Robben Island and Guantanamo Bay

I will suspend the cheesy song post titles for a day to let you in on a little of my morning's moral crisis.

Last night in Long Walk to Freedom (what else?), Nelson and his fellow prisoners were transferred to Robben Island, South Africa's Guantanamo-esque prison. Robben Island, at that time, was the prison where one was sent if the government wanted you far away from civilization (and the hopes of being remembered by one's fellow fighters at home). When Mandela was transferred to RobbenIsland, he had a 5-year sentence. Anyone remember how long he spent at Robben Island? Maybe you should re-read the title of his book if you're thinking it was 5 years. 28 years. The government had enacted legislation which allowed for extension of a prisoner's term without levying an additional charge against the prisoner (sound familiar?). In the portion of the book which I am now reading, I was horrified to read that Mandela and his fellow prisoners were put in a cell with no light or other ornamentation and only a porthole from which to receive light and air. This porthole also served the purpose of allowing the guards to urinate on the prisoners. I was disgusted and saddened at this (and other) brutal treatment of another human being.

So thankful was I that I live in a place where things like this do not occur. Unfortunately, this morning on my drive to work, I was listening to NPR, as I always do, and heard a story called "Guantanamo Through a Prisoner's Eyes." It was narrated by Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo and several other U.S. detention centers, who was never formally charged with a crime, but still imprisoned and tortured for almost two years. Please read the article here. You can also read an exerpt of his book about the ordeal on the same page. It tells of the physical and psychological torture used against him by U.S. forces. I won't tell you the results so that you will actually read the article, but let me just say that it strikes me as sickeningly reminiscent of Mandela's situation.

Now, for a moment to clarify. I am not entirely against the war on terror. I have some serious problems with the way it is handled, but I do realize that there is a very real threat that must be dealt with in some way. I just keep being reminded of my mother telling me that the thing that distinguishes the U.S. from other countries is the way we treat people. What makes us above the terrorists is that we don't stoop to the same kind of torture and mistreatment of our fellow human beings, even if they are terrorists. I think that we, like the apartheid regime in South Africa, have lost sight of the fact that though our enemies are our enemies, and though we may find ther views and actions incredibly distasteful, they are also our brothers and sisters. To believe that they are worth nothing is to believe that we ourselves are worth nothing.

I pray that we might all, myself included, be able to find this kind of an understanding--that human life is sacred, no matter whose life.