HICKS’ GUANTANAMO BAY CELL TO TOUR AUSTRALIA
When Amnesty International Australia decided that it was time for Australians to see first hand what life is like inside Guantanamo Bay, and give the public the facts about David Hick’s case, they approached Sydney based Voluntas to be the lead digital agency.
Aaron Dormer, the CEO of Voluntas said: “AIA required a strategic partner with the ability to rapidly design and deploy the technical solution, and mobile street installation in less than eight weeks whilst managing the ongoing logistics of the full-scale replica of Guantanamo Bay detention cell touring over 30 locations in 3 months.
Sydney residents were the first to get a rare look behind the walls of Guantanamo Bay when Amnesty International Australia presented the installation in Martin Place today. The installation is a replica of a ‘single occupancy’ (solitary confinement) cell in which Australian David Hicks is being held. He has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for more than five years, despite having never been tried or convicted of a crime.
Guantanamo Bay is a US-run prison camp in Cuba. There is compelling evidence David Hicks has been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during his time there, and kept in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day for at least the past 12 months.
Says Dormer: “To our knowledge the project is the first of its kind using this combination of technologies and of this scale in the country. The public will have an opportunity to join the campaign to bring David Hicks home using Tablet PC technology. Digital signatures provided by the public will cascade across one of the
large (42″) plasma video screens mounted on the side of the cell. The other plasma will show 5 years of world events that David Hicks has missed while in detention without trial. The public will also be provided with an opportunity to make a secure donation online to help AIA in their Human Rights and Security campaign.
17 Comments
I appreciate that the guy has been locked up without trial. I know this. Its terrible. But i feel like stunts like this make him into a hero. And when he gets out, he will come back to a hero’s welcome. And that isn’t right, unless you are a fan of terrorism. If you are, then maybe you should go support this.
nice work to everyone involved. it’s nice to see something that isn’t a crap ad for a bicycle lock. I saw it on one of the lead articles in the Sydney morning herald website so it is obviously is getting press.davidamsterdam
I’m really glad the size of the screen was clarified. If it had been left with just the descriptor ‘large’ I would have spent all day wondering what that actually meant. ‘Mmm, how big is large?’ 42″ to be exact. So thank you for this important detail.
You appreciate nothing. Your post implies that Mr Hicks is guilty, & then you trot out the Australian Government’s rather tenuous link to terrorism. You should stick to advertising where you can’t do too much harm.
I fully agree with 8:32am. I’m sure Amnesty does great work, but the fact is Hicks isn’t Nelson Mandela. The guy was caught in Afghanistan reportedly involved with the Taliban. Demand that his trial be expedited but don’t turn him into some cause celebre. I would much prefer to see a stunt that draws attention to the disgrace that’s taking place currently in Zimbabwe.
I think it’s great to see that these terrorists are being treated every bit as harshly as they deserve. Now all you have to work out is whether I’m employing satire or dramatic irony as a tool.
It is still a great idea.
Very much the sort of live stunt Furby specialised in for the Coalition for Gun Control – which reminds me – what about the new Pedestian Council ad. Have you seen it: Open on ECU of ‘Baby on Board’ sign on back window of car. Pull back to reveal it’s on the back window of a hearse. VO: Blah blah blah slow down near schools etc etc.Love it. Furby lives, surely!
11:11am here. I don’t like to be critical, but sloppy comment moderation (hello Mr Lynch) kind of kills the comment /response thing that is supposed to happen on a blog. My comment was aimed at 8:32am, but slow moderation kind of mucks that up. Oh & by the way 12:14pm, the Taliban were the recognised government at the time.
Lynchy, 10:59 has a very good point. Frequently the intended sequential effect of commenting immediately on someone else’s contribution is lost when it takes aeons to appear on the blog.I’ve often found my quick comebacks get lost in the queue, and the effect is ruined. Perhaps we simply expect too much in this crazy get-it-done-now super professional world. Perhaps you’re not sitting at your computer 24/7.Could you explain the process you use to vet incoming comments prior to publication? And where on Earth is Furby?
9.30am, If you are answering a previous comment, best to start with the time of that person’s comment, as I have done. Comments are checked several times a day, I’m not on the blog every minute.
furby has been seen at jwt sydney…
Baring in mind that Mr Hicks was actually found scoping out embassies in Kabul to blow up – presumably with a subsequent massive loss of life, I reckon the fucker should stay in jail for life.Then again, it’s an election year.And, of course, a blonde, blue-eyed Aussie boy coming home to his Mum will look great on telly come November. This being the date that Howard would gain maximum publicity.
11:37, it’s ‘bearing’, not baring’ and ‘blond’, not ‘blonde’ when applied to a person of the male gender.Do try to bring some grammatical credibility to your feeble political analysis if you want to be regarded as a grown-up.
12:26I presume this campaign is fighting the concept of detention without trial.Well, under Howard’s new laws, you can now be held without charge for 14 days. This then switches to ‘preventative house arrest’ for twelve months.This law is, of course, being criticised by the Human Rights Watch who describe it as ‘one step closer to fascism.’Would we see that same box in Martin Place if a bunch of Muslims were held in Aussie jails without trial?How’s that for ‘feeble political analysis?’
This concept was used by FCB Cape Town to promote the Robben Island Museum. A card replica of Mandela’s cell was displayed in shopping malls around South Africa. The year was 1997. The cause was just as is the Hicks cause.
Hicks is a treacherous terrorist who ought to be shot.The evidence is damning, he was caught seeking out places to bomb (embassies in Kabul).But in the eyes of the progressive left, anyone ‘fighting’ whatever the USA stands for is a hero. Mind you, even Hitler would be their hero because he opposed US imperialism.c