Snowden will not get citizenship in Iceland :(

I have been waiting for some time to get an official request from Edward Snowden in regard for application for Icelandic citizenship. Yesterday the request came, and me and members of 4 parties in the Icelandic parliament put forward a bill urging the parliament to process his request.

It is important to put current political situation in Iceland into perspective. We had election April 27^th this year. After elections we always have summer parliament session. The newly elected government is very different from the last government that was elected in the wake of the financial collapse. This new government intentions is to bring us back to the same form of governing as we had before and lead us to the 3^rd largest financial collapse in the history of the world. Non of the wisdom nor the attempts for democratic reform and more open society we gained just after the collapse will stick under the reign of this new governing.

Yesterday was the last day of summer parliament and thus utterly critical that we would be allowed to speak for the Snowden citizenship bill in order to move it to the General committee in order to be able to start fact gathering on behalf of the parliament so we could move this bill forward despite the parliament not being in session. The new speaker of the house denied our request to put the bill on the agenda yesterday. I put forward a motion for the parliament to vote for it to be spoken for. The entire majority said NO to this process, except for 5 who said neither yes or no. The entire minority supported the motion but that was not enough.

So it is with great grief I have to announce that Snowden will not be getting any form of shelter in Iceland because the current government doesnt even have enough spine for the parliament to discuss Snowden´s request. The parliament wont be coming together again until the 10^th of September.

I hope we have set an example for other parliaments that remain is session this summer or gather sooner then ours to give Snowden citizenship for he has been made stateless by his own government for blowing the whistle on grave human rights violations by his and other governments against all of humanity. I am thankful towards the minority parties in Iceland for supporting the Pirate Party and of course Snowden in this attempt to help him. I and many others regard him as a hero and have deep respect for him for he has taken great personal risk in order to inform the rest of us about how those in power have lost control of their powerlust and violated their own constitutions against their own citizens. 

Mr Snowden your courage has been noted and there are millions of people from all backgrounds who honor the risks you have taken for us and we will stand tall with you. 

Will Snowden get Icelandic Citizenship any time soon?

Today all the members of the Icelandic Pirate Party and members from 3 other parties, including party chair of the Social Democrats and former Interior Minister put forward in the Icelandic Parliament a bill to urge the parliament to grant Edward J. Snowden citizenship. The parliament has finally received a request for citizenship from Mr Snowden and many of the parliamentarians believe it is their duty to offer Mr Snowden shelter for his USA passport has been stripped from him and has been left de-facto stateless by his own government. The parliamentarians and many Icelanders share the same concerns as Amnesty International that if extradited to the USA Mr Snowden could be at risk of ill-treatment and possibly a subject of torture. No one should be charged for disclosing information of human rights violations. Such disclosures are protected under the rights to information and freedom of expression. The current governmental parties did not have the guts to co-sponsor the bill, however they still have time to change their minds, since the parliament is heading into recess. The reason for the delay in putting forward the bill is that the parliament had not received a formal request from Snowden until today. It is impossible to predict if Snowden will be granted citizenship, this is more of a statement for the time being and an encouragement to the governmental parties to stand tall for human rights and by those that call upon our doors while faced with grave danger.

The following parties and members of parliament sponsored the bill of granting Snowden citizenship.

The Pirate Party, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Party Group Chair, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, Jón Þór Ólafsson

The Left Greens, Ögmundur Jónasson, Interior Minister 2012 - 2013

Social Democrats, Helgi Hjörvar, Party Group Chair

Bright Future, Páll Valur Björnsson

Statement form Snowden the sponsors of the bill received tonight

July 4th 2013

To: The Icelandic Parliament

I want to extend my gratitude to the Icelandic parliament for

considering my request for Icelandic citizenship. I have been

left defacto-stateless by my own government after communicating with

the public. I appreciate that Iceland, a small but significant country

in the world community, shows such courage and commitment to its higher

laws and ideals. I am heartened to feel the support of the Icelandic

people whom I know have a long history of standing firm, even under

threats of aggression, when basic principles are at stake.

Edward Joseph Snowden

Is it an option for Edward Snowden to seek shelter in Iceland?

When it was brought to my attention that Edward Snowden was looking to Iceland for political asylum, I offered to help figure out the legal options for such a request.

These are my findings: Snowden should not come to Iceland unless he will request and be granted citizenship by the Icelandic Parliament. Citizenship is the only legal protection that will shelter him from any demands of extradition to the USA. The ideal situation would be for Snowden to be granted a Icelandic passport as was the case with Bobby Fischer.

