It's hard to imagine Bing Crosby's classic ragtime song "Sweet Sue, Just You" wafting through a Nazi German concentration camp.
But at Auschwitz-Birkenau – the most infamous Holocaust prison – a mix of American jazz and ragtime classics, as well as somber hymns and marching songs, could often be heard within the camp walls.
This strange medley of melodies has long intrigued Melissa Kagen, a doctoral candidate in German Studies at Stanford. So last winter, Kagen began a research project to examine the camp's musical culture in the context of geographical space.
She wanted to know if where the music played in the camps – whether in the kitchen, near a gate or in cells – had different effects on the inhabitants.
Using survivor testimonies and camp administration records, she is developing digital maps of the "musical geography" of the prison.
By focusing on the spatial aspects of music, Kagen's research offers historical insight into how music can be used as a means for controlling and torturing prisoners in present-day detention facilities.
Because it was among the first prison camps to systematically employ music in such a way, Auschwitz provides a valuable case study that sets a precedent for facilities such as Guantánamo Bay where music has been used as a form of "no-touch" torture.
Measuring music's impact
Scholars have long known that music was a regular part of life in Nazi concentration camps. But the inherently transient nature of sound has made it difficult to measure its impact on the camp and its inhabitants.
"Music in the Holocaust is a relatively well-explored research topic," said Kagen, a student of modern German musicology and literature. "But because it does not leave a lasting historical footprint, it has not been considered spatially before."
Kagen uses an unconventional interpretation method to translate the source material into a visual form. Rather than dwelling on the significance of a specific song, she focuses on references about the locations where music was heard.
"Reading the first-hand accounts of prisoners, I noticed that one particular space – Block 24, near the camp entrance – kept coming up in relation to music," she said.
Music, as Kagen discovered, provided a proportionally small number of prison guards with the means to maintain control over large portions of the camp without any actual physical presence.
Read the full post HERE.
Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2013
Stanford researcher maps melodies used in Holocaust to control prisoners
Stanford Report, July 18, 2012
Stanford researcher maps melodies used in Holocaust to control prisoners
German Studies doctoral student Melissa Kagen examines where music was played in Nazi concentration camps, uncovering how music can function as a means for controlling and torturing prisoners in present-day detention facilities.
By Benjamin Hein
The Humanities at Stanford
It's hard to imagine Bing Crosby's classic ragtime song "Sweet Sue, Just You" wafting through a Nazi German concentration camp.
But at Auschwitz-Birkenau – the most infamous Holocaust prison – a mix of American jazz and ragtime classics, as well as somber hymns and marching songs, could often be heard within the camp walls.
This strange medley of melodies has long intrigued Melissa Kagen, a doctoral candidate in German Studies at Stanford. So last winter, Kagen began a research project to examine the camp's musical culture in the context of geographical space.
She wanted to know if where the music played in the camps – whether in the kitchen, near a gate or in cells – had different effects on the inhabitants.
Using survivor testimonies and camp administration records, she is developing digital maps of the "musical geography" of the prison.
By focusing on the spatial aspects of music, Kagen's research offers historical insight into how music can be used as a means for controlling and torturing prisoners in present-day detention facilities.
Because it was among the first prison camps to systematically employ music in such a way, Auschwitz provides a valuable case study that sets a precedent for facilities such as Guantánamo Bay where music has been used as a form of "no-touch" torture.
Measuring music's impact
Scholars have long known that music was a regular part of life in Nazi concentration camps. But the inherently transient nature of sound has made it difficult to measure its impact on the camp and its inhabitants.
"Music in the Holocaust is a relatively well-explored research topic," said Kagen, a student of modern German musicology and literature. "But because it does not leave a lasting historical footprint, it has not been considered spatially before."
Kagen uses an unconventional interpretation method to translate the source material into a visual form. Rather than dwelling on the significance of a specific song, she focuses on references about the locations where music was heard.
"Reading the first-hand accounts of prisoners, I noticed that one particular space – Block 24, near the camp entrance – kept coming up in relation to music," she said.
Music, as Kagen discovered, provided a proportionally small number of prison guards with the means to maintain control over large portions of the camp without any actual physical presence.
Read the full post HERE.
It's hard to imagine Bing Crosby's classic ragtime song "Sweet Sue, Just You" wafting through a Nazi German concentration camp.
But at Auschwitz-Birkenau – the most infamous Holocaust prison – a mix of American jazz and ragtime classics, as well as somber hymns and marching songs, could often be heard within the camp walls.
This strange medley of melodies has long intrigued Melissa Kagen, a doctoral candidate in German Studies at Stanford. So last winter, Kagen began a research project to examine the camp's musical culture in the context of geographical space.
She wanted to know if where the music played in the camps – whether in the kitchen, near a gate or in cells – had different effects on the inhabitants.
Using survivor testimonies and camp administration records, she is developing digital maps of the "musical geography" of the prison.
By focusing on the spatial aspects of music, Kagen's research offers historical insight into how music can be used as a means for controlling and torturing prisoners in present-day detention facilities.
Because it was among the first prison camps to systematically employ music in such a way, Auschwitz provides a valuable case study that sets a precedent for facilities such as Guantánamo Bay where music has been used as a form of "no-touch" torture.
Measuring music's impact
Scholars have long known that music was a regular part of life in Nazi concentration camps. But the inherently transient nature of sound has made it difficult to measure its impact on the camp and its inhabitants.
"Music in the Holocaust is a relatively well-explored research topic," said Kagen, a student of modern German musicology and literature. "But because it does not leave a lasting historical footprint, it has not been considered spatially before."
Kagen uses an unconventional interpretation method to translate the source material into a visual form. Rather than dwelling on the significance of a specific song, she focuses on references about the locations where music was heard.
"Reading the first-hand accounts of prisoners, I noticed that one particular space – Block 24, near the camp entrance – kept coming up in relation to music," she said.
Music, as Kagen discovered, provided a proportionally small number of prison guards with the means to maintain control over large portions of the camp without any actual physical presence.
Read the full post HERE.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
HuffPo: Music Stars Demand Records On Bush Administration's Use Of Music For Torture
HuffPo
Sam Stein
stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
Music Stars Demand Records On Bush Administration's Use Of Music For Torture
First Posted: 10-21-09 11:59 PM | Updated: 10-22-09 12:35 AM
A group of prominent musicians are joining a campaign to close Guantanamo Bay and demanding the release of records about what music was used during the potential torture of detainees there and at other facilities.
