1/10 The recently released @HBO documentary “The Forever Prisoner” ignores the ongoing brutal harms against Abu Zubaydah, the focus of the documentary, and all victims of the “War on Terror.”
2/10 The shortcomings of filmmaker Alex Gibney’s documentary remind us that justice delayed is justice denied and acknowledging harm should be a goal worth pursuing in and of itself.
3/10 Ultimately, Gibney’s film falls short of this goal.
4/10 "Nothing in 'The Forever Prisoner' feels urgent enough to pose a real challenge to the viewer's existing moral compass"
5/10 "Zubaydah himself is absent from the film...and little new information is provided about the case."
6/10 "After his capture, Zubaydah was flown to a series of CIA 'black sites' around the world and subjected to a systemic program of brutal torture"
7/10 "The film contributes to the bizarre construction of the FBI as the moral force in the war on terror, but this is far from the only pitfall"
9/10 "After everything we have seen about Abu Zubaydah's torture, however, equal justice under the law hardly seems to be an appropriate starting point for analysis"
10/10 "The shortcomings of the documentary 'The Forever Prisoner' stand as a reminder that justice delayed is justice denied."
Today on #HumanRightsDay, I'm thinking of former #Guantanamo prisoner Nizar Sassi who said, "if you want a definition of this place, you don't have the right to have rights." (Find the rest of my thoughts in the thread below.)
I'm also thinking about how, despite commemorating a day meant to celebrate universal human rights, that many in the global majority are denied these rights, with some outright expelled from the global community on the basis of being undeserving.
I'm thinking about the Palestinian people, the Sudanese people, and everywhere else across the globe where people are rising up against state violence and repression. I'm thinking of those who take their rights whether or note the state decides to bestow rights upon them.
Today on #HumanRightsDay, I'm thinking of former #Guantanamo prisoner Nizar Sassi who said, "if you want a definition of this place, you don't have the right to have rights." (Find the rest of my thoughts in the thread below.)
I'm also thinking about how, despite commemorating a day meant to celebrate universal human rights, that many in the global majority are denied these rights, with some outright expelled from the global community on the basis of being undeserving.
I'm thinking about the Palestinian people, the Sudanese people, and everywhere else across the globe where people are rising up against state violence and repression. I'm thinking of those who take their rights whether or note the state decides to bestow rights upon them.
I recently learned from @fatemaaaahmad that @Middlebury is developing a CVE game. This is disappointing, but not surprising. A decade ago, I got a scholarship to study #Arabic at Middlebury's summer institute and my experience there was pretty disturbing
National security was an undertone of the program. My class included a student from the #ARMY, the #CIA, and a #Zionist. Instead of studying #Arabic in peace, I felt like I constantly had to do better because I knew that Arabic was going to used to hurt members of my community
At one point during the summer, the CIA came to do a presentation on careers with them since Arabic language skills would be a valuable asset. I didn't attend the presentation because I couldn't handle it, but my friend who passed by the room said it was overflowing with students