NPR: A Talk with the 'Unsubscribe Me' Producer

A Talk with the 'Unsubscribe Me' Producer

Filed under: Media

Amnesty International's "Unsubscribe Me" campaign features a video about torture that's mighty, mighty tough -- enough so that I'm going to defer to my inner cinematic wimp and tell you to go watch it yourself if you're so inclined.

People made of far sterner stuff than I am have debated this particular campaign pro and con -- Gawker called it "torture porn." Meanwhile, a friend of the show (and NPR's social media strategist), Andy Carvin, interviewed producer Marc Hawker and performer Jiva Parthipan for his blog. It's a worth a look:

We approached Jiva, who is a performance artist, because he both understood endurance performing and also had his own personal political views that were aligned with the campaign. We did not have a problem convincing him to undergo the extreme nature of the filming as he understood the principles and trusted our approach. Both him and us insisted that we would have medical supervision on the set and we would never go beyond what Jiva could bare. We agreed a code word - the word "green," which Jiva would shout if the pain got too much. Of course, people who are in detention around the world by the CIA in "black sites," secret prison camps and foreign prisons have no such back up, and no such get-out clause.

Laura Conaway

1:28 PM ET | 11-19-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6cV8X-ywhSE

UCBerkeley is using sleep deprevation techniques on my friends in the trees. The noise from the generator, not captured well enough on the cheap mic (you have to be there to really experience the loudness) and the lights are meant to deprive my friends of sleep. Sleep deprivation techniques are marked as inhumane by Amnesty International, the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Israel.

UC Berkeley is doing some crazy stuff, all in the name of progress and money. People should check it out at the grove. You want to see police aggression? Want to see psych warfare? The UCB-PD are students of those black arts.

Sent by Brian | 2:22 PM ET | 11-19-2007

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