Some of the more famous names in the music industry are formally lending their prestige to an effort being led by retired generals, progressive groups and a former member of Congress to shut GITMO down. The list includes Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots, all of whom are joining the broader National Campaign to Close Guantanamo which was launched earlier in the week.
Hoping to cast further light on the potential illegalities that took place at the detention facility, the group is also working to obtain records about why and how music was used (under laws authorized by the Bush administration) to effectively torture suspected terrorists. The musicians have officially endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request for the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to music utilized during interrogations. At least two members of the coalition, Reznor and Morello, have had their music linked to interrogations.
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," said Morello, in a statement provided by the NCCG. "Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me -- we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."
The National Security Archives will be officially filing the FOIA request on behalf of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo (NCCG).
The FOIA request comes on the heels of a renewed effort on behalf of the NCCG and others to compel Congress to complete GITMO's closure. The group launched a national ad campaign earlier in the week, in which it argued that the continued operation of the detention facility was undermining America's reputation in the world community and Congress' standing as a legislative body.
.....
The FOIA, which is officially being distributed on Thursday, will be sent to the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, U.S. Army Special Forces Command, DOA Criminal Investigative Task Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Communications Commission, FBI, CIA, and the Department of Justice.
It requests "all documents, including but not limited to intelligence reports, briefings, transcripts, talking points, meeting minutes, memoranda, cables, audio/visual recordings and emails produced by the Central Intelligence Agency concerning the use of loud music as a technique to interrogate detainees at U.S.-operated prison facilities at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002-the present."
The use of jarring music during the interrogation of suspected terrorists has been reported in many works documenting the authorization of torture during the Bush administration. At least 20 declassified documents currently exist that reference the use of "loud" music to "create futility" in uncooperative detainees. Among the artists whose music is believed to have been used include Metallica, Britney Spears, the Drowning Pool, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees.
Not all of these bands and musicians signed on to the NCCG FOIA. But others, whose music was not reportedly used, did so out of philosophical objections.
"We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice," read a statement from REM, "to now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It's anti-American, period."
Added the hip-hop band The Roots: "When we found out that music was being used as part of the torture going on at Guantanamo, shackling and beating people -- we were angry. Just as we wouldn't be caught dead allowing Dick Cheney to use our music for his campaigns, you can be damn sure, we wouldn't allow him to use it to torture other human beings. Congress needs to shut Guantanamo down."
Sam Stein
stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
Music Stars Demand Records On Bush Administration's Use Of Music For Torture
First Posted: 10-21-09 11:59 PM | Updated: 10-22-09 12:35 AM
A group of prominent musicians are joining a campaign to close Guantanamo Bay and demanding the release of records about what music was used during the potential torture of detainees there and at other facilities.
Some of the more famous names in the music industry are formally lending their prestige to an effort being led by retired generals, progressive groups and a former member of Congress to shut GITMO down. The list includes Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots, all of whom are joining the broader National Campaign to Close Guantanamo which was launched earlier in the week.
Hoping to cast further light on the potential illegalities that took place at the detention facility, the group is also working to obtain records about why and how music was used (under laws authorized by the Bush administration) to effectively torture suspected terrorists. The musicians have officially endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request for the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to music utilized during interrogations. At least two members of the coalition, Reznor and Morello, have had their music linked to interrogations.
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," said Morello, in a statement provided by the NCCG. "Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me -- we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."
The National Security Archives will be officially filing the FOIA request on behalf of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo (NCCG).
The FOIA request comes on the heels of a renewed effort on behalf of the NCCG and others to compel Congress to complete GITMO's closure. The group launched a national ad campaign earlier in the week, in which it argued that the continued operation of the detention facility was undermining America's reputation in the world community and Congress' standing as a legislative body.
.....
The FOIA, which is officially being distributed on Thursday, will be sent to the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, U.S. Army Special Forces Command, DOA Criminal Investigative Task Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Communications Commission, FBI, CIA, and the Department of Justice.
It requests "all documents, including but not limited to intelligence reports, briefings, transcripts, talking points, meeting minutes, memoranda, cables, audio/visual recordings and emails produced by the Central Intelligence Agency concerning the use of loud music as a technique to interrogate detainees at U.S.-operated prison facilities at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002-the present."
The use of jarring music during the interrogation of suspected terrorists has been reported in many works documenting the authorization of torture during the Bush administration. At least 20 declassified documents currently exist that reference the use of "loud" music to "create futility" in uncooperative detainees. Among the artists whose music is believed to have been used include Metallica, Britney Spears, the Drowning Pool, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees.
Not all of these bands and musicians signed on to the NCCG FOIA. But others, whose music was not reportedly used, did so out of philosophical objections.
"We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice," read a statement from REM, "to now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It's anti-American, period."
Added the hip-hop band The Roots: "When we found out that music was being used as part of the torture going on at Guantanamo, shackling and beating people -- we were angry. Just as we wouldn't be caught dead allowing Dick Cheney to use our music for his campaigns, you can be damn sure, we wouldn't allow him to use it to torture other human beings. Congress needs to shut Guantanamo down."
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Musicians protest use of songs by US jailers
AP
Musicians protest use of songs by US jailers
By ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writer Andrew O. Selsky, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 9, 11:57 pm ET
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Blaring from a speaker behind a metal grate in his tiny cell in Iraq, the blistering rock from Nine Inch Nails hit Prisoner No. 200343 like a sonic bludgeon.
"Stains like the blood on your teeth," Trent Reznor snarled over distorted guitars. "Bite. Chew."
The auditory assault went on for days, then weeks, then months at the U.S. military detention center in Iraq. Twenty hours a day. AC/DC. Queen. Pantera. The prisoner, military contractor Donald Vance of Chicago, told The Associated Press he was soon suicidal.
The tactic has been common in the U.S. war on terror, with forces systematically using loud music on hundreds of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then the U.S. military commander in Iraq, authorized it on Sept. 14, 2003, "to create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock."
Now the detainees aren't the only ones complaining. Musicians are banding together to demand the U.S. military stop using their songs as weapons.
A campaign being launched Wednesday has brought together groups including Massive Attack and musicians such as Tom Morello, who played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave and is now on a solo tour. It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals, said Chloe Davies of the British law group Reprieve, which represents dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees and is organizing the campaign.
At least Vance, who says he was jailed for reporting illegal arms sales, was used to rock music. For many detainees who grew up in Afghanistan — where music was prohibited under Taliban rule — interrogations by U.S. forces marked their first exposure to the pounding rhythms, played at top volume.
The experience was overwhelming for many. Binyam Mohammed, now a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, said men held with him at the CIA's "Dark Prison" in Afghanistan wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, unable to endure more.
