Human Rights abuse in itty-bitty Santa Cruz: [link]
"Real Sidewalk Clutter--Illegal Merchant Signage on Pacific Avenue"2014-06-29 by Pat Colby and Robert Norse [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/29/18758056.php?show_comments=1#18758086]:
Last September the City Council cut back already severely-limited public space on the sidewalk to even less. I estimate less than 2% of the original Pacific Avenue sidewalk is now available for sitting, sparechanging, performing with a cup, vending, and/or political tabling. In an attempt to justify this strangulation of space, Councilmember Pamela Comstock made a comment characterizing what she saw on the downtown sidewalks as "sidewalk clutter". In response to this and to show the extent of selective enforcement of the sidewalk laws--favoring merchants and penalizing street people--Pat Colby created a video showing what she considered real clutter--commercial sidewalk sandwich board signs--all of which are illegal under the Municipal code (zoning ordinance section 24.12.320.3). Pat played her power point presentation last Tuesday (6-24) at City Council.
COLBY'S SAGA OF ILLEGAL SIGNS -
Colby's presentation speaks for itself and can be found on line at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHPpOLOG0-k .
City Council's own "imbedded" video groupie Community TV also documented the presentation at http://sire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=561&doctype=AGENDA , where it can be found 2 hours 28 minutes and 20 seconds into video accompanying the on-line archive.
I contacted Eric Marlatt, Principal City Planner, the week before the Council meeting. He advised me that ALL free-standing commercial signs (such as you find at regular intervals on Pacific Avenue and its sidestreets) are illegal--at least on Pacific Avenue. He also advised me that there had been no complaints or enforcement against these illegal signs for the last year.
In her presentation and at other points Pat has expressed concerns that the signs as well as the numerous sidewalk cafes that encroach upon the public sidewalk may burden disabled people and could be in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT THE REALITY -
I share with her another major concern that selective enforcement of the Downtown Ordinances against sitting, tabling, etc. downtown has been repeatedly used with a political impact (if not a political agenda) of driving away a class of people from the downtown area. Police harassment of poor people, performers, political activists, low-income travelers, and homeless folk downtown under the Downtown Ordinances escalated last year, though the departure of The Great Morgani, the colorful accordion performer, presaged a lengthy period ignoring people in "illegal spots".
Such spots are any part of the 'public' sidewalk that is within 14' of any building, street corner or intersection. kiosk, drinking fountain, public telephone, public bench,
public trash compactor, public trash can, information or directory/map sign, sculpture or artwork displayed on public property, ATM machine or other cash disbursal
machines, vending cart; or fence [See MC 5.43 at http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/SantaCruz/ ]. This amounts to 98% of the sidewalk if you include the for-profit only sidewalk cafe encroachments and the space taken by the illegal sidewalk signs.
Whether this "benign neglect" was done to forestall protests, coax back performers, save tax payer money, or simply wait until the heat could be turned up later--is anyone's guess. However virtually every performer, panhandler, tabler, etc. is situated "illegally" given the grandiose restrictions intended to give the police a blank check to "move along" anyone they want.
WENZELL CASE SHOWS HOW QUICKLY THE HAMMER CAN FALL -
The amiable tolerance can and has been quickly withdrawn--as in the case of Kate Wenzell [See "Downtown Ordinances -- A License to Harass Scarf Lady Kate Wenzell" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/02/21/18751387.php] I hope to be writing updates on Kate's case soon.
The obvious double standard being used, allowing illegal sidewalk signs that stand there all day while human beings are required to move every hour is glaring and undeniable. She has done a significant public service in bringing this issue to public attention.
For the full "Deadly Downtown Ordinances" with scattered updates go to http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/29/18657087.php?show_comments=1#18752784 )--however to be complete you've got to download the more recent 1st Amendment-choking additions mentioned in the Comments sections.
POSITIVE CHANGE WITH PAINTED CAGES?
For those hopeful of a "positive change" with the proposed "painted boxes" being prepared by Assistant to the Assistant City Manager Scott Collins, get ready for disappointment. Collins' latest e-mail to me suggests there will be same amount of space as is currently "legal". His exact words in the e-mail were: "Council’s intention is to have a similar amount of space available for performance and tabling as currently exists, simplifying the matter with clearly delineated space."
This, of course amounts to 2% or less of the total sidewalk space. The 2% is an approximation that comes from having measured the spaces actually legal under the current law.
BOGUS MAP, BEMUSED COUNCILMEMBERS -
Scott Collins "map" of these spaces, which he presented to City Council last year is wildly inaccurate where he claims there are double the number of spaces that actually exist.
So far City Council member Posner and Vice-Mayor Lane have taken no public interest in the situation. Collins has also indicated he will not be soliciting or accepting public input on the location, number, and extent of the new "performance cages" as some fondly call the proposed painted boxes on the sidewalk--outside of which it will be illegal to busque, table, or vend (perhaps sit or sparechange).
Again, a tip of the hat to Pat Colby and the others who helped create the graphic presentation illustrating the City's dirty double standard.
The many commercial sidewalk signs also arguably violate two more ordinances:
15.32.010 PLACEMENT OF OBSTRUCTIONS ON STREETS AND SIDEWALKS15.32.010 PLACEMENT OF OBSTRUCTIONS ON STREETS AND SIDEWALKS.
(a) No person shall place or park any vehicle or object on any public street, sidewalk, roadway, pedestrian way, or bicycle path in the city of Santa Cruz, where placement of such vehicle or object constitutes a hazard to traffic or pedestrians or an obstruction to the free movement of traffic for pedestrians under either of the following circumstances:
(1) When such person does so with the intent that such vehicle or object remain in such a place for an unreasonable or substantial period of time; or
(2) When such person thereafter knowingly permits such vehicle or object to remain in such place for an unreasonable or substantial period of time.
(b) Any period of time which is likely to result in, or which does result in, more than a trivial hazard or obstruction shall constitute an unreasonable or substantial period of time.
15.32.040 SIDEWALK OBSTRUCTIONS – AFTER DARK.
No person, without a permit, shall place on the public sidewalks of the city between sunset and sunrise any structure or object which may potentially represent a hazard or obstruction to any able-bodied or disabled person traversing any portion of such public sidewalk. This section shall not apply to items left on public sidewalks for refuse or recycling collection. (Ord. 2004-07 § 2 (part), 2004).
"SCPD doesn't know the legal spaces..." comment from John Cohen:
Santa Cruz Records Custodian Nydia Patino lied to me, writing that the City had no maps of exclusion/inclusion zones for first amendment protected activities. She probably did this to hide that the only map the City has -- later given to Robert Norse -- for these exclusion/inclusion zones is so inaccurate that the SCPD cannot use it for (selectively) enforcing the outrageous Downtown ordinances.
Essentially Downtown SCPD officers are making up the laws in their heads and and on the back of their hands. These outrageous ordinances should be struck down. They are an embarrassment to our city: they are an instrument for cleansing the Downtown of those deemed undesirable by Downtown merchants. Outgoing City Attorney John Barisone can confirm this.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
SFPD viciously attack prison abolition activists at SF Pride event
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Well's Fargo attacks Indybay.org newswire for publishing bank manual describing systematic forgery of foreclosure documents
Also see:
* "Well's Fargo manual shows common use of forging foreclosure documents" [link].
* Wells-Fargo Foreclosure Manual (Pub. 2011-11-09, current 2012) [link]
A note about the following story: Well's Fargo has hired PhishLabs to harrass Indybay.org and demand that the Well's Fargo document be taken down from their website. PhishLabs does not cite any apparent legal violation cited in Phishlabs' emails. They just say that it's an "unauthorized" posting.
2014-06-28 by Throwing Stones for "Indybay.org" [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/28/18757993.php?show_comments=1#comments]:
"A peaceful place or so it looks from space, A closer look reveals the human race." - Grateful Dead, Throwing Stones
Wells Fargo, a client of PhishLabs Security Operations, wants the “Wells Fargo foreclosure manual” removed from Indybay.org as soon as possible [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/22/18752950.php].
On March 12, 2014, the New York Post reported [http://nypost.com/2014/03/12/wells-fargo-made-up-on-demand-foreclosure-papers-plan-court-filing-charges/], "Wells Fargo, the nation’s biggest mortgage servicer, appears to have set up detailed internal procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand, according to allegations in papers filed Tuesday in a New York federal court."
On March 17, 2014, The Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual-under-fire/2014/03/17/25cd383c-ae00-11e3-96dc-d6ea14c099f9_story.html] published Wells Fargo's 150-page manual to attorneys for fabricating foreclosure papers [http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/business/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual/879/]. The Post states, "Wells Fargo created an elaborate guide for how to produce missing documents to foreclose on homeowners, according to a lawsuit that has caught the attention of state and federal regulators."
The Wells Fargo manual is marked as "Foreclosure Attorney Procedures Manual – internal use only. This is intended only for privileged confidential use." The manual instructs Wells Fargo lawyers how to process foreclosures when a key document, known as an endorsement, is missing.
On March 21, 2014, Linda Tirelli, an attorney representing clients being foreclosed on by Wells Fargo, was interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan González for Democracy Now! [http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/21/as_wells_fargo_is_accused_of]. During the interview, Tirelli described the manual:
"[I]t’s actually entitled the 'Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney [Procedure] Manual, Version 1.' And it says on it that it’s last published 2/24/2012. Mind you, the national mortgage settlement agreement was announced a week prior, on 2/19/2012.
"The way I obtained it, it was actually sitting right there on the Internet, of all things. A colleague of mine, through a Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy Boot Camp, which I am a member, an active member, gave it to me and said, 'Hey, I found this online, and I know you’re doing a lot of Wells Fargo cases. Maybe you can use this.'
"Reading it, my jaw just dropped. As I see it, it’s clearly outlining procedures, not just for the $12-an-hour robo-signers that we’ve heard about all these years, but for the lawyers, who need to be held accountable to a much higher degree. It’s the manual for the lawyers to actually fabricate documents, as I see it, and request that documents that are lacking be fabricated by Wells Fargo. It’s absolutely appalling."
On March 22, 2014, Wells Fargo's manual for fabricating foreclosure papers was published on Indybay.org by IndyRadio in a post titled, "Wells Fargo instructions for fabricating foreclosure documents" [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/22/18752950.php].
On June 12, 2014, Eric George of PhishLabs Security Operations contacted the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay) and recorded a voice message. In the message, George states that Wells Fargo is a client of PhishLabs, and that "wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf [https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf] needs to be removed as soon as possible."
After recording a voice message, Eric George of PhishLabs emailed Indybay on June 12, 2014, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."
On June 25, 2014, Marnie King of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as the Telx data center, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material (PDF file) that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."
On June 27, 2014, Israel Perez of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as Telx and domain name provider worldnic.com (Network Solutions), and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. A site containing unauthorized material was found to be operating on your network and displaying Wells Fargo material.
"If possible, please provide the following information to assist our investigation:
"- Web server and FTP server log files for the past several days
- Copies of all phishing files, hack tools, or other hacker files
"Finally, we kindly request that you disable or remove the site as soon as possible."
As of June 28, 2014, there are no updates to report.
Voice Message (+1 304 951 0269) from PhishLabs Security Operations to Indybay.org, 2014-06-12:
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: sfbay [at] indymedia.org, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org
Subject: [PL-182025] Confidential material on your site - hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
Date: 6/12/14
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
We have discovered that your web site, http://www.indybay.org , is hosting material that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization.
hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible.
