Aaron Swartz Laid to Rest with an Action Plan For Us

66 comments By Nicole Belle In New York on Saturday, a public memorial was held for Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide last week. Among the remembrances of Aaron’s genius, his commitment to progressive causes, his idealistic beliefs of making this a better world, there was also an action plan laid out by his partner, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman:

“Aaron was targeted by the FBI,” said ThoughtWorks chairman Roy Singham, Swartz’s employer before his death. “After PACER, they targeted him. He was strip-searched. Let’s not pretend this wasn’t political,” he argued before being interrupted by applause.

Swartz’s partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman framed her call to action in terms of Swartz’s beliefs: “Aaron believed there was no shame in failure. There is deep, deep shame in caring more about believing you’re changing the world than actually changing the world.”Stinebrickner-Kauffman, also an activist, named five targets for action:

Hold the Massachusetts US Attorney’s office accountable for its actions in prosecuting Aaron;
Press MIT to ensure that it would “never be complicit in an event like this again”;
“All academic research for all time should be made free and open and available to anybody in the world”;
Pass and strengthen “Aaron’s Law,” an amendment to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that would narrow prosecutorial discretion for computer crimes;
Advocate for fundamental reform of the criminal justice system.

“His last two years were not easy. His death Continue reading “Aaron Swartz Laid to Rest with an Action Plan For Us”

Barcelona: Evicted families take 6 bank-owned blocks

by Núria Bonet 24 01 13 (en castellano abajo)
The Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) now drives a campaign to promote “civil disobedience” and extend the relocation of poor families who are homeless in empty promotions in Barcelona and its metropolitan area.

About thirty families are living in Vallès are okupying entire blocks. There are six buildings owned by the banks, and until recently, empty. Due to the slow management response to the drama of mass mortgage evictions, the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) now drives a campaign to promote “civil disobedience” and extend the relocation of poor families who remain homeless empty in Barcelona promotions and its metropolitan area. Continue reading “Barcelona: Evicted families take 6 bank-owned blocks”

Serial of The Free.Ch 28. Revolution Day

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Act Three

Chapter twenty eight

‘Revolution Day’

I could hear wild cheering as the crowds merged

Barney narrating

I’m up here on the eleventh floor preparing my talk, for trying to win over the soldiers when they arrive at dawn. I’m all psyched up and shitting myself. The appeal probably won’t work, and then what?.

It’s two thirty in the morning here. I got keys of the manager’s office, in the occupied Customs and Excise building. This floor is in use, but empty now, the rest of the block was all abandoned till today. It isn’t because of the strikes that the Port is stopped. It’s down to economic collapse and impossibly stormy weather. Continue reading “Serial of The Free.Ch 28. Revolution Day”

ZAD anti-airport Camp: an Insurrectionary Imagination Lab

“This isn’t a normal traveling theatre company you know!” Scotland Yard.

PART 2 of RURAL REBELS AND USELESS AIRPORTS.

by laronceblog Until 18th January 2013

PART 2 of Rural Rebels and Useless Airports (for part 1 see previous blog )

Preface:

This update should have been posted weeks ago. But the turn of events meant that we had little time to sit, write and reflect. Words may well be weapons, but in the heat of struggle bodies speak louder than words.

Saturday, November 17^th – Day of Reoccupation.

A yellow forklift truck leads the way; walking close behind is a block of Zadists carrying a fortified banner declaring: No to the airport and its world. Behind them 20 tractors pull huge agricultural trailers filled with building materials: piles of pallets, straw bales, tyres, doors, windows, prefabricated wooden walls, hundreds of planks, corrugated iron roofing, tools – pretty much anything you can think of, including kitchen sinks. Continue reading “ZAD anti-airport Camp: an Insurrectionary Imagination Lab”

#Fracking Spain Report: Millionaire exposes himself in Public

$hyper-toxic fracking waste water 2$ When Mister Craig Steinke, CEO and chief shareholder of R2 Energy, came to Castellón to convince the local Mayors and press of the benefits of Fracking and oil extraction he told them a pack of lies. 41 mayors of local towns affected by the Fracking Application gathered in the ‘Municipal Palace, with press, TV, and a picket from the Anti Fracking Platform outside. Here we refute those lies one by one, and illustrate the criminal scandal of Fracking. (see Reference 1 Craig Steinke. below)

This was Craig’s big chance to get a drilling permit, to boost his shares and make another fortune. He already got appox. $20 million from merging his previous company, Realm Energy into San Leon, of which he’s also CEO, after getting 10 Frack Permits in Northern Spain and multiplying share prices, (he owned over 30% of Realm himself). (See Ref.2.)

And Craigy is a wonderful liar. All he had to do was convince these gullible natives, which should be easy enough. Continue reading “#Fracking Spain Report: Millionaire exposes himself in Public”