Seeking political asylum is a process that can take long time, and there are no guarantees granted against extradition while the process is ongoing. However since Snowden faces possible death sentence his case is stronger, for it is illegal to extradite a person who faces death sentence from Iceland. It is important to note that Iceland has a terrible track record when it comes to granting political asylum to people seeking shelter, as it is hardly never granted and thus a too dangerous path to be recommended for Snowden.

The new Interior minister, Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, has been very stern in her statements announcing that Snowden will not get any sort of special treatment for the Minister fears that if he will be granted asylum, Iceland might have to show humanitarianism in action by transforming its poor treatment towards asylum seekers who seek shelter in Iceland.

I was hoping that the new Prime Minster, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, would take the same leadership in this case as a former PM did in the case of Bobby Fischer, for it was a political decision to grant the Chess Master Icelandic citizenship and Icelandic passport while Fischer was in prison in Japan waiting to be extradited to the USA for playing chess in the wrong country. It is still not too late to show such leadership.

It is important to note that there has not been any formal requests for asylum from Snowden to the Icelandic government and thus impossible for them to respond with affirmative answer until such a request has been received.

I've heard as I am writing this that there are other countries that have offered to shelter this brave whistleblower. Snowden has done service to all of humanity by bringing to the public domain information that truly belongs there. It is ironic that Snowden is to be charged for spying by blowing the whistle on the fact that NSA is spying on everyone with much deeper probing into our personal lives then even Stasi could do. I am sorry that Iceland might not be an option. It would have made me exceptionally proud if it was.

The war on whistleblowers needs to stop. I see Manning, Brown, Hammond and so many others as political prisoners of the information revolution. If extradited to the USA, on the charges of espionage, Snowden’s fate might be death sentence. By not sheltering him those who reject to help him might have blood on their hands.

With Rebellious Joy

Birgitta Jonsdottir
Poetician & a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the Pirate Party,
Chairperson of the International Modern Media Institution (IMMI)
http://birgitta.is
http://immi.is

is WhiteWashPost manufacturing consent (content) (again)? #NDAA

The truth must out, can someone post this exchange between Tangerine Bolen and Washington (whitehouse) post on reddit and please do share for it does indeed show like one of the plaintiffs in the NDAA case Chomsky wrote a whole book about, that manufacturing consent (content) has to stop and the only ppl that can stop it are you my friends.

here is the article Tangerine is referring to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-should-clarify-authorization-for-war/2013/05/15/73c3b28c-bd88-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

Here is the exchange i was referring to: "So, I (Tangerine) emailed the Washington Post this morning about a piece written by their editorial board this week that contains two critical errors. One is this ongoing tendency in the mainstream media to conflate the AUMF and NDAA - simply functioning as the administration's mouthpiece on this front. The other is even worse - a patently false claim that the "substantial support" interpretation has been "backed by the courts". As some of you may know, "substantial support" is one of the primary terms over which we are suing - and over which we WON. The courts had not even addressed "substantial support" prior to our case - much less supported Bush's or Obama's interpretations of this rarely applied or debated term until 2012. 

I thought I would share the exchange I just had with WashPost.

Here's the piece (which actually proves our point, about the AUMF being too narrow for the government's purposes, which we believe led them to write Section 1021 of the NDAA): http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-should-clarify-authorization-for-war/2013/05/15/73c3b28c-bd88-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

Here is the email exchange:

Subject: Serious misstatement of facts regarding AUMF in Editorial Board piece

Tangerine Bolen 

10:00 AM (2 hours ago)

to martin.baron 

Mr. Baron,

I'm a plaintiff in and coordinator for a case against the federal government over the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. Yesterday I caught a flagrant mistake in a piece by your editorial board regarding the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The piece is here: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-should-clarify-authorization-for-war/2013/05/15/73c3b28c-bd88-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

This piece has two very serious errors in it. Firstly, the authors conflate the AUMF and NDAA - something that has been an unfortunately common tendency in the media, and a seriously irresponsible one. (I will explain this further in a moment). The second glaring and even more disturbing error is found here:

"The law authorizes the president to use force against “those nations, organizations, or persons” responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington. The Bush and Obama administrations have been backed by the courts in interpreting that language to allow attacks on the Taliban and al-Qaeda as well as “substantial supporters” and “associated forces.”

The latter sentence is patently false Mr. Baron. "Substantial support" and "associated forces" were first challenged in court in our court case, Hedges v. Obama. (You can read about it and access all of our court documents here: www.stopNDAA.org). I am co-plaintiffs with former NYT war correspondent Chris Hedges, Dr. Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg and others. Moreover, the term "substantial support" was first introduced into the law in Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA - the provision over which we are suing. It has no prior history and certainly has not been "backed by the courts" - not by a long shot.

