Close Guantanamo Bay

April 25, 2011 12:59 PM

Close Guantanamo Bay
In response to this post, I have started a website and petition. I refuse to give up and just let this news be one more thing that depresses me and makes me feel powerless. I'm trying to do something for the better. Try with me!

Role: founder

posted by whimsicalnymph (5 comments total)

A critique: As mentioned in that thread, I think this would be more effective if addressed to Congress. Obama clearly wants to close the base, having campaigned on it and signed an executive order to that effect on his first day in office. But it's the House and Senate (both parties!) that have voted overwhelmingly to block these efforts, by denying funding for transfer of detainees to the US and prohibiting deportation to their home countries.

I'd follow the model of similar petitions and give visitors an easy way to see how their senator/representative voted on said restrictions, and then to contact that legislator's office directly, thanking or condemning them appropriately. That's harder to implement than a general petition to the president, but more effectively targets the forces protecting the base, IMO.
posted by Rhaomi at 4:03 PM on April 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Good critique! I've done similar thank you/condemnation things in the past. I updated the site to petition both divisions of Congress in addition to the President.

The set-up you've described is a bit more complicated, and I don't don't know how to implement it through Change's site, but I'll keep a keep a lookout for a petition format that enables that kind of representative specific vote tracking.
posted by whimsicalnymph at 9:42 PM on April 25, 2011

well, it is back to just the president...form letter wonkiness. grr.
posted by whimsicalnymph at 9:16 AM on April 26, 2011

Bravo for trying.
In Chrome there's a format problem with the petition. Sorry I'm not web savvy enough to diagnose it.
posted by anadem at 4:11 PM on April 29, 2011

I voted for this very hard (and signed the petition). Thanks for making it.

I don't know if this'll change anything, but probably more than me just harping about it on MeFi :/ A couple years ago I planned a protest where we were going to get hundreds of MIT students to come to class wearing orange jumpsuits to draw attention to the ongoing recourseless detention and to symbolize how human rights abuses in Gitmo threaten everyone's rights, but, well, guess we got busy with our degrees and the project ran out of steam. Seeing as Gitmo isn't going anywhere, maybe it's a good time to try again...
posted by Salvor Hardin at 8:30 PM on May 7, 2011