If you believe we have contacted you in error, or if we can provide any assistance with this incident, please contact us and let us know.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter,
Eric George
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: abuse [at] telx.com, ipadmin [at] telx.com, sfbay [at] indymedia.org, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org
Subject: [PL-182025] Unauthorized Material on your website: indybay.org / 192.235.78.70
Date: 6/25/14
Hello,
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
We have discovered that your web site, http://www.indybay.org , is hosting material (PDF file) that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization.
Link to content:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
IP: 192.235.78.70
We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible.
If you believe we have contacted you in error, or if we can provide any assistance with this incident, please contact us and let us know.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter.
Regards,
Marnie King
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: sfbay [at] indymedia.org, ipadmin [at] telx.com, namehost [at] worldnic.com, tie [at] telx.com, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org, abuse [at] telx.com
Subject: [PL-182025] Phishing hosted on http://www.indybay.org
Date: 6/27/14
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
A site containing unauthorized material was found to be operating on your network and displaying Wells Fargo material:
192.235.78.70 - j0.ramona.indybay.org
hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
If possible, please provide the following information to assist our investigation:
- Web server and FTP server log files for the past several days
- Copies of all phishing files, hack tools, or other hacker files
Finally, we kindly request that you disable or remove the site as soon as possible.
If we have contacted you in error, or there is a better way for us to report this incident, please let us know.
Thank you for your assistance,
Israel Perez
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
* "Well's Fargo manual shows common use of forging foreclosure documents" [link].
* Wells-Fargo Foreclosure Manual (Pub. 2011-11-09, current 2012) [link]
A note about the following story: Well's Fargo has hired PhishLabs to harrass Indybay.org and demand that the Well's Fargo document be taken down from their website. PhishLabs does not cite any apparent legal violation cited in Phishlabs' emails. They just say that it's an "unauthorized" posting.
---
"Wells Fargo Wants Indybay.org Disabled As Soon As Possible"2014-06-28 by Throwing Stones for "Indybay.org" [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/28/18757993.php?show_comments=1#comments]:
"A peaceful place or so it looks from space, A closer look reveals the human race." - Grateful Dead, Throwing Stones
Wells Fargo, a client of PhishLabs Security Operations, wants the “Wells Fargo foreclosure manual” removed from Indybay.org as soon as possible [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/22/18752950.php].
On March 12, 2014, the New York Post reported [http://nypost.com/2014/03/12/wells-fargo-made-up-on-demand-foreclosure-papers-plan-court-filing-charges/], "Wells Fargo, the nation’s biggest mortgage servicer, appears to have set up detailed internal procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand, according to allegations in papers filed Tuesday in a New York federal court."
On March 17, 2014, The Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual-under-fire/2014/03/17/25cd383c-ae00-11e3-96dc-d6ea14c099f9_story.html] published Wells Fargo's 150-page manual to attorneys for fabricating foreclosure papers [http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/business/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual/879/]. The Post states, "Wells Fargo created an elaborate guide for how to produce missing documents to foreclose on homeowners, according to a lawsuit that has caught the attention of state and federal regulators."
The Wells Fargo manual is marked as "Foreclosure Attorney Procedures Manual – internal use only. This is intended only for privileged confidential use." The manual instructs Wells Fargo lawyers how to process foreclosures when a key document, known as an endorsement, is missing.
On March 21, 2014, Linda Tirelli, an attorney representing clients being foreclosed on by Wells Fargo, was interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan González for Democracy Now! [http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/21/as_wells_fargo_is_accused_of]. During the interview, Tirelli described the manual:
"[I]t’s actually entitled the 'Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney [Procedure] Manual, Version 1.' And it says on it that it’s last published 2/24/2012. Mind you, the national mortgage settlement agreement was announced a week prior, on 2/19/2012.
"The way I obtained it, it was actually sitting right there on the Internet, of all things. A colleague of mine, through a Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy Boot Camp, which I am a member, an active member, gave it to me and said, 'Hey, I found this online, and I know you’re doing a lot of Wells Fargo cases. Maybe you can use this.'
"Reading it, my jaw just dropped. As I see it, it’s clearly outlining procedures, not just for the $12-an-hour robo-signers that we’ve heard about all these years, but for the lawyers, who need to be held accountable to a much higher degree. It’s the manual for the lawyers to actually fabricate documents, as I see it, and request that documents that are lacking be fabricated by Wells Fargo. It’s absolutely appalling."
On March 22, 2014, Wells Fargo's manual for fabricating foreclosure papers was published on Indybay.org by IndyRadio in a post titled, "Wells Fargo instructions for fabricating foreclosure documents" [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/22/18752950.php].
On June 12, 2014, Eric George of PhishLabs Security Operations contacted the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay) and recorded a voice message. In the message, George states that Wells Fargo is a client of PhishLabs, and that "wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf [https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf] needs to be removed as soon as possible."
After recording a voice message, Eric George of PhishLabs emailed Indybay on June 12, 2014, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."
On June 25, 2014, Marnie King of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as the Telx data center, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material (PDF file) that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."
On June 27, 2014, Israel Perez of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as Telx and domain name provider worldnic.com (Network Solutions), and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. A site containing unauthorized material was found to be operating on your network and displaying Wells Fargo material.
"If possible, please provide the following information to assist our investigation:
"- Web server and FTP server log files for the past several days
- Copies of all phishing files, hack tools, or other hacker files
"Finally, we kindly request that you disable or remove the site as soon as possible."
As of June 28, 2014, there are no updates to report.
Voice Message (+1 304 951 0269) from PhishLabs Security Operations to Indybay.org, 2014-06-12:
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: sfbay [at] indymedia.org, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org
Subject: [PL-182025] Confidential material on your site - hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
Date: 6/12/14
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
We have discovered that your web site, http://www.indybay.org , is hosting material that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization.
hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible.
If you believe we have contacted you in error, or if we can provide any assistance with this incident, please contact us and let us know.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter,
Eric George
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: abuse [at] telx.com, ipadmin [at] telx.com, sfbay [at] indymedia.org, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org
Subject: [PL-182025] Unauthorized Material on your website: indybay.org / 192.235.78.70
Date: 6/25/14
Hello,
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
We have discovered that your web site, http://www.indybay.org , is hosting material (PDF file) that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization.
Link to content:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
IP: 192.235.78.70
We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible.
If you believe we have contacted you in error, or if we can provide any assistance with this incident, please contact us and let us know.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter.
Regards,
Marnie King
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
---
From: soc [at] phishlabs.com
To: sfbay [at] indymedia.org, ipadmin [at] telx.com, namehost [at] worldnic.com, tie [at] telx.com, sfbay-web [at] lists.indymedia.org, abuse [at] telx.com
Subject: [PL-182025] Phishing hosted on http://www.indybay.org
Date: 6/27/14
Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies.
A site containing unauthorized material was found to be operating on your network and displaying Wells Fargo material:
192.235.78.70 - j0.ramona.indybay.org
hXXp://http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/03/22/wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf
If possible, please provide the following information to assist our investigation:
- Web server and FTP server log files for the past several days
- Copies of all phishing files, hack tools, or other hacker files
Finally, we kindly request that you disable or remove the site as soon as possible.
If we have contacted you in error, or there is a better way for us to report this incident, please let us know.
Thank you for your assistance,
Israel Perez
PhishLabs Security Operations
soc [at] phishlabs.com
+1.202.386.6001
http://www.phishlabs.com/
Friday, June 27, 2014
"Diverse Groups Fly Airship Over NSA’s Utah Data Center to Protest Illegal Spying"
Flight Promotes StandAgainstSpying.org, New Site Calling on Congress to Act
2014-06-27 from "Electronic Frontier Foundation" [https://www.eff.org/press/releases/diverse-groups-fly-airship-over-nsas-utah-data-center-protest-illegal-internet-spying]:
Bluffdale, UT - The environmental campaigning group Greenpeace, digital rights watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) joined forces today to fly an airship over the NSA's data center in Utah to protest the government's illegal mass surveillance program.
Greenpeace flew its 135-foot-long thermal airship over the Bluffdale, UT, data center early Friday morning, carrying the message: "NSA Illegal Spying Below" along with a link steering people to a new web site, StandAgainstSpying.org, which the three groups launched with the support of a separate, diverse coalition of over 20 grassroots advocacy groups and Internet companies. The site grades members of Congress on what they have done, or often not done, to rein in the NSA.
"Rights rise or fall together," Greenpeace Senior IT Campaigner Gary Cook said. "Greenpeace has learned firsthand that people cannot protect their right to clean air and water if our civil rights – including the right to free association and the right to be free of unreasonable searches – are stripped away."
"The public needs to be brought into the Congressional debate around surveillance reform happening right now," EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman said. "We're flying an airship over the Utah data center, which has come to symbolize the NSA's collect-it-all approach to surveillance, and demanding an end to the mass spying. It's time for bold action in defense of our privacy."
"Our right to privacy is not a partisan issue. It's a human rights issue," said Michael Boldin, executive director and founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. "This coalition gives great hope for the future because it shows that people across the political spectrum can set aside differences to work together for common cause."
Greenpeace is a co-plaintiff on a lawsuit filed against the NSA by a broad coalition of membership and political advocacy organizations, represented by EFF, for violating their First Amendment right of association by illegally collecting their call records.
2014-06-27 from "Electronic Frontier Foundation" [https://www.eff.org/press/releases/diverse-groups-fly-airship-over-nsas-utah-data-center-protest-illegal-internet-spying]:
Bluffdale, UT - The environmental campaigning group Greenpeace, digital rights watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) joined forces today to fly an airship over the NSA's data center in Utah to protest the government's illegal mass surveillance program.
Greenpeace flew its 135-foot-long thermal airship over the Bluffdale, UT, data center early Friday morning, carrying the message: "NSA Illegal Spying Below" along with a link steering people to a new web site, StandAgainstSpying.org, which the three groups launched with the support of a separate, diverse coalition of over 20 grassroots advocacy groups and Internet companies. The site grades members of Congress on what they have done, or often not done, to rein in the NSA.
"Rights rise or fall together," Greenpeace Senior IT Campaigner Gary Cook said. "Greenpeace has learned firsthand that people cannot protect their right to clean air and water if our civil rights – including the right to free association and the right to be free of unreasonable searches – are stripped away."
"The public needs to be brought into the Congressional debate around surveillance reform happening right now," EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman said. "We're flying an airship over the Utah data center, which has come to symbolize the NSA's collect-it-all approach to surveillance, and demanding an end to the mass spying. It's time for bold action in defense of our privacy."
"Our right to privacy is not a partisan issue. It's a human rights issue," said Michael Boldin, executive director and founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. "This coalition gives great hope for the future because it shows that people across the political spectrum can set aside differences to work together for common cause."
Greenpeace is a co-plaintiff on a lawsuit filed against the NSA by a broad coalition of membership and political advocacy organizations, represented by EFF, for violating their First Amendment right of association by illegally collecting their call records.
Oakland: "School District Wants to Sell School Property to Build Apartments"
2014-06-27 text and photo by Ken Epstein from "Post News Group" [http://blog.oaklandxings.com/2014/06/school-district-wants-sell-school-property-build-apartments/]:
“We are not surplus,” said teachers and communit members who went to the Oakland school district’s surplus facilities committee meeting Monday night.