In fact, the federal Judge in our case, Katherine Forrest, granted us first a temporary and then a permanent injunction against Section 1021, in part due to undefined language such as "substantial support" and "associated forces". We are currently awaiting the decision of the second-circuit court in Manhattan.

Throughout our lawsuit, the federal government has tried to claim that the powers of the AUMF and the NDAA are precisely the same. They are not. And a federal judge not only agreed that they are not, she excoriated the US government for its disturbing claims in court, its lack of a defense, and its very clear assault on both the first and fifth amendments with this provision. We were awarded a "facial" ruling - the strongest ruling any judge could have given us. I'm sorry, but this is completely contrary to the claim by your editorial board.

While the US government clearly appears to need to conflate the powers of the AUMF and NDAA, the AUMF provides for far narrower powers than what has suited their purposes - and the general thrust of your editorial supports that very fact. We have every reason to believe that the AUMF has been historically interpreted as the 2012 NDAA was written - over-broadly, and perhaps illegally, given what powers Congress actually granted the President in 2001. 

This constant conflation in the media of these two laws is egregious. It is supporting the US government's attempt to retroactively legalize and "codify" powers they were never, indeed, granted. Such lack of investigative reporting or simple discernment ensures that the pillars of our mainstream media function as mere mouthpieces to power. It contravenes everything you are supposed to be doing.

Disagreements over the thrust of that editorial aside (ie, how much power and precisely what kind should the President have to go after "emerging" terror groups), our lawsuit has threatened to expose the potentially illegal application of the AUMF, possibly for a decade. Not only has this fact gone unnoticed by your paper, but now your editorial board has inadvertently supported what I would call a very deliberate and strategic conflation of laws and terms. 

This is not at all ok. Please talk to my attorneys and issue a reprint of that piece with corrections. I would be happy to put you in touch with them, and also to give you a basic rundown of the incredulous things the government has claimed throughout our case (ie, even "war correspondents" can be indefinitely detained and that only advocacy and journalism efforts that are "independent" enough will be safe. "Independent" advocacy and journalism is undefined). I joined this case and organized all of our co-plaintiffs save for Mr. Hedges due to my work with WikiLeaks, as well as my hosting panel discussions and doing interviews with people and groups my government might consider unsavory.

We need your newspaper of record to report the actual facts - not the confusion that has been perpetuated by the administration, the DOJ or others intent on conflating terms and powers. This is absolutely critical if we are to restore and preserve a functioning democratic republic while we work to ensure our national security.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear back from you soon.

Tangerine Bolen

Plaintiff and Coordinator, Hedges v. Obama

www.stopNDAA.org

*********************

Baron, Martin D

10:17 AM (2 hours ago)

to Fred, me 

I'll forward this to our editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt. I oversee our news and features coverage, and have nothing to do with editorials.

Sincerely,

Martin Baron

Executive Editor

The Washington Post

***********************

Tangerine Bolen 

10:22 AM (2 hours ago)

to Martin 

Apologies for sending it in the wrong direction. Appreciate your forwarding it.

****************************************

From: Hiatt, Fred 

Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 2:26 PM

To: Diehl, Jackson K

Subject: Fwd: Serious misstatement of facts regarding AUMF in Editorial Board piece

Over to you. I express no opinion on whether Tangerine Bolen could be a real person. 

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Baron, Martin D"

Date: May 17, 2013, 1:17:31 PM EDT

To: Tangerine Bolen

Cc: "Hiatt, Fred"

Subject: Re: Serious misstatement of facts regarding AUMF in Editorial Board piece

*******************************

Diehl, Jackson K

11:32 AM (1 hour ago)

Mr. Bolen,

Your allegation of factual errors in our editorial depends on the claim you are making in your lawsuit, which we, the Justice Department and other legal experts disagree with. In other words, what we have is a difference of opinion, not a factual error.

Regards

Jackson Diehl

*******************************

Tangerine Bolen 

12:20 PM (16 minutes ago)

Mr. Diehl,

Actually, no, this is not centered on a difference of opinion here, it is regarding a very specific factual error in that piece, claiming that the Bush and Obama administrations have been "backed by the courts" in the "substantial support" standard. That is patently false. The substantial support standard comes up for the first time in Hedges v. Obama, and we won. The court did NOT, in fact, back either administration on this front. Your piece is incorrect in both an historic and substantive nature with regard to "substantial" support being argued in court.

Per the difference of opinion regarding powers of the AUMF and NDAA, it is irresponsible for your paper to report it as anything but opinion, given that this is being argued in federal court and the government lost on the first round. To make any kind of authoritative claims alluding to the AUMF and NDAA as providing the same exact powers is not only contradictory, by your own admission in that editorial, but irresponsibly false reporting.

