Hip-hop artists urge Guantanamo shutdown

Now here’s an interesting article I read at the ABS-CBN news website today. Hip-hop fights Bush’s war on terror. It is an interesting report since the anti-terror law will soon take effect in the Philippines. We might be facing our very own Guantanamo if we don’t stop the terror machine.

Dead Prez is a very impressive revolutionary hip-hop group. For a sample their music, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPje57RIxw

as well as one of my favorite tracks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24_19_O6k9g

You can also check out their album Let’s Get Free.

WASHINGTON – Hip-hop musicians, themselves longtime enemies of police and government policies, on Tuesday likened their struggle for justice to that of “war on terror” prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But in order to call attention to their message to end prisoner torture and urge the closure of the US detention camp, they had to plunge deep into the caverns of the much-hated “establishment” — the US Congress.

“When I walk through these halls, you know, all the way here, I felt this despicable taste in my mouth,” rapper M1 of the group Dead Prez told a news conference inside the Capitol Hill press briefing room.

“I came to this building which claims to represent the people who live in this country and (where people) do some of the most treacherous and demeaning acts to other human beings,” said M1, his camouflage baseball cap tilted to one side.

“I know some of you feel me,” he said to a burst of applause and calls of “Come on!” from an audience that included button-laden peace activists, fresh-faced congressional interns and members of the media.

M1’s hip-hop forefathers were urban musicians in 1970s New York City, where DJs mixed street beats with lyrics that blasted the policies of the powerful for entrapping minorities into cycles of drug-addiction, poverty and violence.

For today’s hip-hop musicians, who were schooled by pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy, making the step to demanding an end to torture and restoring foreign prisoners’ rights was not much of a stretch.

“I come from the ‘hood. I represent what people call OGs,” said M1, referring to the term “original gangstas,” as he explained the ideological link between African-Americans and Guantanamo prisoners who are suspected of aiding the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

“But I want to talk about the OVs, the original victims,” M1 said. “That’s what we are in our community, we are the OVs. We are the original victims of terrorism.

“We are victims of a war that has been directed at our community under the guise of the war on drugs,” and US President George W. Bush’s policies “have left nothing but misery and pain in our community.”

The movement is led by the Hip-Hop Caucus, the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International.

The plan includes a “Hip-Hop for Habeas” concert at Washington’s famed 9:30 Club, a petition urging Congress to restore habeas corpus — allowing the accused to challenge their detention in a US court — and a rally in the nation’s capital on June 26.

“The hip-hop community has become the new soccer moms,” said the head of the Hip-Hop Caucus Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., referring to the influence wielded in the last US presidential election by suburban mothers who cast their votes based on national security issues.

Yearwood, who wore a belt buckle that flashed the words “Stop Torture Now” in blinking red lights, said the Guantanamo campaign was symbolically tied to the Juneteenth commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865.

“We are here to link that struggle to this struggle,” he said, but added: “It is not about us or me when the richest country in the world is rolling back our rights.”

Hip-hop singer Mystic said that US black history has been filled with stories of people who have been wrongly imprisoned and tortured by police, even though people did not always believe the stories of the downtrodden.

“Our civil liberties are being taken away in the name of fighting the war and fighting terrorism. I’m here to stand up and say shut down Guantanamo, stop the torture,” she said.

A short walk from M1’s hated hallways of Congress, even before the hip-hop artists’ arrival, the drumbeat against US policies in the “war on terror” has been growing louder.

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month endorsed a bill that would restore the right of habeas corpus to those detained by the United States. It must next go to the full Senate floor for consideration.

Also this month, a military tribunal threw out charges against two Guantanamo camp inmates because they had not been classified as “unlawful enemy combatants.” AFP

Meeting Trillanes

I got to meet senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV during his victory party last Sunday at the Marine Headquarters brig or detention facility where he and 29 other rebel soldiers are being held. There were a lot of groups and personalities coming from different political causes present during the affair. Leaders of the opposition were also there. Families of the soldiers were present too.

Going inside the Marine Headquarters wasn’t easy as we had to get clearance first from the J2 or intelligence staff of the base. Seems all names of visitors go straight to the intel folks.

Trillanes joined our table for a short chat on the elections and his stand on different issues. There were around seven people in the round table listening in. After the usual congratulatory greetings, we got down to talking about the probe on extrajudicial killings and the death squads in the military.

As a professional soldier, Trillanes did not agree with the policy of killings non-combatants using “death squads” who operate “outside the chain of command.” News reports earlier quoted him as describing these “death squads” as composite teams from various intelligence units of the different service branches of the AFP.

No other military officer, active or retired (or resigned), has openly admitted the existence of such informal units. It was therefore a major revelation coming from the neophyte senator. Trillanes knew where to start in his investigation. He knew the death squads existed and that some very powerful and influential official/s is/are behind them.

“We have to go after the policy makers,” he said. However, this is easier said than done because he knew the Arroyo government would try to block investigations into the truth about the killings. He was right.

True enough, AFP chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon is already invoking EO 464 as his defense when he is called upon to testify before the Senate. Weird really because it is the President who decides and gives clearance, if ever required, for officials who are called to testify. The decision will be made by GMA as chief executive. So it is really premature for Esperon to be invoking anything at this point especially since his participation in the probe is not his decision to make.

Back to Trillanes. Not many know that he opposes the anti-terrorism law recently signed into law by GMA and set to take effect in July. When asked if he thinks the law will be abused and used against the Opposition, he replied, “definitely.”

Trillanes has a very simple and reasonable approach to terrorism and that is resolving  social injustices especially in places like Mindanao. He believes that terrorism takes root in these areas because of the violence and oppression faced by the people. He cited a story of a fellow detainee in Camp Aguinaldo who threw a grenade at a public market in Mindanao. His reason for throwing a grenade? It was getting even for the losses he suffered after the military indiscriminately bombarded his town in the course of their ant-insurgency operations. The man was offered the job by some rebel group and didn’t think twice of accepting the offer.

From the short discussion, it was clear that one issue he really felt for was the issue of peace in Mindanao. Establishing peace in Mindanao by addressing the injustices will take away the breeding ground of the terrorists. He said that a lot of killings happen in the region but do not get publicized as much as the extrajudicial killings of activists.

Of course Trillanes also felt the need for a comprehensive national internal security framework under which anti-terror legislation would fall. “The country doesn’t have one right now,” he said. “But isn’t the Bantay Laya the implementation of the National Internal Security Plan,” I asked. He didn’t seem impressed with Bantay Laya and its authors.

The chat with Trillanes was interrupted by frequent photo op sessions with guests. In true Pinoy fashion, everyone lined up the wall for photo sessions with the new senator. Families, friends, guests, supporters, all had their picture taken with a very game and accommodating Trillanes. You can see from their wide smiles that the people were truly happy with the proclamation of the Magdalo leader.

As we prepared to leave, another detainee approached us and wished us luck in our undertakings. “Balik kayo ha.” he said with a smile.