View allAll Photos Tagged Wikileaks

Photo showing Julian Assange in the course of the Ars Electronica Festival 2009. He won an Award of Distinction for Wikileaks at the Prix Ars Electronica 2009 in the Category Digital Communities.

 

credit: rubra

 

Permanent link to this check result:

host-tracker.com/check_res_ajx/6165180-0/share/

 

headlines.nos.nl/forum.php/list_message/145897

 

Failure("Domain lookup failure:www.mastercard.com Exception:Not_found")

Http error:Http_client.Bad_message("Unknown reason (e.g. unexpected eof, timeout)")

Http error:Http_client.No_reply

Http error:Unix.Unix_error(_, "check_connect", "www.mastercard.com:80:Connection timed out")

Http error:Unix.Unix_error(56, "read", "")

 

img593.imageshack.us/img593/7200/1291659886233.png

 

'distributed denial of service' attack

 

Time newsfeed : 'Hacktivists' Bring Down MasterCard to Support WikiLeaks:

newsfeed.time.com/2010/12/08/hacktivists-bring-down-maste...

 

Assange supporters attack MasterCard website:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40559236/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_sec...

 

WikiLeaks supporters attack MasterCard site: sources:

www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B72G620101208

 

guardian.co.uk PDA's Newsbucket:

www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/dec/09/newsbucket

 

WikiLeaks supporters disrupt Visa and MasterCard sites in 'Operation Payback'

The Guardian, Thursday 9 December 2010

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-visa-maste...

Rally to Free Julian Assange and support the wikileaks website from government persecution arising from Cablegate - the progressive release of 250,000 US diplomatic cables, incombination with major newspapers. Protest gathered on the lawns of State Library in Melbourne at 5.30pm December 14. Julian Assange second bail hearing will soon be heard in a London Court.

 

The rally heard from Jacob Grech from Victorian Trades Hall, Adam Bandt, member for Melbourne and Assange's elected representative in Federal House of Representatives, a union official from the Media and Entertainment Alliance, Colin Jacobs from the Electronic Frontiers Australia, and Rob Stary, Julian's Australian lawyer.

 

With over a thousand people at the rally there was a call to march on the British Consulate in Collins Street.

Detail from artist Lea Kelley's mixed medium work on canvas (a gift to me), Your Mother's Voice

 

The followiing excerpts are from Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald's article written for The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. entitled:

 

Bradley Manning: a tale of liberty lost in America

 

The U.S. does nothing to punish those guilty of war crimes or Wall Street fraud, yet demonises the whistleblower

 

Published Friday 30 November 2012

 

EXCERPTS Reporting from the hearing, the Guardian's Ed Pilkington quoted Manning: "If I needed toilet paper I would stand to attention and shout: 'Detainee Manning requests toilet paper!'" And: "I was authorised to have 20 minutes sunshine, in chains, every 24 hours." Early in his detention, Manning recalled, "I had pretty much given up. I thought I was going to die in this eight by eight animal cage."

 

The repressive treatment of Bradley Manning is one of the disgraces of Obama's first term, and highlights many of the dynamics shaping his presidency. The president not only defended Manning's treatment but also, as commander-in-chief of the court martial judges, improperly decreed Manning's guilt when he asserted in an interview that he "broke the law".

 

Worse, Manning is charged not only with disclosing classified information, but also the capital offence of "aiding the enemy", for which the death penalty can be imposed (military prosecutors are requesting "only" life in prison). The government's radical theory is that, although Manning had no intent to do so, the leaked information could have helped al-Qaida, a theory that essentially equates any disclosure of classified information – by any whistleblower, or a newspaper – with treason.

 

.... Compare this aggressive prosecution of Manning to the Obama administration's vigorous efforts to shield Bush-era war crimes and massive Wall Street fraud from all forms of legal accountability. Not a single perpetrator of those genuine crimes has faced court under Obama, a comparison that reflects the priorities and values of US justice.

