Comments on: Section 98 – Open Source Entry #4 – Checking for a Pulse

By: Aislinn

Aislinn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:05:20 +0000

You’ll find my comments on the above debate here:

https://praxistheatre.com/2010/03/section-98-open-source-entry-6-a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-harbourfront/

By: Section 98 – Open Source Entry #6 – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Harbourfront – Praxis Theatre

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:29:45 +0000

[…] Then it dawned on me that a week earlier I had mentioned Omar Khadr in my Open Source entry “Checking for a Pulse“. I had dared to suggest that if one is going to support human rights and civil liberties, […]

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:26:53 +0000

It’s pretty easy to deflect your latest critique, person who used to write in a jokey voice as Omar Khadr but now just writes in an angry one as Omar Khadr:

I can tell you that the latest draft of our script did not even address or mention the name of Omar Khadr. We were looking at Afghanistan and the Olympics this time around – just as we looked at Omar Khadr in our Fringe show. It’s the way – as I think I explained to you above – that the piece is structured. It leaves room for each iteration or production to consider pressing issues human rights issues of the time in the context of similar difficult questions in Canadian history.

That being said, this whole conversation could end up changing that. Or not. We’ll see. That’s the great thing about a workshop.

By: Omar Khadr

Omar Khadr — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:10:50 +0000

Then we’re accusing each other of exactly the same thing:
you don’t prioritize human rights for all Canadians, you just care about Omar Khadr.
You have yet to address any of my points regarding other Canadians illegally detained. Why is that?
We both know why, it doesn’t fit the political agenda.
This play will stand as an insult to anyone illegally detained, anyone who has had their human rights infringed upon, because you’re ignoring them, all of them, for the sake of one person who was LEGALLY detained.
This isn’t theatre, this is a wedge issue. And it’s good to know, well ahead of your premiere, that the other side of the debate will not be tolerated and will not be heard.
Thankfully there are many, many people like me out here who don’t care if people lose their “passion” (read: nerve) for debate on this subject, because it isn’t going away.
You can be as partisan as you want on this issue but elsewhere in the world, true, relevant theatre about human rights abuses will be taking place and you’ll just be grinding an ax.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:50:06 +0000

You know what’s weird? You comment totally was flagged as “awaiting moderation”. That’s never happened before. I think it’s probably because you included more than one hyperlink – so the software thinks it might be spam and waits for the editor to approve it first. Don’t worry, I deleted the other six versions you tried to leave all over this website, using different names, clearly paranoid that we were trying to censor you.

It seems appropriate because this happened at right about the point that it seems everyone had lost their passion for debating you. Mainly because the SNL style voice you’ve given Omar Khadr although initially intriguing, seems in very poor taste and really only possible under the cloak of anonymity.

Anyways, thanks for your comments because they reinforced that there are people who don’t prioritize human rights for all Canadians. That believe that some people should have less protection from their government depending on whether they agree with them and their actions. This is the issue at the core of our production, and while I emphatically disagree both factually and ideologically with many of your points – it is valuable for the production to acknowledge that the reason Omar Khadr is in Guantanamo Bay is because there are many, many people, just like you out there.

