Remembered: Chinese Internet Maintenance Day

"It was twenty years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play.."



In the last twenty years China has seen huge economic growth and vast improvements in the wealth and health of individual citizens. But that is not what we are remembering today (or more properly, yesterday)... The clip above is an iconic image of the democracy protests in China in 1989 - but search in Youtube and you will see lots of more graphic and disturbing images of the suppression of the democracy movement there that saw hundreds of protesters killed and many more imprisoned.

That was twenty years ago - and by all accounts an event that within China the authorities try hard to see forgotten. It has been and remains a taboo subject there. In the run up to the anniversary a number of channels of web expression have been blocked... including sites like Twitter and Hotmail. It's hard to imagine living in a country where the state manipulates what news and media we can get access too..

But it seems that China's netizens are nevertheless making their own protest known - with a flush of sites declared off the air for 'Chinese Internet Maintenance Day'.

Freedom of expression, freedom (of unmonitered) communications and a freedom of (uncensored) information. These are not things to take for granted....

Swedish readers might also want to check out Rick Falkvinges blog: Himmelska Fridens Torg, Sverige, 2029


Defending democracy: Vote Piratpartiet for the EU parliament!

Unfurl the Jolly Roger

"Every breath you take, And every move you make, Every bond you break,

Every step you take. I'll be watching you..." The Police

Every mail you send, every telephone call you make, each SMS, who you talk to, where you are... logged

Where you surf to... logged

Where you drive.. logged

Mails, phonecalls and texts ....monitored.

State spyware on your PC recording every keystroke...

I don't want to live in a society where people live under constant surveillance... but sadly right now that's the way it is going. But me saying 'no' isn't going to stop things.. it needs a bigger awareness of what is being done in our name. It needs people to wake up and say STOP...

And if I want that to happen I need to be part of making it happen.

...and that is why today I became a Pirate.

By supporting Piratpartiet I support an organisation that puts the rights of the individual first, and will not comprimise those rights to fight terrorism, or organised crime, or to benefit specific commercial interésts. You don't defend democracy by putting it in fetters....

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi

They shall not pass....

This is one of my favourite songs... remembering the sacrifice made by the volunteers of the International Brigade in the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.



That I found this video tonight is thanks to a clip on Leon Rosselson's MySpace page commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Jamara. At 45 minutes though it's quite long..
It ends with this quote from the leader of the Spanish communist party.

"Sometimes you must be prepared to fight, even without a prospect of victory.. for in that way you leave a heritage, you prepare future battles.
So we fought."



Footnote: Jack Jones MBE, union leader and veteran of the XV International Brigade died last week aged 92. May he Rest in Peace.

Hired men and troopers

"From the men of property the orders came; they sent the hired men & troopers to wipe out the Digger's claim"

Time's change, but some things stay the same...

Lyrics from Leon Rosselson

Where did all the music go?

Right now I'm in the midst of a media boycott.. and THE trial is underway here in Stockholm pitting the music industry against The Pirate Bay. Reading soime of the replies that TPB have posted to notices from copyright holders I can't say I'm surprised that all sorts of people are guns blazing for a prosecution. Right now though that all seems to hang on technicalities - in that a Torrent tracker doesn't actually do more than link to where a file might be.

But that's by the by.. as part of the trial there's big talk of damages... that downloading copyright material is causing big losses to the music industry as people stop buying CDs. But despite wanting to press for punitive sums in damages it doesn't really seem to be proven that that is actually the case. There is a lot of music in circulation... but how much of that would ever be bought at industry list price is debatable.

But maybe people are buying less music for other reasons? People like me that can afford to go down to the shops and splash out on a few full price albums know that they are being ripped off - and like me look elsewhere for new music. Music from the internet doesn't have to be pirated... there are thousands of Internet radio stations to choose from... and here at least plenty of second hand stores to browse.

So I could pay full price - but I choose to buy from a source that gives me value for money, and the satisfaction of supporting a local entrepreneur - and makes sure that a big fat zero ends up in those dwindling sales figures. The spectre of media industry lawyers bullying customers into line has quite simply taken all the pleasure out of buying new....

The last CDs I bought were in fact second hand from Stadsmissionen - a charity here in Sweden supporting the homeless. A much more deserving cause.

Media Boycott

It started with a blog.... Svensk Mydighetskontroll who propose a three week media boycott as a protest against IPRED and the media industry. The proposition is simple. For three weeks from the 9th of February avoid purchases that support the media industry.
Specifically:

• No purchases of CD's.
• No purchases of films.
• No purchases of computer games.
• No visits to movie theaters.
• No movie rentals.

As I've said in other posts, I think that the media industry abuses it's monopoly - and copyright 'crime' is in no way justification for the private power to violate the privacy of communication that IPRED implies. As for denying people access to the internet because they are filesharing... c'mon. Who thought that one up?

Anyway.. if you've made it this far reading this, I hope you're going to support and publicise this small step in showing that what the media industry wants is out of step with what is right for consumers...

Now of course also on Facebook..