Indy Media Watch

Sydney Indymedia promotes a screening of a Michael Moore film thus:

Showing on Sunday 5 February in Newtown, the documentary THIS DIVIDED STATE follows the firestorm created when film-maker MICHAEL MOORE is invited to speak at Utah Valley State College in the heart of ultra-conservative Morman country in the US. It's a lesson in just how far the religious Right will go to silence those they oppose.

As opposed to say, this:

At 9:00 PM let the world hear us as we symbolically drown out Bush's lies

or simply deleting with impunity, dissenting views from your "open media" website as UK Indymedia do repeatedly.

Scarey (sic) indeed!

LA Indymedia is reporting on the first of the World Can't Wait "actions" leading toward tonight's State of the Union address. Comments:

for those of you not aware the Revolutionary Communist Party, the fucking Maoists formly under the banner of Not In Our Name, are the ones funding and supporting this World Can't Wait parade through the streets of L.A. this is the same RCP who started the riot with the cops during the L.A. DNC then ran away and let the anarchists take the brunt of cops batons and tear gas. the RCP know how to do one thing really well, run away.
...
You people have been "protesting" for 40 years, and STILL no one is paying attention. You have nothing of interest to say. You wave signs. You allow your events to be co-opted by the brain-dead morons from "black bloc", who only make you all look ridiculous. Ordinary people won't go near any of your events because you have degenerated into vandalism, violence, pointless confrontation, and nihilism. You have allowed yourselves to be duped by the RCP, WWP and their endless front groups. Sorry, but the rest of us are not interested in being tools. Perhaps some day, when you can move on past "Maosim" and "Marxism" and "Socialism", all dead idologies, you might have a point to make. As of now, you don't.

Meanwhile, according to this article:

Gore Vidal, novelist, essayist and political activist will speak at a 7:00 PM rally at the CNN building in Los Angeles, along with human rights advocate Bianca Jagger. The protests beging at 5:00 at Hollywood and Highland. At 6:00 We'll make a whole lot of noise by any noisemaker necessary to Drown Out Bush's lies.

Sponsored by The World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime. Bush Step Down, and take your program with you.

Other speakers include, Attorney Stephen Rohde, Blase Bonpane, Office of the Americas, KPFK, Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd, KRST Unity Center, Jane Bright, Gold Star Families for Peace, Rev. Louis Chase, Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, L.A., Jan Lundberg, environmentalist, oil industry analyst, founder of Auto-Free Times, Lucia Marano, actor, Dwight Trible, Jazz Vocalist, student from Occidental College, Dolly Veale, Revolutionary Communist Party

It's unclear whether the audience are expected to "bring the noise" during Vidal's speech, or save that for later.

LA Indymedia is also coming under scrutiny for censoring posts for no apparent reason. It is less odious however than UK Indymedia as previously reported, and, to their credit they appear to acknowledge the problem and will investigate.

Indymedia UK are censoring material again for no reason, other than it isn't anti-Israel.

This time, it's ridiculous as well as offensive.

This article draws the reader's attention to an England versus Israel football (soccer) match. As if that game wasn't going to be enough of a walkover, the lovely folk of UK Indymedia have decided to lend a hand.

Zionist national team will be coming to London in Euro 2008 qualifying.

Presumably they are including Walid Badir who is a Palestinian Arab and one of the most popular players in Israel, but the term "Jew" would confuse matters.

England have been drawn in the same group as Israel in qualifying for the Euro 2008 European Championship qualifying. This means the representatives of Israel will have to pay a visit to Wembley some time in the next 18 months, along with a 93,000 spectators and a massive Europe-wide TV audience.

I suggest joining the ticket queue as soon as possible, so as to make sure you can get seats near the pitch.

Because of the excellent view. Obviously.

Just in case it's not obvious, the provocateur links to images of the last pitch invasion for Palestine.

If your read the UK Indymedia post with the hidden comments showing however, you will see the type of material deemed far too inappropriate for the oh so sensitive readership.

So will you Jew-hating fuckers be protesting (aka acting like total twats) next time England play Iran?

As for Israel playing in a European competition. Why not? Do you object to Turkey playing in it?