Some teachers and community members are promising to fight an Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) plan to sell the site of Dewey Academy at East 12th and Second Avenue to developers to build a high-rise apartment complex.
“Dewey does not need to be relocated for condos,” said Erica Bryant, a Dewey teacher who spoke Monday evening at the meeting of the “7-11” surplus facilities committee the district set up to advise it on the sale of the property.
The school district wants to sell Dewey to raise money to build a new administration building. The district is also offering a long-term lease to developers for the joint use of three acres occupied by the decrepit Paul Robeson Administration building at 1025 Second Ave., which has been vacant since January 2013 as a result of water damage.
A local developer, Urban Core Integral, has already made an offer to OUSD for the Dewey site and the rest of the property.
The City of Oakland has an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with Urban Core to build a 24-story apartment building on a city parcel by Lake Merritt and next door to Dewey.
Under the leadership of interim Supt. Gary Yee, the development plan is on a fast track. As required by state law for public property sales, the district in May established the 7-11 surplus facility committee.
A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to seek proposals from developers was issued this week. The deadline for proposals is Aug. 15, and the Board of Education is scheduled to rule on the final proposal on Sept. 24.
Dewey Academy is a continuation high school in Oakland, which for many years has created a nurturing environment where students with academic difficulties – mostly students of color – have a second chance to earn a high school diploma. This year, the school graduated over 130 students.
The district is promising that Dewey’s move will be temporary, offering space at closed schools at Lakeview Elementary or Santa Fe Elementary and at Fremont High. A new school will eventually be built downtown next to a new administration building, said Supt. Yee.
But opponents say these offers are insensitive to the dangers to young people from one part of Oakland traveling to another part of the city that is claimed by a street gang. The opponents also say the move would disrupt the education of students who may already have a history of truancy or other academic difficulties.
Wary that district commitments might not be honored, the school’s supporters note that Supt. Yee is interim and about to be replaced by a newly hired superintendent, Antwan Wilson from Denver.
Words like “’surplus are code words for land grabs and displacement. You guys are in for a fight,” said George Galvis, speaking Monday at the 7-11 committee.
Galvis operates an afterschool program at Dewey and heads an Oakland nonprofit, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ).
“As a child I already understand all this. These are human beings. This is their education, not just some cell phone you can replace,” said 9-year-old Ayacaxtli, Galvis’ daughter.
Dewey teacher Erica Bryant in an interview with the Post also expressed her reservations that the move would be temporary. People at the school have heard they will have to move before the 2015-2016 school year begins.
“It’s one of my fears, that once we’re out of that space, we’re not going to be able to go back to Dewey. Our goal is to make sure that we can stay where we are,” she said.
Speaking after the meeting Monday, Supt. Yee said the district is under time constraints to sell property and find a new location for its administration building because insurance is currently paying for a temporary district headquarters in an office building at 11th and Broadway in downtown Oakland.
“We only have 25 months before we have to move,” Yee said.
To raise the money for a new headquarters, the district must examine all the options that are submitted by developers and come to a decision, he said.
“It is really incumbent on me to move forward and provide to the board the options that we have to restore the administrative structure and provide adequate space for our children,” said Yee.
According to city staff, the high rise next to Dewey has not yet been approved. Urban Core Integral has signed an ENA, which means the company still must seek state environmental approvals for the project. The process, including another public hearing, could take until December.
A completed proposal will still have to be approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Courtesy of the Oakland Post, June 27, 2014 (postnewsgroup.com)
“We are not surplus,” said teachers and communit members who went to the Oakland school district’s surplus facilities committee meeting Monday night.
Some teachers and community members are promising to fight an Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) plan to sell the site of Dewey Academy at East 12th and Second Avenue to developers to build a high-rise apartment complex.
“Dewey does not need to be relocated for condos,” said Erica Bryant, a Dewey teacher who spoke Monday evening at the meeting of the “7-11” surplus facilities committee the district set up to advise it on the sale of the property.
The school district wants to sell Dewey to raise money to build a new administration building. The district is also offering a long-term lease to developers for the joint use of three acres occupied by the decrepit Paul Robeson Administration building at 1025 Second Ave., which has been vacant since January 2013 as a result of water damage.
A local developer, Urban Core Integral, has already made an offer to OUSD for the Dewey site and the rest of the property.
The City of Oakland has an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with Urban Core to build a 24-story apartment building on a city parcel by Lake Merritt and next door to Dewey.
Under the leadership of interim Supt. Gary Yee, the development plan is on a fast track. As required by state law for public property sales, the district in May established the 7-11 surplus facility committee.
A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to seek proposals from developers was issued this week. The deadline for proposals is Aug. 15, and the Board of Education is scheduled to rule on the final proposal on Sept. 24.
Dewey Academy is a continuation high school in Oakland, which for many years has created a nurturing environment where students with academic difficulties – mostly students of color – have a second chance to earn a high school diploma. This year, the school graduated over 130 students.
The district is promising that Dewey’s move will be temporary, offering space at closed schools at Lakeview Elementary or Santa Fe Elementary and at Fremont High. A new school will eventually be built downtown next to a new administration building, said Supt. Yee.
But opponents say these offers are insensitive to the dangers to young people from one part of Oakland traveling to another part of the city that is claimed by a street gang. The opponents also say the move would disrupt the education of students who may already have a history of truancy or other academic difficulties.
Wary that district commitments might not be honored, the school’s supporters note that Supt. Yee is interim and about to be replaced by a newly hired superintendent, Antwan Wilson from Denver.
Words like “’surplus are code words for land grabs and displacement. You guys are in for a fight,” said George Galvis, speaking Monday at the 7-11 committee.
Galvis operates an afterschool program at Dewey and heads an Oakland nonprofit, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ).
“As a child I already understand all this. These are human beings. This is their education, not just some cell phone you can replace,” said 9-year-old Ayacaxtli, Galvis’ daughter.
Dewey teacher Erica Bryant in an interview with the Post also expressed her reservations that the move would be temporary. People at the school have heard they will have to move before the 2015-2016 school year begins.
“It’s one of my fears, that once we’re out of that space, we’re not going to be able to go back to Dewey. Our goal is to make sure that we can stay where we are,” she said.
Speaking after the meeting Monday, Supt. Yee said the district is under time constraints to sell property and find a new location for its administration building because insurance is currently paying for a temporary district headquarters in an office building at 11th and Broadway in downtown Oakland.
“We only have 25 months before we have to move,” Yee said.
To raise the money for a new headquarters, the district must examine all the options that are submitted by developers and come to a decision, he said.
“It is really incumbent on me to move forward and provide to the board the options that we have to restore the administrative structure and provide adequate space for our children,” said Yee.
According to city staff, the high rise next to Dewey has not yet been approved. Urban Core Integral has signed an ENA, which means the company still must seek state environmental approvals for the project. The process, including another public hearing, could take until December.
A completed proposal will still have to be approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Courtesy of the Oakland Post, June 27, 2014 (postnewsgroup.com)
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Bay Area Robin Hoods Steal from the Government to Give to the Solidarity Economy
2014-06-26 by David Gross [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/26/18757923.php]:
David M. Gross, an American tax resister, is the author of 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns (2014) [http://sniggle.net/99Tactics/].
---
Local war tax resisters are redirecting their taxes to help the solidarity economy grow and thrive.
In mid-April, people across the United States struggle to fill out their federal income tax returns. This shared calamity has created something of an inverted holiday season — with grumbling about paperwork and frustration towards government bureaucracy replacing the “peace on earth, goodwill to men” of the Yuletide.
But at a church in Berkeley, California, this past April, people were handing over their taxes with a smile. They were members of the group Northern California War Tax Resistance [http://nowartax.org/], and they were smiling because their checks — averaging more than $1,000 (more than €800) apiece — were not made out to the federal government, but to twenty-seven local groups including the Bay Area Community Land Trust [http://bayareaclt.net/BACLT/Home.html], the Berkeley Food Pantry [http://berkeleyfoodpantry.vpweb.com/], the Biketopia Community Workshop [http://www.biketopiaberkeley.org/], Oakland Sustaining Ourselves Locally [http://oaklandsol.weebly.com/], People’s Community Medics [http://www.peoplescommunitymedics.org/], and the Sustainable Economies Law Center [http://www.theselc.org/].
The money came from a war tax resisters’ “alternative fund” called the “People’s Life Fund” [http://nowartax.org/People%27s%20Life%20Fund.html] — one of more than a dozen such funds in the United States [http://nwtrcc.org/redirection.php]. The Fund’s annual mid-April “granting ceremony” brought together representatives from each of the recipient groups, who accepted their checks and briefly summarized their work for the benefit of the other attendees.
The People’s Life Fund (like most other such funds) accepts deposits from war tax resisters of the money they are refusing to pay to the government. The fund holds the money in alternative financial institutions like credit unions and socially-responsible investments. If the government manages to seize the resisted taxes from the resister, he or she can reclaim the money from the Fund. Meanwhile, any investment returns from the deposits are distributed to local groups in these annual granting ceremonies.
“Redirection” has a long history in American war tax resistance. American war tax resister Bill Ramsey says it reminds him of Gandhi’s “constructive programme” with which the commander of the Indian resistance movement worked to strengthen grassroots Indian institutions at the same time he was trying to weaken British imperialist ones [http://www.nwtrcc.org/redirection-2013.php]:
The spinning wheel was the center of Gandhi’s constructive program. Redirection is the war tax resistance movement’s spinning wheel. The “constructive program” is positive action that builds structures, systems, and processes alongside the obstructive program of direct confrontation to or noncooperation with oppression. When we redirect our war taxes, we invest in imaginative and positive projects in our communities and around the world.
At first, redirection was largely practiced by individuals, and in an ad hoc manner. For example, in 1968, war tax resister Irving Hogan stood outside the Federal Building in San Francisco and redirected his federal income tax dollars one at a time by handing them out to passers by. “I want this money to be used for the delight, not the destruction, of men,” he said. “Here: go buy yourself a beer.” But today redirection is frequently coordinated by local or national war tax resistance groups.
Some have used redirection to strengthen the anti-war movement. One group used its alternative fund to create a scholarship for college students who had been barred from government financial aid because they refused to register for the military draft. Another made an interest-free loan to a legal defense group that was supporting a group of military draft resisters who were on trial.
Traditional charity and relief organizations have also been recipients of redirected taxes. In 2008, a national effort called the “War Tax Boycott” redirected $325,000 (approximately €235,000) in federal taxes from the U.S. Treasury to two organizations: a health clinic in New Orleans struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and Direct Aid Iraq, which provided medical care to refugees from the American war.
War tax resisters aren’t just redirecting their money. Many American war tax resisters resist by deliberately lowering their income below the level where the federal income tax applies. They do this by working fewer hours of paid employment and by simplifying their lives so that they can live on less money. Such resisters no longer have an amount of income tax to redirect, but they can redirect their time instead. One low-income resister, Clare Hanrahan, wrote: “I believe that redirection of time and presence provides a personal and potent contribution to the common good, a gift of self that has more dimensions than money alone. I redirect each time I give my time and energy in support of good work within my community.”
In recent years more ties have developed between American war tax resisters and the grassroots or “solidarity economy” — a model that is currently being spearheaded by Spain’s “comprehensive disobedience” (desobediencia integral) movement [http://www.derechoderebelion.net/]. National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) [http://nwtrcc.org/] made “economic disobedience” the theme of its last national gathering [http://www.nwtrcc.org/mtap13/mtap1213.php#nyc], and had fruitful exchanges there with the debt resistance group Strike Debt! [http://strikedebt.org/] which has since incorporated a chapter on resisting “tax debt” [http://strikedebt.org/drom/chapter-six/] into its Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual [http://strikedebt.org/drom/].