 

.... As usual, the US establishment journalists have enabled the government every step of the way. Despite holding themselves out as adversarial watchdogs, nothing provokes their animosity more than someone who effectively challenges government actions.

Typifying this mentality was a CNN interview on Thursday night with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conducted by Erin Burnett

 

[see Alex Kelly's fine piece on Truthdig (linked in the 1st comment below) about this typical CNN disgrace. Ms. Burnett is an ex Citibank Vice President, & Goldman Sachs analyst, etc., ugh, barf, ugh].

 

Please continue to full text:

 

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/bradley-mann...

 

###

I. 'Political Cartoon' - THE TRUTH is not an amalgam of fantasies & possibilities- the truth is FACT. - "Wikileaks takes a big bite out of gov secrecy". Wikileaks Series- first set of studies/sketches ( more to come )

 

18" x 24.5" acid free paper, sumi ink & ebony pencil

 

"War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford." -

Hannah Arendt

  

-Samantha Power - Development and Democracy - "Samantha Power discusses the political challenges facing democracy promotion and the practical needs of effective democratization." www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUUOO5cCNVg

 

"Capable, generous men do not create victims, they nurture them." - Julian Assange, editor & founder of Wikileaks

  

wikileaks.org/

 

( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology )

 

"WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange on the 'War Logs- ; ''I Enjoy Crushing Bastards" www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708518,00.html

 

- ( !! Yessssssssssssss.. Enough of bastards... )

 

-

    

"The leak of tens of thousands of Afghanistan war-related documents tells us more than the sum total of many official communiqués about the war. On balance, more disclosure is a good thing, but the leaking of raw military intelligence is a special case that requires a careful, rather than a cavalier, approach.

 

There is not enough information about the war, and much official information is misleading. In Canada, the federal government's quarterly reports contain a few updates based on its goals in Kandahar, but little else that informs. The government has already shown itself to be an unreliable source on issues relating to Afghan detainees.

 

The situation is now too dangerous for the most trustworthy chroniclers – journalists, UN personnel – to go outside NATO-protected areas.

 

So reliable, independent information is lacking. The circumstances in this war make such information even more necessary."

 

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/we-neede...

    

"The first phase was chilling, in part because the banter of the soldiers was so far beyond the boundaries of civilian discourse. “Just fuckin’, once you get on ’em, just open ’em up,” one of them said. The crew members of the Apache came upon about a dozen men ambling down a street, a block or so from American troops, and reported that five or six of the men were armed with AK-47s; as the Apache maneuvered into position to fire at them, the crew saw one of the Reuters journalists, who were mixed in among the other men, and mistook a long-lensed camera for an RPG. The Apaches fired on the men for twenty-five seconds, killing nearly all of them instantly."

 

Read more www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khat...

 

"Women always disproportionately suffer the effects of war, and to think that women's rights can be won with bullets and bloodshed is a position dangerous in its naïveté." www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/30/is-the-war-in-afghanist...

  

"Instead, many eyes will now pore over this data from many different directions, looking for patterns and attempting to eliminate the noise, disinformation and fog of war.

Many will look to it to criticise and condemn the US presence in Afghanistan, but if those on the other side – those who support such military incursions – have any sense, they too will use it to understand better the war in which they find themselves and adapt their counsel to fit more accurately the facts on the ground.

That’s the benefit, usually, of an open society. We get to triangulate on the truth by gathering facts in the public space, then providing them to all sides to chew over. We use this against our own illusions and those of more closed societies who can only view the world through one narrow perspective.": www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0730/1224275801...

  

"We journalists should be delighted that WikiLeaks exists because our central task has always been one of disclosure, of revealing public interest material that others believe wish to be kept secret.The website deserves our praise and needs to be defended against the reactionary forces that seek to avoid exposure."

edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/29/wikileaks.roy.greensla...

