Today a great blow was dealt to the establishment, thanks to a strong dose of tech-enable transparency.
As promised, digital activist group Anonymous, with the help of Wikileaks, released over 5 million confidential emails from the intelligence & security company Stratfor. While much of it has yet to be parsed, some amazing tidbits have already surfaced from the handful of emails released: (more…)
Members of the Icelandic Parliament have nominated Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. If there’s any sense of justice left in the Nobel Committee, he’ll win.
Bradley Manning is accused of leaking a video showing the killing of civilians by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. As well, he is charged with sharing the documents known as the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and embarrassing US diplomatic cables, all of which Manning leaked to the champions of transparency: Wikileaks.
Since his arrest in May 2010, Manning has been held in military prison without trial.
The chain of events Manning helped spark include:
In 2009, President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Since then, Obama has increased military spending, expanded US-led war into several new countries, and has furthered the continued erosion of precious civil liberties.
If Pfc Manning doesn’t take the Nobel this year, maybe the Committee should strip Obama of his award and instead bestow the 2009 honors on a more deserving peace-builder.
Wikileaks just dumped 250,000 un-redacted US embassy cables – most of which were classified – to the series of tubes we call the Internet. Out of the many stories which have already surfaced, none, so far, are more damning than one stemming from a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi.
The leaked cable provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, and then they called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence!!! Autopsies showed that all the dead – including four woman and five children aged 5 years or younger – had been handcuffed and shot in the head.
Disgusting.
Hopefully these and other leaked documents will provide the push needed to hold the key players behind this war – Bush, Cheney, Rummy – accountable for their crimes against humanity. Then, maybe the next time a problem arises, leaders won’t be quite so eager to drop the bombs.
Whistle blowers and freedom fighters extraordinaire – Wikileaks – have just released 35000 classified documents originating from U.S. embassies from around the world.
But this time, instead of slowly sifting through the heaping pile themselves, they are doing something new – opening up the classified cables to the public, letting crowdsourcing handle the brunt of the painstaking work.
The entire cache of cables made freely available online in searchable format, making it easy to scour. And whenever any intrepid investigator finds a juicy tidbit they need only tweet about it with the hashtag #wlfind to share it with the world.
Finally, Assange and his gang are embracing a bit of that transparency they so vehemently espouse – something I’ve been lamenting about since January.
Well, better late than never. Plus, with plans to expose more nations – like Israel and Russia – to the dreaded transparency treatment, it is high time Wikileaks distributed some of their burden to the rest of us.
(Rupert haz a sad.)
The captivating News of the World hacking scandal – the one that is causing more heads to roll by the hour – shows us exactly why we need transparency throughout the system. Inherent corruption can only survive when shrouded in secrecy and silence, and when you expose it to the world, the injustice ends.
The entire global system could use an infusion of transparency, not just for governments, but for all giant, powerful institutions: multinational corporations, religious institutions, and major industries (especially the Military Industrial Complex).
If all of these organizations had their darkest secrets revealed to the world, there would be an uproar, and heads would literally roll. Fortunately for our world’s tyrants and oligarchs, the transition to a transparent system will likely stay as it has been – a gradual process.
But with the wheels already in motion, and groups like Wikileaks and Lulzsec leading the way, we’re heading towards a future where the whole world has been opened up.
This will likely mean a more just civilization for all humans to enjoy. Hooray!
There’s a fascinating essay over at Wikileaks Central which, as the author, I can say with complete bias that its eloquence is matched only by its poignancy. Here’s a sample:
The specter of totalitarianism is looming. A cyber-backed authoritarian regime, arising from the collusion between government and other powerful institutions, forever protecting the interests of the few from the threat of a free human race. Yet the solution to prevent this dystopian future can be found where it has been all along: inside every person.
The surest way to keep out tyranny starts with a voice inside that says “I can make a difference. My voice counts. I matter!” Whatever it is that makes someone feel like this, is precisely what is needed in larger amounts. Anything that takes an individual from feeling helpless and afraid to feeling hopeful and engaged is what will ultimately set humankind free.
Head over to WL Central for the whole piece.
While the whole MasterCard spoof can get tired fast, it’s great to spread awareness about Wikileaks’ struggle with a banking embargo. Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, and more, all refusing to do business with Wikileaks, all bowing to pressure from the government.
Damages will be sought for the projected $15 million in lost donations to the whistleblowing website.
That’s awesome for Julian Assange and his band of freedom fighters. When a bunch of powerful corporations are ganging up on you, you must be doing something right!
More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantanamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of America’s controversial prison camp in Cuba. Files obtained by the website Wikileaks have revealed that the US believed many of those held at Gitmo were innocent or only low-level operatives.
The leak depicts a system often focused more on extracting intelligence than on containing dangerous terrorists or enemy fighters. The documents also reveal US authorities relied heavily on information obtained from a small number of detainees under torture.
The Pentagon said the files’ release could damage anti-terrorism efforts, mostly because they expose the hypocrisy and inherent flaws of US foreign policy, where terrorism is used on innocent people in a bid to reduce terrorism.
He’s been in custody since July of last year, but Pfc. Bradley Manning – the man who leaked a huge pile of classified US documents – still hasn’t been convicted of any crime.
But that won’t stop his jailers from assuming he’s guilty. Openly abused by fellow inmates. Kept in isolation 23 hours a day. Forced to strip naked at night.
Pfc. Manning is enduring torture to serve as warning to other freedom fighters as to what can happen if they attempt to promote transparency and truth in the land of the free.
There’s a large petition here if your interested in a way to help.
