Music Torture

In Guantanamo Bay and secret US prisons, music is used as a form of psychological torture on the prisoners within. Songs ranging from Metallica's Enter Sandman to the theme song to Barney are played at deafening levels, all day every day. This practice is perceived as a lighter form of torture, and therefore okay to use. The damage on the mind is much more severe, as one prisoner describes the feeling of losing his sanity as monumentally more horrific than any physical torture he had experienced. Compare this practice to the events in Death and the Maiden, in which Roberto put Paulina under similar psychological torture while he raped her.

zero dB is an initiative set up by Reprieve to educate people about music torture and stop this practice. You can learn and read more about this issue on zero dB's website.

Historical Pinochet "torture ship" turned into travesty

A historical case of a priest being tortured on a torture ship in 1973 has returned to a judge and has been turned into a travesty after most of the charges that were given to the people that were responsible for Michael Woodward's death were dropped. Nobody as been paying for his death or his human rights that were taken away from him. Now that the charges have been dropped, what's left of the ten officers that allowed the priest to be murdered are now being tried with abduction instead of crimes against humanity. I think this is very interesting because it shows that certain governments and people placed with in the governments aren't so quickly to give up on cases of neglect of human rights. To learn more about the "Esmerelda" click on this nifty little link right about here.

Death and the Maiden Question?

In Death and the Maiden, Paulina Salas is former political prisoner in Latin America. She had been raped many times by her captors. My problem is that I don't understand why she got captured in the first place. Why is Paulina called a political prisoner when she basically just recalls walking down the street and getting captured for no apparent reason. Death and the Maiden strikes me as very confusing because of all the twists and turns throughout it. To Learn More Click Here

Schubert's "Death and the Maiden"

Here's the first few minutes of the string quartet that plays the title role in Dorfman's "Death and the Maiden." What do people think the piece has to do with the play?

Internet Censorship or the Prevention of Piracy?

A bill mirroring China's system of censorship may be passed in America as an attempt to protect intellectual property. There are two different acts going through the government now that have people seriously worried - The Protect IP Act, which was introduced in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is going through the House of Representatives. The bills are not an attempt to censor politics or religion, but to protect "intellectual property," which is why this movement has garnered the support of groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and The American Federation of Musicians. The intent of the notion is not to create web censorship, but the effect may be just that. Also, the bill makes web site operators liable for their user's actions, drastically effecting websites like YouTube and Tumblr. But, overall, it is seemingly trying to prevent the "infringement of creative works" on the internet, and defend people like musicians whose rights in regard to their work is not always respected by internet users.

This is a great example of human rights in America. Essentially, the bill aims to prevent Piracy, but that will lead to inevitable internet censorship. In this case, the preservation of the rights of movie makers and musicians may hurt the rights of people using websites like Facebook and Youtube. People against these acts are advocating the importance of free speech, that this act is a blatant act of censorship and should not pass. Further, the bill invites a lot more legal issues into the mix. Is this advocating human rights or limiting them? And is this bill something you would expect from modern America? Is it reasonable?

Negitive NGO's?

We've been focusing a lot on the positives of NGO's in class and in the blog, and I came across this article from Nigeria, about how a few NGO's are taking a stand against same-sex marriage and homosexuality. The heads of both organizations agree that same sex marriage is not suitable for Nigeria, and celebrate a proposed bill that will ban same sex marriage, and sentence same sex couples living with one another up to three years in prison. One head of one of the organization even said that even though her NGO supported gender equality, that same-sex marriage was extremely detrimental to Nigeria. We've talked about humans universal rights, but what happens when an NGO does not agree with those rights? or has a different stance? Do you think that these organizations no longer meet the definition of an NGO because they are denying same sex couples their right to a family and to marry? Or do you think that although these NGO's ignore and even abuse the rights of same-sex couples, they promote and protect the rights of straight couples?

Human Rights Campaign

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest civil rights organization in America dedicated to the equal treatment of members of the LGBT community. Founded 31 years ago, their efforts have helped bring about support and awareness of gay rights by endorsing candidates and policies that support them. Some staff members of the HRC work as advisers for the policy-makers of the group. HRC also has a strong group of corporate partners that include: Microsoft, Google, Bank of America, and American Airlines, among others. There are plenty of resources available for those who are a part of the LGBT group, including help on issues such as coming out and dealing with hate crimes. The HRC website features tools for looking up current policies dealing with the gay community at the state and federal levels.