John Bowden and Guantanamo Bay
Danny | 10.07.2007 13:31 | Repression
I just received a lovely letter from John Bowden. He has been told in writing why he isn't allowed to hear the CD I made for him. An assistant governor at Glenochil listened to it and deemed it contained sectarian songs. When asked for an example she said it was the Seize the Day song "Club X-Ray". She wrote this clearly criticised Guantanamo Bay and such criticisms would offend prison staff.
So the Scottish Prison Service have banned any criticism of Guantanamo Bay, a camp that is condemned worldwide, in case officers are offended. I take it prison officers at Glenochil have a great deal of respect and love for their collegues at Guantanamo.
This is a minor point but it does illustrate several things - the political nature of the prison regime and of Johns detention, the mendacity of the SPS who have given four different reasons for seizing the CD, and the petty-minded harassment that goes on in our prisons. It is also quite short-sighted of the SPS as it is slanderous/libellous of one of Britains best up-and-coming bands and a breach of their copyright. If they had just given him the CD like they initially promised then it would have been forgotten about. It also misrepresents this "happy little song" about a "happy little place".
I'm going to print and post these lyrics to John to see if they get through to him:
Guantanamo Bay / Club X-Ray - Seize the Day
I think most people know about Guantanamo Bay or they've heard a lot about it and it's been bad press mainly, and we think it's been misrepresented. People are saying that innocent invividuals have been walking along the streets in Pakistan and places, they've been picked up by the FBI-CIA and bundled off, find themselves kept in cages in Guantanamo Bay with no right of appeal and possibly facing execution. We say that's all nonsense. It's actually Club X-Ray and they are having a great time there and learning this dance, it's called the Shackle-Shuffle. These two people are going to demonstrate on the stage, like all the people at Guantanamo Bay a very willing volunteer here. You're going to have to imagine that they are wearing orange boilersuits cos that's de riguer at Club X-Ray, and you may worry that she's a child, but you know some of the people at Guantanamo Bay are under 16 years old, that doesn't matter. It's a happy little song. It's a happy little place.
If you're a Sheikh who is a mover
or fundamentally a groover
Get with the brothers on maneuver
Comin at you all the way from Cuba
- Not the Cuba of Havanas
Where the Presidente is bananas
But the Cuba that is free, lookin over the sea
to the Florida Key ( to democracy )
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Wear a chain on your wrist, do the Islamacist
Bossa Nova with a twist, and it goes like this:
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
No time for sleeping at Club X-Ray
No time for chilling-out the next day
Although we wouldn't call it torture
We're gonna sweat you now we've caught ya.
At first you feel humiliated
Cos every move is regulated
But as the beat interrogates you
Join the club that liberates!
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
It isn't really so important
whether you came dressed as a combatant
Or just a towel-headed farmer
who had a cousin called Osama
We're not conventional believers
No busy-bodies from Geneva
If you're a friend of Tora Bora
There's no restriction on the door
All you'll need to get in is the beard on your chin,
An indefinite stay and you don't have to pay
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
At this exclusive little venue
Halal is always on the menu
Free Toiletries, and what is more an
Edition of Gideon's Koran
O heck - did I forget to mention
We're busy building an extension
Where every wish will be respected
As you are lethally injected!
We'd a pipeline to lay, but you got in the way,
So we sacrificed you to the needs of the few
In the heat of High Noon you will dance to our tune
An example to all to obey Unocal,
See the prisoners kneel, with no right of appeal,
In the land that is free - free to take liberty -
Till the sea starts to boil, till we run out of oil
In Guantanamo Bay… Hey - Hey!
At the Club X-Ray! (Shackle-Shuffle to the right) Cha-cha-cha.
This is a minor point but it does illustrate several things - the political nature of the prison regime and of Johns detention, the mendacity of the SPS who have given four different reasons for seizing the CD, and the petty-minded harassment that goes on in our prisons. It is also quite short-sighted of the SPS as it is slanderous/libellous of one of Britains best up-and-coming bands and a breach of their copyright. If they had just given him the CD like they initially promised then it would have been forgotten about. It also misrepresents this "happy little song" about a "happy little place".
I'm going to print and post these lyrics to John to see if they get through to him:
Guantanamo Bay / Club X-Ray - Seize the Day
I think most people know about Guantanamo Bay or they've heard a lot about it and it's been bad press mainly, and we think it's been misrepresented. People are saying that innocent invividuals have been walking along the streets in Pakistan and places, they've been picked up by the FBI-CIA and bundled off, find themselves kept in cages in Guantanamo Bay with no right of appeal and possibly facing execution. We say that's all nonsense. It's actually Club X-Ray and they are having a great time there and learning this dance, it's called the Shackle-Shuffle. These two people are going to demonstrate on the stage, like all the people at Guantanamo Bay a very willing volunteer here. You're going to have to imagine that they are wearing orange boilersuits cos that's de riguer at Club X-Ray, and you may worry that she's a child, but you know some of the people at Guantanamo Bay are under 16 years old, that doesn't matter. It's a happy little song. It's a happy little place.
If you're a Sheikh who is a mover
or fundamentally a groover
Get with the brothers on maneuver
Comin at you all the way from Cuba
- Not the Cuba of Havanas
Where the Presidente is bananas
But the Cuba that is free, lookin over the sea
to the Florida Key ( to democracy )
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Wear a chain on your wrist, do the Islamacist
Bossa Nova with a twist, and it goes like this:
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
No time for sleeping at Club X-Ray
No time for chilling-out the next day
Although we wouldn't call it torture
We're gonna sweat you now we've caught ya.