Yep - it's another post for the 'moderators' to look at and refuse to publish. Cowards.

Whilst this is okay:

Get as many Palestinian Flags in the stands. Let's show them what we think of their policy.

Then again we should also bring Iraqi flags in protest for the English.

This sensible response:

How about just bringing the team flags and enjoy the game.
You can celebrate dead British soldiers and dead jews some other time

...was censored.

This comment is okay however:

Why is this middle-east terrorist state allowed to participate within EUROPEAN competitions. Whoops, I forgot- while people that state the FACT that zionists control the UK, France, Germany, Russia, etc are accused of being 'racist' (ironic, given that zionists invented the pseudo-science of 'race' to justify US slave-trade in the early 19th century), we must ignore examples like this that PROVE the fact.

The inclusion of Israel in European events is as sickening as would be the inclusion of an African country just because it happened to be under the control of 'whites'.

One more thing, I assume the football governing body ensures that members of the Israeli team have NEVER served in terrorist organisations like the IOF. (sic)

I am not the only one to notice this censorship, as well as the hypocrisy involved. The following comments, naturally were censored.

I stopped reading Indy-Media because of the anti Jewish articles but I see the old trends are continuing. These is really no place for this type of Nazi rubbish on a website with the aims and aspirations of Indy-Media.

Until such time as you deal with this problem I won't be a reader or contributor
...
You let the original article remain but hide the comments that are critical of it !!!!

What a bunch of Jews haters you are. No wonder this site is dying

Not quickly enough!

This isn't the first time football matches have been politicised by the creeps running this show.

See: Political Football parts I and II.

Regular readers will know I draw a distinction between editing and moderation, which is good, versus censorship of dissenting views. It should be noted that this very one-sided hiding of comments appears most frequently on articles to do with Israel, however potentially 'offensive' comments on other threads are cheerfully overlooked, so that excuse doesn't hold water.

Annie writed to point out that a regular contributor to UK Indymedia, who goes by the handle "concerned" has his comments hidden with a nearly 100% guarantee, surely not because of his content, but his inclusion of a link to Protest Warrior within. See this example where half of a debate is missing and this page where the comment by "Concerned" is quite reasonable, whether you agree with it or not, however censored by UK Indymedia.

Kudos to "concerned" for not kowtowing to this censorship by removing the Protest Warrior link. Too bad most readers wouldn't realize what they are missing, thanks to UK Indymedia's despicable habits and inability to handle the thought of a pro-Israeli comment or someone clicking on a link to Protest Warrior..

I frequently link to sites besides Indymedia, whose politics or opinions I disagree with. On UK Indymedia however, dissent must be squashed!

Shame!

Update: Via the comments, I learn that one of the censored comments,

lasted about an hour, disappeared for a couple of days and then reappeared for a little while. Now it's gone for good!

Could anyone shed some more light on this?

UK Indymedia is reporting that London Police still refuse to arrest "demonstrators". After their last attempt, the demonstrators are of course furious about it. What does a protester need to do these days to get locked up?

Atlanta IMC is reporting the latest update from the World Can't Wait mob, who (as previously reported) plan to shout loudly enough to literally drown out George W. Bush's Jan 31 State of the Union Address. No doubt, whilst complaining about censorship.

At this moment of urgent necessity, as the Bush program is being locked into place via Alito and Bush-authorized NSA spying, do all you can to stop this now. At this moment of great opportunity, as millions want this President gone, and the "I" word of impeachment is circulating, let’s build a movement powerful enough to drive out the Bush Regime.

The "I" word is probably circulating "at this moment" amongst the same crowds as the word Nazi, but how serious are they?

Their current promotion, leads me to suspect they wish to attract kids and other easily influenced, yet politically underdeveloped people to join what is in my opinion, one of the least intelligent political movements or activities of the last few years. It continues:

Get your bus tickets NOW to take our message to the White House on Sat. Feb. 4th!

Here’s the calendar of activities leading up to the Jan. 31st State of the Union protests all over the country (in Atlanta at CNN Center), and the Feb. 4th demonstration in Washington DC at the White House:
1. Great Weekend for WCW
2. Wed. Jan. 25th – Weekly Organizing Meetings at Java Monkey at 7:30 PM
3. Fri. Jan. 27th - WCW and WRFG Movie Night at 7:30 PM - Free!

