Break Week #1

Mikito Ozeki / Cut Out from mikitoozeki on Vimeo.

Here's a little video for you all to relax to, i found it sort of memorizing in a calming way. Something to take your mind off of all the world's problems.

Indian Workers Strike

So I think I've established a pretty predictable routine here. I'll post about either the middle east uprising or Occupy Wall Street and if something really big gets to my activist core then I'll post about that too. *cough cough* SOPA *cough cough* But today I feel the need to talk about something beyond the realm of either of those two (three) aspects. Recently while browsing Reddit, I stumbled across this article. Basically these factory workers are being mistreated and work under horrible conditions and when the police/management cracked down on the first group to protest the whole factory went on a rampage and killed the company president as well as besieging the police headquarters and torching cars. Very scary stuff. But this sort of backlash is slowly becoming more prevalent in India. The caste system still having its grip on the country means most of India works for poor wages in disgusting and dangerous conditions and lives in small shanty towns. Protests and strikes happen from time to time but rarely result in anything due to the sheer amount of "I-don't-care-and-neither-do-the-police." given by the management. So when things like this happen, catapulting the conditions into the  spotlight, its definitely something. And it is, mob murder of a company president? How despicable! But look closer into and you see how these people were pushed to the breaking point before they did this.

Activists from the Indian Workers Union march to parliament in New Delhi.

After an initial strike coordinated by their union leader, these workers went on the rampage they did because of the brutal crackdown by the police. The union leader was killed by police forces, beaten to death by the very people who are supposed to protect. But India doesn't work that way and repression of this kind of stuff is key. As M. Murali Mohan led a group of workers to disrupt the morning shift, they were interrupted by policemen in riot gear wielding lathis, a baton on roids. This development led to numerous injuring and sadly Murali Mohan died of his beating on the way to the hospital. The fact that he was beaten to death is appalling to me, as all he was doing was standing up for his rights and then he dies from one of the most terrifying ways to die in my opinion.  So what do the workers do? They get angry and march to the police headquarters, demanding the policemen responsible be charged with homicide. A reasonable request don't you think? Being denied this they went about torching cars and in the end eight workers were injured and hundreds arrested and police once again took action. However the workers did not have enough and went on a rampage basically, destroying factory property and eventually invading the company president's house and killing him. Overall, a very dismal look at how India's society is right now.

In fact, this reminds me of Cory Doctorow's For The Win, a book following many different characters in Asia as they deal with government repression. Set in china, the US, India, and everywhere in between, the book exposes some of the conditions and child labor taking place and one of the story lines (the Indian one) is actually remarkably similar to this one. I would recommend it, even though its about gaming half the time (its related, trust me) and is fiction, its definitely worth a read. 

Occup Oakland gets Rowdy

How bout that Occupy movement huh? Oh wait, I haven't heard from them for months now. What happened to those guys, they just fizzle out or something? Well as it turns out, throughout the last few months Occupy Wall Street is still going and the occupation in New York as well as many other cities has continued. Just recently though have they started to get back into the spotlight. This weekend sure got them there. If you haven't heard, which is quite possible, Occupy Oakland decided they hadn't had enough action in awhile so they went on a little trip. A trip to an abandoned building so that they could re purpose it  as a "social center, convergence center and headquarters of the Occupy Oakland movement." So sounds nice enough right? Some hippie activists going to turn a place into a hippie epicenter, right? Well thats not the case here, as things quickly deteriorated. The tear gas and smoke bombs came out and joined the riot gear and batons in an onslaught on the protestors. But this time things went somewhat differently. 

( Michael Macor, Associated Press / May 29, 2006 ) Police deploy smoke and tear gas to stop Occupy Oakland protesters as they march through downtown streets.  ( Michael Macor, Associated Press / May 29, 2006 ) Police deploy smoke and tear gas to stop Occupy Oakland protesters as they march through downtown streets.

