It looks like the moderators at Wikipedia aren’t sure whether or not the #Occupy protests are significant enough to allow into its hallowed halls.
I would imagine that if the protests are getting mainstream media coverage (as even the smallish Brisbane protest received yesterday) then it would be significant enough for Wikipedia.
Australia’s most impressive media entrepreneur, Julian Assange, explains how Wikileaks works and provides some insight into recent events, in this recent interview with Wired’s Chris Anderson at TED.
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
Assange is trying to use the internet to change the world. He is what Peter Ellyard would call a “Future Maker”. I’m constantly motived and inspired by Julian’s quietly bold approach to tackle world governments and corporations. He’s spot on in this interview when he says a good approach to figuring out what the most important news is, is to discover what corporations and governments are spending a lot of effort and money to keep secret.
Recently I’ve been reading ridiculous suggestions that Wikileaks is a “honey trap” for whistleblowers. The idea seems to be that Wikileaks gets potential whistleblowers to come forward, and then they are arrested, Manning’s recent arrest is taken as being a sign that something is rotten in Denmark. The only problem with this scenario is that stuff is being leaked. It would be seem a bit of a stretch to think the establishment are allowing their dirty laundry to get exposed in an effort to create a temptation for potential whistleblowers to come forwards. As Julian says at the beginning of the video, Wikileaks has released more leaks in the last couple of years than the rest of the world media COMBINED.
Why? Because you don’t need all that shit. Really. You don’t.
(via Anonymous targets Australian Government over Internet Censorship.)
Unlike Duncan, I *am* in favour of this action. Surely when basic rights such as freedom of speech are being threatened, the public have a right and indeed a responsibility to fight back against oppression with whatever non-violent means are at their disposal? How is this any different to blockading Parliament House in protest? It seems to be it’s just the digital form of a traditional protest.
A few days ago I had a chance to chat with Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark and the new Do Something! initiative, about his life and goals. We talked about everything from his involvement in Rock Aid Armenia (where he pulled together a list of top Brit Rockers to perform a charity concert and record a new version of Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” to raise funds for earthquake victims in Armenia) to deciding, with friend Aussie tennis pro Pat Cash, to start Planet Ark, and his new venture Do Something!, which aims to create positive social and environmental change.
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Here’s the version of Smoke On The Water that Jon produced back in 1992!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odeztf1nK8s&hl=en&fs=1&]
Do you want an independent media?
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Dr Philip Nitschke, PhD, MBBS, BSc (Hons) is the Founder and Director of Exit International, the world’s leading Voluntary Euthanasia and end-of-life choices information and advocacy organisation.
A few days after recording this interview, Philip and his wife were detained at London’s Heathrow airport for nine hours and denied access to a lawyer. During the interview he mentioned spending more time in the UK – after this week’s experience, he is reconsidering.