Recently an Australian Tweeter, who has been extensively covering Occupy, mainly by re-tweeting comments, links and observations by Occupiers on the ground in the US, has had her tweets subpoenaed (I hate writing that word, I rarely spell it right). The whole article is here, but for me it raises a question.
Why does caring about things make you a target of government? I really want to get this out there, and try to find some clear answer because it's been a bee in my bonnet for a little while now. In Asher Wolf's case above, how does anyone think a subpoena on a #hashtag is remotely justifiable? Take a step back, why is a social justice hashtag the focus of legal action?
Take another step back. Why are we looking at social justice activism as the enemy? In Melbourne, where Asher is apparently based, a Christian group have been sitting on the doorstep of an abortion clinic for about 20 years - so the story goes. Look at the harassment of already vulnerable women, look at the potential for a nutcase to whip out a gun and start firing on doctors, nurses and patients 'in God's name'. No-one gives a crap about that.
But say 'Hey can you guys abide by the rule of law and stop spying on your own citizens?' or 'I don't think it's a good idea to mine in a world heritage national wonder' or 'Gee, can you look at maybe making the world a more economically equitable place?' and suddenly you're the worst mixture of Al Capone, Darth Vader and Jack the Ripper.
What the fuck is that about? There are groups across the country and internationally, who in the name of one God or another, want to bomb the living shit out of helpless civilians. There are hate groups who plan and engage in orchestrated beatings and murders of ethnicities they don't happen to like. There are consultancies and corporations feeding lies to the public so they can make a lot of money, screw what happens to anyone else. And we pull out the cannons on activists, on people who care about things?
Using Blogger as I do, I get to look at the stats of my posts. Maybe it's paranoia, but my pieces on Martin Ferguson became very popular, very quickly. It's now my second all-time highest viewed post. I posted it barely two weeks ago. It's taken months for other posts to be anywhere near as popular. Maybe a lot of folk out there are very interested in it, but this is where the paranoia kicks in and says maybe NOSIC are reading it, maybe they've labelled me some kind of dangerous seditionary (which if anyone has read any of my posts, you know I'm just an angry old lefty who thinks most of our government figures are lying cowards).
If I am being surveiled maybe I should take this opportunity to speak directly to my unseen audience;
Ladies, gentlemen and unaccountable spookshows of the private and/or public surveillance/intelligence/espionage/policing world. Greetings. I am here today to present a case to you, that you are free to take away, discuss and consider.
Activists are not anti-society and anti-government. Most if not all of us care about the world we live in, we feel sympathy for the hard-done-by, we have a keen and clear idea of what is just and what is fair. We do not want to tear down the valuable institutions of society, we simply call for them to act in a more compassionate way. We care about people, we care about the land we live on, we care that people live a life of dignity.
Why is it then, that you paint us as an enemy? Why are you so afraid of us? We want to talk openly, but you do not listen, we cry out to be heard and you slam a baton or capsicum spray in our faces. We despise this, and view you as thugs and cowards for doing so, but we don't call for your role to be thrown away. We still want our police officers, we still want our intelligence spooks to root out real, actually violent and dangerous terrorists.
When such a disproportional effort is placed on spying on us, on relentlessly harassing us, on reacting to us with over the top violence, with hysterical wastes of ink and bandwidth, the only question I can ask is why? We're not your enemy, we're not the enemy of this country or its citizens. We want to help. We want to make things better than they are, and things are pretty bloody crappy right now. We don't want to overthrow government, we recognise that a democractic open government is the most valuable thing we can have as a nation, we are just disappointed in the lazy, amoral, conceited or corrupt individuals that inhabit and thus taint the organisation. We don't want to overthrow them, we just want them to be better, and if they break the law in serious, egregious ways, face that the same as anyone else would have to. Such as if I secretly spied on a Government Minister's online activity instead of vice-versa. One is High Treason, the other Business As Usual. Why is that? Why can't the public spy on him to see if he's breaking the law, or taking bribes? Presumption of innocence? Right to privacy? Do these not apply if you care about things and call yourself an activist?
I'm sure most of what you spooks read is pretty dull. The same old rah rah rah. Here's a hint. If you want something juicy to spy on, spy on extremist religious groups. A good number of them are always planning to rape/murder/beat/bomb someone, somewhere. How about hate groups, like avowedly racist or homophobic groups? Many of them will likely proudly brag about someone they've kicked the shit out of recently. Both of these also occasionally plan sedition, treason or subversion of the nation to enact a theocracy, a racially homogenous enclave or similar. They plan and dream of genocides and pogroms. Why not talk to Rape Is No Joke on Facebook? They actively try to track down serial rapists, and Facebook pages used to organise rape events?
Or maybe you could do something about all the internet scammers, the phishers and other scumbags who invade our privacy and loot millions off ordinary people every year?
See how we can help you? All these suggestions are an infinitely better use of your time than spying on people who just want things to be a bit more just and a bit more decent. And by the way, if you are responsible for the majority of traffic on that post, don't you feel a bit silly? I'm usually lucky if I get 20 or 30 views on a post, meaning you may be accounting for 70-80% of my views on that one. Isn't that a bit stupid? That the majority of the 'dissidents' reading the post are actually you guys?
This is the 21st century guys, the world is changing. Look around, people are becoming more aware of social justice issues and more engaged. 10 years ago, a protest would have been just the province of some uni students, now you get grandparents, mums and dads bringing their kids, folk from all walks of life. It's time, you spooks, to ask why you're doing this, to ask if there is not some better use of your time than spying on people trying to make things better. Ask your Minister, ask your supervisor why you're doing this. Every hour you waste reading someone's email, or blog, or Facebook posts, is an hour you could have stopped ethnic attacks, or organised rapes, or hate crimes, or a plan to destroy our society and replace it with a brutal theocracy.
In short, grow the fuck up and stop wasting your time on this nickel and dime shit.
Yours, with no regard or respect, the Old Angry Guy.
ADDENDUM: Oh and btw, if there are spookshow goons reading this, please bear in mind that the more you look at the post, the more it gets pushed up in my stats, making it more likely to be visible in my 'popular posts' sidebar. If you don't want people to look at it, then you're not helping your own case.
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