 

"With the release of the WikiLeaks documents, Arab media may finally feel vindicated, as Western media finally start to give greater prominence to civilian casualties." newamericamedia.org/2010/07/wikileaks-documents-validate-...

  

"Wikileaks confirmed: A plan to kill American geologist with poison beer

 

The Wikileaks documents contain a claim that Pakistan and Afghanistan insurgents were working to poison alcoholic drinks in Afghanistan. While that's unproven, one US adviser in Afghanistan tells the Monitor he was almost poisoned that way in 2007." : www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0728/Wiki...

  

"This is duplicitous only if you close your eyes to the Pakistani reality, which the Americans never did. There was ample evidence, as the WikiLeaks show, of covert ISI ties to the Taliban. The Americans knew they couldn't break those ties. They settled for what support Pakistan could give them while constantly pressing them harder and harder until genuine fears in Washington emerged that Pakistan could destabilize altogether. Since a stable Pakistan is more important to the United States than a victory in Afghanistan—which it wasn't going to get anyway—the United States released pressure and increased aid. If Pakistan collapsed, then India would be the sole regional power, not something the United States wants."

 

www.billoreilly.com/site/rd?satype=13&said=12&url...

 

"How to read the Afghanistan war logs: video tutorial

David Leigh, the Guardian's investigations editor, explains the online tools we have created to help you understand the secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan": www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/video/2010/jul/25/afgha...

 

"Jonathan Foreman, writing for the right of center National Review's Corner blog, hopes the documents will force America to deal with the possible deceptions being made by ally Pakistan. "It is possible that the publication of documents that provide actual evidence — rather than rumors — of the role of ISI personnel in Taliban planning, logistics, and strategy will give the West greater leverage in dealing with Islamabad and might force Pakistan’s political elite to confront the reality of the ISI’s secret activities. If so, that would be a silver lining to what is otherwise a military disaster abetted by the U.S. and British media."

www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/NATL-The-Importance-o...

  

A War Without End: www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html

  

"Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs: 'They show the true nature of this war'

 

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, explains why he decided to publish thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan Afghanistan war logs expose truth of occupation": www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jul/25/julian-assange...

 

The history of US leaks: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10769495

 

Freedom of Information Act: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_...

 

"A long-delayed Afghanistan war funding bill, stripped of billions for teachers and black farmers, is back before the House and walking now into the storm over the Internet leak of battlefield reports stirring old doubts about U.S. policy and relations with Pakistan.": www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40254.html & www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40251.html

     

This ongoing series is dedicated to everyone who has needlessly had their lives destroyed, been injured or die in this almost past decade of war. For the sources, journalists & average citizens who risk their lives to inform us.

Reuters reporters Namir Eldeen, Saeed Chmagh & the good samaritan ( father ) who died trying to save them & of course his two surviving small children who will forever be impacted by the brutality of war for decades to come.

 

Please help Private Bradley Manning- www.bradleymanning.org/

  

"One surprising consequence of the war in Iraq is the surrender of postmodernism to a victorious modernism. This has been largely overlooked in North America.

 

In reaction to the U.S. intervention in Iraq, Jacques Derrida, a famous postmodernist, signed on as co-author of an article drafted by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, previously an opponent of his, in an unmistakable endorsement of modernist Enlightenment principles. Derrida, the apostle of deconstructionism, is now advocating some decidedly constructive and Eurocentric activism.

 

The article appeared simultaneously in two newspapers on May 31, in German in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as "After the War: The Rebirth of Europe," and in French in Libération, less triumphantly, as "A Plea for a Common Foreign Policy: The demonstrations of Feb. 15 against the war in Iraq designed a new European public space."

 

Other famous intellectuals joined in with supportive newspaper articles of their own: Umberto Eco (of The Name of the Rose) and Gianni Vattimo in Italy and an American philosopher, Richard Rorty. This provoked much discussion in Europe, but only a few comments so far in North America, the Boston Globe and the Village Voice being rare exceptions.

