Communication that shifts power

Communication that shifts power

TANKER

SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND TRANSFER OF POWER WITH THE AID OF COMMUNICATION
01.06.2006

It was while living in Palestine that I became acquainted with Said, a young Palestinian man and student politician who was the representative for the PLO organization Fatah at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah. He was a moderate fellow with integrity who walked a straight path in life. Said had an unfortunate experience the very first time he was to leave occupied Palestine and travel to Europe as a Palestinian delegate at a student-organized, political convention.

As he was about to cross the border into Jordan in order to catch his flight out of Amman, he was detained by Israeli intelligence agents from Shin Bet and taken to the border interrogation centre. In addition to roughing up the prisoners, also called “moderate physical pressure”, the Israeli police and military intelligence utilize a practice known as sleep deprivation.

This might sound relatively harmless, but my Palestinian friend confided that he would have preferred having his fingernails ripped out with pliers or having live electrodes attached to his genitals after having experienced four days of sleep deprivation. This state-authorized form of torture involves strapping the internee into an extremely uncomfortable straight-back chair in a room, which is doused non-stop with floodlights over the course of several days and nights. Every time sleep begins to take over, atonal monster rock lacking any semblance of harmony comes pounding through megawatt speakers on the floor in front of the internee. The sharp, white light of the spotlights penetrates both flesh and bone and lights up the synapses of the victim’s brain.

After four days of this treatment, Said had become so unstable that he considered informing on everyone he knew, including his own grandmother. He felt that he was only minutes away from the brink, and then the floodlights were miraculously turned off and the “music” faded away. He had nearly gone mad. Said fortunately recovered without any permanent injuries, and through a superhuman effort was able to hold his tongue so that the inhumane suffering to which he was subjected would never have direct consequences for the people he loved.

I thought of the story Said had told me during an incident this past autumn when my sweet daughter Fanny (11 mos.) had been keeping my live-in partner and me awake most of the night over the course of five straight days. It suddenly struck me that this tiny child has absolute power over my life. In addition to a lack of sleep, I was also being deprived of my parental authority. I thought of Shin Bet.

A self-appointed, Swedish child expert and author by the name of Anna Wahlgren refers to female infants who demonstrate this type of behaviour as “disco queens”. However, “monster” is a more accurate way of describing what I was feeling when her crying awakened me for the 10th time in a single night, around the same time as my body’s core temperature – including my brain’s – was at its lowest point and we find ourselves in our most primitive state. Such monster babies seem to think that sleep is not so important, especially in the case of us parents. And they make their opinions clearly known, all the night long. My live-in partner and I were fairly exhausted following three consecutive months of sleep deprivation. And if informing on my own mother would have enabled me to get some sleep, I would have seriously considered this option in my most dire moments. No one who knows us has remained unaffected by the strain we were under. We were pleading our case for months, to no avail. The exhibitions of power were relentless.

Oslo, Norway, 16 December 2005: ”You have reached Åge Kaurin Johnsen at the Insomnia Clinic, please leave a message. Beep…!” ”This is Jan Tore Knutsen. I have a daughter. She has been keeping us awake for months. Can you please help us? We’re desperate!” We are seated in the sleep specialist’s office a few days later. There is a package of earplugs and napkins on the table. Kaurin Johnsen turns out to be a master communicator in addition to being a psychological specialist. After a thorough review of events, he informs us that Fanny is residing at a full-service, five star hotel. “You are communicating to Fanny that she can have anything her heart desires,” he says, “and unless you communicate the opposite message to her, the sleepless nights will continue!”

The psychologist appointed me as Sleep General and Director of Communications, developed a communications plan, declared Mom an outlaw and banished her from the bedroom (lactating mothers do not communicate in a credible manner – the baby catches scent of her breast-milk, and then we are way beyond what communication can resolve).

The sleep specialist painted clear images and provided gleaming examples: From now on, all communication shall be consistent and firm, and it should indicate that Fanny had moved into a humble guest inn. Warm mother’s milk in the parental bed was to be replaced with lukewarm water from father in the baby’s crib. Our swarming around the baby’s bed in our slippers as well as our resolute and physical intervention upon hearing the slightest murmur was to be replaced by my much delayed and apathetic response, preferably through a closed door. Physical contact was only allowed in the case of adrenaline-inducing crying, but would then be extremely businesslike. In brief, we were to provide services of the worst possible standard.

I let Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers, the undisputed world champion of poor service, serve as my mental mentor. In the communications plan provided by the sleep specialist, it was emphasized that the period following early wake-ups was to be made as boring as humanly possible for the little one. I therefore began starting my days by placing my daughter securely in a chair in the bathroom while I take a looong shower, as opposed to presenting her with all sorts of fun toys. I do not even bother to speak with her. She has caught on now. This sitting in a chair in the bathroom and being ignored while Daddy takes a never-ending shower is not exactly worth waking up for. 4 AM became 5 and then 6 AM, and now Fanny is sleeping until around 7 o’clock!

This communication routine has become remarkably effective. I could feel how the power was transferred back to me and made possible the joyful reunion of my eyelids. Communication transfers power, in this case parental authority – Quad Erad Demonstrandum!

PS! It struck me that if Said and his countrymen shall ever be able to live well in their own country, the Norwegian as well as other authorities must communicate in consistent terms against Israel’s misuse of its power. For example, when our foreign minister refers to the outskirts of occupied countries as “defensible borders”, he is communicating in an inconsistent manner. He is making it clear that Israel only needs to plead its case often enough and yell loudly enough, and they will eventually get their way. If the world society is content to placate the occupying power instead of communicating consistently and firmly, the occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian people will continue. A wall is a wall, not a fence; “moderate physical pressure” is torture. In this respect, I consider Kristin Halvorsen’s boycott-based communication to be far more sensible than Gahr Støre’s letter of friendship.

Jan Tore Savic Knutsen