Protestors met the police forces with some violence of their own, with reports of protestors openly throwing bottles, rocks, flares, and allegedly improvised explosive devices. (in other words firecrackers) This display of violence aimed back at the police is something that has been observed before, especially with the Oakland branch of Occupy. It must be the Raiders fans or something, but Oakland has been a very hostile environment for these protests.This time things seems to really take a riot-ey turn when protestors unleashed their secret weapon: corrugated metal. Yes that's right folks, Occupy Oakland has learned how to use shields and it is oh-so-terrifying. 

“The shields are becoming stronger, larger and more mobile,” Watson said. “We’re in a dangerous area for law enforcement.... We are being assaulted, and when we react to those assaults, we can’t penetrate shields like this.”

 Rocks and bottles and a freaking bicycle these guys can handle, but a shield? No freaking way man, not possible. Its not like they have had shields this whole time too or anythi- ... oh wait. But seriously, this random "riot' has become somewhat of a norm in America now. And that's something to think about. If this keeps going on, which it has a possibility of doing, since neither side wants to give any ground, then riots could be a bi-weekly occurrence. "You see last week’s riot? Yeah it was a doozy." could be the new phrase at the water cooler. Even though this would greatly liven up water cooler conversations, riots would no doubt be detrimental to America's stability. Look at the riots in London from last summer/fall. Those conditions aren't that different from the ones we have here in the states. Imagine that for a second, an America so accustomed to riots and protests that weekly occurrences are the norm. Surreal isn't it? But maybe not for long. So right now is pretty much the make or break point. Elections are coming up, summer is coming back. With that, occupy will gain more strength, it’s obvious. So the battle of wills between the government and Occupy Wall Street will commence. Who will win??? You decide!      <=(Dramatic ending)

It's Never Over

SOPA and PIPA are dead. Essentially. A major victory has been had against the background deals and the censorship of our rights. Support for these bills has withdrawn and they are no longer going to be voted on. Success right?

Wrong.

Its called the Protecting Children from Online Pornographers Act and its potentially worse than SOPA and PIPA combined. While the purpose of the act is honorable in and of itself, wanting to be able to better enable the government to locate and prosecute online child pornographers and pedophiles, its methods to do so are...draconian. With all of its morality and basic good vs. bad mentality, it hides the fact that it would allow the government to track internet users personal history. That's right, they could keep tabs on every citizen in the U.S. online, essentially disrupting all senses of privacy online. Not only is that wrong and against basic freedoms guaranteed by our constitution, its also fairly reminding of a certain book...

That's right, I went there.

While this is certainly frustrating, as it seems more and more bills just keep coming at us, its not the first time. Congress consistently uses this method of naming bills in a certain way to make any opponents look bad. Examples?

• Patriot Act- Oppose this, you hate America, you commie.
• No Child Left Behind- Think of the children!
• Protect IP Act- Are you for piracy, huh? You want to leave us defenseless?
• Stop Online Piracy Act- You just want every hardworking American to lose every hard earned cent to foreign pirates??? 

This tactic is tried and true, and devious one at that. It makes sure that the interests of big business and politics get what they want with little bother from the mainstream public. The fact that so much opposition was had against SOPA and PIPA was due to the level of awareness raised about the possible harms stemming from the bill. This time those harms are much, much worse. Picture yourself after this bill is passed. Soon the FBI is in control of enforcing it and they have the ability to track anyone they deem a potential threat. They could view everything and anything you do online. Every website visited, every Facebook post posted, every video watched. Tracked and recorded. What's next after that? They going to start putting up cameras and bugging buildings? I've had enough of this behind-the-scenes legislation and the overall corruptness that plagues modern-day politics. I agree with Senator Lofgren when she tried to rename the bill the "Keep Every American's Digital Data for Submission to the Federal Government Without a Warrant Act." Will the internet be able to put up another fight? Or has our element of surprise been used up already? Time will tell, as opposition builds against yet another harmful act.

