By Hanna Grissel
Someone’s blowing a whistle; what’s the first thought that comes to your mind? For me, it’s a referee. A concise description of the job might be, referees observe play, make sure the rules are being followed, and subsequently hold rule-breakers accountable.
In the intelligence community and its cohorts, there are many games being played, veiled in secrecy. Through “illegally” released information, we have been able to see the disturbing ways in which these institutions behave in the name of “democracy”: continually disregarding the rule of law without being held accountable.
A radical first step to changing this could be establishing external oversight boards (referee organizations). Obviously, though, we are not there yet, which is why we should protect the people working in the institutions who choose to blow whistles.
Nonetheless, as of now these referees are jailed, exiled, tortured, or some combination of the few for observing, and further, exposing the laws being broken.
Which brings me to one of the most despised referees of all time, Chelsea Manning. Manning was caught after releasing troves of classified information concerning U.S. military behavior. The military covering up and/or ignoring torture and child abuse overseas were among the heap.
Ironically, Manning has been reprimanded with punishments equivalent to torture for nothing short of heroic actions.
Upon her arrest in May 2010, Manning was held in solitary confinement for 11 months. This “no-touch torture,” as she describes it, was a despicable and excessive use of power. According to Politico, a special investigation showed that Manning’s jailers, between 2010 and 2011, violated Navy policy by continuing to hold her in solitary confinement, disguising this as a type of suicide watch even after psychiatrists concluded she was not suicidal.
For Manning, the torture hasn’t stopped since she was removed from solitary, though almost effectively still in solitary, she is confined within a maximum-security military prison.
In July 2013, she was sentenced to 35 years under a ridiculously overzealous and outdated piece of legislation. Luckily, she and her team of lawyers are trudging through the military court of appeals challenging the constitutionality of the legislation used to convict her.
Since the conviction, Manning has been threatened with solitary for infractions such as housing mislabeled literature and expired toothpaste in her cell.
She has been further dehumanized by the denial of access to adequate medical care to treat her gender dysphoria. While mind you, she continues to be held in an all-male prison. Because of this consistent abuse, she attempted suicide in July. Which led her to face more ludicrous reactions that could put her in solitary confinement for the next 30 years of her prison term.
On Sept. 9, Manning began a hunger strike and demanded that her need for adequate medical treatment be met. In a letter she stated, “Until I am shown dignity and respect as a human again, I shall endure this pain before me.” Surprisingly, only five days later, her demands were met. She will receive gender reassignment surgery and be given adequate health care in regard to the surgery.
This is no doubt a big win for human rights and should set a precedent. All around, the high-profile nature of her imprisonment and lengths at which she going to in order to make her treatment known is illuminating issues inherent to the prison-industrial complex. Nonetheless, we need to continue questioning the concept of imprisoning people for promoting and practicing transparency. We can construct a future without political prisoners and this abhorrent treatment of bodies.