Mos Def undergoes force-feeding for Guantanamo

[derspiess]

I think several people in this thread have admirably addressed that question - it's an appeal to our common humanity and our distaste for suffering; it's a severe step which causes people to wonder what could be happening which is so bad that it requires a hunger strike as a last ditch effort to try and resolve it; it forces us, through its severity and nonviolence, to examine whether or not this enterprise being carried out in the name of justice is in fact just.

I'm trying to catch up with this thread, but all I'm getting is that people have sorta forgotten about the concept of nonviolent civil disobedience.  Figured that was covered in junior high Civics or something, I dunno.

[CountDeMoney]

So derspiess isn't naming his next kid Mohandas King Gandhi, Jr.  No shit.

[derspiess]

I was thinking a good Swahili name for the next one.

[CountDeMoney]

Pfft, go truly and uniquely Americana, man.  Derkiddie X.

[frunk]

I am not sure what you inquiry has to do with what is being discussed here.  Which is the apparant lack of understanding by Max and Spicey as to why they are going on a hunger strike - despite Max's protestations to the contrary.

That's not it at all.  We know why they do it-- because it works.  The question is, why does it work?

It works at...what?  There have been hunger strikes at Guatanamo before and they haven't really done much.  It isn't like it's a sure fire way to get their freedom or better conditions or anything.  They need more than just sympathy to get out of there, and I think that's about the extent of what they are getting with the hunger strike.

[garbon]

I think several people in this thread have admirably addressed that question - it's an appeal to our common humanity and our distaste for suffering; it's a severe step which causes people to wonder what could be happening which is so bad that it requires a hunger strike as a last ditch effort to try and resolve it; it forces us, through its severity and nonviolence, to examine whether or not this enterprise being carried out in the name of justice is in fact just.

I'm trying to catch up with this thread, but all I'm getting is that people have sorta forgotten about the concept of nonviolent civil disobedience.  Figured that was covered in junior high Civics or something, I dunno.

Sometimes I feel like half this country has Asperger's.

That's now just part of the spectrum.

[fhdz]

Pfft, go truly and uniquely Americana, man.  Derkiddie X.

Charles John Brown Wysocki DerSpeiss, Esq.

[derspiess]

It works at...what?  There have been hunger strikes at Guatanamo before and they haven't really done much.  It isn't like it's a sure fire way to get their freedom or better conditions or anything.  They need more than just sympathy to get out of there, and I think that's about the extent of what they are getting with the hunger strike.

I meant it works in general. 

[garbon]

Speaking of hunger strikes:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/09/19383812-almost-30000-california-inmates-in-second-day-of-hunger-strike?lite

Almost 30,000 California prisoners were in the second day of a hunger strike Tuesday protesting prison conditions and indefinite solitary confinement, far more than took part in a similar strike two years ago, state officials said.

Relatives of some of the inmates, who comprise almost a quarter of the state's 120,000 prisoners, said in a video posted on a website supporting the strike that they are out of options to end indefinite solitary confinement for inmates with ties to prison gangs, which they call state-sanctioned torture.

"The last time I was able to touch my brother was 1982," Marie Levin, who says her brother has been in solitary confinement for 29 years, says in the video, which was posted by Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, a coalition of prisoners rights activist groups:

"There's a core group of us who are committed to taking this all the way to the death, if necessary," Todd Ashker, an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, says in the video. "None of us want to do this, but we feel like we have no other option."

So far, there have been no reports of violence.

The protests began in 2011 at maximum-security Pelican Bay and have resumed intermittently during contentious periods of negotiation with prison system officials. The latest strike — which would be the largest in state history — began Monday morning.

The coalition said it was organizing a protest at César Chavez Park in Corcoran, south of Fresno, on Saturday. Representatives of one of the groups, Critical Resistance, met Tuesday with attorneys at Pelican Bay.

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it doesn't recognize hunger strikes until inmates have missed nine straight meals. Through Tuesday afternoon, the strikers had skipped five.

"There are numerous constructive positive ways to bring their concerns forth," Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the department, told NBC station KIEM of Eureka.

"But engaging in a mass hunger strike — coercing other inmates maybe to do that, too — you know, the disruption it can cause from a work stoppage, the department does not condone that."

[DGuller]

I can see both sides of the argument.  Obviously permanent solitary confinement is an utterly inhumane level of punishment.  On the other hand, gangs are a real threat to law and order in prisons, and letting them operate freely will just impose inhumane level of punishment on the prisoners targeted by the gangs for whatever reason.