By: Bomar Bhadr

Bomar Bhadr — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:40:48 +0000

Everyone calm down! It’s me, Omar Khadr!
Michael, baby, I was there, I’ll tell you how it all went down at my trial. And that kinda brings me back to a major point, again:
I’m going to trial, that’s a done deal. There’s no reprieve here, so maybe swimming upstream against that isn’t the best use of your time? Just sayin’
Also, AGAAAAAIN, the reason I’m going to trial is that I was charged with SOMETHING. Many of my pals in Gitmo were charged with nothing at all and that makes a request for repatriation more palatable to governments making those requests.
My charges are serious and, wisely, Canada has elected to observe and uphold the rule of U.S. law. Because, frankly, if I came home I’d be a free man! No trial! Just Omar, Michael and Tina (is that your real name?) seeing Avatar.
Which brings me to my next point, you guys are theatre people (clearly) and not politicians, but you should be able to wrap your heads around the fact that your court system and your government are separate entities. Just because a court says, “blah blah, bring him home… Avatar.” That doesn’t mean that the government has to do a damn thing about it.
That’s like Tina saying, “as the House Manager, I would like one person from the audience sitting onstage at every performance.” And the Director would say, “that’s nice, weirdo, but you just keep the house in the house and leave the show to me, thanks.”
And as for picking and choosing, my post was deleted but here are some names you could look at to support your own argument (unless you’re just interested in me and ONLY me)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huseyincan_Celil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sampson_%28author%29
Now tell me, where’s the outrage? Because you can’t pretend this is about repatriation and the rights of Canadians when, really, you’re only talking about MY rights.
But, sadly, my experience has shown that most people only take my side because they hate America, they hate what it stands for (like me, I love people for that!) and the actions it has taken. They wrap themselves in a flag of human rights and point a finger at the most convenient example of what they perceive to be an abuse of those rights. They point to me.
And they point to me without fully understanding or caring that I’m a traitor, that I fought their allies and that fighting FOR me doesn’t weaken their own government.
Because that’s the other side of the coin: the people that fight for me don’t like their own leader, either. They don’t understand why we all can’t just “get along,” and not bomb a house I was holed up in because, hey, I must have the same rights as you. But I don’t, because I was there specifically on a jihad. I was there ENTIRELY to kill people just like you and your allies. I wasn’t there because I’d heard that they turn down the sheets a certain way or because they have a nice brunch. I put myself in the middle of a war, a war I was prepared to die for because that was entirely the point, becoming a martyr for the cause, for Allah. This is not news. It may anger you to hear it but living in a fact-driven world can be that way.
So, please, continue to fight for me (to no end) but remember that I’m going to have my day in court and, soon, one way or the other this will all be over, for me.
But what about you? Will YOU continue to fight for the repatriation of Canadians the world-over? Will you?
Will you ever, in your life, fight for another Canadian who is detained elsewhere in the world? Or is this just about Gitmo and George Bush and Stephen Harper?
Will your play seek to shine a light on those detainees held overseas who had nothing to do with Canadian or US military actions or will you just keep humping the same, tired note.
Because there’s a play worth seeing in there, somewhere, but anything else is just commentary and partisan nonsense. It becomes less about human rights and more about “sticking it to the man.”
I must go now, my laptop made entirely of coconuts is starting to overheat. We’ll catch up again after my trial.

By: t. schwellnus

t. schwellnus — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:32 +0000

@ “Omar” (I can’t believe I’m rising to the bait) –
Let’s propose that this comment thread is a piece of theatre, and you are playing a role. If such a scenario I would think you should be more vigorous in your research, and watch that slipping out of character (I never told you my first name). As a more serious offense to thearical representation, I would take you to task for appropriating Khadr’s voice.
But getting away from that, what drives me to comment here is the tendency to equate arrest with guilt. It’s lazy, and it plays into the hands of influencial people who send armies across the globe and don’t have to answer for the injustices commited as a consequence. And you are excusing them by putting a confession in the mouth of this kid.
I don’t know what your intentions are, ultimately, but this shit just kinda makes me crazy.

ps leave Naomi Klein out of this.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:16:01 +0000

Hold on t. It’s not Omar’s fault that he doesn’t have all the facts. If you were locked away in Guantananmo there’s no way you would have read this article that was on the front of The Toronto Star four months ago that pretty much puts the idea that you killed Lt. Speer to rest.

“Omar Khadr ‘innocent’ in death of U.S. soldier”
http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/omarkhadr/article/717885

Turns out he was face down in a ditch with two bullets in his back bleeding out of one eye when he was supposed to have thrown that grenade.

But hey – that’s not the point is it? The point is that all Canadians, regardless of how much you repudiate their actions or views, SHOULD have the same rights. Every other Western country has asked to repatriate their citizens from Guantanamo but Canada – and that decision has severely weakened what it means TO BE Canadian I’m afraid. A government can’t pick which citizens it’s going to work to protect their civil and human rights and which ones they don’t give an F about.