When Erica Weiland of NWTRCC delivered the keynote address at a recent “economic disobedience” conference in Eugene, Oregon, she said: [begin quote]
When we heard about this work in Spain, it was clear to us that war tax resistance is economic disobedience, the refusal to cooperate in an economic system that is built on war, militarism, and the perpetuation of human suffering. It was also clear to us that a variety of movements that also practice economic disobedience are allied with us in this struggle. When people refuse to pay debts to ruthless debt collectors, resist foreclosure, set up bartering networks that don’t report bartering as income, set up gift economies that avoid the IRS bartering regulations, organize lending circles for low-income borrowers, counsel high school students on alternatives to military service, squat abandoned houses, organize tent cities for the homeless regardless of bureaucratic and inhumane regulations, and struggle against corrupt landlords and employers, we are engaging in economic disobedience. The economic system we live under is not set up to support us, so we should withdraw our support from the system whenever feasible.
[end quote]
American war tax resisters are withdrawing from the warfare state and the economic model it enforces and are committing themselves with all of their strength and all of their resources to the creation of a more just system in which we can live with dignity. In doing so, they are blazing the trail that leads to this better world we all yearn for.
David M. Gross, an American tax resister, is the author of 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns (2014) [http://sniggle.net/99Tactics/].
---
Local war tax resisters are redirecting their taxes to help the solidarity economy grow and thrive.
In mid-April, people across the United States struggle to fill out their federal income tax returns. This shared calamity has created something of an inverted holiday season — with grumbling about paperwork and frustration towards government bureaucracy replacing the “peace on earth, goodwill to men” of the Yuletide.
But at a church in Berkeley, California, this past April, people were handing over their taxes with a smile. They were members of the group Northern California War Tax Resistance [http://nowartax.org/], and they were smiling because their checks — averaging more than $1,000 (more than €800) apiece — were not made out to the federal government, but to twenty-seven local groups including the Bay Area Community Land Trust [http://bayareaclt.net/BACLT/Home.html], the Berkeley Food Pantry [http://berkeleyfoodpantry.vpweb.com/], the Biketopia Community Workshop [http://www.biketopiaberkeley.org/], Oakland Sustaining Ourselves Locally [http://oaklandsol.weebly.com/], People’s Community Medics [http://www.peoplescommunitymedics.org/], and the Sustainable Economies Law Center [http://www.theselc.org/].
The money came from a war tax resisters’ “alternative fund” called the “People’s Life Fund” [http://nowartax.org/People%27s%20Life%20Fund.html] — one of more than a dozen such funds in the United States [http://nwtrcc.org/redirection.php]. The Fund’s annual mid-April “granting ceremony” brought together representatives from each of the recipient groups, who accepted their checks and briefly summarized their work for the benefit of the other attendees.
The People’s Life Fund (like most other such funds) accepts deposits from war tax resisters of the money they are refusing to pay to the government. The fund holds the money in alternative financial institutions like credit unions and socially-responsible investments. If the government manages to seize the resisted taxes from the resister, he or she can reclaim the money from the Fund. Meanwhile, any investment returns from the deposits are distributed to local groups in these annual granting ceremonies.
“Redirection” has a long history in American war tax resistance. American war tax resister Bill Ramsey says it reminds him of Gandhi’s “constructive programme” with which the commander of the Indian resistance movement worked to strengthen grassroots Indian institutions at the same time he was trying to weaken British imperialist ones [http://www.nwtrcc.org/redirection-2013.php]:
The spinning wheel was the center of Gandhi’s constructive program. Redirection is the war tax resistance movement’s spinning wheel. The “constructive program” is positive action that builds structures, systems, and processes alongside the obstructive program of direct confrontation to or noncooperation with oppression. When we redirect our war taxes, we invest in imaginative and positive projects in our communities and around the world.
At first, redirection was largely practiced by individuals, and in an ad hoc manner. For example, in 1968, war tax resister Irving Hogan stood outside the Federal Building in San Francisco and redirected his federal income tax dollars one at a time by handing them out to passers by. “I want this money to be used for the delight, not the destruction, of men,” he said. “Here: go buy yourself a beer.” But today redirection is frequently coordinated by local or national war tax resistance groups.
Some have used redirection to strengthen the anti-war movement. One group used its alternative fund to create a scholarship for college students who had been barred from government financial aid because they refused to register for the military draft. Another made an interest-free loan to a legal defense group that was supporting a group of military draft resisters who were on trial.
Traditional charity and relief organizations have also been recipients of redirected taxes. In 2008, a national effort called the “War Tax Boycott” redirected $325,000 (approximately €235,000) in federal taxes from the U.S. Treasury to two organizations: a health clinic in New Orleans struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and Direct Aid Iraq, which provided medical care to refugees from the American war.
War tax resisters aren’t just redirecting their money. Many American war tax resisters resist by deliberately lowering their income below the level where the federal income tax applies. They do this by working fewer hours of paid employment and by simplifying their lives so that they can live on less money. Such resisters no longer have an amount of income tax to redirect, but they can redirect their time instead. One low-income resister, Clare Hanrahan, wrote: “I believe that redirection of time and presence provides a personal and potent contribution to the common good, a gift of self that has more dimensions than money alone. I redirect each time I give my time and energy in support of good work within my community.”
In recent years more ties have developed between American war tax resisters and the grassroots or “solidarity economy” — a model that is currently being spearheaded by Spain’s “comprehensive disobedience” (desobediencia integral) movement [http://www.derechoderebelion.net/]. National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) [http://nwtrcc.org/] made “economic disobedience” the theme of its last national gathering [http://www.nwtrcc.org/mtap13/mtap1213.php#nyc], and had fruitful exchanges there with the debt resistance group Strike Debt! [http://strikedebt.org/] which has since incorporated a chapter on resisting “tax debt” [http://strikedebt.org/drom/chapter-six/] into its Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual [http://strikedebt.org/drom/].
When Erica Weiland of NWTRCC delivered the keynote address at a recent “economic disobedience” conference in Eugene, Oregon, she said: [begin quote]
When we heard about this work in Spain, it was clear to us that war tax resistance is economic disobedience, the refusal to cooperate in an economic system that is built on war, militarism, and the perpetuation of human suffering. It was also clear to us that a variety of movements that also practice economic disobedience are allied with us in this struggle. When people refuse to pay debts to ruthless debt collectors, resist foreclosure, set up bartering networks that don’t report bartering as income, set up gift economies that avoid the IRS bartering regulations, organize lending circles for low-income borrowers, counsel high school students on alternatives to military service, squat abandoned houses, organize tent cities for the homeless regardless of bureaucratic and inhumane regulations, and struggle against corrupt landlords and employers, we are engaging in economic disobedience. The economic system we live under is not set up to support us, so we should withdraw our support from the system whenever feasible.
[end quote]
American war tax resisters are withdrawing from the warfare state and the economic model it enforces and are committing themselves with all of their strength and all of their resources to the creation of a more just system in which we can live with dignity. In doing so, they are blazing the trail that leads to this better world we all yearn for.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
"Pirate Radio Station for $55 Could Help Decentralize Big-Telecom"
2014-06-24 by Tony Cartalucci for [http://localorg.blogspot.com/2014/06/pirate-radio-station-for-55-could-help.html]:
Make Magazine recently featured a tutorial on constructing a FM pirate radio transmitter using a Raspberry Pi board [http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberry-pirate-radio/]. Raspberry Pis are single board computers that go for about $55 [http://raspberrypi.rsdelivers.com/default.aspx?cl=1], and are regularly used as the centerpiece for a wide variety of projects ranging from art installations to automation and everything in between [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi].
The FM transmitter will broadcast stored media within a limited range to any FM radio receiver nearby. It is a versatile proof of concept that can be used as is to "cover your home, DIY drive-in movie, a high school ball game, or even a bike parade." In the comment sections below the entry, readers could already be seen expanding the parameters of the project to add more options and increase its utility.
Pirate Radio & Decentralizing Big-Telecom -
As reported before [http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decentralizing-telecom.html], while open source software and hardware, as well as innovative business models built around collaboration and crowd-sourcing have done much to build a paradigm independent of current centralized proprietary business models, large centralized corporations and the governments that do their bidding, still guard all the doors and carry all the keys. The Internet, the phone networks, radio waves, and satellite systems still remain firmly in the hands of big business. As long as they do, they retain the ability to not only reassert themselves in areas where gains have been made against them, but can impose preemptive measures to prevent any future progress.
(Image: Project Byzantium creates a local "mesh" network - a personal Internet that circumvents NSA surveillance and big-business rules and regulations.)
With the advent of hackerspaces, increasingly we see projects that hold the potential of replacing, at least on a local level, much of the centralized infrastructure we take for granted - that is until disasters or greed-driven rules and regulations upset the balance. It is with the further developing of our local infrastructure that we can leave behind perpetual activism that reacts to provocations from big-business and their control over telecom infrastructure and enjoy a permanently altered telecommunications landscape that favors our peace and prosperity.
In this way, accessible pirate radio transmitters built from Raspberry Pi boards can join projects like PirateBox, Project Byzantium, Serval, and other tools to create local communication networks. While PirateBox and Project Byzantium create localized Internets and Serval connects mobile phones without the need for network coverage, pirate radio stations create localized radio content that can be used to connect us to our neighbors and greater community for entertainment and useful information - and help during dire emergencies when centralized infrastructure fails.
While many appear frozen in perpetual fear of Internet "kill switches," the growing surveillance state, and a creeping Orwellian control grid, others are building alternatives that circumvent, undermine, and will eventually replace the increasingly unappealing nature of big-telecom. Indeed "kill switches" and invasive surveillance are problems, which is precisely why communities must unite and build alternatives that eliminate dependency on compromised infrastructure in the first place.
What to Do Now...
For those interested in tackling this project, if you are interested in it but feel you do not have the technical competence to do it, find your local hackerspace and ask for help. It is probably a project they have either done already, or would be interested in doing, and they most likely have a Raspberry Pi board to work with lying around.
While a single pirate radio transmitter will not change the tide in the information war, each small step taken moves people forward, together in much greater strides. The demonstrated ability to create cheap radio transmitters with open source hardware and broadcast media across a given local range has great implications. There is no single solution to solving the problem, and no single problem has created the paradigms we find increasingly unacceptable today. But solutions like this are another step toward decentralizing big-telecom and putting technology long the monopoly of a handful of special interests into the hands of everyone else. What we do with that power and if it can be used to help build a better tomorrow is entirely up to us.
Make Magazine recently featured a tutorial on constructing a FM pirate radio transmitter using a Raspberry Pi board [http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberry-pirate-radio/]. Raspberry Pis are single board computers that go for about $55 [http://raspberrypi.rsdelivers.com/default.aspx?cl=1], and are regularly used as the centerpiece for a wide variety of projects ranging from art installations to automation and everything in between [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi].
The FM transmitter will broadcast stored media within a limited range to any FM radio receiver nearby. It is a versatile proof of concept that can be used as is to "cover your home, DIY drive-in movie, a high school ball game, or even a bike parade." In the comment sections below the entry, readers could already be seen expanding the parameters of the project to add more options and increase its utility.