 

This week in Montreal, there was an anti-globalization riot in which windows were broken in protest against a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting. But the Habermas-Derrida declaration praises the WTO and even the International Monetary Fund as part of Weltinnenpolitik: maddeningly hard to translate, but something like "global domestic policy" or "external internal policy."

 

Yet it is not much of a stretch to claim the young anti-globalists as disciples of postmodernism and Derrida, who has hitherto been a foe of "logocentrism" (putting reason at the centre), "phallologocentrism" (reason is an erect male organ and, as such, damnably central) and Eurocentrism (the old, old West is the homeland of all of the above).

 

Derrida added a note to the article, observing most people would recognize Habermas's style and thinking in the piece, and that he hadn't had time to write a separate piece. But notwithstanding his "past confrontations" with Habermas (Derrida had objected to being called a "Judaistic mystic," for one thing), he agreed with the article he had signed, which calls for new European responsibilities "beyond all Eurocentrism" and the strengthening of international law and international institutions."

 

More: www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php

 

"In early 2003, both Habermas and Derrida were very active in opposing the coming Iraq War, and called for in a manifesto that later became the book Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe for a tighter union of the states of the European Union in order to provide a power capable of opposing American foreign policy. Derrida wrote a foreword expressing his unqualified subscription to Habermas's declaration of February 2003, "February 15, or, What Binds Europeans Together: Plea for a Common Foreign Policy, Beginning in Core Europe,” in Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe which was a reaction to the Bush administration demands upon European nations for support for the coming Iraq War[25]. Habermas has offered further context for this declaration in an interview."

 

More: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%c3%bcrgen_Habermas#Habermas_and_D...

  

Habermas: ”The asymmetry between the concentrated destructive power of the electronically controlled clusters of elegant and versatile missiles in the air and the archaic ferocity of the swarms of bearded warriors outfitted with Kalashnikovs on the ground remains a morally obscene sight

 

I consider Bush' s decision to call for a "war against terrorism" a serious mistake, both normatively and pragmatically. Normatively, he is elevating these criminals to the status of war enemies; and pragmatically, one cannot lead a war against a "network" if the term "war" is to retain any definite meaning.”

     

Derrida: “To say it all too quickly and in passing, to amplify and clarify just a bit what I said earlier about an absolute threat whose origin is anonymous and not related to any state, such "terrorist" attacks already no longer need planes, bombs, or kamikazes: it is enough to infiltrate a strategically important computer system and introduce a virus or some other disruptive element to paralyze the economic, military, and political resources of an entire country or continent. And this can be attempted from just about anywhere on earth, at very little expense and with minimal means. The relationship between earth, terra territory, and terror has changed, and it is necessary to know that this is because of knowledge, that is, because of technoscience.

 

It is technoscience that blurs the distinction between war and terrorism. In this regard, when compared to the possibilities for destruction and chaotic disorder that are in reserve, for the future, in the computerized networks of the world, "September 11" is still part of the archaic theater of violence aimed at striking the imagination. One will be able to do even worse tomorrow, invisibly, in silence, more quickly and without any bloodshed, by attacking the computer and informational networks on which the entire life (social, economic, military, and so on) of a "great nation," of the greatest power on earth, depends.”

 

www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php

 

I am incredibly- delighted at all the vital discussions about the war & US gov that are FINALLY taking place- & on a mass scale- as a result of this leak .. Simply miraculous..

 

FREEDOM & PEACE ( transparency, diplomacy & the evolution of such ) FOR ALL WAR NATIONS.

  

( WARNING - links ( after excerpt ) are NOT for sensitive viewers- ) "Wikileaks have released over 150 supressed images. This is the tip of the iceberg, keep looking, keep publishing.In the last week Wikileaks has released over 150 censored photos and videos of the Tibet uprising and has called on bloggers around the world to help drive the footage through the Chinese internet censorship regime — the so called “Great Firewall of China”The transparency group’s move comes as a response to the the Chinese Public Security Bureau’s carte-blanche censorship of youtube, the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and other sites carrying video footage of the Tibetan people’s recent heroic stand against the inhumane Chinese occupation of Tibet."

fortuzero.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/tibet-western-media-sa...

