{"id":5338,"date":"2021-10-15T10:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T08:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=5338"},"modified":"2023-11-23T11:18:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T09:18:20","slug":"guantanamo-voices-true-accounts-from-the-worlds-most-infamous-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/guantanamo-voices-true-accounts-from-the-worlds-most-infamous-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Guant\u00e1namo<\/em>\u2014The World’s Most Infamous Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/h5>\n
Excerpt from Guant\u00e1namo Voices: True Accounts From the World’s Most Infamous Prison<\/em><\/h5>\n

A graphic novel, edited by Sarah Mirk, with an introduction by Omar El Akkad Abrams ComicArts<\/a> (June 2020)
\nISBN 9781419746901<\/p>\n

Sarah Mirk<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

First let’s talk about language \u2014 is Guant\u00e1namo a prison?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The language we use to describe our world shapes our perception and understanding. And the language used to describe Guant\u00e1namo is hotly contested. The U.S. government describes the facility as a \u201cdetention camp\u201d or a \u201cdetention facility\u201d and the inhabitants as \u201cdetainees.\u201d Human rights advocates often call Guant\u00e1namo a \u201cconcentration camp.\u201d Journalists make all kinds of choices in describing Guant\u00e1namo (GITMO), from adopting the government\u2019s terminology to calling it an \u201coffshore prison\u201d or a \u201cprison fortress.\u201d My goals with my language choices in this book are to accurately describe reality and to use words that everyone can understand. The word \u201cdetainee\u201d does not have the cultural weight of the word \u201cprisoner\u201d\u2014I\u2019ve been detained many times (by a TSA guard searching my bag, by transit police checking my ticket, or by an overly long work meeting), but I have never been a prisoner. I think the government\u2019s intentional choice of tepid, bureaucratic language to describe Guant\u00e1namo downplays the years people have spent and continue to spend in custody. In this book, I made the choice to describe Guant\u00e1namo as a \u201cprison\u201d and the men confined there as \u201cprisoners.\u201d I made this choice after consulting the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions of prison and prisoner:<\/span><\/p>\n

Prison: a state of confinement or captivity
\nPrisoner: a person deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody<\/p>\n

Guant\u00e1namo Voices<\/em> is a graphic novel, but is it real?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked to make this graphic narrative a nonfiction accounting of real life. The chapters in this book are all based on original interviews I did, as well as interviews conducted by Columbia University\u2019s Rule of Law project, and journalistic books about Guant\u00e1namo. Whenever possible, the illustrations in this book are based on photo and video references. However, because it\u2019s impossible to document what happened in every scene described in this book and the military does not allow media to photograph prisoners and many prison operations at Guant\u00e1namo, the artists have used their creativity to fill in the gaps.<\/p>\n

The chapter here features the story of human rights attorney Alka Pradhan, defending a man incarcerated at Guant\u00e1namo, and is illustrated by Lebanese graphic artist Tracy Chahwan:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n