US Chamber Shuts off TheYesMen.org and Websites of Hundreds of Other Activist Groups

Hundreds of activist organizations had their internet service turned off last night after the US Chamber of Commerce strong-armed an upstream provider, Hurricane Electric, to pull the plug on The Yes Men and May First / People Link, a 400-member-strong organization with a strong commitment to protecting free speech.

"This is a blow against free speech, and it demostrates in gory detail the full hypocrisy of the Chamber," said Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men. "The only freedom they care about is the economic freedom of large corporations to operate free of the hassles of science, reality, and democracy."

After suffering embarrassment at the hands of the Yes Men on Monday, the Chamber immediately threatened legal action, then followed through Thursday by sending a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to Hurricane Electric Internet Services. In the DMCA notice, the Chamber claimed that the parody Chamber website operated by The Yes Men constituted copyright infringement, and demanded that the site be shut down immediately and that the creator's service be canceled.


But the Yes Men are not served directly by Hurricane Electric, but by May First / People Link. And when Hurricane Electric shut down the fake Chamber of Commerce site (now relocated), they also took down the websites of 400 other organizations.

May First / People Link fought back. They immediately "mirrored" the site, and then quickly negotiated with Hurricane Electric to restore service to their other members.

"The DMCA attacks the critically important right we have to effectively comment and criticize institutions and companies," said May First/People Link Co-Director Alfredo Lopez. "It's an undemocratic, backwards law, a perfect example of how the government shouldn't intrude on our lives. But the Chamber was perfectly happy to use it to stomp on the Yes Men's rights to free spech, and the rights of hundreds of other organizations to operate on the web."

The 400 May First / People Link members weren't the only victims of the Chamber's action on Thursday. Today is the start of the national release of the Yes Men's new film, The Yes Men Fix the World. The film is being released in a number of independent theaters - who, not being part of a chain, are heavily dependent on the Yes Men website for selling tickets to the film. The Chamber's actions thus impinge on the ability of these small businesses to turn a profit.

"The Chamber claims to represent 3 million businesses of every size, yet their actions undermined a fair number of small businesses," said Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men. "The Chamber is clearly much less interested in actual freedom, economic or otherwise, than in the license of their largest members to operate free from the scientific consensus." (The Chamber has opposed or refused to endorse a climate bill, the absurdity of which the Yes Men's Monday action was designed to highlight.)

This isn't the first time a Yes Men site has found itself targeted by a DMCA complaint brought by a large corporation. The Yes Men have in the past received DMCA notices from Exxon, Dow Chemical, DeBeers, and the New York Times. In each case, the the Yes Men (represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation) refused to comply, and prevailed. Even the George W. Bush campaign sent a complaint to try to interrupt service to GWBush.com, in 2000, resulting in extensive ridicule that culminated in Bush's mind-boggling gaffe that "There ought to be limits to freedom."

Sources:
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/9976/
http://info.interactivist.net/node/13235

Austrian Universities Occupied: Education is not for Sale!

A number of universities were occupied recently in Austria. The students protest against higher fees for education.
Some information and the video can be found here: http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/the-battle-for-free-education-begins/

And here is a message from Mo Gas I have got recently:


Dear all,

I am part of the student representative body at the Philipps University in Marburg and initiator of the independent platform "International Student Movement" (ISM).
It is great to see this group grow and reaching almost 5.000 members within just a few days.
Please keep inviting people. It inspires the occupiers and helps to spread the global perspective of the struggle.

--- BREAKING NEWS ---

University of Vienna (Austria) is occupied
University of Graz (Austria) is occupied
University of Klagenfurt (Austria) is occupied
University of Linz (Austria) is occupied
Academyof Fine Art in Vienna (Austria) is occupied
Technical University of Graz (Austria) is occupied
Technical University of Vienna (Austria) is occupied

Demonstrations are scheduled to take place across the country today [28/10].
_________________________________

We have a VERY unique situation right now:

Protestes are spreading across Austria, groups are preparing protests across Germany [esp. on Nov.17th], Italy [esp. on Nov.17th], the U.S. of A. [especially on Nov.10th; 2 buildings of the University of California (Santa Cruz) are still occupied], Canada [esp. on Nov.5th], Croatia [to begin soon] and in Bosnia Herzigovina [warming up already].