"There was loud music, (Eminem's) 'Slim Shady' and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over," he told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith. "The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night for the months before I left. Plenty lost their minds."
Rear Adm. David Thomas, the commander of Guantanamo's detention center, said the music treatment is not currently used at Guantanamo but added that he could not rule out its use in the future.
"I couldn't speculate and I wouldn't speculate but I can tell you it doesn't happen here at Guantanamo and it hasn't happened since I've been here," Thomas, who has been at Guantanamo for a half-year, told AP.
The spokeswoman for Guantanamo's detention center, Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, wouldn't give details of when and how music has been used at the prison.
FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay reported numerous instances in which music was blasted at detainees, saying they were "told such tactics were common there."
According to an FBI memo, one interrogator at Guantanamo Bay bragged he needed only four days to "break" someone by alternating 16 hours of music and lights with four hours of silence and darkness.
Ruhal Ahmed, a Briton who was captured in Afghanistan, describes excruciating sessions at Guantanamo Bay. He said his hands were shackled to his feet, which were shackled to the floor, forcing him into a painful squat for periods of up to two days.
"You're in agony," Ahmed, who was released without charge in 2004, told Reprieve. He said the agony was compounded when music was introduced, because "before you could actually concentrate on something else, try to make yourself focus on some other things in your life that you did before and take that pain away.
"It makes you feel like you are going mad," he said.
Not all of the music is hard rock. Christopher Cerf, who wrote music for "Sesame Street," said he was horrified to learn songs from the children's TV show were used in interrogations.
"I wouldn't want my music to be a party to that," he told AP.
Bob Singleton, whose song "I Love You" is beloved by legions of preschool Barney fans, wrote in a newspaper opinion column that any music can become unbearable if played loudly for long stretches.
"It's absolutely ludicrous," he wrote in the Los Angeles Times. "A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten the mental state of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?"
Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, has been especially forceful in denouncing the practice. During a recent concert in San Francisco, he proposed taking revenge on President George W. Bush.
"I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay, but they keep one small cell and they put Bush in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the Machine," he said to whoops and cheers.
Some musicians, however, say they're proud that their music is used in interrogations. Those include bassist Stevie Benton, whose group Drowning Pool has performed in Iraq and recorded one of the interrogators' favorites, "Bodies."
"People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can psychologically break someone down," he told Spin magazine. "I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that."
The band's record label told AP that Benton did not want to comment further. Instead, the band issued a statement reading: "Drowning Pool is committed to supporting the lives and rights of our troops stationed around the world."
Vance, in a telephone interview from Chicago, said the tactic can make innocent men go mad. According to a lawsuit he has filed, his jailers said he was being held because his employer was suspected of selling weapons to terrorists and insurgents. The U.S. military confirms Vance was jailed but won't elaborate because of the lawsuit.
He said he was locked in an overcooled 9-foot-by-9-foot cell that had a speaker with a metal grate over it. Two large speakers stood in the hallway outside. The music was almost constant, mostly hard rock, he said.
"There was a lot of Nine Inch Nails, including 'March of the Pigs,'" he said. "I couldn't tell you how many times I heard Queen's 'We Will Rock You.'"
He wore only a jumpsuit and flip-flops and had no protection from the cold.
"I had no blanket or sheet. If I had, I would probably have tried suicide," he said. "I got to a few points toward the end where I thought, `How can I do this?' Actively plotting, `How can I get away with it so they don't stop it?'"
Asked to describe the experience, Vance said: "It sort of removes you from you. You can no longer formulate your own thoughts when you're in an environment like that."
He was released after 97 days. Two years later, he says, "I keep my home very quiet."
___
On the Net:
Reprieve Zero dB campaign: http://zerodb.org/
FBI Guantanamo files: http://foia.fbi.gov/guantanamo/122106.htm
Musicians protest use of songs by US jailers
By ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writer Andrew O. Selsky, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 9, 11:57 pm ET
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Blaring from a speaker behind a metal grate in his tiny cell in Iraq, the blistering rock from Nine Inch Nails hit Prisoner No. 200343 like a sonic bludgeon.
"Stains like the blood on your teeth," Trent Reznor snarled over distorted guitars. "Bite. Chew."
The auditory assault went on for days, then weeks, then months at the U.S. military detention center in Iraq. Twenty hours a day. AC/DC. Queen. Pantera. The prisoner, military contractor Donald Vance of Chicago, told The Associated Press he was soon suicidal.
The tactic has been common in the U.S. war on terror, with forces systematically using loud music on hundreds of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then the U.S. military commander in Iraq, authorized it on Sept. 14, 2003, "to create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock."
Now the detainees aren't the only ones complaining. Musicians are banding together to demand the U.S. military stop using their songs as weapons.
A campaign being launched Wednesday has brought together groups including Massive Attack and musicians such as Tom Morello, who played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave and is now on a solo tour. It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals, said Chloe Davies of the British law group Reprieve, which represents dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees and is organizing the campaign.
At least Vance, who says he was jailed for reporting illegal arms sales, was used to rock music. For many detainees who grew up in Afghanistan — where music was prohibited under Taliban rule — interrogations by U.S. forces marked their first exposure to the pounding rhythms, played at top volume.
The experience was overwhelming for many. Binyam Mohammed, now a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, said men held with him at the CIA's "Dark Prison" in Afghanistan wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, unable to endure more.
"There was loud music, (Eminem's) 'Slim Shady' and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over," he told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith. "The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night for the months before I left. Plenty lost their minds."
Rear Adm. David Thomas, the commander of Guantanamo's detention center, said the music treatment is not currently used at Guantanamo but added that he could not rule out its use in the future.
"I couldn't speculate and I wouldn't speculate but I can tell you it doesn't happen here at Guantanamo and it hasn't happened since I've been here," Thomas, who has been at Guantanamo for a half-year, told AP.
The spokeswoman for Guantanamo's detention center, Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, wouldn't give details of when and how music has been used at the prison.
FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay reported numerous instances in which music was blasted at detainees, saying they were "told such tactics were common there."
According to an FBI memo, one interrogator at Guantanamo Bay bragged he needed only four days to "break" someone by alternating 16 hours of music and lights with four hours of silence and darkness.
Ruhal Ahmed, a Briton who was captured in Afghanistan, describes excruciating sessions at Guantanamo Bay. He said his hands were shackled to his feet, which were shackled to the floor, forcing him into a painful squat for periods of up to two days.