Blacking out the Web, Blacking out SOPA

As many of you may have heard, Wednesday the 18th was the Blackout day. Hundreds of websites participating in blacking out, censoring, or raising awareness about the ongoing struggle against the SOPA and PIPA bills. Sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, Tumbler, Wired, BoingBoing, and many many more censored their websites and linked to information about the bills. Millions of people signed the online petition and millions more were affected and learned more about the destructive potential of these bills. It was absolutely thrilling throughout the day to keep updated with all that was going on. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian testified in congress against the bill with many other experts and physical protests also took place in New York City:




All of this came together throughout the day into something that has never really been done before. An internet blackout was achieved and it was successful in raising awareness. Millions of average citizens learned about the bill and came out against it, as did many congressmen and women.

The power of one day without a small portion of the internet. 

As the day wore on you could tell things were looking up. The number of representatives and senators dropping support grew every hour and soon coverage of the day began to grow on mainstream news sources. In fact it was pretty funny the way some of them covered it, as many had no coverage of the bills beforehand. This sudden interest in the movement was pretty transparent as an exploitation of a popular topic, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Public awareness is these types of bills worst enemy. Large networks like CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and others had coverage of it, many finally giving out the basic information on the bills to the millions that would be affected by it. But behind it all was an eerie sense of this-isn't-quite-right. These major news corporations have their hands in the pockets of congressmen and women throughout the government. Large corporations give out huge campaign contributions in order to lobby their own ideals. The fact that these corporations covered this phenomenon lends to the fact that this was a HUGE deal. They can't just ignore something if it gets too big, people would wonder where their priorities are, what their real agenda is. So when it gets to the point where they HAVE to report on it, you know that we've made progress. And fortunately we have thanks to this blackout!

Since the blackout both PIPA and SOPA have been shelved indefinitely and Lamar Smith has withdrawn them from the committee. This was a major blow to corporate and bureaucratic interests as the internet has flexed its muscles for the first time. No longer is the internet a place for simple, annoying DDOS attacks or meaningless petitions. Now the internet is a place for action, a weapon against censorship and corruption as well as a meeting place for those who want to make a difference. The future has many more obstacles in the way of free speech and only time will tell whether or not the internet can rise up against to create such a level of awareness.

Something Extra:



One of my favorite reports on the blackout today, Rachel Maddow covers the blackout and the impact on SOPA/PIPA, as well as the hypocrisy plaguing the supporters. Entertaining to watch as well as detailing events of the day, this segment was definitely a cool highlight of the blackout for me, and ended the day well. But remember people, the internet is just a big series of tubes.

Blackout day gets personal

As Jan. 18th rolls around, I was left with no Reddit, no Wikipedia, and even no Rhett & Link! It was hard, but I made it through due to the importance of the cause. I somehow was able to make it through the day without Reddit, which is something previously unthinkable. Reddit also had in my opinion the best informative censorship of all the sites. I'll categorize all the sites into two different types: Informative and Censor-Shock. Informative is easy enough to understand, as the website blocks out its usual content and replaces it with information regarding the cause, including videos, links, and other information. Censor-Shock is more along the lines of Wikipedia, Google, and Wired. These sites as well as others simulating censorship with black bars and Wikipedia had a ominous all-black page. Both of these worked well in unison to create a shocking and thought-provoking surprise to regular visitors, leading to their action against the bill. Hopefully this interruption of millions of people daily routine will create an impact on this legislation.

Explanatory SOPA Videos

A good long video that explains SOPA in a simple, visual way. Sometimes reading about it can only help so much. Sometimes analogies really help in conveying the overall idea of a topic, and in this case I think he does a pretty good job in explaining SOPA.



PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
This video is short and to the point, covering the main aspects of SOPA, its downfalls, and the overall consequences. It looks nice, professional and would be a great introductory video to anyone you're trying to convince.