 

file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/index.html

 

FREE TIBET!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

Also other dire & serious issues ( out of countless ) - that expose corruption by corporations & gov's:

 

"A documentary about intensive pig farming due to be screened at the Guardian Hay festival on Sunday is facing a legal threat from one of the companies it investigates. Pig Business criticises the practices of the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, claiming it is responsible for environmental pollution and health problems among residents near its factories."

 

www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/pig-business-document...

 

"In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004,[79] it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. A sample of drinking water from a well near the site had levels of contamination 500 times higher than the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization.[80]

 

In 2009, a day before the 25th anniversary of the disaster, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based pollution monitoring lab, released latest tests from a study showing that groundwater in areas even three km from the factory up to 38.6 times more pesticides than Indian standards."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

  

-

 

The Blue Mask - Lou Reed - www.goear.com/listen/9960779/the-blue-mask-lou-reed ( & O Superman ) www.goear.com/listen/02cf55d/o-superman-(for-massenet)-la...

 

Lou Reed The Blue Mask

 

Lyrics:

 

They tied his arms behind

his back to teach him how to

swim They put

blood in his coffee and milk

in his gin They stood over the

soldier in

the midst of the squalor

There was war in his body and

it caused his

brain to holler

Make the sacrifice

mutilate my face

If you need someone to kill

I'm a man without a will

Wash the razor in the rain

Let me luxuriate in pain

Please don't set me free

Death means a lot to me

The pain was lean and it made

him scream he knew he was alive

They put a

pin through the nipples on his chest

He thought he was a saint

I've made love to my mother,

killed my father and my brother

What am I

to do

When a sin goes too far, it's

like a runaway car It cannot

be controlled

Spit upon his face and scream

There's no Oedipus today

This is no play you're thinking you

are in What will you say

Take the blue mask down from my face and

look me in the eye I get a

thrill from punishment

I've always been that way

I loathe and despise repentance

You are permanently stained

Your weakness buys indifference

and indiscretion in the streets

Dirty's what you are and clean is what

you're not You deserve to be

soundly beat

Make the sacrifice

Take it all the way

There's no won't high enough

To stop this desperate day

Don't take death away

Cut the finger at the joint

Cut the stallion at his mount

And stuff it in his mouth

---

 

-

*

Wikileaks: CIA-Papiere im "Vault 7" beleuchten staatliche Hacker

Der CIA-Hauptsitz in Langley im Gliedstaat Virgina.

illegaler Cyber Angriff in grossem Stil ?

 

CIA steuert angeblich von Frankfurt (vom dortigen Generalkonsulat aus ) aus Hackerangriffe

USA: die CIA überschreitet

ihre Kompetenzen.

Die Enthüllungsplattform Wikileaks hat Dokumente veröffentlicht, die vom US-Geheimdienst stammen sollen. In Deutschland werde die Cyberspionage für Europa koordiniert.

 

Die Hacker würden mit Diplomatenpässen ausgestattet und arbeiteten als vermeintliche Mitarbeiter des Außenministeriums.

-

Die CIA kann sich der Enthüllungsplattform Wikileaks zufolge über Hintertüren Zugang zu iPhones und Android-Smartphones verschaffen. Das ist ein Gau für die High-Tech-Industrie, die immer weiter in die Defensive gerät.

-

Quelle: 9000 Dokumente über Cyberwaffen der USA

 

Ist USA im Krieg mit uns?

30.000 US Mitarbeiter allein in der Region Stuttgart um

"militärische Operationen" zu steuern.

 

-

Wer kontrolliert die CIA ? oder

Wer kontrolliert die Kontrolleure?