"You're in agony," Ahmed, who was released without charge in 2004, told Reprieve. He said the agony was compounded when music was introduced, because "before you could actually concentrate on something else, try to make yourself focus on some other things in your life that you did before and take that pain away.
"It makes you feel like you are going mad," he said.
Not all of the music is hard rock. Christopher Cerf, who wrote music for "Sesame Street," said he was horrified to learn songs from the children's TV show were used in interrogations.
"I wouldn't want my music to be a party to that," he told AP.
Bob Singleton, whose song "I Love You" is beloved by legions of preschool Barney fans, wrote in a newspaper opinion column that any music can become unbearable if played loudly for long stretches.
"It's absolutely ludicrous," he wrote in the Los Angeles Times. "A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten the mental state of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?"
Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, has been especially forceful in denouncing the practice. During a recent concert in San Francisco, he proposed taking revenge on President George W. Bush.
"I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay, but they keep one small cell and they put Bush in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the Machine," he said to whoops and cheers.
Some musicians, however, say they're proud that their music is used in interrogations. Those include bassist Stevie Benton, whose group Drowning Pool has performed in Iraq and recorded one of the interrogators' favorites, "Bodies."
"People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can psychologically break someone down," he told Spin magazine. "I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that."
The band's record label told AP that Benton did not want to comment further. Instead, the band issued a statement reading: "Drowning Pool is committed to supporting the lives and rights of our troops stationed around the world."
Vance, in a telephone interview from Chicago, said the tactic can make innocent men go mad. According to a lawsuit he has filed, his jailers said he was being held because his employer was suspected of selling weapons to terrorists and insurgents. The U.S. military confirms Vance was jailed but won't elaborate because of the lawsuit.
He said he was locked in an overcooled 9-foot-by-9-foot cell that had a speaker with a metal grate over it. Two large speakers stood in the hallway outside. The music was almost constant, mostly hard rock, he said.
"There was a lot of Nine Inch Nails, including 'March of the Pigs,'" he said. "I couldn't tell you how many times I heard Queen's 'We Will Rock You.'"
He wore only a jumpsuit and flip-flops and had no protection from the cold.
"I had no blanket or sheet. If I had, I would probably have tried suicide," he said. "I got to a few points toward the end where I thought, `How can I do this?' Actively plotting, `How can I get away with it so they don't stop it?'"
Asked to describe the experience, Vance said: "It sort of removes you from you. You can no longer formulate your own thoughts when you're in an environment like that."
He was released after 97 days. Two years later, he says, "I keep my home very quiet."
___
On the Net:
Reprieve Zero dB campaign: http://zerodb.org/
FBI Guantanamo files: http://foia.fbi.gov/guantanamo/122106.htm
Friday, May 18, 2007
Water Painting South America's "Disappeared"
Follow this link to a video of part of an art installation about South America's disappeared. The artist (Oscar Muñoz) paints a face of someone disappeared on stone using water, only to have this image, like the victim, disappear without a trace:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid626919000/bctid900554636
Oscar Muñoz, Proyecto para un monumento (Project for a Memorial), 2005. Video courtesy the artist and El Museo del Barrio, New York.
See more of this show on Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2166386?nav=tap3
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid626919000/bctid900554636
Oscar Muñoz, Proyecto para un monumento (Project for a Memorial), 2005. Video courtesy the artist and El Museo del Barrio, New York.
See more of this show on Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2166386?nav=tap3
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Music as Torture/Music as Weapon
Link to "Music as Torture/Music as Weapon" 2006 paper by Suzanne G. Cusick, posted in Revista Transcultural de Música - Transcultural Music Review [click on title]
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Ethnomusicologist Philip Bohlman on Conservative Radio
Conservative pundit and radio host Hugh Hewitt invites ethnomusicologist Philip Bohlman to discuss the SEM's statement against torture. Hewitt's blog consistently places in the Top 100 most popular blogs according to Technorati, and his syndicated radio show is heard on over 100 stations nationwide. Transcript:
The Hugh Hewitt Show
2-9-07 at 1:58 AM
Philip Bohlman, representing the guys and dear God don't call them gals at the Society for Ethnomusicology on the use of music as torture.
HH: Earlier, I mentioned that last Friday, the Society For Ethnomusicology issued the following statement. The Society For Ethnomusicology condemns the use of torture in any form. An international scholarly society founded in 1955, the Society For Ethnomusicology and its members are devoted to the research, study and performance of music in historical periods and cultural contexts. The SEM is committed to the ethical uses of music to further human understanding, and to uphold the highest standards of human rights. The society is equally committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. The U.S. government and its military and diplomatic agencies has used music as an instrument of abuse since 2001, particularly through the implementation of programs of torture in both covert and over detention centers as part of the War On Terror. The Society For Ethnomusicology calls for the full disclosure of U.S. government sanctioned and funded programs that design the means of delivering music as torture, condemns the use of music as an instrument of torture, and demands that the United States government and the agencies cease using music as an instrument of physical and psychological torture. I am joined now by Philip Bohlman. Professor Bohlman of the University of Chicago is the president of the Society of Ethnomusicologists. Professor, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show.
PB: It’s great…thank you very much for inviting me.
HH: Can you give us the background on how this statement developed within the Society of Ethnomusicologists?
PB: It begins, the statement began, actually, it came from our ethics committee. We have a standing committee devoted to ethical questions which concerns itself with the ethical questions of our field itself, the ways in which we conduct our own research with human subjects, but also engages actively in a political way with ethical issues outside of our field, but having to do with music, and in the public sphere.
HH: And how many members does the Society have?
PB: The Society has roughly 2,500 members.
HH: All right. Now the use of music has been known for some time. Why did it take five years for the Society to come up with a statement about it?
PB: Well, it has been known for some time, but of course, the systematic use of music as torture has not been known as well. One of the, if I may say sort of inspirational papers that set us to thinking about this is a book by Suzanne Cusick, which we actually have as a link in our position statement. And she’s brought together much of the information about the systematic use of torture, beginning in some ways, already after World War II. These are government funded program, research programs, developing means to actually to deliver torture in very systematic ways. The difference here is between the types of reports that one has of torture at Guantanamo Bay, in which radios are turned up very loud and piped into the cages in which the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are kept.
HH: Cages?
PB: The cells in which they are…these open cells that are used for the Guantanamo prisoners.
HH: And did the ethics committee entertain dissenting views? Did they seek out an explanation from the American government about how music had been used, or talked to any of the Psyops Veterans Association, who’ve discussed it extensively in the press?