Pirate Radio & Decentralizing Big-Telecom -
As reported before [http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decentralizing-telecom.html], while open source software and hardware, as well as innovative business models built around collaboration and crowd-sourcing have done much to build a paradigm independent of current centralized proprietary business models, large centralized corporations and the governments that do their bidding, still guard all the doors and carry all the keys. The Internet, the phone networks, radio waves, and satellite systems still remain firmly in the hands of big business. As long as they do, they retain the ability to not only reassert themselves in areas where gains have been made against them, but can impose preemptive measures to prevent any future progress.
(Image: Project Byzantium creates a local "mesh" network - a personal Internet that circumvents NSA surveillance and big-business rules and regulations.)
With the advent of hackerspaces, increasingly we see projects that hold the potential of replacing, at least on a local level, much of the centralized infrastructure we take for granted - that is until disasters or greed-driven rules and regulations upset the balance. It is with the further developing of our local infrastructure that we can leave behind perpetual activism that reacts to provocations from big-business and their control over telecom infrastructure and enjoy a permanently altered telecommunications landscape that favors our peace and prosperity.
In this way, accessible pirate radio transmitters built from Raspberry Pi boards can join projects like PirateBox, Project Byzantium, Serval, and other tools to create local communication networks. While PirateBox and Project Byzantium create localized Internets and Serval connects mobile phones without the need for network coverage, pirate radio stations create localized radio content that can be used to connect us to our neighbors and greater community for entertainment and useful information - and help during dire emergencies when centralized infrastructure fails.
While many appear frozen in perpetual fear of Internet "kill switches," the growing surveillance state, and a creeping Orwellian control grid, others are building alternatives that circumvent, undermine, and will eventually replace the increasingly unappealing nature of big-telecom. Indeed "kill switches" and invasive surveillance are problems, which is precisely why communities must unite and build alternatives that eliminate dependency on compromised infrastructure in the first place.
What to Do Now...
For those interested in tackling this project, if you are interested in it but feel you do not have the technical competence to do it, find your local hackerspace and ask for help. It is probably a project they have either done already, or would be interested in doing, and they most likely have a Raspberry Pi board to work with lying around.
While a single pirate radio transmitter will not change the tide in the information war, each small step taken moves people forward, together in much greater strides. The demonstrated ability to create cheap radio transmitters with open source hardware and broadcast media across a given local range has great implications. There is no single solution to solving the problem, and no single problem has created the paradigms we find increasingly unacceptable today. But solutions like this are another step toward decentralizing big-telecom and putting technology long the monopoly of a handful of special interests into the hands of everyone else. What we do with that power and if it can be used to help build a better tomorrow is entirely up to us.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
June 5th and 12th, 2014, Northbay Uprising radio news
Tune in Thursdays 4 to 5pm (PST), with our online webstream [link], and in the San Pablo Bay Area at 89.5FM KZCT [link]. Hosted by Dr.G., Minister of Information of the Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society, with a California-wide network of journalists, organizers, and entertainers, breaking the blockade of censorship, with research archives and verified sources! View past headlines [link]. Join the Community Journalist program, send news & info to [NorthbayMDS@gmail.com]. Know more with the Community Journalist's Notebook [link]!
The managers of 89.5FM KZCT, their associates, and sponsors, are not to be held liable for the information and commentary provided by the Northbay Uprising Radio News, produced by the Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society, as a non-partisan research and education project.
ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees.
#resetthenet
* What Next In The Campaign To Save The Internet? [www.popularresistance.org/what-next-in-the-campaign-to-save-the-internet/]
* "Participatory Totalitarianism: We are not passive objects of the surveillance state. We are active subjects of our own YouTube channels" [link]
* Fascist populist organizations, funded by telecommunication corporations and their allies, advocate for complete private control over internet [link]
* Fight for the Future [www.fightforthefuture.org]
"June 5th - The One Year Anniversary of 1984"
On June 5th, hundreds of thousands of global citizens took their online safety and security into their own hands. You can too, with this privacy pack, a bunch of options to make it just a little harder for your data to be scooped. [https://pack.resetthenet.org/]
---
2014-06-05 message from the "Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)":
Protect your Digital Freedom, join the Tor Challenge [www.EFF.org/torchallenge]!
Read about 65 Things We Know About NSA Surveillance That We Didn’t Know a Year Ago [EFF.org/deeplinks/2014/06/65-65-things-we-know-about-nsa-surveillance-we-didnt-know-year-ago].
Resetting the Net. Our campaign is part of a larger movement of digital rights activists across the world working to make surveillance more difficult. It’s called Reset the Net. Check out the website to learn more about the project [ResetTheNet.tumblr.com].
Democratic activists, whistleblowers, and journalists all over the world rely on Tor to shield their identities when they use the Internet. It’s software that helps Internet users protect their anonymity and circumvent censorship. When you use Tor, your real IP address remains hidden from the sites you visit—and anybody else who might be eavesdropping.
Tor is strong code. It’s one of the few technologies reported to thwart the National Security Agency's passive surveillance practices. But Tor can only exist because of an international network of volunteers running relays.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Tor Project, the Free Software Foundation, and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have lauunched a joint campaign to encourage Internet users all over the world to support the Tor network by operating relays.
We need volunteers. The more Tor relays we have running, the faster and more secure the Tor network becomes. Want to help out? Join us.
The Tor network is actively under attack. Documents released by Edward Snowden show that government agencies are spending lots of time and money trying to find ways to hack or get around Tor. From what we've seen, the NSA techniques revealed in those documents are unable to defeat the underlying structure of the network. Instead, the documents show that agencies have been forced to turn to other incidental vulnerabilities to entrap Tor users, for example by exploiting bugs in browsers and other software.
Tor remains a powerful tool against surveillance by the NSA and other government agencies. But it can only be that strong if there is a diverse, committed network of volunteers donating bandwidth to the network. Please join us in creating that future for Tor.
How to get involved with The Tor Project:
* We’ve created a detailed legal FAQ about Tor [EFF.org/torchallenge/faq.html]
* How to set up a Tor relay [TorProject.org/docs/tor-doc-relay.html.en].
* Once you’re running a Tor relay, register your relay on our campaign page.
Already running a Tor relay? This is a great moment to increase the bandwidth of your relay. Existing relays can participate by adding at least 128 KB/s to your RelayBandwidthRate and RelayBandwidthBurst, and registering on our site.
Not ready to run a Tor relay? That’s OK. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has suggestions for other ways to help support Tor [PressFreedomFoundation.org/blog/2014/06/cant-run-relay-here-are-some-other-ways-you-can-support-tor-challenge].
---
More about the "Reset The Net" campaign, June 5th, 2014, from [CommonDreams.org/headline/2014/06/05-0]:
Websites, tech companies, and advocacy organizations of all stripes—including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Common Dreams and scores of others—have all signed on and pledged to improve their privacy protections for their members and users.
As just one example, Josh Levy, of media reform group Free Press [FreePress.net], described what actions his group is taking in a blog post on Wednesday: [begin excerpt] We’ve removed every third-party tracker from our websites. The standard Facebook and Twitter buttons that you find across the Web — the ones those companies use to track your surfing behavior whether or not you’re actually logged in to their services — are gone. In their place are buttons that let you preserve your privacy while you share our stuff. In that same spirit we’ve removed Google Analytics from our site. While the service is helpful in telling us where our Web traffic comes from, it tracks your every move after you leave our properties. We find that behavior too intrusive. We’re now using Piwik, the free and open-source Web analytics software that respects the privacy of Internet users. [end excerpt]
---
A statement from Edward Snowden, whose whistleblower action helped educate the world about the "Turnkey Tyranny", and inspired thousands of others to heed his warning:
One year ago, we learned that the internet is under surveillance, and our activities are being monitored to create permanent records of our private lives — no matter how innocent or ordinary those lives might be.
Today, we can begin the work of effectively shutting down the collection of our online communications, even if the US Congress fails to do the same. That’s why I’m asking you to join me on June 5th for Reset the Net, when people and companies all over the world will come together to implement the technological solutions that can put an end to the mass surveillance programs of any government. This is the beginning of a moment where we the people begin to protect our universal human rights with the laws of nature rather than the laws of nations.
We have the technology, and adopting encryption is the first effective step that everyone can take to end mass surveillance. That’s why I am excited for Reset the Net — it will mark the moment when we turn political expression into practical action, and protect ourselves on a large scale.
from the Committee for the Investigation of Civil & Human Rights abuse:
* "Sociology Students on Andy Lopez Case", 2014-06-01 [link]
THE GREEN SCENE: (episode preview) with RasCeylon and #JusticeForAndyLopez
[TheGreenSceneTV.com/4qg/the-green-scene-episode-preview-rasceylon-justiceforandylopez-june-7-2014/]: Ras Ceylon gives a S/O to an event happening on June 7, 2014 in Santa Rosa, CA to honor Andy Lopez who was murdered by Erik Gelhaus of Santa Rosa Sheriff's Dept. from the Facebook event page: Please include this event in your June calendar.
Defend Jihad Mujahid Muhammad!
DONATE HERE [http://www.youcaring.com/other/defend-jihad-/156844].
More info about the campaign in his defense [link]
Minister of spiritual affairs, Comrade Jihad Mujahid Muhammad is back on the streets...
Pushing community programs at the REVOLUTIONARY CAFE SUNDIATA...
"COME SEE US! MEET THE UNIQUE PEOPLE IN THE CAFE WHO ARE ALL ABOUT THE UPLIFTMENT OF OUR COMMUNITY"
Justice for James Rivera jr. (d. 2010-07-22, Stockton) [link]
James Rivera Justice Campaign in Stockton violently attacked by Police!! [link]
"Justice For Mario Romero!"
[Justice4marioromero.com] [www.facebook.com/groups/282245518555215]
Reflecting a common contrarian argument among supporters of human-rights abuse, local celebrity John Todd says, “This is utter horse shit, you assholes that think that extreme profiling of this nature is prominent in California today and worse in Vallejo need a serious grip. I've been stopped by Vallejo police and held at gun point just 'cause it was late at night and guess who lived to tell the tale 'cause I did exactly what they asked? And don't say it has anything to do with 'cause I'm white 'cause if that were the case why'd they have guns drawn?”
Justice for Mario Romero replies: "John Todd, we know why you lived to tell your story, if it's even true. The problem is you don't have a clue. And you probably think they were justified because you were up to no good. And you probably were Black to them until they got close enough to you in the dark. Ignorance is bliss and you, sir, are about as ignorant as they come."
from the Student Power! solidarity committee
* "A Graduation Gift that Keeps on Giving: Fix Prop 13" [link]
* "Students Now Indentured to the Banksters" [link]
from the Committee to Defend Workers' Rights! [link]
* Time to Fight for Full Employment! [link]
Transport Workers Protest Oakland Schools Censorship of Mumia -
Fresh from defeating Obama’s nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department because he served for a period as Mumia’s attorney, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is attacking an Oakland teacher’s lesson plan that asks students to compare the censorship of Martin Luther King’s later, thoroughly radical positions with the censorship of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s prison writings. As a result of this intimidation from the FOP, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) took down an entire web site—Urban Dreams—which contained this as well as educational material on a diverse range of issues!
The following is an open letter by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee protesting this outrageous act of police-state censorship. The statement was published at [sfbayview.com/2014/stop-the-censorship-restore-the-urban-dreams-website/].
Stop the Censorship! Restore the Urban Dreams web site!