I mean they can – that’s exactly what has happened, but it effectively means there are different classes of Canadian citizens now and a heavily partisan government that was elected by just 1/3 of the citizens will decide who falls into which category. Dark days.

By: Omar Khadr

Omar Khadr — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:45:55 +0000

Everyone calm down! It’s me, Omar Khadr! First off, I’m totally sober, I’m not allowed to drink and my religion forbids it, so there!
What else… oh, I’m not funny? Uh… who said I was trying to be funny, Trevor? I’m in lockdown, that shit ain’t funny! What IS funny is that you don’t really mention which “life and death,” you’re talking about – mine? Christopher Speer’s? Just which side are you on? Because it sounds like you’re on mine! This is fantastic, I need another “useful idiot” (sorry, that’s just what we call you guys) around here ever since Naomi Klein stopped returning my calls. Why on earth should you support Canada’s allies? That’s just silly! Support ME. Support me and my beliefs to attack you and your allies. It just makes good sense.
And one of my earlier posts was deleted so you can’t see that I’m all for repatriation but it seems that some people are overly-obsessed with mine when there are far more deserving Canadians illegally detained who actually aren’t terrorists. But that’s another story, friend.
As for your last point, uh, all I can say is war is hell, buddy. Spend some time in one and you’ll get it – fast. Your laws don’t apply out there, they don’t even make sense. And I was in a hard spot, but I could have surrendered, I could have not gone in the first place. I could have been born to less-insane parents. But I didn’t and wasn’t. And I was caught by Americans (your allies, remember?) and charged by Americans. So, your Supreme court doesn’t mean a thing, really. Besides, if they toss out the Canadian-obtained evidence and testimony, there’s still PLENTY there to convict my ass on. What a bummer.

And frankly, if you had read my posts, you’d know that I’m EXCITED for my trial, I want my trial and so does everyone else because then all of this is over and we can MOVE ON.
At least we agree on that.
And don’t be intimidated by the debate just because you don’t like how quickly a tide can turn, that’s just the nature of debate.
Win some, lose some.

Kisses,
Omar

By: t. schwellnus

t. schwellnus — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:50:44 +0000

This faux – Omar thing has killed the level of real debate on a topic that actually requires sobriety. Problem #1 with open-source journalism (and by extension, theatre – which isn’t worth stageing if it isn’t honest): you often don’t know how to judge the reliability of the source. Aliases get in the way of responsible participation. (Problem #2 is posts by people making cute about situations which are life and death to those involved, and not having enuogh respect for their readers to actually be funny.)

@ “Omar” – don’t worry, you actually were a child in the eyes of the UN at the time of your capture and arrest:
(http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc-conflict.htm)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000):
from preamble: “Noting that article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that, for the purposes of that Convention, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier, ”
Article 4: “1. Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years. ”

Kahdr has not had a trial, military or not. The Canadian Supreme Court isn’t letting him off of any alleged crimes, it is demanding our government do what Britain and Australia did with their nationals who were detained at Gitmo under similar charges: try them in their home country. Makes sense, because torture is a war crime, and there is very credible reason to believe that he has been tortured in Guantanamo. Such repatriation happens all the time. Except now.

It creeps me out that his actual guilt is being assumed here. This kid, who hated what America was doing to his family’s country of origin (spend any time in the so-called third world to fill your address book with members of that club), threw a grenade at a foreign soldier when that soldier arrived in his neighbourhood to kill his family. I don’t think he’s a saint, but quoting rules at me doesn’t convince me that he wasn’t in a fuck of a hard spot, and like any testosterone-heavy teenager, he made some real bad calls. His fault is that he made them in a country at war. And none of us can talk with any legitimacy about how brutal and out of control that kind of situation is.

But fuck – treat him like any other (alleged) criminal, or at least with the dignity we bestow upon repeat sex offenders: get him swiftly to trial and judgement.