PB: This information is in the public domain. One can find it, much of it, of course, because there are CIA programs, is covert, but there’s enough of it that’s overt. There were discussions in a number of different ways. I mean, the government of course doesn’t talk about this, and of course, their idea is that this is a sort of soft way of handling prisoners. They wouldn’t call it torture, a typical way of the government’s…
HH: But I’m getting more to the methodology as opposed to the debate first, before we get to that conversation. Did the Society’s committees, and then its plenary session that adopted it, did they entertain the contrary view?
PB: There were no dissenting voices from within the Society. It was unanimously accepted. There was no dissenting view. We passed this unanimously. The way this works is it begins with the ethics committee, they pass it on to the board of directors, we work on the language, we have a back and forth, and then we decide, then we make a decision on how to approve it, and as I said, it was unanimously approved.
HH: Well, that I understand, unanimous. But did the Society attempt to engage anyone familiar with interrogation techniques, and the necessity of interrogation to present an opposing view?
PB: They did not.
HH: Do you think that perhaps might have led to some gaps in the Society’s understanding of the need to interrogate prisoners?
PB: I think that’s not the question that this position statement addresses, and it certainly is not the question that it addresses. The question is simply to look at the material evidence about the use of music. We’re not taking a stand about a decision making process. We’re taking a stand about the tool itself.
HH: Do you believe in interrogation at all?
PB: I can speak for myself, but I cannot in this sense speak for the Society for Ethnomusicology. And I think I would prefer it if you asked the question in such a way that it doesn’t ask me…this is an entirely hypothetical question.
HH: No, I mean, do you think that when terrorists and suspected terrorists are captured, that they should be questioned about their plans and their allies?
PB: I think questioning is always a possibility in such situations. I think torture is never a possibility.
HH: And how do you define torture?
PB: I…torture is a means of delivering a question that causes bodily harm and emotional harm.
HH: Emotional…would emotional harm alone be torture in the view of your or the…I’m not sure when it’s the Society or you, so I’ll let you decide that.
PB: I can only speak for myself here.
HH: All right. So is emotional harm torture?
PB: Psychological and emotional harm is certainly torture. And it’s the attempt to define it as something other than torture that creates some of the greatest problems that we have in the interrogation system that the government uses.
HH: And can you describe for me that interrogation system as you understand it?
PB: Well, they’re the interrogation systems that will, for example, deprive people of sleep. And music is used commonly in this, of course, leaving an individual in a room in which music is played very loudly for many, many hours to deprive a person of sleep. This is a type of, this is a type of psychological torture, which would of course lead to physical torture as well.
HH: And do you think sleep deprivation is torture?
PB: I do.
HH: Do you think making prisoners stand for long periods of time is torture?
PB: I do.
HH: And extremes of hot and cold?
PB: I do.
HH: And extremes of darkness and light?
PB: Of course I do.
HH: And so did you folks, have you, Professor, talked to any interrogators about how they can do it the right way? Could any music be used?
PB: We would be happy to talk, I mean, if they, if this were an attempt to try to find ways of coming to human understanding. This is what we do in our field, we work with human understanding, not with the use of music or other forms of expression to harm people.
HH: Do you think that terrorists are hardened against interrogation techniques in their training?
PB: I…I…I don’t think this is a relevant question to what we’re talking about here.
HH: Well, but again, whether or it is, but I’m just trying to figure out whether or not you folks considered the necessity of getting information from people, and how it might be done before issuing the statement.
PB: We’re not…again, we’re not talking about interrogation. That’s the tack of questioning that you followed. We’re talking about the use of music as…to…as an implement of torture.
HH: But I haven’t yet heard what technique of interrogation you consider to be non-torturous. The ones that are commonly discussed on the web I’ve gone through, but do you have any to come forward with that you can suggest?
PB: It’s not my position to suggest. I think that for example, discussing with someone within the terms of cultural understanding, to understand that the…what in fact, for example, a person may be doing in his or her normal life that led to, for example, an arrest in Afghanistan because of bounty paid by the United States government…
HH: Wait, wait. You lost me, Professor. Back up. What was that about?
PB: The United States government paid bounties to Afghani citizens for those who would turn in people that they would…were terrorists. So in order to collect this money, many innocent people were turned in, simply because it was a means of collecting bounties, and those people are now imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.
HH: Where does that come from?
PB: Excuse me?
HH: Where did that information come from? I’m unfamiliar with that.
PB: Yeah, well, there was a report yesterday on NPR in the afternoon, an interview with a lawyer who works with Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and I believe that was yesterday or the day before.
HH: Professor Bohlman, can I keep you one more segment? I have to go to a break.
PB: Yes, sure.
- - - -
HH: (Macarthur Park music playing) Welcome back, America. It’s Hugh Hewitt with Professor Philip Bohlman, president of the Society For Ethnomusicologists. Professor, at the University of Chicago, I think I’m with you, Professor, on Richard Harris and Macarthur Park. Is that torturous?
PB: (pause) Excuse me?
HH: What do you think of that song?
PB: (longer pause) Well, I don’t completely understand what you’re asking me.
HH: Well, we’re trying to figure out which music…is it because the music is louder, or is it the particular music that you’re objecting to being played to the jihadists?
PB: First of all, I don’t think the question is one of jihadi. I don’t…I think using that term is very misleading, and I’m afraid that it’s not a line of questioning that I find productive at all.
HH: Well, why is it misleading to use jihadi?
PB: Well, what is your definition of that term?
HH: Someone engaged in global jihad, in an effort to use violence to advance the return of the caliphate.
PB: Well, I think that this is not what we’re talking about here.
HH: Well, would you agree Zarqawi is a jihadi? Zawahiri?
PB: I don’t know how you’re using the term, and I don’t want to be baited into this sort of …
HH: I don’t want to bait you. But I’m trying to get to the key question, which is let’s say we’ve got Osama and Zawahiri in a room. Can we play music to upset them?
PB: There is no point in doing it.
HH: But if the professional psyops interrogators think there is, could we?
PB: You’ve moved the conversation away from the discussion of this particular position statement, and I think that I…that it’s only appropriate...what I think about, the conversation here is not what I think might happen if Osama is in a room. This is not…this has nothing to do with the position statement that the Society For Ethnomusicology put up on its website.
HH: Well, actually, I think it’s a concrete hypothetical example, or we could use Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Are you familiar with him?
PB: This…the hypothetical, we’re not talking about hypotheticals.
HH: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in custody. He’s actually…are you familiar with him?
PB: I am, yes.
HH: Could we use the Barney song on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
PB: No.
HH: Could we use any music on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
PB: What would be the point?
