Darker Net is going dark – bye, bye…

Darker Net is closing down – going dark – going off the grid entirely – though we may reincarnate – in another time, in another place and with another name, so expect us… Meanwhile, after heading south and crossing two borders we are now approaching our destination – Chiapas – where we intend to stay for a while, perhaps indefinitely. Below, are some of the ‘highlights’ of the Darker Net ‘project’, together with closing remarks re some of the ‘themes’ we covered: above, is a video whereby at long last our true political philosophy is revealed!

Housekeeping considerations

1. A big thank you to all our contributors, our (900+) twitter followers, our (just under 2000) website subscribers and the many sock puppets and NSA clones who also follow us.
2. Over our 18 months existence we have published 725 articles. In recent weeks we have been averaging 9000 hits a day (our biggest number of hits for a single story was a whopping circa 360,000 on the Woolwich murder).
3. There will be no further postings on the Darker Net website, nor will any comments that are posted be approved. We have retained a backup copy of all articles published to date in case they are required for an archive.
4. Our twitter account will not be closed, but will become dormant.
5. If we have got up someone’s nose now and then – tough. If, however, we have inadvertently published inaccurate information or opinion based on such inaccurate information, then we offer our unreserved apology.
6. The intention of the Darker Net ‘project’ was merely to provoke debate and hopefully inspire different ways of thinking.
7. Any other website or Twitter account that subsequently uses the name ‘Darker Net’ or the Darker Net logo is not us.

A. Highlights

Below are some of the highlights of Darker Net…

1. Intervention in Ecuadorian Embassy siege – click here and here .
2. Contamination of Barrett Brown prosecution – click here .
3. US war crimes (40 charges) – click here .
4. Tracking James Steele and his role in black ops continuum – click here and here .
5. Exposing full extent of UK blacklisting – click here and here and here .
6. FBI/NSA/SAIC attempt to compromise TOR – click here .
7. Echelon, including the lesser eyes of ’5 eyes’ and its roots – click here and here and here and here .
8. Exposing Trapwire – click here and here and here .
9. Greece ‘strategy of tension’ – click here .
10. Overview of Operation Gladio (A & B) – click here .
11. On the conspiracy to frame Aaron Swartz – click here and here .
12. Why Thatcher was hated – click here and here .
13. Revealing the Greek Lagarde list – click here and here .
14. The Goldsmith’s legacy – click here .
15. The war on Wikileaks (where it all began) – click here .
16. The Gillard Govt coup – click here and here .
17. Australian Govt knowledge of sealed indictment against Wikileaks – click here .
18. Unravelling the disposition matrix – click here .
19. Britain’s dirty war in Iraq exposed – click here .
20. Ex-GCHQ/MoD head provided defence equipment to Assad – click here .
21. Argentina’s dirty war and the disappeared – click here and here .
22. Exposing Golden Dawn – click here and here .
23. Rohingya massacres – click here and here .
24. Zapatistas’ quiet revolution – click here and here .
25. And, of course, many, many articles on Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning (see category in menu, above).

B. Closing Remarks

Here are some closing remarks on the ‘themes’ we covered. Dearly beloved…

1. Chelsea Manning

Hopefully Manning will be out in seven or eight years time and will survive the gulag unharmed. Better still, if Manning wins the Nobel Peace Prize this may see a pardon granted. Also, we still believe that the UK or European courts could exert influence (don’t forget that the charter of the European Court of Human Rights was co-authored by Sean MacBride, whom the peace prize recently awarded to Manning by the International Peace Bureau was named after). Manning must not be forgotten and on release from prison be protected and assisted in any way that is required.

2. War crimes

We can’t believe that the world’s human rights jurists have not yet collaborated to prosecute the US Government for war crimes, despite the detailed evidence which we and many other sites have documented, based on Manning’s material. Such a prosecution is likely to have only a symbolic effect as the USG are experts at avoiding court action. Nevertheless, even symbolic action is an important step in ensuring that the world moves along a different, more progressive trajectory. The US is only one of many countries around the world guilty of war crimes and atrocities, but is singled out because of its hypocrisy and because of its interventionist policies (since WW2 it has been involved in more wars, resulting in more deaths, than any other nation). All war is a crime, of course, and virtually every nation in the world is guilty of failing to prevent conflict by seeking diplomatic means. And as for the latest move to ban chemical weapons in Syria, if successful this is good news, though for it to be truly meaningful all other chemical weapons dumps must be disarmed, including those in the USA, which boast chemical weapons in excess of three times that held by Assad. Better still, the demand for all WMD to be destroyed, whatever the country, must continue until that demand has been achieved.

