Friday, June 03, 2005

Who was Stephen Biko?

On last night's The Daily Show with Russell Crowe, special guest comedian Jon Stewart played the Peter Gabriel song "Biko" in connection with a story about Amnesty International's report on the Guantánamo Bay alleged-terrorist detention center. It's been almost 28 years since Stephen Biko died, so you might be wondering where the connection lies.

In a nutshell, Stephen Biko was detained by the police in apartheid-era South Africa under the Terrorism Act (three decades ago!) and apparently beaten to death. (Officially, he died from a hunger strike.)

President George W. Bush and Vice-Bloodthirsty-Beast Dick Cheney are in a headlong rush to make America a less enlightened place than P.W. Botha's South Africa.

For more on Stephen Biko, you can start here, or Google® on "biko".