I am surprised by your response and dismayed by the snarky forwarding email from Mr. Hiatt. Of course I am a real person. Tangerine has been my nickname for 24 years and it is the name I go by. 

On all fronts, your paper's handling of this is inadequate. Your editorial is factually incorrect in the "backed by the courts" comment, and it needs to be addressed.

Is there someone else with whom I should speak about this? 

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Tangerine Bolen 

****************************

Ms. Bolen,

You are welcome to submit a letter to the editor. The address is letters@washpost.com. The letters editor is Michael Larabee.

I apologize for inadvertently forwarding you Mr. Hiatt’s light-hearted comment, which was not directed at you.

Jackson Diehl

*****************************

To: Jackson Diehl

Thanks, I appreciate the apology. While it's easy to make fun of a nickname, we are of course dealing with very serious matters here. Neither differences of opinion nor nicknames should obscure what I am sure is a mutual desire to report things factually and see a functioning balance of constitutional rights and national security.

I appreciate your time,

Tangerine"

Bradley Manning Nobel Peace Prize Nomination 2013

February 1^st 2013 the entire parliamentary group of The Movement in the Icelandic Parliament, the Pirates of the EU; representatives from the Swedish Pirate Party, the former Secretary of State in Tunisia for Sport & Youthnominated Private Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Following is the reasoning we sent to the committee explaining why we felt compelled to nominate Private Bradley Manning for this important recognition of an individual effort to have an impact for peace in our world. The lengthy personal statement to the pre-trial hearing February 28th by Bradley Manning in his own words validate that his motives were for the greater good of humankind.

Read his full statement 

Our letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Reykjavík, Iceland 1^st of February 2013

Dear Norwegian Nobel Committee,

We have the great honour of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and a lack of respect for the sovereignty of other democratic nations by the United States government in international dealings.

These revelations have fueled democratic uprisings around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on the foreign and domestic policies of European nations, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq.

Bradley Manning has been incarcerated for more then 1000 days by the U.S. Government. He spent over ten months of that time period in solitary confinement, conditions which expert worldwide have criticized as torturous. Juan Mendez, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has repeatedly requested and been denied a private meeting with Manning to assess his conditions.

The documents made public by WikiLeaks should never have been kept from public scrutiny. The revelations - including video documentation of an incident in which American soldiers gunned down Reuters journalists in Iraq - have helped to fuel a worldwide discussion about the overseas engagements of the United States, civilian casualties of war and rules of engagement. Citizens worldwide owe a great debt to the WikiLeaks whistleblower for shedding light on these issues, and so we urge the Committee to award this prestigious prize to accused whistleblower Bradley Manning.

We can already be reasonably certain that Bradley Manning will not have a fair trial as the head of State, the USA President Mr. Barack Obama, stated over a year ago on record that Manning is guilty.

Sincerely,

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland

Christian Engström, Member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, Sweden

Amelia Andersdottir, Member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, Sweden

Margrét Tryggvadóttir, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland

Þór Saari, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland

Slim Amamou, former Secretary of State for Sport & Youth (2011), Tunisia

Iceland Internet Porn Shield is Misguided and Unworkable

http://thunderfeeds.com/reader/news/icelands-internet-porn-shield-is-misguided-and-unworkable-birgitta-jonsdottir

Statement: Dreamworking WikiLeaks

I have been approached in the last few years by many great artists/writers/filmmakers who seek to tell the story of WikiLeaks extraordinary impact on the world at its peak in 2010/2011.

I have accepted to be part of many of these releases because I felt my voice in relation to the future of Freedom in Information, Expression and Speech and of course online Privacy needs to be included. I have often felt disappointed by how little focus is given, in the end result, to the important vision and work on behalf of the online tribe that is in constant struggle to ensure our online rights. Instead the projects tend to devolve into revolving about the persons involved, their drama and eccentric behavior. I guess that is what producers believe gets people interested in the story. I personally believe that people crave for a vision and some sort of solution to the threats that projects like WikiLeaks expose. I think people need and crave to understand what drives others to take risks in order to improve our world and set information free, that story is not told through ordinary personal drama.

The reason why I got involved with the Dreamworking WikiLeaks project was simple. I had a chance to bring more balance to it, since it is based on two books that are focused on the personal drama, the divorce of persons but not necessary ideology. There is a reason why I have not written a book about my times with WikiLeaks, for as interesting it is to expose how people behave under extreme circumstances, I find the impact of those circumstances way more important. Everyone seems to be wounded from collaborating together and I think that is unimportant in the long run. What WikiLeaks achieved at its peak was to send a ripple effect through the fabric of history and alter the way we see our world. That happened because of the vision and courage of many people, many whom will never have their face or name attached to the story by their own choice.