3. Edward Snowden

Hopefully Snowden will remain out of harm’s way. No one can truly predict how Putin will react in, say, three or six or twelve months time if the USA were to offer Russia a deal it could not refuse. However, Putin may surprise us by keeping his promise not to hand Snowden over. And if Snowden does manage to get to a South American country one day, he will always be hiding from US assassination squads or at least a snatch squad. His best hope is a slim one: that the US people demand he be pardoned and the president agrees. There is also a possibility that with more revelations about NSA snooping a European country will offer him sanctuary. We must also not forget the fate of Sarah Harrison, the researcher who accompanied Snowden from Hong Kong and who is still in Russia. The Centre for Investigative Journalism, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian may be able to negotiate a solution with the British authorities (and through them the USA) so that she can leave Russia safely, if she chooses. In accompanying Snowden, Harrison acted with the highest of ethical motives and journalists have a moral duty to come to her assistance.

4. Wikileaks

Wikileaks is hopefully not an end but a beginning for truth-tellers and an indication of how journalism is changing forever. It will more likely survive by expanding its services, bringing in more people in more countries and by taking on a more investigative role. There will be a temptation to be seen as politically neutral – transcending politics – which is not the same as being neither of the left or right or centre. But process, or technology, is by itself no determinant of human development, for at the heart of who and what we are is not information, important as it is, but compassion – and it is this virtue above all else that determines our futures.

5. Surveillance

In many ways we are forever playing catch-up as far as surveillance systems go. The Internet truly is the biggest and most dangerous mass surveillance system there has ever been, with the NSA and it’s global partners masters at running the show. It may be possible to out-manoeuvre them, but such systems are more likely to be beaten by the imaginative use of disinformation and sabotage: no doubt there will be many ideas in this regard. Meanwhile there will be major newspapers as well as high-profile campaigners who will seek reforms, though others who are less protected will develop technologies to side-step these Big Brother organisations, or will simply drop off the grid and seek social revolution through other means.

6. Warriors of the (digital) wasteland

Jeremy Hammond is no different from the millions of other revolutionaries, past and present, whose actions in attempting to seek a fairer world are, of course, entirely legitimate. In his case, he revealed the nefarious goings-on of a private spy agency – no more – and his vexatious prosecution is but an indication of new forms of state repression. Similarly, Barrett Brown, whose ‘crime’ was nothing more than taking umbrage with an FBI agent for frightening his (Brown’s) mother and for publishing a link: again, an indication of the direction in which USG is heading. It is vital that the absurdity of these and similar prosecutions is exposed at every stage until Hammond and Brown are released.

7. Class war

Possibly this is the most important observation, for it underpins everything that happens in this world. America, despite the myths of its freedoms, is engaged, daily, in class war. Europe, especially southern Europe, has much potential to challenge the existing establishment, as the peoples of its Mediterranean rim and beyond still uphold a tradition that sees a close solidarity between workplace combination and local (community) organising. The two have to go together if the forces of capitalism (the five percent) and the state can be effectively challenged.

8. Revolution

Revolution, as we have said many times, can take different forms and can be big or small, urban or rural. But to be really effective, revolution must be from below, never imposed. Revolution can see separate societies created, as with the inspirational Zapatistas (see pic below). Or it can even exist within non-revolutionary societies, in small pockets where people organise and live together in ways that are based on our better instincts – perhaps even broadening out to whole neighbourhoods (though in societies where individualism and consumerism is cherished, such possibilities are remote). Revolution of the social kind is more likely when people discover for themselves that there is far more to life than work, buying and competing. Revolution must be lived daily: it is not an end but a reflection of who we are.

So, there you have it. Nothing more to say.
Stay strong, Be good. Show solidarity.

Salud!

Final posting from Darker Net, from Mexico.

see all previous posts here

http://darkernet.in/darker-net-is-going-dark-bye-bye/