Sounds fun for kids no? The fun continues...

1. Great Weekend for WCW - We have had a great weekend! On Friday World Can't Wait placed a full page ad in the national New York Times and that night Showbiz Tonight on CNN Headline News featured the celebrities that have signed the World Can't Wait Call.

Wow! Fun, celebrities, and none of that boring "political" stuff anywhere. Where do I sign up? Here's the plan:

TUESDAY JAN. 31ST – STATE OF THE UNION/STATE OF EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION AT CNN CENTER AT 8:00 PM
We will have a permitted rally at the south end of Centennial Olympic Park, across the street from CNN Center to Bring the Noise and Drown Out Bush's Lies: In large cities and town squares across the country we will rally one hour before Bush's address. At 9:00 PM let the world hear us as we symbolically drown out Bush's lies - bring your own noise -- drums, pots and pans, musical instruments -- your voice. Let taxi horns blare and church bells ring, as we bring our own state of the union BUSH STEP DOWN!

I presume use of the term "symbolically", means a total flop can be considered a "symbolic" success.

This is a consistent theme for World Can't Wait. Read my previous report to see how little thought has gone into "what next" after they "Drive out Bush". Nothing much has changed. It seems this is a group organized for kids, however clearly not by kids. Kids would have more of a plan. Enjoy banging your saucepans children. The grown-ups will be trying to listen to the President's speech.

New Orleans Indymedia is convinced the USA is worried about Iran because of oil. this article claims:

The Bush administration will never allow the Iranian government to open an oil exchange (bourse) that trades petroleum in euros. If that were to happen, hundreds of billions of dollars would come flooding back to the United States crushing the greenback and destroying the economy. This is why Bush and Co. is planning to lead the nation to war against Iran. It is straightforward defense of the current global system and the continuing dominance of the reserve currency, the dollar.

Sound familiar? Of course it does.

What's not explained, is how they got the Iranian President to play along with it by variously threatening to wipe Israel and the USA off the map.

A puzzle for my readers.

Visit this post on BC Indymedia and let me know what the hell it means.

The revolution is begun!

No, not a badly translated Japanese tee-shirt, but the headline of this cryptic (craptic?) article on Melbourne Indymedia:

The time has arrived.
The time of the anticompetitivism revolution has arrived.
Let’s take possession, of new, of “Democracy” and “Job”!
Let’s go!
Let's go to the “New Democracy"!
Let’s begin the REVOLUTION!

Not tonight dear.

An article on BC Indymedia is accusing UK Indymedia of censorship of anything to do with George Galloway on Big Brother.

EMBARRASSING STORY CENSORED BY INDYMEDIA: George Galloway sinks to new low

The story Nazimedia keeps censoring.
What are they trying to hide?
What don't they want you to see?

This:


I have searched (a laborious manual process as the search engine doesn't index hidden posts), and there's no obvious mention of it anywhere on UK Indymedia. A pity, as whilst the photo's contents were the subject of widespread derision, there is nevertheless an important discussion to be held on the question of political representation in London. A discussion, apparently not very important for UK Indymedia.

Meanwhile, check out the first comment which was hidden on this post, as well as this one and ask why. Good one UK Indymedia!

UK Indymedia is unsurprised by the Hamas winning the Palestinian Elections. It's all Bush's fault.

It's not very surprising, but when the USA came barging in and tried to impose democracy on the middle-east at gunpoint, the people have overwhelmingly voted for religious parties that hate the USA. The Shia and Sunni religious parties in Iraq ( the former connected to Iran, the latter deeply connected to the Iraqi resistance ), and Hamas in Palestine.

If it wasn't tragic it would be funny.

Like Indymedia. Elsewhere on the site, an article asks "Why don’t we know what is going on in Israel & Palestine?"

Could it be Indymedia is part of the problem? UK Indymedia has repeatedly censored comments which were not critical of Israel. Melbourne Indymedia's contribution to current affairs, is recycling two year old material.

Wow!