---
Open letter to Oakland School Board members:
May 28, 2014
Members of the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, including (among others) the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), BART workers and AC Transit bus drivers, were appalled to hear that the Oakland Unified School District succumbed to pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the right-wing Fox News by shutting down the educational Urban Dreams website, which includes material on Mumia Abu-Jamal and Martin Luther King Jr.
In effect, academic freedom was pushed to a back seat of the bus. This censorship is wrong. The Urban Dreams website must be restored immediately for all to freely visit and learn.
If not, OUSD administration has joined in with the FOP’s vendetta against Mumia Abu-Jamal. The target of the FOP-Fox News smears was a lesson plan by Oakland teacher Craig Gordon asking students to compare the media’s wall of silence on Martin Luther King’s militant anti-corporate, anti-war campaigning with its wall of silence on Mumia’s writings.
To take that lesson plan down, OUSD took down the entire Urban Dreams website, a website containing many rich and evocative teacher-developed lessons, of which Gordon’s is one. Several of these lesson plans were still in active use by teachers in Oakland and elsewhere. [Urban Dreams was initially set up under a grant from the federal Dept. of Education in 1999-2004].
Academic freedom was pushed to the back of the bus.
This censorship is wrong!
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black journalist called the “voice of the voiceless,” was framed for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman over 30 years ago and sentenced to death. Only recently was this innocent man removed from death row.
Fifteen years ago, in the best tradition of the abolitionists, Oakland teachers initiated a teach-in on the plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the vestige of slavery, the death penalty. Indeed, Craig Gordon was one of the organizers of that teach-in.
Following that stellar example in 1999, striking school teachers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, demanded his release from prison. As well, longshore workers shutdown all West Coast ports and led a march of 25,000 strong in San Francisco calling for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Workers in the Bay Area, especially here in Oakland, have a long and proud tradition of defending Black victims of the racist state oppression – from Martin Luther King Jr. to Angela Davis to Huey Newton to Oscar Grant.
Oakland teachers have an obligation to teach that history and students have a right to learn from that history!
The Urban Dreams website must be restored immediately for all to freely visit and learn!
from the Northbay Uprising media collective:
* Creative Resistance, a showcase for Activist Art [www.creativeresistance.org]
* It's Our Economy [itsoureconomy.us], People and the Planet before Profits
* Clearing the Fog radio [clearingthefogradio.org]
* "Microalgae Capable Of Assimilating The Ammonium From Agri-Food Waste" [link]
"Groups Launch New International Effort to Protect Children from 'Terrible Twenty Pesticides'" [link]:
With the world using about 50 times more pesticides today than six decades ago, their harmful impact on the environment and human health has increased alarmingly – and evidence is growing that children are especially vulnerable. Though significant progress has been made on the original “Dirty Dozen,” including chemicals like lindane, DDT and the ‘drins’ (aldrin, dieldrin and endrin), the groups are globally ramping up efforts. “Governments around the world have a responsibility to protect children from hazardous pesticides” said Medha Chandra, PhD, campaign coordinator for Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). “The legacy we leave our children begins with the actions we take today to restrict and phaseout pesticides most harmful to their health and intelligence.”
By highlighting their impact on children, PAN Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and PANNA are calling for renewed action on the “Terrible Twenty” pesticides that have proven to be especially hazardous for children, namely: chlorpyrifos, monocrotophos, malathion, methamidophos, DDT, permethrin, diazinon, paraquat, propoxur, atrazine, dichlorvos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, mancozeb, methyl parathion, carbaryl, chlorothalonil, parathion, lambda-cyhalothrin, and maneb.
Free Kevin "Rashid" Johnson [link]
Free Damon Shuja
[www.facebook.com/groups/205695029631553/]
[royaltyexpressions.wix.com/freedsj]
FREE DAMON LEE JOHNSON AKA DAMON SHUJA #E20385
Petition by IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION, Petitioning California Parole Board Hearing
[www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/california-parole-board-hearing-free-damon-lee-johnson-aka-damon-shuja-e20385]
FREE DAMON SHUJA JOHNSON FROM A LIFE-HELLISH SENTENCE !!!!
* Mr.Damon Shuja Johnson has served 28 years of a 25 yr. to life sentence with a possibility of parole for a crime he did not commit. The DNA proved that Mr Johnson did not shoot Betty Taruke Canty, there was no gun powder on his clothing or skin.
* Mr Shuja Johnson, for over 10 years, has corresponded with other inmates from other California prisons, and is working on a book entitled "S.O.S. Save Our Sons", whose purpose is, through many inmates recounts, an inspiration outlet to keep youth from entering the prison system.
from the Committee for the Study of Fascism [link]:
The process of domestic fascism is being documented by the research team at "Capital and Main: Investigating Power and Politics" [CapitalAndMain.com]. Here are some examples of their works:
* "Backroom Fix: How Eight Democrats Denied Health Plans to Hundreds of Thousands of Californians" [link]
* "Ten Years a Temp: California Food Giant Highlights National Rise in Exploited Labor" [link]
The economic impact of Hurricane Katrina against New Orleans was exploited by fascists, who began to implement their ideas of privatized services which benefit the wealthy, to replace public services provided by government which benefit those of lower-income.
* "New Orleans Nearly Finished Killing Off Its Public Schools; City now home to first all-charter school district in country" [link]
And elsewhere,
* Missouri State Politicians destroying all public schools, to be replaced with inferior private charter schools operating solely for profit [link]
The Drug War is fascism, private control over medicine patents is a human rights abuse.
"Vote Medical Marijuana' Campaign Airs TV Ads Calling Out Congressional Opponents of Medical Marijuana" [link]:
"The 'Vote Medical Marijuana' campaign will help the public better understand how their Member of Congress votes on these issues so they can use that information when they go to the ballot box," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "Our elected representatives in Congress are making policy decisions on medical marijuana that affect millions of patients in the U.S." ASA is offering to produce similar advertisements in the other Congressional districts where elected officials voted against the budget amendment to restrict DOJ enforcement in medical marijuana states."VoteMedicalMarijuana.org will better educate supporters in casting their ballot for candidates who have their best interests in mind," said Sherer. For more than a decade, polls have shown that 80 percent of Americans support medical marijuana. Unfortunately, such popular support is not reflected in the way that Congress votes on this issue. Advocates hope that VoteMedicalMarijuana.org will help change that political conflict.
"Vote Medical Marijuana" campaign advertisement: [SafeAccessNow.org/vote_medical_marijuana_tv_ads]
As the process of fascism is entrenched, the various civilian security agencies are becoming militerized and taught to disregard our Human and Civil Rights.
* The "Purple Zone" assault in Alpine, Texas. Police lies documented [link], witnesses speak out [link], unlawful and violent assaults against mistaken residents are retroactively made "legal" [link].
"Federal agents violently raided a tobacco shop, unnecessarily broke down a door, tampered with surveillance cameras, and allegedly cracked a woman in the neck with a rifle stock. In the process, they also raided a neighbor’s home, only to later cover their tracks by acquiring a warrant retroactively. The carnival of injustice was completed when witnesses were ordered to recant their stories under penalty of law."
* "Dramatic community sit-in at ABQ Mayor's office protests rampant police brutality. Several ANSWER organizers among 13 arrested" [link]
Fascism around the world:
* "Human Rights Watch", a fascist propaganda operation funded by clandestine agencies in the USA [link]
* Captive Nation of Puerto Rico [link]
* El Salvador food sovereignty attacked by USA monopolist corporations [link]
* Bilderberg conference and the Ukraine [link]
* France's "Single Payer" Healthcare System Under Sharp Attack by the Hollande-Valls Government [link]
* "Solidarity with Turkey's Coal Miners" [link]
* "5 Things About Maya Angelou That Most People Won’t Talk About" (Her Social Justice Legacy) [link]
In honor of Vincent Harding:
* "Dr. Vincent Harding: A Griot Falls" (2:54) Mp3 by Mumia Abu-Jamal [link]
Read the latest issue of "The Black Activist" [www.jblun.org/issue/3], journal of the Black Left Unity Network [www.jblun.org]. A primary resource for campaign updates, community history, and more.
ACTION CALENDER!
Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Ukraine against Fascism
June 11 and 12, 10am
At the Russian tech convention, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA
Ukraine, victim of a fascist coup [link].
Organizers of a pro-fascist rally in support of the death-squads targeting Russian-speaking Ukrainians already want to do a "pro-Ukraine" demonstration.
We need to gather at that convention and protest against Ukraine's fascist government and it's USA-funded death squads, and expose the numerous injustices committed by their neo-Nazi militias against Jews and non-Slavic minorities within Ukraine.
To stand against Ukraine's fascist government is to stand in favor of human rights and self-determination for everyone and against the harming of hundreds of thousands of innocent children.
Trayon 2 Cypher Rally
June 13 - June 14
8:30am
at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington Street (corner of 7th and Washington St, downtown Oakland)
for more information visit: [qilombo.org]
The Trayvon 2 (Hannibal Shakur and Tanzeen Doha) were arrested while protesting the George Zimmerman not-guilty verdict in the murder of Trayvon Martin. The Trayvon 2 are the only people being charged and the only muslims arrested, and are currently being railroaded through the judicial system on false charges. For more information, updates on developments in the case and support the Trayvon 2’s freedom visit [thetrayvon2.wordpress.com].
Towards (A) Communal Cypher
June 13, 2014
Location: Qilombo
Time: 6pm to Midnight
for more information visit: [qilombo.org]
event page [www.facebook.com/events/653210298059499]
Featuring: Savage Fam, Alas, Ruby Ibarra, M.C. K-Swift , Monotheist, Poesia, E The Ref, Shango Abiola, Dani M. Cornejo and anyone who got heart to get in it the day of!
Cyphers/Elements: Graffiti/Arsenal Culture, Bgirl Cypher, Comedians, raffles, vendors, food community bridging thru hip hop
Live from Oakland, creative revolutions always lead to drastic changes!
Towards (A) Communal Cypher Benefit Show is being coordinated to raise funds for the Trayvon 2 and 2014 Brigada to Mexico. Engaging Hip Hop as a tool of Decolonization and continue building Black and Brown people struggles, we intend to support a thriving local underground creative resistant hip hop community and those targeted for speaking for the liberation of our people(s).
The 2014 Brigada to Mexico consists of Black and Brown people from the West Coast (Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland) who seek to strengthen solidarity amongst our growing communities of displaced and marginalized people, build ties, and continue to struggle locally, regionally and globally. We carrying the stories of our families that have ended up in these cities and reclaim autonomy in order to survive the age of the neoliberal-gentrification-colonial project.
THE CALIFORNIA PEACE ALLIANCE / CAMPAIGN FOR A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACEBUILDING Invites All to Celebrate Our Walk on Earth & Peacebuilding at Our...
SUMMER PEACE PICNIC
Saturday 06/14 from 1:30 to 4:30 pm
At Beautiful Shorebird Park
160 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA at the Berkeley Marina
Please join us for this free potluck picnic to honor and celebrate our walk on earth. Bring food and drinks to share, meet regional peacebuilders, celebrate our diverse culture, take in the land and the water, and have fun.
Bring literature from your groups, musical instruments, games, family, friends, and good thoughts. Gardeners, please bring any fruits and vegetables to share. If you can, bring card tables, folding chairs and blankets to sit on. We'll provide plates, cups and utensils. Southern Californians and other visitors, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, please drop by.