 

Wie ernst die Gefahren von Messenger-Kommunikation genommen werden, zeigt ein Vorfall aus dem Weißen Haus: Trumps Sprecher Sean Spicer hatte sein Team im Weißen Haus zusammengerufen und sich dann von den Mitarbeitern im Beisein von Anwälten die Smartphones aushändigen lassen.

Die Anwälte hätten dann nach verdächtiger Software wie „Signal“ oder „Telegram“ gesucht.

 

Auch der Präsident selbst fürchtet, abgehört worden zu sein-

US-Präsident Donald Trump liegt derzeit ebenfalls mit den Geheimdiensten überkreuz, denen er zum Teil „Nazi-Methoden“ vorgeworfen hat.

-

Das Pikante an der Sache ist, dass die CIA-Werkzeuge offenbar Software zum Verschlüsseln von Kommunikationen unterlaufen, da sie auf den Inhalt der Kommunikation zugreifen, bevor dieser verschlüsselt wird.

-

Edward Snowden weist noch auf einen anderen wichtigen Punkt hin: Zum ersten Mal sei jetzt klar, dass die Regierung dafür bezahlt habe, amerikanische Software unsicher zu halten.

Zum Teil seien die Spionage-Apps an ausländische Behörden wie den britischen Geheimdienst weitergeleitet worden

und auf den Smartphones von Bürgerrechtsaktivisten und Journalisten gelandet.

-

. In den Dokumenten werden auch Schadsoftware für Microsoft Windows, Mac OS und Linux erwähnt. Die CIA soll auch smarte TV-Geräte, die an das Internet angeschlossen sind, übernehmen und als Abhörmaschinen missbrauchen können.

-

Edit by Aviary

on pc

The edit photo feature on the Flickr photo page is currently disabled pending an upgrade.

A spontaneous poem I wrote about feeling scared while reading WikiLeaks!

  

Will my tears be all washed away sometimes soon?

Pensively, I express random words here and there...

Pensively those I often love to say and keep

All things that I have had in my mind for years

 

more

luvhermit.weblogs.hu/2011/04/06/pensive-and-scared-10962194/

Credit: Bradley Manning Support Network / Made available for unrestricted

use by Manning family

Power to the people - Brisbane wikileaks protest

All Your Cables Are Belong To Us

by DEVOLVE

 

WikiLeaks - global defense of sources and press freedoms, circa now—

 

Wikileaks Mirrors

 

Find all the current Wikileaks Mirrors and Links here.

Helpful, if the main site - wikileaks.org - is down.

 

www.wikileaks.org - Original Wikileaks Page [redirected to mirror.wikileaks.info]

www.wikileaks.ch - New Official Wikileaks Page [213.251.145.96, 178.21.20.8 and others]

www.wikileaks.fi - Mirror Finland [46.59.1.2]

www.wikileaks.nl - Mirror Netherlands [46.21.239.250]

www.wikileaks.de - Mirror Germany [87.106.151.138]

www.wikileaks.eu - Mirror Europe [88.80.13.160]

www.wikileaks.pl - Mirror Poland [88.80.13.160]

www.wikileaks.at - Mirror Austria [46.59.1.2]

www.wikileaks.lu - Mirror Luxembourg [46.59.1.2]

www.wikileaks.se - Mirror Sweden [88.80.6.179]

www.wikileaks.no - Mirror Norway [46.59.1.2]

www.wikileaks.is - Mirror Iceland [46.59.1.2]

www.nyud.net - Mirror United States [129.170.214.192]

www.wikileaks.ca - Mirror Canada [46.59.1.2]

Watch the full talk by Julian Assange at New Media Days 2009: newmediadays.dk/julian-assange.

 

This photo by New Media Days / Peter Erichsen is licensed under a

 

Creative Commons

Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

 

If used online please attribute to 'New Media Days / Peter Erichsen' and hyperlink the photo to its location on Flickr. If used for print purposes please attribute to 'www.newmediadays.com / Peter Erichsen'.