Terrorist group Hamas, win an election yesterday, and the best you can do is recycle some anti-Israel 'news' from two years ago?... Who said Indymedia couldn't compete with mainstream media...

I did.

Sydney Indymedia has taken a short break from rampant antisemitsm, to deal with a far more important topic.

Mass electronic mind control OR how bush twit planned on uniting the world....

Fear not Indymedia reader,one of the later comments shows there is an answer!

MindGuard is a program for Amiga and Linux computers that protects your mind by actively jamming and/or scrambling psychotronic mind-control signals and removing harmful engrammic pollutants from your brain. It also has the ability to scan for and decipher into English specific signals so you can see exactly Who wants to control you and what They are trying to make you think.

http://zapatopi.net/mindguard/

Note software doesn't work on Mac or Windows as they are in fact created by agents of mind control!

Update: Via comments, the software is already yielding results. On a more serious note, the hilarious Zapatopi website apparently cannot be viewed from inside China. A Chinese friend of mine emailed to point this out. We're not entirely sure if this is because of Chinese censorship or a technical issue, but we suspect the former. As Chinese censorship is a hot topic at the moment (except on Indymedia) can anyone advise?

A conservative party won the recent Canadian election, or as conservative Canadian journalist Mark Steyn put it:

In a very Canadian kind of revolution, we rose up yesterday and threw the bums out but gave them a soft, fluffy landing, nevertheless installing in office a minority government that somehow managed to get itself elected despite having the word "Conservative" in its name.

BC Indymedia has already concluded the election was a sham.

Once again, Canada's antiquated first-past-the-post system wasted millions of votes, distorted results, severely punished large blocks of voters, exaggerated regional differences, created an unrepresentative Parliament, and may possibly have even given us the wrong government.

This post, also on BC Indymedia suggests its not even a local phenomena:

Well, after two fixed US elections, a rigged election recently in the Ukraine, another in Iraq (according to most independent observers anyhow..), the victory of the christian right-wing in Germany recently too; I wonder how closely the canadian media are going to look into the financing of the conservative election apparatus? It would be interesting to see how much 'US' (read: CIA) funding has been plowed into their campaign?...it seems to be a very disturbing trend worldwide at the moment - if you don't like their government, bankroll the rightwing opposition and get them out.

Global Conspiracy? Or Sore Loser. They vote, you decide. It's happened before.

Meanwhile, this guy should be getting hungry right about now.

I, Andrew Munoz, I am a Canadian Citizen, I am 22 years old, I stopped eating as of 12:00am January 15th in order to raise national awareness concerning sustainability and its importance in the impending election. I will not start to eat again until we as a nation have a vision of Canada that we can be proud of. I put out the call to the candidates running for Prime Minister, "I have questions like so many Canadians, which go unanswered."

A 'pro-life' (anti-abortion) protest was held in San Francisco's Bay Area recently. SF Bay Area Indymedia was calling for 'pro-choice' (pro-abortion) supporters to shut it down.

In case you missed it, Indymedia is all about free speech. This usually explains, why racism, sexism, antisemitism, lies and libel are not only permitted, but generally encouraged on the Indymedia newswire.

Unfortunately, it seems this support of free speech often tends to extend only to those who are following the party line. I have previously covered examples of dissenting viewpoints being censored on UK Indymedia. I have reported on Indymedia articles endorsing vandalism of posters they disagreed with. I have reported on the 'World Can't Wait' group planning to prevent George W Bush being heard.

The SF Bay Area protest provides more examples. On the Indymedia post, one may read their response to the protest:

We are calling on the people and workers of San Francisco and the Bay Area to rise up and completely stop them in their tracks and shut down their march.
...
We are calling for a festive, racous (sic) and confrontational approach to this
right wing invasion. Bring yourselves and your ideas to the Spokescouncil on Sunday, Jan.
15, to finalize plans of resistance. Autonomous direct actions to shut down the march are also encouraged.

Sound friendly enough? We're not talking about Nazi or KKK protesters by the way.

There's absolutely no question abortion is a sensitive issue to those on both sides of the debate. The Indymedia post however seems to confuse issues further:

Ironically enough, the pro-"life" movement as a whole supports the most brutal degradation and destruction of life through war and capitalism.