HH: I don’t know. Richard Harris could destabilize a lot of people.
PB: (pause) That…your statement…that statement alone shows an understanding of interrogation that accepts a level of cruelty that I find personally reprehensible.
HH: Cruelty and destabilization are very different things, Professor.
PB: They…I don’t agree with you.
HH: Is it cruel to keep them imprisoned?
PB: It is cruel to keep anyone imprisoned without habeas corpus.
HH: So do you believe, actually, that we have enemies that want to kill us, you personally?
PB: That’s not the point of what the Ethnomusicology statement is about.
HH: I know, but now you’ve really opened my eyes, that you guys are quite significant ideologues opposed to serious engagement with the War On Terror. I’m just wondering how far your personal ideology takes you.
PB: If that’s what your eyes have been opening to, you did not read the statement carefully, and you do not understand what it is that…the context of it.
HH: Well, here’s one part of the statement, and you can explain to me. You are committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. Can you give me a couple of examples of the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live, excepting, of course, rap, which is too easy?
PB: The use of music at high volume to…to…directed at…into public streets in Iraq, for example, which is meant to drive people to…into their homes, and to disrupt their normal way of life.
HH: And do you have any example of an unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live which the United States did not perpetrate?
PB: (pause) There are uses of music in this way, that go through history. The use…much of the use of music at the beginning of a battle in which loud music is performed. We know this from the earliest historical accounts of battles.
HH: Like bagpipes to get the Scots a’rollin’?
PB: That’s not a very good example. I mean to say the use, the use of drums and loud double reed instruments at various points in various wars. The…the Scots, I think that’s an exaggeration.
HH: So any particulars, with specifics? You guys referred to in your statement, you guys and gals, to the unethical uses of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. We have the use in interrogation, we have the use in Iraq to drive people indoors. And we have a generalized thing. But is there, like, did you ever condemn any previous use of music not originating in the United States?
PB: First of all, I want to object to the use of the term ‘gals.’ I think this is an insulting term, and I hope that you don’t speak like this about women.
HH: I actually don’t think gals is, but I just want to go back to the question. Any specifics?
PB: I don’t agree…I mean, I don’t agree with your statement…I think this is a really insulting thing to say about women.
HH: Well, I know. You’re on the record. Duly noted, we’ll publish the transcript. My question is, though, do you have any specifics about the use of, the abuse of music to harm individuals in societies not perpetrated by the United States?
PB: Um…(pause) Do I have any specifics?
HH: Yes.
PB: Well, okay, I can tell you that in the writings of the 14th Century, a North African writer, Ibn Khaldun. There are sections in his introduction to…in a general history called Al-Muqaddima, in which he talks about this, yes.
HH: And did you…well, I guess there’s not much point in issuing a condemnation of that. But any other societies in the world today where music has been used? For example, the Soviets used to bind people up in tight cloths, and fill them full of psychotropic drugs, and Vladimir Bukovsky comes to mind, and so I can give you an example of torture by the use of psychotic drugs, and horrible things in Castro’s Cuba prisons. Are you familiar that Castro is a torturer extraordinaire, for example, Professor?
PB: I…I don’t know that I’m familiar with that term that you use. It’s not a term that I’m familiar with.
HH: Do you think that Castro is a vicious, dictatorial thug who tortures people?
PB: This has nothing to do…
HH: But it’s not a trick question.
PB: Would you please talk about our statement?
HH: I am. I could get…I’m running out of time. Will you come back tomorrow?
PB: I can’t come back tomorrow.
HH: Okay, just a last…I’ve got 30 seconds. Do you think Castro is a tyrant?
PB: You have only 30 seconds. Please let me say that you have moved the conversation away from the specific position statement. I invite your listeners to read the text. Our discussion that you have baited me into is the wrong discussion.
HH: Professor, I’m sorry, we’re out of time, but you have an open invitation to return to the Hugh Hewitt Show.
End of interview.
Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.
The Hugh Hewitt Show
2-9-07 at 1:58 AM
Philip Bohlman, representing the guys and dear God don't call them gals at the Society for Ethnomusicology on the use of music as torture.
HH: Earlier, I mentioned that last Friday, the Society For Ethnomusicology issued the following statement. The Society For Ethnomusicology condemns the use of torture in any form. An international scholarly society founded in 1955, the Society For Ethnomusicology and its members are devoted to the research, study and performance of music in historical periods and cultural contexts. The SEM is committed to the ethical uses of music to further human understanding, and to uphold the highest standards of human rights. The society is equally committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. The U.S. government and its military and diplomatic agencies has used music as an instrument of abuse since 2001, particularly through the implementation of programs of torture in both covert and over detention centers as part of the War On Terror. The Society For Ethnomusicology calls for the full disclosure of U.S. government sanctioned and funded programs that design the means of delivering music as torture, condemns the use of music as an instrument of torture, and demands that the United States government and the agencies cease using music as an instrument of physical and psychological torture. I am joined now by Philip Bohlman. Professor Bohlman of the University of Chicago is the president of the Society of Ethnomusicologists. Professor, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show.
PB: It’s great…thank you very much for inviting me.
HH: Can you give us the background on how this statement developed within the Society of Ethnomusicologists?
PB: It begins, the statement began, actually, it came from our ethics committee. We have a standing committee devoted to ethical questions which concerns itself with the ethical questions of our field itself, the ways in which we conduct our own research with human subjects, but also engages actively in a political way with ethical issues outside of our field, but having to do with music, and in the public sphere.
HH: And how many members does the Society have?
PB: The Society has roughly 2,500 members.
HH: All right. Now the use of music has been known for some time. Why did it take five years for the Society to come up with a statement about it?
PB: Well, it has been known for some time, but of course, the systematic use of music as torture has not been known as well. One of the, if I may say sort of inspirational papers that set us to thinking about this is a book by Suzanne Cusick, which we actually have as a link in our position statement. And she’s brought together much of the information about the systematic use of torture, beginning in some ways, already after World War II. These are government funded program, research programs, developing means to actually to deliver torture in very systematic ways. The difference here is between the types of reports that one has of torture at Guantanamo Bay, in which radios are turned up very loud and piped into the cages in which the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are kept.
HH: Cages?
PB: The cells in which they are…these open cells that are used for the Guantanamo prisoners.
HH: And did the ethics committee entertain dissenting views? Did they seek out an explanation from the American government about how music had been used, or talked to any of the Psyops Veterans Association, who’ve discussed it extensively in the press?