I chose to work with Dreamworks, because I believe there is a chance that I could impact its final outcome by offering balance. Thus I have suggested many changes that might or might not be included in relation to how Assange is written into it, for I felt it was heavily focused on eccentric and negative behavior. I was also deeply concerned about the Iran scene and to my great delight I discovered after various discussions with all the main stakeholders involved, that I was not alone about my worries and in the end it was written out. I also felt the name “The Man Who Sold the World” was iffy but I am pleased with the new name of the film, The 5^th Estate”. This will be a fictional movie about an incredible time in our history that will hopefully provide an inspiration.

Everyone I have talked with in relation to the making of the film respect the work of WikiLeaks but do of course have a very unbalanced view of how it was since it is based on one perspective. The perspective of those that fell out with Assange. I know that Assange has been given a chance to offer his version of accounts and that is important to me. I hope the end result will be slightly closer to the reality of everyone, not just a few players as written in the version I got to see. In regard to my own person in the film, it is fictionalized in a way that is not at all pleasing to me and does no justice to the work I did while involved with WikiLeaks. But to be perfectly honest, I don't care. What I do care about is the overall message, spirit and story. The story of a project that changed the way we see our world. A project that is still changing the way our history is unfolding and a project that will always be remembered as titling the scales of power in our world in favor of the general public and its right to be informed. 

Collateral Murder: the stills

I was the one that had the task of pulling out the stills from the video named Collateral Murder so that journalists could use it without delay online and in printed media. A friend suggested I should blow them up really big and hang them up in galleries. I think it would be a great fundraising event in order to help the Bradley Manning defense fund. I need help in order to find the best possible venue for this. Perhaps in more then one city. It would also get more attention on why Manning is still in prison and hopefully bring those that are responsible for these war crimes to justice. If you think you can help please write to birgitta@birgitta.is

here are links to the photos i am thinking of blowing up
http://www.collateralmurder.com/en/p-helicopter.html
http://www.collateralmurder.com/en/p-carnage.html
http://www.collateralmurder.com/en/p-shot.html

I have never done any task that has moved me so profoundly and deeply
I urge you to watch the video if you have not done so already: 
http://www.collateralmurder.com/en/index.html

here is what we wrote on the official webpage as an explanation of what it contains: 

Update: On July 6, 2010, Private Bradley Manning, a 22 year old intelligence analyst with the United States Army in Baghdad, was charged with disclosing this video (after allegedly speaking to an unfaithful journalist). The whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has called Mr. Manning a 'hero'. He is currently imprisoned in Kuwait. The Apache crew and those behind the cover up depicted in the video have yet to be charged. To assist Private Manning, please see bradleymanning.org.

5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.

After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".

Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings.

WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions.

WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.

WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.

HaPpY 2013

We are running out of planet

so for the future of everything

Wake up

and start co-creating

I have seen signs 

the end of the world

 as we know it has begun 

Don't panic it might look 

terrifying on the surface 

but inside every human being 

a choice to go under or act

Earth is calling 

Sky is calling 

Creation is calling 

wake up, 

wake up 

NOW 

Generate the capacity for love 

for compassion in your heart 

Now is the time to yield 

to the call of growth 

to the call of action 

for you are the change makers

Sleepers of all ages

wake up

wake up

NOW

Lots of love

Birgitta

my Facebook is Spybook

I got this mail from Face(spy)book yesterday: December 16, 2012 9:05:29 AM GMT John Perry (friends with London Wobblies) subscribed to your public updates. John Perry Federal Security Officer at Department of Homeland Security Friends with London Wobblies Note he is friends with London Wobblies. USA Wobblies had a workshop in Iceland at the grassroots center recently where I often go to and I organize meetings at quite often and also note that I lost my  smartphone down a toilet (:) in an airplane last friday not to be recovered  and have thus been untrackable for a few days. I guess they miss me.  Best tool apart from smartphone is to keep track of us via Facebook Someone sent me a link to this document from MAPPS from 2008 that includes the following: "John Perry issue Request – can MAPPS help DHS coordinate with state and others in  these efforts? Interagency Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee MAPPS wishes to help – Dick McDonald" Dear John welcome to my world - i hope that by spying on me and my friends that you will be inspired to help us make this world a better place. Dear friends I urge you to use PGP or other cryptography tools for sensitive communications you want to keep private. For smartphones, facebook and gmail are not private and we dont have laws to protect us. UPDATE. I notified the London Wobblies about who Mr Perry works for and they have removed John Perry from their friends list.