Shorebird Park is off HWY 80/580, taking the University Avenue exit toward the Bay in the Berkeley Marina area, 160 University Avenue -- just beyond the Adventure Playground and near the Shorebird Nature Center. There is parking adjacent to the park.
Look for our banners.
Contact Stephanie at 510-435-6092 or skthomas@flash.net for more
information.
The Peace Alliance [www.ThePeaceAlliance.org]
The managers of 89.5FM KZCT, their associates, and sponsors, are not to be held liable for the information and commentary provided by the Northbay Uprising Radio News, produced by the Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society, as a non-partisan research and education project.
ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees.
#resetthenet
* What Next In The Campaign To Save The Internet? [www.popularresistance.org/what-next-in-the-campaign-to-save-the-internet/]
* "Participatory Totalitarianism: We are not passive objects of the surveillance state. We are active subjects of our own YouTube channels" [link]
* Fascist populist organizations, funded by telecommunication corporations and their allies, advocate for complete private control over internet [link]
* Fight for the Future [www.fightforthefuture.org]
"June 5th - The One Year Anniversary of 1984"
On June 5th, hundreds of thousands of global citizens took their online safety and security into their own hands. You can too, with this privacy pack, a bunch of options to make it just a little harder for your data to be scooped. [https://pack.resetthenet.org/]
---
2014-06-05 message from the "Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)":
Protect your Digital Freedom, join the Tor Challenge [www.EFF.org/torchallenge]!
Read about 65 Things We Know About NSA Surveillance That We Didn’t Know a Year Ago [EFF.org/deeplinks/2014/06/65-65-things-we-know-about-nsa-surveillance-we-didnt-know-year-ago].
Resetting the Net. Our campaign is part of a larger movement of digital rights activists across the world working to make surveillance more difficult. It’s called Reset the Net. Check out the website to learn more about the project [ResetTheNet.tumblr.com].
Democratic activists, whistleblowers, and journalists all over the world rely on Tor to shield their identities when they use the Internet. It’s software that helps Internet users protect their anonymity and circumvent censorship. When you use Tor, your real IP address remains hidden from the sites you visit—and anybody else who might be eavesdropping.
Tor is strong code. It’s one of the few technologies reported to thwart the National Security Agency's passive surveillance practices. But Tor can only exist because of an international network of volunteers running relays.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Tor Project, the Free Software Foundation, and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have lauunched a joint campaign to encourage Internet users all over the world to support the Tor network by operating relays.
We need volunteers. The more Tor relays we have running, the faster and more secure the Tor network becomes. Want to help out? Join us.
The Tor network is actively under attack. Documents released by Edward Snowden show that government agencies are spending lots of time and money trying to find ways to hack or get around Tor. From what we've seen, the NSA techniques revealed in those documents are unable to defeat the underlying structure of the network. Instead, the documents show that agencies have been forced to turn to other incidental vulnerabilities to entrap Tor users, for example by exploiting bugs in browsers and other software.
Tor remains a powerful tool against surveillance by the NSA and other government agencies. But it can only be that strong if there is a diverse, committed network of volunteers donating bandwidth to the network. Please join us in creating that future for Tor.
How to get involved with The Tor Project:
* We’ve created a detailed legal FAQ about Tor [EFF.org/torchallenge/faq.html]
* How to set up a Tor relay [TorProject.org/docs/tor-doc-relay.html.en].
* Once you’re running a Tor relay, register your relay on our campaign page.
Already running a Tor relay? This is a great moment to increase the bandwidth of your relay. Existing relays can participate by adding at least 128 KB/s to your RelayBandwidthRate and RelayBandwidthBurst, and registering on our site.
Not ready to run a Tor relay? That’s OK. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has suggestions for other ways to help support Tor [PressFreedomFoundation.org/blog/2014/06/cant-run-relay-here-are-some-other-ways-you-can-support-tor-challenge].
---
More about the "Reset The Net" campaign, June 5th, 2014, from [CommonDreams.org/headline/2014/06/05-0]:
Websites, tech companies, and advocacy organizations of all stripes—including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Common Dreams and scores of others—have all signed on and pledged to improve their privacy protections for their members and users.
As just one example, Josh Levy, of media reform group Free Press [FreePress.net], described what actions his group is taking in a blog post on Wednesday: [begin excerpt] We’ve removed every third-party tracker from our websites. The standard Facebook and Twitter buttons that you find across the Web — the ones those companies use to track your surfing behavior whether or not you’re actually logged in to their services — are gone. In their place are buttons that let you preserve your privacy while you share our stuff. In that same spirit we’ve removed Google Analytics from our site. While the service is helpful in telling us where our Web traffic comes from, it tracks your every move after you leave our properties. We find that behavior too intrusive. We’re now using Piwik, the free and open-source Web analytics software that respects the privacy of Internet users. [end excerpt]
---
A statement from Edward Snowden, whose whistleblower action helped educate the world about the "Turnkey Tyranny", and inspired thousands of others to heed his warning:
One year ago, we learned that the internet is under surveillance, and our activities are being monitored to create permanent records of our private lives — no matter how innocent or ordinary those lives might be.
Today, we can begin the work of effectively shutting down the collection of our online communications, even if the US Congress fails to do the same. That’s why I’m asking you to join me on June 5th for Reset the Net, when people and companies all over the world will come together to implement the technological solutions that can put an end to the mass surveillance programs of any government. This is the beginning of a moment where we the people begin to protect our universal human rights with the laws of nature rather than the laws of nations.
We have the technology, and adopting encryption is the first effective step that everyone can take to end mass surveillance. That’s why I am excited for Reset the Net — it will mark the moment when we turn political expression into practical action, and protect ourselves on a large scale.
from the Committee for the Investigation of Civil & Human Rights abuse:
* "Sociology Students on Andy Lopez Case", 2014-06-01 [link]
THE GREEN SCENE: (episode preview) with RasCeylon and #JusticeForAndyLopez
[TheGreenSceneTV.com/4qg/the-green-scene-episode-preview-rasceylon-justiceforandylopez-june-7-2014/]: Ras Ceylon gives a S/O to an event happening on June 7, 2014 in Santa Rosa, CA to honor Andy Lopez who was murdered by Erik Gelhaus of Santa Rosa Sheriff's Dept. from the Facebook event page: Please include this event in your June calendar.
Defend Jihad Mujahid Muhammad!
DONATE HERE [http://www.youcaring.com/other/defend-jihad-/156844].
More info about the campaign in his defense [link]
Minister of spiritual affairs, Comrade Jihad Mujahid Muhammad is back on the streets...
Pushing community programs at the REVOLUTIONARY CAFE SUNDIATA...
"COME SEE US! MEET THE UNIQUE PEOPLE IN THE CAFE WHO ARE ALL ABOUT THE UPLIFTMENT OF OUR COMMUNITY"
Justice for James Rivera jr. (d. 2010-07-22, Stockton) [link]
James Rivera Justice Campaign in Stockton violently attacked by Police!! [link]
"Justice For Mario Romero!"
[Justice4marioromero.com] [www.facebook.com/groups/282245518555215]
Reflecting a common contrarian argument among supporters of human-rights abuse, local celebrity John Todd says, “This is utter horse shit, you assholes that think that extreme profiling of this nature is prominent in California today and worse in Vallejo need a serious grip. I've been stopped by Vallejo police and held at gun point just 'cause it was late at night and guess who lived to tell the tale 'cause I did exactly what they asked? And don't say it has anything to do with 'cause I'm white 'cause if that were the case why'd they have guns drawn?”
Justice for Mario Romero replies: "John Todd, we know why you lived to tell your story, if it's even true. The problem is you don't have a clue. And you probably think they were justified because you were up to no good. And you probably were Black to them until they got close enough to you in the dark. Ignorance is bliss and you, sir, are about as ignorant as they come."
from the Student Power! solidarity committee
* "A Graduation Gift that Keeps on Giving: Fix Prop 13" [link]
* "Students Now Indentured to the Banksters" [link]
from the Committee to Defend Workers' Rights! [link]
* Living Wage Campaign in Sonoma [link]
* "One Trade Unionist's Horrific Experience Under the Affordable Care Act" (2014-06) [link]
When Mandates Work: Raising Labor Standards at the Local Level,
Thursday, June 12, 6 pm
6225 State Farm Drive, Rohnert Park
Ken Jacobs, chair of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss the new book he has co-edited, "When Mandates Work: Raising Labor Standards at the Local Level," about numerous laws implemented in San Francisco over the last 15 years to raise compensation for low-wage workers by living wage and city-wide minimum wage ordinances; providing universal health care and paid sick days; and by passing legislation protecting the right to organize. Jacobs will also examine the lessons of the San Francisco experience for the Sonoma County.
In the summer of 2014, a coalition of more than 30 labor, faith, environmental and community-based organizations will introduce a Living Wage Ordinance to the County of Sonoma. The ordinance will require that the county, large county contractors and any firms receiving economic development assistance or leasing county property, pay their workers a living wage of $15 an hour. A brief update of our county Living Wage campaign will be provided.
The event is free and open to the public. Dessert and coffee served at 6 pm and the program begins at 6:30 pm. Copies of the book will be available to purchase. For more information contact: mbennett@vom.com or call Phone: (707) 346-1187
Fresh from defeating Obama’s nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department because he served for a period as Mumia’s attorney, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is attacking an Oakland teacher’s lesson plan that asks students to compare the censorship of Martin Luther King’s later, thoroughly radical positions with the censorship of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s prison writings. As a result of this intimidation from the FOP, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) took down an entire web site—Urban Dreams—which contained this as well as educational material on a diverse range of issues!
The following is an open letter by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee protesting this outrageous act of police-state censorship. The statement was published at [sfbayview.com/2014/stop-the-censorship-restore-the-urban-dreams-website/].
Stop the Censorship! Restore the Urban Dreams web site!
---
Open letter to Oakland School Board members:
May 28, 2014
Members of the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, including (among others) the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), BART workers and AC Transit bus drivers, were appalled to hear that the Oakland Unified School District succumbed to pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the right-wing Fox News by shutting down the educational Urban Dreams website, which includes material on Mumia Abu-Jamal and Martin Luther King Jr.
In effect, academic freedom was pushed to a back seat of the bus. This censorship is wrong. The Urban Dreams website must be restored immediately for all to freely visit and learn.
If not, OUSD administration has joined in with the FOP’s vendetta against Mumia Abu-Jamal. The target of the FOP-Fox News smears was a lesson plan by Oakland teacher Craig Gordon asking students to compare the media’s wall of silence on Martin Luther King’s militant anti-corporate, anti-war campaigning with its wall of silence on Mumia’s writings.
To take that lesson plan down, OUSD took down the entire Urban Dreams website, a website containing many rich and evocative teacher-developed lessons, of which Gordon’s is one. Several of these lesson plans were still in active use by teachers in Oakland and elsewhere. [Urban Dreams was initially set up under a grant from the federal Dept. of Education in 1999-2004].
Academic freedom was pushed to the back of the bus.
This censorship is wrong!
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black journalist called the “voice of the voiceless,” was framed for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman over 30 years ago and sentenced to death. Only recently was this innocent man removed from death row.
Fifteen years ago, in the best tradition of the abolitionists, Oakland teachers initiated a teach-in on the plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the vestige of slavery, the death penalty. Indeed, Craig Gordon was one of the organizers of that teach-in.