At first you feel humiliated
Cos every move is regulated
But as the beat interrogates you
Join the club that liberates!
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
It isn't really so important
whether you came dressed as a combatant
Or just a towel-headed farmer
who had a cousin called Osama
We're not conventional believers
No busy-bodies from Geneva
If you're a friend of Tora Bora
There's no restriction on the door
All you'll need to get in is the beard on your chin,
An indefinite stay and you don't have to pay
At Guantanamo Bay, it's the U.S. of A.,
Shackle-Shuffle every day at the Club X-Ray
Put your hands on your head (Reach!)
And Shackle-Shuffle to the left (Move!)
You do the monkey-squat and then (Squat!)
You Shackle-Shuffle back again
Bow in prayer to the East (Pray!)
Down on your belly like a beast (Beast!)
You're never gonna be released (Peace!)
Till the day you're deceased
At this exclusive little venue
Halal is always on the menu
Free Toiletries, and what is more an
Edition of Gideon's Koran
O heck - did I forget to mention
We're busy building an extension
Where every wish will be respected
As you are lethally injected!
We'd a pipeline to lay, but you got in the way,
So we sacrificed you to the needs of the few
In the heat of High Noon you will dance to our tune
An example to all to obey Unocal,
See the prisoners kneel, with no right of appeal,
In the land that is free - free to take liberty -
Till the sea starts to boil, till we run out of oil
In Guantanamo Bay… Hey - Hey!
At the Club X-Ray! (Shackle-Shuffle to the right) Cha-cha-cha.
Danny
Homepage:
http://www.seizetheday.org/albums/theTideIsTurning/guantanamoBay.cfm
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
Prison not registered with DP act
11.07.2007 12:25
A search on the information commisioners website shows that HMP Glenochil, FK10 3AD, isn't registered with the Data Protection act. This means either they have no records on their prisoners and their staff, and no CCTV, or the prison staff themselves could be given prison services according to the Ministry of Justice.
[1]
Danny
Prisons and Data Protection
11.07.2007 13:36
Under these provisions, prisoners can make requests to see all info held on them. Stuff is frequently withheld on spurious security grounds and there is endless red tape. However a procedure does exist and the SPS will have to have somethig similar. The individual prisons do, I think, appoint 'data controllers', but the requests for disclosure are done centrally and not via the individual prison.
N
Protect My Datah !
11.07.2007 16:27
On a personal note, my dole was stopped 45 days ago because I failed to sign-on. I tried, and their CCTV witnessed it, but I wasn't able to make a Freedom of Information request before they wiped their tapes because the dole-office isn't DP compliant. It is a loophole to hang them with, a double-edged sword of their own making. I'm going to the dole tommorow, I'll be on CCTV, I'll request a copy of the tape, and then I'll phone the cops since when they can't deliver.
To paraphrase Cartman, it is not so much 'Respect my Authoritah' as 'Protect My Datah'.
Danny
Homepage:
http://www.esd.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/esd/search.asp
Public bodies
12.07.2007 09:30
N
petty vacant
12.07.2007 12:19
The implication was clearly spelled out by the Information Commisioner. 90% of CCTV footage that is used in prosecutions should be inadmissible in court. If you are on trial and CCTV evidence has been used as evidence then type in the postcode of the organisation that submitted it and if it isn't registered it should be ruled as inadmissible.
Back to Club X-Ray though. To get the CD into prison I had to get copyright permission from the artists. They granted this permission but only for this one CD and only for John Bowden to hear, several of them were explicit about this. After I learned that a prison guard had played it, I reminded them that it was a breach of copyright unless they had sought Johns permission. Now an assistant governor has knowingly broken copyright again. I know I am being petty, but they started it. I had thought I was going to get the first comp CD into a prison but other prisoners get comp CDs all the time, the guards at reception told me my written permission wasn't even necessary when I handed the CD in. I hope to get from John the written declaration that Seize the Days song has been banned because it is sectarian and critical of the prison service so that I can pass that to the band. If I were them I'd sue but even if they don't it is good publicity "as banned by the prison service".
I'd love to repeat what John wrote about this - I mean the SPS have read our correspondence anyway - but I don't want to distract from his case or preempt his next move. I'd be happy to have John stay at my house and leave him with my nephews and neices, and I wouldn't say that about most peace activists I've met. He is obviously no danger to the public. The prison service are obviously punishing him for standing up to them. It's like in the torture scene in 1984, the torture continued after the confession and it was explained that it wasn't to get Winston to confess, it was to break his spirit and make him believe the confession. the SPS have handled this very stupidly. They think by keeping him locked up in maximum security he is less likely to cause them future problems than if he was released. As long as he is supported on the outside, he is actually much more of a problem for them inside. And it is an awful thing to say, but he is much more of an asset to prisoners rights activism inside than if he were free. I hope he gets released asap and will work for that, as I would have broken and licked their boots under this much pressure, but since he hasn't broken he is a shining example.
He is not even an anarchist, and yet he is under lock down conditions simply for refusing to condemn anarchists as terrorists. He is more free than any of us on the outside who bite our tongues just to protect our benefits or get promotion. Even within prisons dissent is bought off with privileges for obedience. To me at least that fact illustrates that the whole of the UK is a prison island, John is just in the most oppressive wing of that state penitentionary. Johns case and treatment isn't unique, but I can think of no one who embodies libertarian principles to the same degree. As Henry David Thoreau wrote,
"Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." -
Danny