Energized

When I am being love

my heart expands,

overflows

the walls of my body

I energize myself

not like a machine

but as a plant

Stretching fingers of leaves

towards the light

When night falls

I don't sleep

I withdraw,

go inside,

close my blossom,

to the outside world

All is linked

manifestation of the collective

I am with the creation

spins into codes

manifests through binary

Generations

Generation X

Generation Beat

Generation Beast

Generation Millenium

Sub Cultures

Bums

Punks

Angels

Buddhas

Divas

Gods

Human Beings

It's the glory of the age of the consumer

Doomsday 

already occurred 

time and time again

-Terror in the vacuum

What is this doomsday anyway?

Fear of fear itself

Resurrection of the heart

ancient wisdom 

compact thought

streaming beyond time and space,

willingness to start a revolution

in our own hearts

Taste the bittersweet

brutal honesty 

The collective knowledge

of the transparency generation

spreading through the nerves of cyberspace

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow

This is still highly relavant even if it was first published February 8, 1996. Think of the legal monsters waiting to be grounded in laws and norms such as SOPA, PIPA, ACTA. Everyone who cares about the freedoms online should read and share... and resist. 

Thank U John Perry for the vision and for the groundwork. Here is the manifesto.

"Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.

Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.

We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.

We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.

Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.

Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us.

You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.

In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.

Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.

These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.

John Perry Barlow
Davos, Switzerland
February 8, 1996"

Democracy: upgrade = (re)Public – (r)evolution - (h)activist - H(e)art-h

The marrow from my speech at FutureEverything 2012 - a big thank you to Jodi Rose for making this beautiful PreziTation for me to use as a frame for the keynote.

Democracy:Upgrade on Prezi

Democracy: upgrade = (re)Public – (r)evolution - (h)activist - H(e)art-h

What is democracy?

Who is the system to serve?
What is a parliamentary representative?

Who does he pledge alliance to?

Who writes our laws?

What are the cornerstones of Democracy?

What is the purpose of a constitution?

I want you to think about these questions and find out what their content means to you.

I am an activist in parliament. The longer I serve, the more I think about the meaning of the questions I have just posed. The more I understand how the system works, the more obvious it is to me that there is a serious system error. The system is like the hard drive on computers you would have to defrag in order for them to work, the bigger the files the less efficient the computer would work. The problem with our systems is that they are too big, too alienated from the people they are supposed to serve. It is too difficult for the public to be able to influence and have impact on the (re) in the rePublic. Sometimes when the computer is too fragmented the best solution is to zero it in order for it to work, sometimes a complete system upgrade is the only way out. We have reached the point in our democracies that we need to zero the system and install a new system. We need to move away from the big complex to the small fast system, where each and every person has to understand that we are the stuff that makes the system. We are the system. We are the government. We are society. We are the power. We are the law. It is not beyond us, unreachable nor undesirable to be it, the system is a reflection of who we are.

In order to empower people to act on this awareness and to start to apply changes through our only means: through action, we need to have direct democracy with the liquid add-on. We need to craft our constitution for and by the people. (Constitution is the agreement of a nation on what sort of society they choose to be). Law is currently crafted by and for the 1% - we need to simplify our laws and make sure we agree on the spirit of the law, rather then adding on their complexity with endless patchwork.

The cornerstones of society are freedom of information, expression and speech. The Internet is the last free world, that has enabled us to connect, share, be informed, act and resample our creativity. The internet is now under serious attack, as the corporations and governments are trying to place their reins of power on it, in order to industrialize it and to have absolute control over how we connect, share, be informed, act and resample our creativity.

I am a hacker in parliament, I went into the system in order to understand how it works and my conclusion is clear: Install new system with a new form of democracy of the future, where we move away from democratic dictatorship with many representative heads to a direct responsibility of direct liquid democracy. Are you ready to be the co-creator of your society? Do you understand the importance of your participation? We are running out of planet, so for the future of everything it is time to wake up and start co-creating.

Concern over China's conduct in Tibet Raised in Icelandic Parliament

In a proposal moved in the Icelandic Parliament by Birgitta Jónsdóttir with support of 15 other parliamentarians from all parties in the Icelandic Parliament, expressed deep concern over the escalation of violence and repression by the Chinese authorities against the Tibetan people, that has led to more then 30 Tibetans, mostly monks and nuns, who self-immolated in despair since 2009.

The proposal condemns the growing violence at peaceful protests in Tibet, as was the case early this year when 6 protestors where killed and over 60 wounded by Chinese security forces, according to reports by human rights groups.

This parliamentary proposal urges Chinese authorities to halt the forced reeducation on monks and nuns in Tibet where they are forced to condemn H.H. Dalai Lama and denounce him as their spiritual leader, despite the integrated role he plays in their religion, and not complying means the monks and nuns are faced with serious punitive consequences.

