My heart was breaking this morning reading the report on Omar Khadr's decision to fire his lawyers in protest over the horrors he is being subject to in what he considers to be a rigged trial. "He is a young man who has lost all faith in the process," said Dennis Edney, one of his Canadian lawyers. And no wonder. Tortured as a teenager, imprisoned without conviction for years, the sole remaining prisoner in the disgraced Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and still there even after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that his rights were violated. And now the ultimate indignity of being faced by his torturers, one of whom boasted to the court "that he terrified teenage prisoners by telling them they would be gang-raped to death by 'four big black guys' unless they confessed."
Omar Khadr is using the only power he has to resist, the power of refusal. After the nightmarish testimony of his abusers, he refused to attend the trial any further and now he has fired his lawyers not so much to delay the process as to shine a light on the injustices being heaped upon him. His action reminds me of the heroine of the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo who is massively and brutally abused by every level of the system only to emerge so strong and skillful she is practically a super hero.
I am hopeful that Omar Khadr will emerge from this nightmare as a strong and powerful figure along the lines of Nelson Mandela. On Saturday, I will MC a rally for civil liberties in Canada in face of the police state established to protect the G20 rulers. There is no single Canadian whose civil liberties have been more violated than Omar Khadr. Let's add his name to the demands of the mobilizations around the G20. In any case I will give a shout out for him on Saturday, for his suffering and for his courage and dignity in face of the most unimaginable abuse and horror.
Well, know what? There are many many kinds of "torture". Omar's is abominable of course! However, many people who live in utter degradation and suffer torture every day because they are victims of the 'system'. People who have had their own children murdered for instance and become victims of the judicial system, social services and all the hoops they must jump through simply to try to survive their traumas. Further, the indignities and slow torture of the poor each and every day in this 'wonderful democratic country' - they often get left behind while many fight for those in other countries. I have felt so much heartbreak witnessing The Process of so many individuals whose very lives are at stake because they are doing their best to simply survive each day, many have become ill because they do not have proper nutritious food to eat and as wonderful as some agencies can be in providing food services, some of the food does not keep these people healthy nor do their doctors who further victimize them by administering drugs that render them more helpless and sicker. These people live just 'round the corner of most of us! Many are literally dying and fight each day to survive as best as they can and they feel very, very angry and betrayed because so few, if any, TRULY want to help them. They feel completely uncared for in this country and discarded. I have met such people and it breaks my heart to see them FALL!
I have seen people fall by the wayside who were so much in earnest and despite their abominable traumas, they continue to give it (life) their best shot. Many days of days spent crying alone in their apartments or rooms in every city and town in this country. It would mean so much to them to have only ONE SINGLE PERSON who showed some caring. I, at times, cannot believe my eyes when I see that live completely unattended to and ignored by those who know well their horrid situation. I am constantly shocked that those who can afford to assist these people DO NOT DO SO.
Obama's Gitmo: Torturing the Rule of Law
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2010/aug/01/00018/
"President Obama may lack the nerve to stare down Liz Cheney or Bibi Netanyahu, but no one can deny that our commander in chief has the guts to take on a child soldier..."
Canada should be deeply ashamed of its complicity.