 

Permissions and information beyond the scope of this license can be acquired by contacting New Media Days.

 

...and if you choose to use our material we'd love to know: flickr@newmediadays.dk

- Photos by Ryan Harris

 

For Immediate Release: Day before Wikileak of TPP Document - 13

Cities Mobilized to Shine a Light on Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership

"Trade" Deal Telling Congress "Don't Fast Track a Train Wreck - FLUSH

the TPP!"

CONTACT: Bill Moyer 206-356-9980 | bill@backbonecampaign.org

| or Eric Ross 805-776-3882 | eric@backbonecampaign.org

| 805-776-3882 | VoteNoFastTrack.org

SEATTLE - On Tuesday evening citizens in Seattle and 12

other cities appeared on overpasses and roadsides to pull the

Trans-Pacific Partnership, aka TPP, out of the shadows and into the

light of public scrutiny. From Dallas to DC, San Diego to Seattle,

Tucson to Detroit, Baltimore to Bellingham, Spokane to Chicago

people took their messages to interstate overpasses, prominent

monuments, and busy city streets using coordinated daytime and

nighttime, high visibility tactics.

 

They deployed giant banners saying No New NAFTA, mobilized LED light

panels saying "(thumbs up) Democracy, STOP The TPP," and projected with

spotlights messages like "Don't Fast Track A Train Wreck." These

coordinated citizen's actions coincided with ongoing TPP negotiations

taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah from November 12-24

and today's anticipated release by Congressperson Rosa DeLauro and

George Miller detailing the growing opposition to "Fast Track" among

Congress, and preceded today's surprise release by Wikileaks of a leaked

chapter of the secretive "TPP" agreement. [Here

is Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch initial interpretations of the

chapter on intellectual property.]

 

The TPP has been called NAFTA on steroids, a "Corporate Coup," and

concerned citizens from across the nation are calling on Congress to

"Flush It!" and to oppose President Obama's request to renew "Fast

Track" authority to commit our country to this secretive agreement that

has less to do with trade, than it does with dismantling any domestic

policies that undermine future profits for transnational capital and

corporations.

 

Bill Moyer, Executive Director of the Backbone Campaign stated "Only a

bought a sold government would sign a treaty that sacrifices our

capacity as communities and country to pass laws for workers benefit,

and the protection of our communities and our natural resources."

 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been negotiated under secrecy for 3

years. Obama is now pushing to have it swiftly approved to much to the

dismay of members of Congress, most of whom haven't even been allowed to

see the text. While Congress is constitutionally required to negotiate

any international treaties, Fast Track or granting Obama Trade Promotion

Authority would forfeit the Congress' responsibility and the public's

right to weigh in on the TPP negotiations.

 

Perhaps in response to growing citizen outrage letters were release

today from both Democrats and Republicans challenging President Obama's

request for renewal of Fast Track authority. [From Today's Public

Citizen announcement: The

 

151-signature DeLauro-Miller letter, additional

 

letter from Democratic Ways & Means members, One

 

of two letters, this led by Representative Walter Jones (R-NC)]

 

One of the illuminated messages on Tuesday read "Corporate Tribunals

WTF?" This referred to how the TPP would give more power to corporate

interests including the ability for foreign companies to sue for

taxpayer compensation if any domestic law diminished the company's expected future profits.

 

Masked as a trade deal, the agreement has been negotiated under

supervision of 600 unelected corporate "trade advisors" while the text

has been hidden from members of Congress, the press, and the public.

What has been learned about the TPP has come through leaked texts, and

is alarming to members of Congress worried about sovereign powers being

negotiated away, public health officials, labor representatives,

environmental groups, and advocates of consumer issues.

 

"The TPP, the largest ever of it's kind, is a race to the bottom

international agreement on domestic and international policies of food

safety, internet freedom, medicine costs, financial regulation, and the

environment," says Kristen Beifus, executive director of Washington Fair

Trade Coalition."