PB: This information is in the public domain. One can find it, much of it, of course, because there are CIA programs, is covert, but there’s enough of it that’s overt. There were discussions in a number of different ways. I mean, the government of course doesn’t talk about this, and of course, their idea is that this is a sort of soft way of handling prisoners. They wouldn’t call it torture, a typical way of the government’s…
HH: But I’m getting more to the methodology as opposed to the debate first, before we get to that conversation. Did the Society’s committees, and then its plenary session that adopted it, did they entertain the contrary view?
PB: There were no dissenting voices from within the Society. It was unanimously accepted. There was no dissenting view. We passed this unanimously. The way this works is it begins with the ethics committee, they pass it on to the board of directors, we work on the language, we have a back and forth, and then we decide, then we make a decision on how to approve it, and as I said, it was unanimously approved.
HH: Well, that I understand, unanimous. But did the Society attempt to engage anyone familiar with interrogation techniques, and the necessity of interrogation to present an opposing view?
PB: They did not.
HH: Do you think that perhaps might have led to some gaps in the Society’s understanding of the need to interrogate prisoners?
PB: I think that’s not the question that this position statement addresses, and it certainly is not the question that it addresses. The question is simply to look at the material evidence about the use of music. We’re not taking a stand about a decision making process. We’re taking a stand about the tool itself.
HH: Do you believe in interrogation at all?
PB: I can speak for myself, but I cannot in this sense speak for the Society for Ethnomusicology. And I think I would prefer it if you asked the question in such a way that it doesn’t ask me…this is an entirely hypothetical question.
HH: No, I mean, do you think that when terrorists and suspected terrorists are captured, that they should be questioned about their plans and their allies?
PB: I think questioning is always a possibility in such situations. I think torture is never a possibility.
HH: And how do you define torture?
PB: I…torture is a means of delivering a question that causes bodily harm and emotional harm.
HH: Emotional…would emotional harm alone be torture in the view of your or the…I’m not sure when it’s the Society or you, so I’ll let you decide that.
PB: I can only speak for myself here.
HH: All right. So is emotional harm torture?
PB: Psychological and emotional harm is certainly torture. And it’s the attempt to define it as something other than torture that creates some of the greatest problems that we have in the interrogation system that the government uses.
HH: And can you describe for me that interrogation system as you understand it?
PB: Well, they’re the interrogation systems that will, for example, deprive people of sleep. And music is used commonly in this, of course, leaving an individual in a room in which music is played very loudly for many, many hours to deprive a person of sleep. This is a type of, this is a type of psychological torture, which would of course lead to physical torture as well.
HH: And do you think sleep deprivation is torture?
PB: I do.
HH: Do you think making prisoners stand for long periods of time is torture?
PB: I do.
HH: And extremes of hot and cold?
PB: I do.
HH: And extremes of darkness and light?
PB: Of course I do.
HH: And so did you folks, have you, Professor, talked to any interrogators about how they can do it the right way? Could any music be used?
PB: We would be happy to talk, I mean, if they, if this were an attempt to try to find ways of coming to human understanding. This is what we do in our field, we work with human understanding, not with the use of music or other forms of expression to harm people.
HH: Do you think that terrorists are hardened against interrogation techniques in their training?
PB: I…I…I don’t think this is a relevant question to what we’re talking about here.
HH: Well, but again, whether or it is, but I’m just trying to figure out whether or not you folks considered the necessity of getting information from people, and how it might be done before issuing the statement.
PB: We’re not…again, we’re not talking about interrogation. That’s the tack of questioning that you followed. We’re talking about the use of music as…to…as an implement of torture.
HH: But I haven’t yet heard what technique of interrogation you consider to be non-torturous. The ones that are commonly discussed on the web I’ve gone through, but do you have any to come forward with that you can suggest?
PB: It’s not my position to suggest. I think that for example, discussing with someone within the terms of cultural understanding, to understand that the…what in fact, for example, a person may be doing in his or her normal life that led to, for example, an arrest in Afghanistan because of bounty paid by the United States government…
HH: Wait, wait. You lost me, Professor. Back up. What was that about?
PB: The United States government paid bounties to Afghani citizens for those who would turn in people that they would…were terrorists. So in order to collect this money, many innocent people were turned in, simply because it was a means of collecting bounties, and those people are now imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.
HH: Where does that come from?
PB: Excuse me?
HH: Where did that information come from? I’m unfamiliar with that.
PB: Yeah, well, there was a report yesterday on NPR in the afternoon, an interview with a lawyer who works with Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and I believe that was yesterday or the day before.
HH: Professor Bohlman, can I keep you one more segment? I have to go to a break.
PB: Yes, sure.
- - - -
HH: (Macarthur Park music playing) Welcome back, America. It’s Hugh Hewitt with Professor Philip Bohlman, president of the Society For Ethnomusicologists. Professor, at the University of Chicago, I think I’m with you, Professor, on Richard Harris and Macarthur Park. Is that torturous?
PB: (pause) Excuse me?
HH: What do you think of that song?
PB: (longer pause) Well, I don’t completely understand what you’re asking me.
HH: Well, we’re trying to figure out which music…is it because the music is louder, or is it the particular music that you’re objecting to being played to the jihadists?
PB: First of all, I don’t think the question is one of jihadi. I don’t…I think using that term is very misleading, and I’m afraid that it’s not a line of questioning that I find productive at all.
HH: Well, why is it misleading to use jihadi?
PB: Well, what is your definition of that term?
HH: Someone engaged in global jihad, in an effort to use violence to advance the return of the caliphate.
PB: Well, I think that this is not what we’re talking about here.
HH: Well, would you agree Zarqawi is a jihadi? Zawahiri?
PB: I don’t know how you’re using the term, and I don’t want to be baited into this sort of …
HH: I don’t want to bait you. But I’m trying to get to the key question, which is let’s say we’ve got Osama and Zawahiri in a room. Can we play music to upset them?
PB: There is no point in doing it.
HH: But if the professional psyops interrogators think there is, could we?
PB: You’ve moved the conversation away from the discussion of this particular position statement, and I think that I…that it’s only appropriate...what I think about, the conversation here is not what I think might happen if Osama is in a room. This is not…this has nothing to do with the position statement that the Society For Ethnomusicology put up on its website.
HH: Well, actually, I think it’s a concrete hypothetical example, or we could use Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Are you familiar with him?
PB: This…the hypothetical, we’re not talking about hypotheticals.
HH: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in custody. He’s actually…are you familiar with him?
PB: I am, yes.
HH: Could we use the Barney song on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
PB: No.
HH: Could we use any music on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
PB: What would be the point?