Following that stellar example in 1999, striking school teachers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, demanded his release from prison. As well, longshore workers shutdown all West Coast ports and led a march of 25,000 strong in San Francisco calling for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Workers in the Bay Area, especially here in Oakland, have a long and proud tradition of defending Black victims of the racist state oppression – from Martin Luther King Jr. to Angela Davis to Huey Newton to Oscar Grant.
Oakland teachers have an obligation to teach that history and students have a right to learn from that history!
The Urban Dreams website must be restored immediately for all to freely visit and learn!
from the Northbay Uprising media collective:
* Creative Resistance, a showcase for Activist Art [www.creativeresistance.org]
* Union Edge (Labor Talk Radio) [wfrnlive.com]
* Workers Independent News [laborradio.org]* It's Our Economy [itsoureconomy.us], People and the Planet before Profits
* Clearing the Fog radio [clearingthefogradio.org]
from the Liaison group to the San Pablo Bay Ecological Preservation Association [link]
* Campaign to preserve the Mattole River Watershed [link]
* Residents stand against construction which harms ancient trees at Armstrong Woods [link]
* Sonoma and Marin coastline may be given added protection for ecology [link]* "Microalgae Capable Of Assimilating The Ammonium From Agri-Food Waste" [link]
* Sebastopol joins cities who support ban on fracking in California [link]
Frack-Free Butte County Campaign Update: We have been working for months to qualify a petition banning fracking in our county for the November election and we have been successful through our volunteer efforts. As this issue heats up, we are seeing more organized efforts to stop keep fracking going in California so we need your help now more than ever. For more information, see our website: [http://www.frackfreebuttecounty.org].
With the world using about 50 times more pesticides today than six decades ago, their harmful impact on the environment and human health has increased alarmingly – and evidence is growing that children are especially vulnerable. Though significant progress has been made on the original “Dirty Dozen,” including chemicals like lindane, DDT and the ‘drins’ (aldrin, dieldrin and endrin), the groups are globally ramping up efforts. “Governments around the world have a responsibility to protect children from hazardous pesticides” said Medha Chandra, PhD, campaign coordinator for Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). “The legacy we leave our children begins with the actions we take today to restrict and phaseout pesticides most harmful to their health and intelligence.”
By highlighting their impact on children, PAN Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and PANNA are calling for renewed action on the “Terrible Twenty” pesticides that have proven to be especially hazardous for children, namely: chlorpyrifos, monocrotophos, malathion, methamidophos, DDT, permethrin, diazinon, paraquat, propoxur, atrazine, dichlorvos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, mancozeb, methyl parathion, carbaryl, chlorothalonil, parathion, lambda-cyhalothrin, and maneb.
from the Liaison group to the Sovereign San Pablo Bay think-tank [link]:
* Jackson Rising: Cooperative Economics [link]
* "Let’s build resilient communities, not just sea walls" [link]
* "The Added Value of Local Food Hubs" [link]
from the Committee to Free 'em All! [link]
Support "Break the Lock", a program administered by the Inter-Communal Solidarity Committee [www.facebook.com/BreakTheLockProgram] [BreakTheLockBayArea.org], for political prisoners.
Free Damon Shuja
[www.facebook.com/groups/205695029631553/]
[royaltyexpressions.wix.com/freedsj]
FREE DAMON LEE JOHNSON AKA DAMON SHUJA #E20385
Petition by IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION, Petitioning California Parole Board Hearing
[www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/california-parole-board-hearing-free-damon-lee-johnson-aka-damon-shuja-e20385]
FREE DAMON SHUJA JOHNSON FROM A LIFE-HELLISH SENTENCE !!!!
* Mr.Damon Shuja Johnson has served 28 years of a 25 yr. to life sentence with a possibility of parole for a crime he did not commit. The DNA proved that Mr Johnson did not shoot Betty Taruke Canty, there was no gun powder on his clothing or skin.
* Mr Shuja Johnson, for over 10 years, has corresponded with other inmates from other California prisons, and is working on a book entitled "S.O.S. Save Our Sons", whose purpose is, through many inmates recounts, an inspiration outlet to keep youth from entering the prison system.
from the Committee for the Study of Fascism [link]:
The process of domestic fascism is being documented by the research team at "Capital and Main: Investigating Power and Politics" [CapitalAndMain.com]. Here are some examples of their works:
* "Backroom Fix: How Eight Democrats Denied Health Plans to Hundreds of Thousands of Californians" [link]
* "Ten Years a Temp: California Food Giant Highlights National Rise in Exploited Labor" [link]
The economic impact of Hurricane Katrina against New Orleans was exploited by fascists, who began to implement their ideas of privatized services which benefit the wealthy, to replace public services provided by government which benefit those of lower-income.
* "New Orleans Nearly Finished Killing Off Its Public Schools; City now home to first all-charter school district in country" [link]
And elsewhere,
* Missouri State Politicians destroying all public schools, to be replaced with inferior private charter schools operating solely for profit [link]
The Drug War is fascism, private control over medicine patents is a human rights abuse.
"Vote Medical Marijuana' Campaign Airs TV Ads Calling Out Congressional Opponents of Medical Marijuana" [link]:
"The 'Vote Medical Marijuana' campaign will help the public better understand how their Member of Congress votes on these issues so they can use that information when they go to the ballot box," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "Our elected representatives in Congress are making policy decisions on medical marijuana that affect millions of patients in the U.S." ASA is offering to produce similar advertisements in the other Congressional districts where elected officials voted against the budget amendment to restrict DOJ enforcement in medical marijuana states."VoteMedicalMarijuana.org will better educate supporters in casting their ballot for candidates who have their best interests in mind," said Sherer. For more than a decade, polls have shown that 80 percent of Americans support medical marijuana. Unfortunately, such popular support is not reflected in the way that Congress votes on this issue. Advocates hope that VoteMedicalMarijuana.org will help change that political conflict.
"Vote Medical Marijuana" campaign advertisement: [SafeAccessNow.org/vote_medical_marijuana_tv_ads]
As the process of fascism is entrenched, the various civilian security agencies are becoming militerized and taught to disregard our Human and Civil Rights.
* The "Purple Zone" assault in Alpine, Texas. Police lies documented [link], witnesses speak out [link], unlawful and violent assaults against mistaken residents are retroactively made "legal" [link].
"Federal agents violently raided a tobacco shop, unnecessarily broke down a door, tampered with surveillance cameras, and allegedly cracked a woman in the neck with a rifle stock. In the process, they also raided a neighbor’s home, only to later cover their tracks by acquiring a warrant retroactively. The carnival of injustice was completed when witnesses were ordered to recant their stories under penalty of law."
* "Dramatic community sit-in at ABQ Mayor's office protests rampant police brutality. Several ANSWER organizers among 13 arrested" [link]
Fascism around the world:
* "Human Rights Watch", a fascist propaganda operation funded by clandestine agencies in the USA [link]
* Captive Nation of Puerto Rico [link]
* El Salvador food sovereignty attacked by USA monopolist corporations [link]
* Bilderberg conference and the Ukraine [link]
* France's "Single Payer" Healthcare System Under Sharp Attack by the Hollande-Valls Government [link]
* "Solidarity with Turkey's Coal Miners" [link]
from the Committee for the Study of History and Current Context [link]:
In honor of Maya Angelou:* "5 Things About Maya Angelou That Most People Won’t Talk About" (Her Social Justice Legacy) [link]
* "A Woman Called Maya 1928-2014" (2:56) Mp3 by Mumia Abu-Jamal [link]
* "Dr. Vincent Harding: A Griot Falls" (2:54) Mp3 by Mumia Abu-Jamal [link]
* "William Worthy and Vincent Harding: Thank You and Goodbye" by Amy Goodman [link]
Read the latest issue of "The Black Activist" [www.jblun.org/issue/3], journal of the Black Left Unity Network [www.jblun.org]. A primary resource for campaign updates, community history, and more.
ACTION CALENDER!
Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Ukraine against Fascism
June 11 and 12, 10am
At the Russian tech convention, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA
Ukraine, victim of a fascist coup [link].
Organizers of a pro-fascist rally in support of the death-squads targeting Russian-speaking Ukrainians already want to do a "pro-Ukraine" demonstration.
We need to gather at that convention and protest against Ukraine's fascist government and it's USA-funded death squads, and expose the numerous injustices committed by their neo-Nazi militias against Jews and non-Slavic minorities within Ukraine.
To stand against Ukraine's fascist government is to stand in favor of human rights and self-determination for everyone and against the harming of hundreds of thousands of innocent children.
Trayon 2 Cypher Rally
June 13 - June 14
8:30am
at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington Street (corner of 7th and Washington St, downtown Oakland)
for more information visit: [qilombo.org]
The Trayvon 2 (Hannibal Shakur and Tanzeen Doha) were arrested while protesting the George Zimmerman not-guilty verdict in the murder of Trayvon Martin. The Trayvon 2 are the only people being charged and the only muslims arrested, and are currently being railroaded through the judicial system on false charges. For more information, updates on developments in the case and support the Trayvon 2’s freedom visit [thetrayvon2.wordpress.com].
Towards (A) Communal Cypher
June 13, 2014
Location: Qilombo
Time: 6pm to Midnight
for more information visit: [qilombo.org]
event page [www.facebook.com/events/653210298059499]
Featuring: Savage Fam, Alas, Ruby Ibarra, M.C. K-Swift , Monotheist, Poesia, E The Ref, Shango Abiola, Dani M. Cornejo and anyone who got heart to get in it the day of!
Cyphers/Elements: Graffiti/Arsenal Culture, Bgirl Cypher, Comedians, raffles, vendors, food community bridging thru hip hop
Live from Oakland, creative revolutions always lead to drastic changes!
Towards (A) Communal Cypher Benefit Show is being coordinated to raise funds for the Trayvon 2 and 2014 Brigada to Mexico. Engaging Hip Hop as a tool of Decolonization and continue building Black and Brown people struggles, we intend to support a thriving local underground creative resistant hip hop community and those targeted for speaking for the liberation of our people(s).
The 2014 Brigada to Mexico consists of Black and Brown people from the West Coast (Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland) who seek to strengthen solidarity amongst our growing communities of displaced and marginalized people, build ties, and continue to struggle locally, regionally and globally. We carrying the stories of our families that have ended up in these cities and reclaim autonomy in order to survive the age of the neoliberal-gentrification-colonial project.
THE CALIFORNIA PEACE ALLIANCE / CAMPAIGN FOR A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACEBUILDING Invites All to Celebrate Our Walk on Earth & Peacebuilding at Our...
SUMMER PEACE PICNIC
Saturday 06/14 from 1:30 to 4:30 pm
At Beautiful Shorebird Park
160 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA at the Berkeley Marina
Please join us for this free potluck picnic to honor and celebrate our walk on earth. Bring food and drinks to share, meet regional peacebuilders, celebrate our diverse culture, take in the land and the water, and have fun.
Bring literature from your groups, musical instruments, games, family, friends, and good thoughts. Gardeners, please bring any fruits and vegetables to share. If you can, bring card tables, folding chairs and blankets to sit on. We'll provide plates, cups and utensils. Southern Californians and other visitors, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, please drop by.
Shorebird Park is off HWY 80/580, taking the University Avenue exit toward the Bay in the Berkeley Marina area, 160 University Avenue -- just beyond the Adventure Playground and near the Shorebird Nature Center. There is parking adjacent to the park.
Look for our banners.
Contact Stephanie at 510-435-6092 or skthomas@flash.net for more
information.
The Peace Alliance [www.ThePeaceAlliance.org]
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