U.S. military, the longest-standing war prison in U.S. history. Since January 2002 some 800 men and boys have been kidnapped, transported, tortured and forcibly held there in brutal conditions, nearly all of them without charge or trial. Indefinite incommunicado imprisonment, the epitome of lawlessness.

In early 2021 President Biden said that he would close the prison at Guantanamo but has done little toward that end. Rather, the Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to expand the facilities at the prison.

This unlawful prison is the height of hypocrisy. It desecrates ideals and beauty. My awareness of this was heightened recently when I listened to the version of the famous Cuban folk song Guantanamera produced by Playing For Change:

The song radiates beauty, love and joy. It has been an international anthem for social justice, peace and brotherhood. The incongruity of turning the setting of this song, about a country girl from Guantanamo, into a prison is appalling.

Perhaps music can restore memory. It is an uphill battle as social media feeds and propaganda pervade and corrode individual and collective memory and warp perceptions of reality. But the transformation of Guantanamera to Gitmo is something we cannot abide. The suffering there continues, even as the media turns away. The disgrace carried out in our name continues. The struggle continues. Love must prevail over fear and hate. This song, and music in general, is a good starting point.