New Political Documentary Fall 2010: Guantanamo is no game, but...

Guantanamo is no game, but…

Jim McKinney

If it takes a video game to get people to take another look at what our government has been doing there, I’m for it. Suspension of habeas corpus and subjecting prisoners to torture is nothing to play around with lightly.. When prisons such as Guantanamo and such actions as the euphemistically named “extraordinary rendition” are taken offshore deliberately to skirt the U.S. Constitution, and then caught in the spotlight of international media scrutiny, it puts us all in triple jeopardy—not only do we have to run the already existing risk of attack by terrorists, but we exacerbate the problem by stimulating the proliferation of terrorists, while at the same time destroying the foundations of our own legitimate government institutions and along with them the freedoms and protections that they were designed to safeguard.

Nonny de la Peña’s documentary, Unconstitutional, and Second Life video game, put together with the support of the Bay Area Video Coalition (yea BAVC!), have tried to keep the issue alive, an issue that many people I’m sure wish would just go away. Watching the now six-year-old documentary, I felt as if the issue had been all but forgotten by most Americans. However, just today, November 1, 2010, the Associated Press has reported that Canada has agreed to repatriate Omar Khadr who was sentenced to eight years for war crimes that included the killing of an U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. . Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002. The sentence ordered him to remain one more year in the Guantanamo prison before he could ask the Canadian government to return him to his homeland to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Draxtor Despres’ interview with Wendy Levy in the BAVC Second Life studios was not only very informative, but for me a real eye opener as to how a virtual world environment could be used for more than just a vehicle for video gaming, socializing, or leisurely schmoozing. Watching the interview in a virtual setting showed me how virtual worlds could offer opportunities for people to meet in virtual classrooms, seminars, as well as conference and lecture halls. It was inspiring listening to the interview as they talked about this “paradigm shift” getting traditional filmmakers together with “people who speak different technologies” to work for social change and develop new media strategies for making and distributing their work.

Unfortunately, when I went to Second Life to sign up, I was unable to do so. I picked out a first and last name and submitted all of the required information including my e-mail address. However, when I tried to download the software to run the program, I was rebuffed. I re-checked the operating systems and memory limits on both my Microsoft PC and my Apple MAC, and everything seems to exceed the minimum requirements, but I was unable to get started. I am definitely interested in many of the opportunities available, but I guess that I will just have to try again later when I can find more time to seek the necessary technical support. In the meantime, I am very intrigued by all that is out there…