Monday Jukebox and Press Release UPDATE: ANONS FACE MASS ARRESTS

… and a friendly reminder that the U.S. government targets and kills journalists, just as the Russian government does, and even consulted with Blair on killing a great deal more of them. Who says the “special relationship” is dead?

Meanwhile, Gregg Housh has gotten a somewhat related reminder over his latest week-long round of media interviews that the American press remains ill-equipped to cover cyberwar with any consistent accuracy; his latest press release may be found below the fold.

Even meaner while, we (by which I mean I) are still having trouble with video embeds, so you’ll just have to open up my anarchist-friendly musical selection in another tab.

Consider this an open thread and feel free to discuss how excited you are that the anarchist victory is eminent according to some Shroud of Turin enthusiast.

UPDATE

Housh sends word that a series of international raids are being planned by the various governments with an emphasis on those Anons and sympathizers who have planned any actions via IRC channels, with channel ops reported to be particularly vulnerable.

December 14, 2010

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In response to allegations in The New York Times and elsewhere naming WhyWeProtest.net in connection with Anonymous as perpetrators of the recent DDOS attacks against businesses that have withdrawn their services from WikiLeaks, a website administrator has issued the following statement:

This week The New York Times, along with other publications, named WhyWeProtest.net in connection with Anonymous as perpetrators of the recent DDOS attacks against MasterCard, Visa, and other businesses that have withdrawn their services from WikiLeaks. As one of WhyWeProtest’s administrators, I take issue with this association and would like to clarify the site’s mission and its position relative to both Anonymous and these attacks.

Anonymous is not an organization. There are no official Anonymous members, guidelines, leaders, representatives or unifying principles. Rather, Anonymous is a word that identifies the millions of people, groups, and individuals on and off of the internet who, without disclosing their identities, express various opinions on many topics–including the nature of Anonymous. To identify oneself as Anonymous does not imply thinking or acting in concert with others; it simply describes a way of communicating and occasionally promoting social change. To assume that any one person or group defines or speaks for Anonymous is a mistake.

WhyWeProtest.net is an internet activism site that has served primarily as a worldwide hub for protests against the crimes and human rights abuses of the Church of Scientology. Some of the anti-Scientology activists who use our site identify themselves as Anonymous and some as former Scientologists. Many protect their anonymity as a matter of safety but do not consider themselves to be Anonymous.

Anti-Scientology activism is WhyWeProtest’s starting point but not its sole objective. WhyWeProtest has facilitated a number of other projects, including providing support for the Iranian activists known as the Green Wave movement and creating a forum for discussion of the recent WikiLeaks controversy. The recent sharp spike in our membership attests to the worldwide concern about human rights abuses and corporate or governmental control of information. We foresee a continued escalation in the frequency and magnitude of such activism across a wide array of issues.

These grass-roots movements have been a learning process over the past three years as we have engaged some of the internet’s most unpredictable users and studied the early stages of similar movements. We recognize both the strengths that make grass-roots activism possible and the human and technological failings that can stall or stop them.

With all of this in mind, ultimately we hope to provide an ideologically neutral platform to facilitate and streamline discussion and collaboration amongst activists of diverse, even divergent persuasions. Rather than prescribe approaches we aim to provide flexible and accessible tools to enable activists to identify their objectives, collaborate on mutually beneficial projects, and implement their plans in a realistic, step-by-step fashion.

As to methods, WhyWeProtest supports reform, not coercion.  We take no position regarding the actions of others, however we explicitly do not promote or endorse strategies such as the Anonymous Denial of Service attacks. Instead, we serve as a thinktank and conduit for legal alternatives.

WhyWeProtest depends not only on substantial funding. but also on the public’s understanding of our sometimes tenuous relationship to Anonymous.  We remain dedicated to fighting Censorship and broadening the scope of our endeavors through legal means.

WhyWeProtest’s undertaking is guided by Article 20 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which acknowledges the right to peaceful assembly and association. Beyond the core values of human rights and free speech, our efforts are not ideological, and our members express diverse political views. Our over-arching mission is to ensure and promote the right of any person to speak and act freely and conscientiously.