By Tim Saunders on
British band Massive Attack, comedian Bill Bailey, and Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine are calling for an end to the use of music as a form of torture at Guantánamo Bay and other facilities where suspects of the “war on terror” are being held.
Reprieve, a legal action charity founded by Clive Stafford Smith in 1999, is encouraging musicians to stand up and make powerful statements against the use of their music to torture and adopt clauses in their contracts to prevent this from happening. They believe music from some of today’s most popular artists is being blasted at prisoners for long periods of time, and that this combined with stress positions, water-boarding, sleep deprivation and beatings is intended to break prisoners psychologically.
“The fact that our music has been co-opted in this barbaric way is really disgusting,” Tom Morello told Spin Magazine. “If you’re at all familiar with ideological teachings of the band and its support for human rights, that’s really hard to stand.”
Reprieve uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Their aim is to investigate, litigate and educate, and they work hard to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves, promote the rule of law around the world, and secure each person’s right to a fair trial.
The charity is currently representing 33 prisoners in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay and conducting ongoing investigations into the rendition and the secret detention of ghost prisoners in the war on terror.
Reprieve is also working on projections and backdrops focusing on renditions and secret prisons, which will be used on Massive Attack’s forthcoming world tour.
Anybody interested in learning more about the organization’s “Stop Music Torture” initiative, or would like to offer their support, contact them at alexgrace@reprieve.org.uk.
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