Presumably that applies to all of them? Apologies to anyone who is pro-peace yet voted Bush, or is anti-war yet pro-life. Your opinion, as a whole, doesn't matter.

So what happened on the day? Indybay has plenty of photos also - this is one thing Indymedia consistently does well. Were the numerous signs which read "fuck your agenda" really necessary or clever?

This photo-essay by Zombie will also allow you to draw your own conclusions. As for who wins? Read it all to compare protest-babes in the only definitive way the author could measure success. You'll probably also enjoy as I did, Code-Pink and World Can't Wait's 'interaction' with police motorcycles.

This begs the question, what does a women's' group against war (with a penchant for photoshoppery) have to do with the issue of abortion? I have previously suggested protesters pick a cause and stick with it.

If you're going to support "freedom of speech", stick with that as well, rather than selectively applying it only to views you approve of.

Code Pink were recently busted for Airbrushing Protest Babes and altering a photo from a brave Iranian womens' protest to support their own, rather different agenda.

Over on Pittsburgh Indymedia, they refuse to accept the image was altered, and they were caught out, and are insisting the whole thing is a right-wing conspiracy. Someone linked to a cache of the guilty Code Pink page. This was summarily dismissed:

It's a redirect, not the real Code Pink website.

This was done of course, because Code Pink replaced the image as soon almost as soon as they were caught. This was widely acknowledged, however numerous sites (including mine) had already captured the image for posterity. Some responses point out the obvious:

It's a screen capture, Brainiac, so what's your point? That's what it looked like before the fakers started getting hammered by the bloggers. It's amazing what you'll find in the cache when you go offline, but Code Pinko, and you, apparently is too stupid to know that.
...
Anyone with common sense understands the point of the screen capture - to show what they did. We all know the site has been changed. They've done what you did with "Die like a Dog", but the whole blogosphere caught them red handed.

The denial continues:

oh really? Let's see some proof.

Asked and answered:

Think you can comprehend this, NAMBLA boy?

http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=2149

Apparently, that's not good enough...

You call that "proof"!?!...That's an unsubstantiated allegation by some right wing blogger.

This theme is repeated:

Why should we believe any of these...are not forgeries planted by right wing propagandists? It's not like they never forge anything on Indymedia.
...
That's the kind of people these right wing trolls are. They forge. They lie. They are totally lacking in scruples. You can believe them if you want. I prefer evidence.

In other words, Indymedia is the truth, anything else is unsubstantiated allegations or forgeries by evil right-wing bloggers... Fortunately, others had seen the same posts I had (and later linked back to this blog as well)

We can thank the Melbourne indymedia for confirmation.

This thread was posted on January the 13th of 2006, and lo and behold, what's at the top of the page? And what's the link in the body of the first post?

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/103631_comment.php ... View it before they obliterate it.

A prophetic statement, as a very large number of the comments on that page appear to now be missing.

Fake, but stupid, you might say.

Comments on the previously reported post on UK Indymedia, promoting a disgraceful march at Ground Zero, are being censored by UK Indymedia.

One in particular stands out. After an entire post documenting how 9/11 "must" have been a US Government plot, comes this reply:

24.01.2006 10:39
Those who are peddling crackpot fantasies that America encouraged, permitted or actually carried out the attacks are libeling the truth, libeling scientific experts, libeling politicians and disgracing the memories of the thousands who died that day.
http://www.protestwarrior.com

Was it the link to Protest Warrior which "breaches the Indymedia UK Editorial Guidelines"? Or the content of the message itself. I wonder, as a few subsequent posts, from Greg Nixon are still visible as follows:

http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/pm/

That 9/11 was a black op U.S. Military attack is pretty obvious at this point, Why don't you Brits look at the military false flag in London on 7/7? The same deal happend again.

Greg Nixon

Note that message remains, links and all.

This is not the first time I have come across censorship of dissenting views (not to be confused with effective moderation) on UK Indymedia.

You can view the page with hidden comments here.

UK Indymedia is reporting on March For Truth NYC '06 which is, to put it bluntly, a disgrace.