Further protests are expected in Ireland, Nepal, Bulgaria, Marocco, [f.Y.R.o.] Macedonia, the UK, Switzerland, Indonesia, Spain, Bangladesh and elsewhere in the coming month.

Most of the actions will also be part of the
"Education is NOT for $A£€ - Global Week of Action", which is called for by 60 groups in 24 countries on the independent platform "International Student Movement".
Details:
http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/content/global-week-action-reloaded-nov-2009

We must free public education from economic interests!!

Our struggle for FREE and EMANCIPATORY public Education [and against the increasing commercialisation and privatisation] can only be won, if we unite globally!!

Therefore I ask ALL of you to consider to JOIN the struggle on an international level by joining this Global Week of Action!

Show locally, that this struggle is GLOBAL!!

The infrastructure is there! We just need to make use of it!

Just drop me a line, if you have any questions or suggestions in connection with the ISM or the Global Week of Action.

~ One World - One Struggle ~

In Solidarity,
Mo.

PS: Please also sign & spread the "International Petition for Free and Emancipatory public Education":
http://UNITEDforEDUCATION.org

PPS: JOIN the "United Video Project":
http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/content/united-video-project

PPPS: Consider to join an international "video-conference" on Nov.5th:
http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/video-conference

More information:

Regular updates are here http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/.
see also: http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=163329887062

5 hours ago a message went out "More than 40.000 people protested in support of the occupations and for Free public Education in Vienna (Austria) tonight!!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aEmd7wKUVp8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8eyxv_k4KVs

Anarcho-syndicalists involved in this struggle have an article here http://www.syndikate.at/node/218

other links:
http://www.syndikate.at/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/syndikate/157109460041
http://austria.indymedia.org/node/16008

Anti-Squat Actions around the EU: Fall Edition

AUSTRIA: 2 October: a squat in Vienna got evicted: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/10/439765.html

UK: 15 October: after 5 year of threats Rampart (London) got evicted: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/2587

NETHERLANDS:
On Oct. 15th 2009 the Dutch parliament has passed a new law making squatting a felony. Only the senate still has to vote on it’s passing now. However, with a rightwing majority, odds are effectively january 1st all squats in the Netherlands will be up for eviction. This will mark the end of an era, a carte blanche for the destruction of our social centers and infrastructure. Not to mention the criminalisation of thousands of people suffering from the housing shortage, for whom squatting has always been a legal means of acquiring a roof over their heads. An occupation of parliament square during the voting ended with riot cops charging into the tent camp and arresting about one hundred people. Photo’s can be seen on http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2009/10/62251.shtml (during the day) and http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2009/10/62308.shtml (the eviction).

Ukrainian Antifa in Action

Antifa March in Kyiv on 14 October

Вечером 10 октября 2009 года в Киеве состоялся несанкционированный марш антифашистов. Больше сотни молодых людей вышли на улицы с целью привлечь внимание общества к проблеме неонацизма и помянуть честь погибших побратимов. Марш стартовал от „вечного огня” в парке Славы и закончился минутой молчания возле ст. м. „Арсенальная”. Во время шествия активисты сожгли несколько десятков „фаеров”, а в руках несли транспарант с портретами Федора Филатова и Ильи Джапаридзе – убитых нацистами российских „антифа”. Благодаря скоординированным действиям активистов задержаний удалось избежать.

Поводом для акции была трагическая годовщина от гибели „Федяя” (Федора Филатова) – антифашиста, который не боялся открыто выступать против неонацизма и различных форм дискриминации. Его убийство было четко спланировано – 27-летнего москвича атаковали под его домом четверо ультраправых, вооруженных ножами. Последней жертвой неонацистов стал „Голова” (Илья Джапаридзе). 28 июня при схожих обстоятельствах на него было совершено нападение. Получив ранения от ножей и травматического оружия, он умер в больнице. Убийцы до сих пор не найдены. Обоих погибших объединяло то, что многие киевляне из антифа-движения знали их лично.