The Parliament urges Chinese authorities to stop the enforcement of the Tibetan Nation to assimilate into Chinese culture, for example by ensuring Chinese as their prime language, where Tibetan children are forced to learn and speak Chinese instead of their native Tibetan language.

The Parliament urges Chinese authorities to lift the military siege of Tibet and allow international journalists to travel to the areas in where the self-immolations were frequent in Tibet; to end the forced settlement of nomads; and that journalists be allowed to report unrestricted and without intervention of authorities.

The Parliament urges the U.N. to send a mission to investigate alleged human rights violations against the Tibetan people, such as forced sterilization on Tibetan women, forced settlement of nomads from their natural habit to isolated settlement camps, torture and murder of prisoners, and to investigate what happened to the people who have vanished in relation to arrests of people during the uprising in 2008.

The Parliament also urges the United Nations to exert their influence upon the Chinese authorities to resume formal negotiations with the Envoys of H.H. The Dalai Lama.

The Icelandic Parliament proposal recommends that the Government of Iceland offers Iceland as venue for the resumption of negotiations between Chinese authorities and Envoys of  H.H. The Dalai Lama, for example at Höfði, the venue where Gorbachev and Reagan had their peace talks, who marked the beginning of the end of the cold war.

The resolution was first moved the same day as the Prime Minister of Chine paid an official visit to Iceland by invitation of the Icelandic Prime Minister, the 20th of April 2012. Thus we could use that as means to get the issue of Tibet on the agenda during the official visit, inside parliament and in the mainstream media. The Speaker of the Icelandic Parliament refused to allow us have the proposal debated.  I organized protest outside the Gala Dinner for the Chinese Prime Minister, I was of course not invited even if I serve currently as a Chair of the Movement, all the other Chairs of the political parties were invited. 100 people showed up to the protest, including Friends of Tibet in Iceland and Amnesty International in Iceland to voice our concerns for human rights violations in China and Tibet. 

Here is a video and some photos from the protest.

China Prime minister in Iceland - and people protest Mr. Wen Jiabao,Prime minister of China is on a official visit to Iceland . He came today,and had a meeting with the Icelands Prime Ministe , Johanna Sigurdardottir. People came to protest China´s reputation in human rights matters. A member of the Icelandic parliament , ms. Birgitta Jonsdottir,attended , and protested China´s occupation on Tibet. You can see here on video number 2. she is holding the Tibetian flag and shouting at the Harp,where Ielands prime minister having dinner with her Chinese counterpart. When the came to the Harp,icelands concert hall,for the dinner, they went into the building through a back door . They did not enter like the Icelandic Prime minister, through the front door.

Photos by Dori Sig

OTTAWA DECLARATION ON TIBET

The Sixth World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet 
Adopted the following on 29 April 2012

I am thankful that i managed to be among the parliamentarians from around the world that adopted this important declarations, now is a critical time for Tibet. 

WHEREAS

We, the delegates to the Sixth World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet meeting in Ottawa, Canada, from 27 to 29 of April 2012,

Recalling the findings and statements of the previous five Conventions held in New Delhi, Vilnius, Washington D.C., Edinburgh and Rome, and having reviewed the activities and programs that resulted from these meetings and their impact,

Having reviewed the grave situation in Tibet as well as the policies of the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in relation to the Tibetan people,

Noting with disappointment the lack of progress in dialogue between the Government of the PRC and the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama since the meeting of the World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet in Rome in November 2009,

Reaffirming the great value to humanity of the Tibetan culture, language and spiritual tradition,

Recognizing the very important and successful democratization process in the governance of Tibetans in exile by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the recent transfer by him of his political powers and responsibilities to the democratically elected Kalon Tripa and political leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration, which represents the aspirations of the Tibetan people,

Convinced of the continued indispensable role of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in bringing about a negotiated solution to the conflict between the Government of the PRC and the Tibetan people,

WE THEREFORE

Reiterate our firm conviction that this conflict can be resolved through sincere and constructive dialogue and negotiations at the highest level between the Government of the PRC and His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives and the democratically elected political leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration,

Express our equally firm belief that unilateral action in Tibet by the government authorities of the People’s Republic of China, such as the imposition of new policies that do not reflect the aspirations of the Tibetan people, cannot lead to a solution,

Welcome the free and fair character of the elections held last year for the Kalon Tripa and for the members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, which the INPAT Election Observation Mission monitored and reported on,

Acknowledge the growing movement for democratic change among the Chinese people as well as the increasing understanding and support among Chinese for the Middle Way approach of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all of which has potential impact on the realization of the aspirations of the Tibetan people,

Mindful that the yearning for democratic freedom is unstoppable as evidenced most recently in many parts of the Arab world, in Burma and elsewhere,