On February 20th 2006, 9/11 Truth activists will convene at “Ground Zero” former site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan New York City to march against the U.S. Government’s mass murder of 2,986 Americans on September 11th 2001

Tell the organizers what you think.

Contact: Greg Nixon: nixongreg@msn.com

Greg Nixon won a "9/11 "truthseeker" Oscar last year on a list which is the who's who of whackos. Also, Greg Nixon on Kos.

Despite this, the organizers seem to have some support, judging by comments in a promotion on 911blogger.com and Portland Indymedia.

Interestingly, NYC Indymedia doesn't seem to have much on it. I wonder why.

Update: Is it taken seriously? Read the comments on this post... Good grief!

Update 2: Mayor Giuliani.... Sounds like Joooooliani!! Aha! More proof!

Update 3: UK Indymedia are censoring dissenting views...Again.

UK Indymedia is reporting a vigil held in remembrance of Jean Charles de Menezes, who you will recall was erroneously shot by London Police subsequently to the terrorist activity on the London Underground.

Or was he?

A comment on the article:

The fact is that we still don't positively know who shot him, or who they were working for.

Does anyone know where this electrician was working that morning? Perhaps he witnessed something he shouldn't have?

Good grief.

Demonstrations without a permit have been banned in London's Parliament Square.

UK Indymedia will have none of that, and have produced a Video.

The video was filmed at parliament square as people demonstrated various things but obviously didn't demonstrate in a political way because that would be naughty too close to the heart of the nations parliament where politricks are the order of the day...

They "demonstrated" how to peel a banana. They "demonstrated" how to lie down, and most of all, they "demonsrated" how unfunny and sad they were. Nobody was arrested.

Leigh from the House of Wheels is doing my job for me (can't imagine why) and has pointed me to another wonderfully antisemitic post on Sydney Indymedia.

The zionists, it seems, are infatuated with blood. Tainted blood, that is, which they make to spread among large groups of the population of the world. These children are just the latest victims to be discovered, they are the recipients of this latest poisoned gift of the zionists.

No need to reprint most of it, it's a rehash of the whole Mossad AIDS thing previously reported here though as mentioned in the page's comments, you'll notice it's only "Zionists" who appear to be infatuated with blood. This a long overdue update to the old antisemitic forgeries about Jews being infatuated with blood. Do be sure to update your handbooks accordingly.

The post itself is by someone calling themselves "Wilma". A comment points out the same article was posted by "James" here and "Kathryn" here. It then suggests who is most likely behind all of this:

What's the matter Faruque Ahmed? Confused about your gender as well as your spelling?

Faruque Ahmed or not, the problem is clearly Sydney Indymedia, and the Arab Media who have plenty in common when it comes to Jews.

Via Publius Pundit comes news that the Alliance of Iranian Women have issues a statement condemning the hell out of Code Pink for their uninvited manipulation of a photo of real activists (past report here)

After pointing out the fraud which took place, they have a simple request:

if you do not support us do not use us for your own political games and maneuvering

Quite right.

Update: JS emails to advise this sort of thing happens all the time. In this case, in support of Indymedia's favourite Venezuelan, Hugo Chavez, by using a photo from an anti-Chavez rally. D'oh.

Elsewhere on BC Indymedia, more 'evidence' is being presented that the Bin Laden tape is false. For example:

The latest 'shut up and look over there' from the Fascist War Criminals plotting to invade Syria and Iran.

Don't forget media complicity in the whole conspiracy:

And as further evidence of how closely the US media is colluding with Bush, journalists who once queried the institute for their opinion on the authenticity of bin Laden tapes are no longer doing so.

Thank heavens as always, for Indymedia to ask the hard questions. One comment in response however, sums it up beautifully:

There really is no evidence the Bin laden has ever existed. Maybe a few "biographies" written by the CIA. The the CIA, AIPAC and the Zionists blow some things up and blame the Arabs. Islam is the Religion of Peace (TM)
I'm sure you've seen the video of bin Laden walking with masked heavily armed guards. If you look closely, you will realize that the hills in the background are in southern California. The faces of the guards are covered so that you wouldn't recognize them from various TV commercials.