„Ежегодно в Европе антифашисты погибают за свои взгляды, – заявляют участники акции в своем обращении. – Напрасно ожидать защиты от государства, потому мы избираем путь самоорганизованной борьбы. В то же время мы осуждаем убийство за идейные убеждения”. „Отход от идеалов равенства и братства выгодно лишь тем, кто желает манипулировать; тем, кого интересует лишь собственная прибыль и слава”, – отмечают активисты.

Мероприятие проведено автономной группой киевских антифашистов, не связанных с любыми партиями или политическими объединениями. Напомним, что это не первый в Украине антифа-марш, проведенный без разрешения властей 8 мая 2009 года состоялась акция в Чернигове (ВИДЕО).


Source: http://news.zaraz.org/?n=1284

8 причин стать н е о н а ц и с т о м

Morze Infoshop Event on Carbon Trading

Ecological problems are a part of the system, and therefore the system tries to regulate them. Morze Infoshop is happy to have a guest THIS THURSDAY, 15 OCTOBER at 19-30 who will show a short film "The Carbon Connection" and afterwards we will have a discussion on
* carbon trading and its impact
* UN climate process (what will go on in Copenhagen, why people are protesting)
* climate justice
* current situation in Hungary with regards to carbon trading
Come to the Infoshop at Tűzraktér, just follow the signs!!!
The map: http://morzeinfoshop.narod.ru

Infoshop Event #1 out of Fall-Winter 2009/2010 Series

Today we had an event dedicated to the situation in Serbia, anarcho-syndicalist movement and the Belgrade 6 case. It was the first one out of the series of other events planned for this fall and winter.
After emergency search for an appropriate room at Tűzraktér (it turned out today that the room upstairs we wanted to use was unavailable) we were sent to the basement that turned out to have another room with bike repairing workshop. The Tűzraktér people were very helpful, as they brought us the chairs and an extension for the projector. We made some DIY screen from the Freeshop facilities (yes, there was an old white sheet there and some nice swimming suits) and also managed to install everything by 8.

We had a great presentation and afterwards a fruitful discussion among 10 people together with the presenter. The presentation started with description of orldwode ASI movement, afterwards it came to the situation is Serbia, state policies with regards to different activist groups and minorities (like Roma) and current political situation in the country. Then the Belgrade case 6 was presented, followed up by a discussion about the causes of and possible solutions to this situations.

The overall conclusion was that this case caused more international solidarity (from USA to Australia) and in order to solve it more media attention and international cooperation is needed.
The presentation will appear online soon, so I will add the link to this blog entry later.

Belgrade 6 Case Discussion at Morze Infoshop

More than 30 days have passed since 6 young Belgrade activists were imprisoned, under the assumptions for »International terrorism«. 6 activists are associates of Anarcho-syndicalist organization (ASI, Belgrade, Serbia), a member organization of International Workers Movement. They are the victims of a political prosecution, facing the very best cruelty of the state repression: under the Serbian law, the state has a possibility to keep these people in prison for 6 months without announcing the charges.

Until today, a lot of protests and solidarity actions took place around the world, namely in Germany, Hungary, Austria, UK, Australia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Spain.

We are happy to invite you to discover more about the case of Belgrade 6 and take part in the discussion this Thursday, 8th of October, at 8p.m. at Morze Infoshop!

Morse Infoshop and The coalition of anarchist movements of Budapest invites you to join the meeting dedicated to the case of Belgrade 6 and take part in the discussion this Thursday, 8th of October, at the Morze Infoshop at Tűzraktér. The discussion will be held in English.

DATE & TIME: 8p.m., 8 October
LOCATION: Tűzraktér, 3 floor (cross the inner yard, turn left, and go
upstairs. Follow the pointers on the wall). Hegedű u. 3
You can find the map in WHERE? page at http://morzeinfoshop.narod.ru

Free the Belgrade 6! Sloboda za anarhosyndikaliste!

Morze Infoshop :)

Playing around... while some people are away in foggy Albion :)
http://morzeinfoshop.narod.ru/index.html