The following was an email I received for signing up to fight the "Stop Online Piracy Act" in America. I am strongly opposed to this letter, and if you're an American, you should be too.
Hi--
Together, we beat SOPA in a huge victory for internet freedom. But this Saturday, internet freedom protests are breaking out in over 200 cities across Europe. Why?
Because the companies behind SOPA are using international trade agreements as a backdoor to pass SOPA-style lawsSOPA's supporters are pushing two agreements: ACTA and TPP1. ACTA would criminalize users, encourage internet providers to spy on you, and make it easier for media companies to sue sites out of existence and jail their founders. Sound familiar? That's right, ACTA is from the same playbook as SOPA, but global. Plus it didn't even have to pass through Congress2.
TPP goes even farther than ACTA, and the process has been even more secretive and corrupt. Last weekend (we wish this was a joke) trade negotiators partied with MPAA (pro-SOPA) lobbyists before secret negotiations in a Hollywood hotel, while public interest groups were barred from meeting in the same building.3Trade agreements are a gaping loophole, a secretive backdoor track that--even though it creates new laws--is miles removed from democracy. Trade negotiators are unelected and unaccountable, so these agreements have been very hard for internet rights groups to stop.
But now the tide is turning. Fueled by the movement to stop SOPA, anti-ACTA protests are breaking out across the EU, which hasn't ratified ACTA. The protests are having an impact: leaders in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have backtracked on ACTA.4 Now a massive round of street protests in over 200 cities is planned for this Saturday February 11th.We're planning an online protest this Saturday to support the protests in the streets. Why? Because together we can drive millions of emails to key decision makers--and start tipping the scales like we did on SOPA.
Can you take part? Click here to get the code to run on your site!We just built an ACTA & TPP contact tool, and it's not just a petition. It's code for your site that figures out the visitor's country and lets them email all their Members of European Parliament--the politicians who will be voting on ACTA in June--or the trade negotiators behind TPP. This direct contact between voters and their officials, driven by websites of all sizes, was instrumental in the fight against SOPA. We can use the same tactics to defeat ACTA & TPP, but we need your help!
Support the street protests with a flood of emails to the officials responsible for ACTA & TPP. Get the code for your website!Don't have a website? Tell officials in your country to scrap ACTA & TPP! And spread the word about Saturday's protests! This is going to be tough fight. But we need to make secretive trade agreements harder to pass than US law. If we don't, our internet's future belongs to the lobbyists behind SOPA.
This is just the beginning,
--Holmes Wilson, Tiffiniy Cheng, Joshua Blount & the whole Fight for the Future team.
P.S. This map of ACTA street protests in Europe is amazing. The largest has almost 50,000 RSVP's!
Sources:
1. For more information on ACTA, read these excellent articles from Techdirt and La Quadrature du Net. For information on TPP, read this Ars Technica piece. For video, watch this.
2. Obama's signing of ACTA may have been unconstitutional. See Anti-counterfeiting agreement raises constitutional concerns and Techdirt.
3. Hollywood gets to party with TPP negotiators, public interest groups get thrown out of the hotel.4. Ars Technica: Czech, Slovak governments backing away from ACTA, too.
The reason why you should be opposed to interfering in Europe is simple: America does not rule the globe; American Capitalism does. The MPAA is one of the most powerful capitalist organizations in the world because they control the symbols and culture of society. Broadcast News Companies, some of whom also support his, control the other important symbols in our society. To fight against these companies is to fight against American Capitalism.
Here is how:
America has become a dominant nation not just because it built a powerful navy in the Progressive Era and continued to control through military might. America became a dominant nation because of it's journalism and it's financial institutions.
Yellow Journalism spawned here. It lead to conflicts with Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Since then, the United States has put more strict regulations on journalism. America realized the power that symbol generators (the media) had, and the people in power vetoed. When SOPA came about, the American public, being the power behind America, vetoed as well.
Banks and other financial institutions are the second component to American's global power network. You don't know this, but there are several very powerful, very wealthy banks that reside in the U.S. that affect infrastructure projects throughout the globe. Without providing nation-states with a "bank" to borrow money and repay money, massive infrastructure and life-changing advances would not be feasible in third-world countries such as in South America, Africa, and Asia. This is a good thing. The more developments a country can create the better the living conditions of those countries and thereby stabilizes those regions.
Banks and the Media are powerful, and according to the principles of Democracy, those who are in power should rule while those who are out of power (I.E. Minorities) should abide by the rules of the majority.
America is not the majority on a global perspective, just like no single state is the majority in the United States. All of the states work together UNITED towards the same things, but each state is unique, each state is different. Is it fair for Missouri to reach out it's governing hand and tell Florida how to run? Do people in Missouri oppose some of the practices in Florida? Yes, but that doesn't mean they should rally and protest certain state laws, and if you didn't know, Missourians don't have the right to vote on state laws in Florida.
So is it fair for America and Americans to rally and oppose certain laws in Europe? No, it is not fair. But, is it fair for American Capitalists, who have global corporations such at the movie industry or the financial industry, to engage in politics in Europe? Yes, it is fair. Why? Because they have an established presence there and all they are trying to do is exercise their political freedom.--They are doing EXACTLY what a good citizen does: they are trying to push laws that are in their favor by rallying the majority.
What is the difference? --Jurisdiction.
America, the country, does not have the right to tell other countries what to do. (this gets tricky but follow with me, because we could tangent and talk about how if a cruise missile were pointed at a country and they were told to back down, then America may actually have some dominion over that country and thereby have the right to tell them what to do). The American people, who get their global power from being UNITED citizens in a geographic region all abiding by laws that grant them power, do not have more power than their united body (the United States).
Therefore, American people do not have jurisdiction over other countries.
International Corporations, on the other hand, do have jurisdiction. Why? Because they fall into both countries' laws. Legally, they have phantom power to be considered "citizens" of all countries simply because they have a formal document endorsed by the country they reside in that acknowledges their power.
Long story shot: If you support what "Fight for the Future" is trying to get you to support, you are overstepping your bounds. You are attempting to engage in the politics of another nation who does not recognize your jurisdiction. You are the equivalent of a person who votes for a law or a ruler in another state simply because you crossed the state line.
It is not ethical to engage in European politics unless you have dual citizenship. "Let the Professionals handle this." I.E. Let the capitalist system work and let the democratic system work. Do not send monetary aid or volunteer your time or any other resources (including websites). Let Europe handle Europe's affairs in the way that they see fit. If the majority supports ACTA, then so be it, but if the majority doesn't they should reserve the right to fight against it without your assistance.
<Insert political comic of France yelling at America for overstepping it's bounds on global affairs>
No comments:
Post a Comment