In solidarity with the detainees currently on hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions at the Los Fresnos immigration jail (Port Isabel, TX), I’m highlighting Homeland Guantanamos. Much more than an educational online game, this project documents actual detainees’ stories and the abuses they endured while in detention. Approximately 300,000 immigrants both legal and illegal are being detained in the U.S., many without conviction of any crime. This non-linear storytelling/investigative project invites players to discover what’s really happening on the inside.

The game’s assignment: go undercover by working as a prison guard and find the truth about what happened to Boubacar Bah, an immigrant from Ghinea who died while in ICE custody May 30, 2007. Free Range Studios built the virtual facility to match the Elizabeth Detention Center (run by the private company Corrections Corporation of America) where Bah was detained and designed the story around the actual events and people involved. While exploring each room, I found clues to help solve the case including embedded video interviews with Bah’s friends and family, his fellow detainees and their families. The video and written evidence reveal human rights abuses that mimic those committed at Guantanamo and other U.S. secret prisons.

Partnering with Free Range Studios, the international human rights organization Breakthrough used this project to launch a national engagement campaign. Included on the site are innumerable ways to take action, a memorial wall for the 87 immigrants who’ve died while in detention and a searchable U.S. map that locates local Gitmos by zip code. The article that triggered this project along with the recently released video What Really Happened to Boubacar Bah can both be found here. Spreading, creating or participating in projects as informative and comprehensive as this encourages the beginning of the end of real homeland Guantanamos.

“Now you can be the protagonist of the petroleum era: explore and drill around the world, corrupt politicians, stop alternative energies and increase the oil addiction. Be sure to have fun before the resources begin to deplete.”

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to head Exxon/Mobil, Shell, BP or any other black gold giant? Playing Oiligarchy will give you a glimpse of life through their goggles. To succeed at Mollenindustria’s newest online game you need to expand business as any die hard capitalist would, save money to lobby parties at the elections, and increase the economy’s oil dependence. Oh… and do all that you can to ensure the “virus of environmentalism” doesn’t reach your paid off representatives.

Given a map of Texas, Alaska, Venezuela, Iraq, Nigeria, and D.C. and the ability to teleport yourself to each place at the click of a button, you are free to demolish structures, explore land and drill baby drill.  However, remember to keep an eye on the company bank account, price per barrel, % of addiction, GDP, and historic events to maneuver through the game and maintain healthy profits, or shareholders will most definitely fire you. You must also be receptive to updates on the green revolution and info on local uprisings to avoid potential human empowered obstacles.

The game starts after WWII. If you are able to keep profit at the forefront of your mind and maintain total disregard for human/civil rights and the environment, you will most likely get much further than me. It seems like I’m not cut out to be an oiligarch. I was fired after a mere 5 minutes of playing (years 1946-61) for refusing to participate in politics and not paying attention to supply and demand.

Thanks to neural.it for the scoop on Oiligarchy. To play this and additional games challenging dogma, capitalism, and other aspects of our society, visit Molleindustria’s site. If you happen to be in Barcelona before January 24th, you can view their work in the Crisis. Against Appearances show at ángels barcelona.

(written for and originally published on artthreat.net)