Zero dB – project against music torture

British legal charity organisation Reprieve, which represents 33 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, has teamed up with high-profile musicians to launch its Zero dB project (zero decibels = silence), on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The campaign urges supporters to help bring to an end the “brutal practice of music torture”. It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals while a petition will call on governments and the UN to uphold their obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture.

Musicians backing the initiative include Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, who at a recent concert suggested taking revenge on President George W Bush by putting him in a cell and blasting his own band’s music at him.

According to Reprieve, US military interrogators play tracks by artists such as Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chilli Peppers at deafening volume to detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The music is blasted relentlessly in a bid to “break” prisoners and the practice continues despite a ban on the use of loud music in interrogations by the United Nations and European Court of Human Rights.

Using loud music “to create fear and disorient detainee(s) and prolong capture shock” was among a host of interrogation tactics authorised by then commander in Iraq Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez in a memo dated September 14, 2003.

“What we’re talking about here is people in a darkened room, physically inhibited by handcuffs, bags over their heads and music blaring at them,” singer-songwriter David Gray has said of the practice. “That is torture. That is nothing but torture. It doesn’t matter what the music is – it could be Tchaikovsky’s finest or it could be Barney the Dinosaur. It really doesn’t matter, it’s going to drive you completely nuts.”

Binyam Mohamed, a Guantanamo inmate and former London resident, told Reprieve he suffered months of torture at the hands of CIA operatives while in a secret prison. “There was loud music, (Eminem’s) Slim Shady and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over. The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night for the months before I left. Plenty lost their minds. I could hear people knocking their heads against the walls and the doors, screaming their heads off. Imagine you are given a choice, to lose your sight or lose your mind. While having your eyes gouged out would be horrendous, there is little doubt which you would choose.”‘

Visit www.zerodb.org to record your silent protest now.

Music that has been used to torture includes:

• AC/DC – Hell’s Bells
• AC/DC – Shoot to Thrill
• Aerosmith
• Barney the Purple Dinosaur – theme tune
• Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
• Britney Spears
• Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
• Christina Aguilera – Dirrty
• David Gray – Babylon
• Deicide – Fuck Your God
• Don McLean – American Pie
• Dope – Die MF Die
• Dope – Take Your Best Shot
• Dr. Dre
• Drowning Pools – Bodies
• Eminem – Kim
• Eminem – Slim Shady
• Eminem – White America
• Li’l Kim
• Limp Bizkit
• Matchbox Twenty – Gold
• Meat Loaf
• Metallica – Enter Sandman
• Neil Diamond – America
• Nine Inch Nails – March of the Pigs
• Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self-Destruct
• Prince – Raspberry Beret
• Queen – We are The Champions
• Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Saliva – Click Click Boom
• Sesame Street – theme tune
• Tupac – All Eyes on Me