 

Trade Justice organizations have declared December 3rd a "Global Day of

Action Against the TPP to resist toxic trade agreements." Citizens are

urged to take action in their own community, contact their

congressperson, and learn more about the TPP's dismantling of democracy

by visiting VoteNoFastTrack.org.

Citizens can find out where their congressperson stands and tweet them

at pdamerica.org/tpp.

 

Tuesday's coordinated actions were organized by the Backbone Campaign,

which specializes in "amplifying citizen engagement with creative

tactics and artful activism" in collaboration with Public Citizen's

Global Trade Watch, PopularResistance.org, Fair Trade Coalitions in

Washington and Oregon, the Overpass Light

Brigade network, and more.

 

The coordinated day of action follows on the heals of an action in

September when to the surprise of secret service, members and allies of

PopularResistance.org and the Backbone Campaign "redecorated"

the United States Trade Representatives office by scaling the building

and unfurling giant banners demanding a release of the TPP text. The

Backbone Campaign is grateful to Wikileaks for beginning that process.

 

View the growing collection of photos from the 11-12-13 actions HERE.

To speak with organizers of yesterday's day of action please contact

Bill Moyer at 206-356-9980 or Eric Ross at 805-776-3882.

  

Info and Collaborator Web Sites:

Thanks to our many awesome collaborators both mentioned and not!

 

Backbone Campaign

www.flushthetpp.org/

Popular Resistance

Public Citizen's Global Trade

Watch

Washington Fair Trade

Coalition

Oregon Fair Trade

Coalition

Luminous Intervention

Overpass Light

Brigade

Expose The TPP

Overpass Light Brigade PDX

Occupy Bellingham

Occupy Rogers Park

Chicago Overpass Light

Brigade

North Texas Light Brigade

San

Diego Overpass Light Brigade

Occupy Tucson

Occupy Spokane

South Sound

Rising Tide

#TPPMediaMarch

TPPXBorder

TPP

Talking Points

 

###

  

Backbone Campaign's mission is to provide creative strategies, artful

activism trainings, and creative action support to progressive

activists, organizers and organizations around the US and beyond in

order to invigorate and nurture a people-power, community-based, and

internationally-networked nonviolent social movement for human rights,

thriving communities, and ecological well being. Backbone Campaign's

vision is a world where human dignity, community resilience, and

ecological well being is built upon a foundation of democratic

economic and political systems and diverse, thriving culture where

human rights, the rights of communities and nature are truly

inalienable and honored.

Nearly two thousand supporters of US Army PFC Bradley Manning rallied and marched on Fort Meade, Maryland, this afternoon for the young whistle-blower.

 

Under a sweltering sun, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, former political prisoner-turned-human rights advocate Sarah Shourd, LGBT activist and US Army LT Dan Choi, and retired US Army Col. Ann Wright addressed supporters at the Llewellyn Gate, nearest the military courtroom.

 

The demonstration, which lasted several hours, comes two days before Manning’s trial is set to begin at Ft. Meade, on June 3, and three years after his arrest. The government is charging Manning with indirectly “aiding the enemy” for releasing hundreds of thousands of war logs, diplomatic cables, and military videos to the transparency website WikiLeaks.

 

PFC Manning has said that he hoped the releases would “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

 

A dozen chartered buses brought supporters from across the northeast, including three buses from New York City. Military veterans and activists traveled from around North America—some arriving from as far as Michigan, Montreal, and Mexico City.

 

“People came from great distances to stand with a true American hero,” said Jeff Paterson, director of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “From Bradley’s demeanor in court, it’s clear he takes strength from the outpouring of support.”

 

Today’s rally was held with the assistance of many national organizations, including Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, CODEPINK Women for Peace, World Can’t Wait, and Courage to Resist.

 

Photo credit: Owen Wiltshire, Bradley Manning Support Network

1 2 4 6 7 ••• 79 80