Understand the critical importance of freedom of information and of access to it through the internet and other electronic means of communication to the success of democratic movements,

Are alarmed at continuing grave violations of human rights in Tibet and the repressive measures taken by the PRC authorities in reaction to these and other peaceful protests by Tibetans,

Continue to be deeply concerned at the attacks by the authorities of the People’s Republic of China on Tibetan Buddhism as well as their policies and practices that destroy, repress, or discourage the preservation and development of other facets of the distinct identity of the Tibetan people, including their culture, language, customs, way of life and traditions, and which display elements of cultural genocide,

Are saddened and moved by the large number of Tibetans who set fire to themselves in protest against Chinese government policies and for a restoration of freedom for Tibetans and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

Are seriously worried by recent calls by persons of standing and influence with the Chinese Communist Party for the removal of existing provisions on autonomy for Tibetans and other ‘minority nationalities’ in the constitution and laws of the PRC, which would have very negative domestic and international implications,

Acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the bilateral human rights dialogues that governments have held with the PRC in bringing about necessary change,

Welcome the consideration of the human rights situation in Tibet by the United Nations Human Rights bodies and mechanisms, including by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Treaty bodies as well as through the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, but regret that no concrete action has been taken by the Council itself,

Deeply regret the apparent lack of political will of the Government of the PRC to respond positively to persistent efforts by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the elected Tibetan leadership for the resumption of the dialogue,

Reject the argument made by the government of the PRC that the engagement of governments with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and members of the elected Tibetan leadership and the expression of support by governments for the peaceful resolution of the issue of Tibet through dialogue and negotiations constitute breaches of the ‘one China policy’,

Remain convinced that a sustainable solution to the issue of Tibet can be achieved  through genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the PRC, as evidenced by the positive experience of the many autonomous regions around the world, and note in particular the example set by the creation of the Territory of Nunavut as a self governing community within the sovereign nation of Canada.

WE DECIDE AS FOLLOWS:

Express solidarity with the Tibetan people in their non-violent struggle for their rights and freedoms including the right to determine their own destiny,

Express support also for the Chinese people’s efforts to bring about democratic change to their country and urge that this be achieved in ways that ensure the exercise by the Tibetans of their rights and freedoms and safeguard the rights of other other minority peoples in the PRC as well,

Express concern at the domestic and international efforts by the Government of the PRC to curtail the freedom of information and control electronic and internet communications for political purposes,

Reaffirm our strong commitment to the people of Tibet and the non-violent path they have chosen, under the inspiring leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and 
commend the Kalon Tripa for his continuing efforts to pursue the Middle Way approach and to promote a resumption of the dialogue with the PRC,

Endorse the principles set out in the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People, which provide the basis for a realistic and sustainable political solution to the issue of Tibet,

Recall the important invitation of Deng Xiaoping to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to discuss and resolve any issues except the independence of Tibet, and note that this position has been repeated by the Government of the PRC more recently also,

Dispel the false accusation that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration is seeking separation from the PRC since the Tibetan proposals expressly formulate a solution within the constitutional framework of the PRC and therefore call upon the government of the PRC to cease to propagate such misinformation,

Call upon the Government of the PRC to end the repression in Tibet, provide access to all Tibetan areas in the PRC, schedule the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ mission to China and especially to Tibet, and to resume the dialogue with the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in that same positive spirit,

Urge leaders of all governments and relevant international organizations to support and promote this dialogue and to engage the government of the PRC in the potential for serious consequences should it scrap its constitutional and legal provisions on autonomy,

Alert the international community to the serious nature and consequences of the ongoing destruction and repression of Tibetan culture, language and religion by the policies of the Government of the PRC,
 
Offer to work with members of the National People’s Congress to jointly ascertain the causes of protest and unrest in Tibet, including the self-immolations,

Urge the Government of the PRC and the international community to address the environmental challenges on the Tibetan plateau where environmental stewardship profoundly affects life in vast regions of Asia, including in China and countries in South and Southeast Asia,

Commit to introducing and/or keeping these issues on the agendas of our own parliaments and international parliamentary organizations and to persuade our own governments to address them in high level discussions with the Government of the PRC, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the democratically elected Tibetan leadership,

Urge governments to create multilateral mechanisms to address the situation in Tibet and to promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict and, in particular, call on the European Union to implement the European Parliament resolution for the appointment of a Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs and on relevant national governments to support this initiative, 
 
Make available our own expertise both to the Government of the PRC and to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the leadership of the Central Tibetan Administration in order to assist in the furtherance of the objectives contained in this declaration,

Adopt an action program to ensure greater effectiveness in addressing the concerns and advancing the objectives contained in this declaration.