HH: I don’t know. Richard Harris could destabilize a lot of people.
PB: (pause) That…your statement…that statement alone shows an understanding of interrogation that accepts a level of cruelty that I find personally reprehensible.
HH: Cruelty and destabilization are very different things, Professor.
PB: They…I don’t agree with you.
HH: Is it cruel to keep them imprisoned?
PB: It is cruel to keep anyone imprisoned without habeas corpus.
HH: So do you believe, actually, that we have enemies that want to kill us, you personally?
PB: That’s not the point of what the Ethnomusicology statement is about.
HH: I know, but now you’ve really opened my eyes, that you guys are quite significant ideologues opposed to serious engagement with the War On Terror. I’m just wondering how far your personal ideology takes you.
PB: If that’s what your eyes have been opening to, you did not read the statement carefully, and you do not understand what it is that…the context of it.
HH: Well, here’s one part of the statement, and you can explain to me. You are committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. Can you give me a couple of examples of the unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live, excepting, of course, rap, which is too easy?
PB: The use of music at high volume to…to…directed at…into public streets in Iraq, for example, which is meant to drive people to…into their homes, and to disrupt their normal way of life.
HH: And do you have any example of an unethical use of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live which the United States did not perpetrate?
PB: (pause) There are uses of music in this way, that go through history. The use…much of the use of music at the beginning of a battle in which loud music is performed. We know this from the earliest historical accounts of battles.
HH: Like bagpipes to get the Scots a’rollin’?
PB: That’s not a very good example. I mean to say the use, the use of drums and loud double reed instruments at various points in various wars. The…the Scots, I think that’s an exaggeration.
HH: So any particulars, with specifics? You guys referred to in your statement, you guys and gals, to the unethical uses of music to harm individuals in the societies in which they live. We have the use in interrogation, we have the use in Iraq to drive people indoors. And we have a generalized thing. But is there, like, did you ever condemn any previous use of music not originating in the United States?
PB: First of all, I want to object to the use of the term ‘gals.’ I think this is an insulting term, and I hope that you don’t speak like this about women.
HH: I actually don’t think gals is, but I just want to go back to the question. Any specifics?
PB: I don’t agree…I mean, I don’t agree with your statement…I think this is a really insulting thing to say about women.
HH: Well, I know. You’re on the record. Duly noted, we’ll publish the transcript. My question is, though, do you have any specifics about the use of, the abuse of music to harm individuals in societies not perpetrated by the United States?
PB: Um…(pause) Do I have any specifics?
HH: Yes.
PB: Well, okay, I can tell you that in the writings of the 14th Century, a North African writer, Ibn Khaldun. There are sections in his introduction to…in a general history called Al-Muqaddima, in which he talks about this, yes.
HH: And did you…well, I guess there’s not much point in issuing a condemnation of that. But any other societies in the world today where music has been used? For example, the Soviets used to bind people up in tight cloths, and fill them full of psychotropic drugs, and Vladimir Bukovsky comes to mind, and so I can give you an example of torture by the use of psychotic drugs, and horrible things in Castro’s Cuba prisons. Are you familiar that Castro is a torturer extraordinaire, for example, Professor?
PB: I…I don’t know that I’m familiar with that term that you use. It’s not a term that I’m familiar with.
HH: Do you think that Castro is a vicious, dictatorial thug who tortures people?
PB: This has nothing to do…
HH: But it’s not a trick question.
PB: Would you please talk about our statement?
HH: I am. I could get…I’m running out of time. Will you come back tomorrow?
PB: I can’t come back tomorrow.
HH: Okay, just a last…I’ve got 30 seconds. Do you think Castro is a tyrant?
PB: You have only 30 seconds. Please let me say that you have moved the conversation away from the specific position statement. I invite your listeners to read the text. Our discussion that you have baited me into is the wrong discussion.
HH: Professor, I’m sorry, we’re out of time, but you have an open invitation to return to the Hugh Hewitt Show.
End of interview.
Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Society for Ethnomusicology states position on Music Used as Torture
Society for Ethnomusicology
Position Statement on Torture (February 2, 2007)
home > about us > position statements
On behalf of the Society for Ethnomusicology the SEM Board of Directors approves the Position Statement against the Use of Music as Torture, which originated in the SEM Ethics Committee and has the unanimous support of the Board of Directors.
The Society for Ethnomusicology condemns the use of torture in any form. An international scholarly society founded in 1955, the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and its members are devoted to the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts. The SEM is committed to the ethical uses of music to further human understanding and to uphold the highest standards of human rights. The Society is equally committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical uses of music to harm individuals and the societies in which they live. The U.S. government and its military and diplomatic agencies has used music as an instrument of abuse since 2001, particularly through the implementation of programs of torture in both covert and overt detention centers as part of the war on terror.
The Society for Ethnomusicology
* calls for full disclosure of U.S. government-sanctioned and funded programs that design the means of delivering music as torture;
* condemns the use of music as an instrument of torture; and
* demands that the United States government and its agencies cease using music as an instrument of physical and psychological torture.
Suggested link
For further information on the American history and praxis of using music as an instrument of torture, the Society for Ethnomusicology recommends the following article:
Suzanne Cusick, “Music as Torture, Music as Weapon,” Revista Transcultural de Música/Transcultural Music Review 10 (2006).
Position Statement on Torture (February 2, 2007)
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On behalf of the Society for Ethnomusicology the SEM Board of Directors approves the Position Statement against the Use of Music as Torture, which originated in the SEM Ethics Committee and has the unanimous support of the Board of Directors.
The Society for Ethnomusicology condemns the use of torture in any form. An international scholarly society founded in 1955, the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and its members are devoted to the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts. The SEM is committed to the ethical uses of music to further human understanding and to uphold the highest standards of human rights. The Society is equally committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical uses of music to harm individuals and the societies in which they live. The U.S. government and its military and diplomatic agencies has used music as an instrument of abuse since 2001, particularly through the implementation of programs of torture in both covert and overt detention centers as part of the war on terror.
The Society for Ethnomusicology
* calls for full disclosure of U.S. government-sanctioned and funded programs that design the means of delivering music as torture;
* condemns the use of music as an instrument of torture; and
* demands that the United States government and its agencies cease using music as an instrument of physical and psychological torture.
Suggested link
For further information on the American history and praxis of using music as an instrument of torture, the Society for Ethnomusicology recommends the following article:
Suzanne Cusick, “Music as Torture, Music as Weapon,” Revista Transcultural de Música/Transcultural Music Review 10 (2006).
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