Update: Leigh reports and Fisks a similarly deranged piece on Sydney Indymedia but saves you reading it:

I could've summarised the whole argument in under 20 words: Bush is Hitler, Osama is a neo-con CIA puppet, and Bush is worse than Hitler.

Of course.

Via BC Indymedia, first there were "Neo-Cons" which on Indymedia, was essentially a euphemism for "Jew".

Then, according to comments, there were Zio-neocons. This was followed by "Zio-hasbarian" and finally, there was the zio-neo-fascist-PNAC-zio-hasbarian-neocon-ziocon-crypto-neo-zio-hasbarian-zio-zio-zio-quadruple masonic-neo-totalitarian-zio-neo-zippady-doo-dah-zio-rotarians.

It seems that the mind controlled drones of the global totalitarian elite are uniting into a vast Zombie Army or Army of Satan, broken down into three main divisions, the neo-Zio-Christians (Christian mind-controlled "fundamentalist" crusaders), the Jewish Fanatics (fanatical paranoid ultra-militant brainwashed Jewish Zionists), and the Neo-Ziocons (permanent war economy neo-liberal industrial managerial drones).

Wouldn't it be far simpler if they just said Jew, the way Stormfront do?

Quite aptly, the BC Indymedia article is entitled "Lunacy Alert in Canada" however perhaps doesn't make the point the author was intending.

UK Indymedia, is also jumping on the whole "Fake Osama" conspiracy theory. Osama isnt (sic) Osama: when its (sic) morphing technology

And apostrophes isn't... Never mind.

OK, I hardly have to tell you that that isn't Osama. Lol But, for the record heres the link to a 1999 Washington Post article on voice morphing technology developed at Los Alamos. Send it to anyone you know who is dumb enough to think that was ACTUALLY Osama.

Ah, the true sign of quality journalism - inclusion of the term "Lol".

This is of course, an acronym for "laughing out loud" and something UK Indymedia prompts repeatedly.

Unanswered by the article, is why they would need to convincingly fake Osama bin Laden's voice using this 'voice morphing' technology, rather than simply announce "yes, it's him".

Also unanswered, is why they would fake Osama's voice, when his mere survival is (despite denial) surely embarrassing to the Administration.

None of this matters of course, when you are simultaneously convinced that Osama is really a CIA/Mossad agent and had nothing to do with 9/11 anyway. All of these theories and more, explored within Indymedia. Search for them on this site.

Via Tim Blair comes this article detailing why conservatives are hilarious and liberals have robbed themselves of the pleasure.

P.J. O'Rourke may have nailed the self-imposed shackles worn by "progressive" comics in the introduction to Reptile. There he wrote that when a conservative sees an old woman slip and fall on her butt he'll say, "You shouldn't laugh at that." But a liberal, in the American context, will say, "You cannot laugh at that."

From my own experience, P.J. O'Rourke got a mention in my recent exposure(!) of Protest Babes. As for unfunny left-wing humour? Well... There's this and this to partly illustrate the point.

Last week, I commented on so-called Protest Babes and theories surrounding the attractiveness of protesters in relation to the popularity of their cause.

Read it, for it is good.

As part of that post, I included this image:


which I originally found on Melbourne Indymedia.

Via Michelle Malkin, I now know that the image was actually a Photoshopped version of this:


which was a photo of women in Iran bravely protesting the country's Islamic leadership before Iran's presidential elections last summer. This image was copied and altered by Code Pink for use as a recruiting tool for a group who may not share the same ideology as those in the picture it 'borrowed'. More at Publius Pundit, here.

It had me fooled.

Update: Leigh has links to other examples of Photoshop Propaganda.

Update: The victims of this photographic fraud have issued a statement.

The Jawa Report is celebrating its second birthday. How? By helping to nab a terrorist.

Well done sir.

Permalink # posted by Dan @ 2:28 PM | |  | 0 comments

Bush has taken time off being Hitler. The new word, is that Bush=Osama.

According to UK Indymedia, the recent tapes of Osama bin Laden, were actually part of the "boogy man" tactic to bolster support for war.

There are a number of thoughts I've had about the contents and timing of this tape. Ignoring the obvious and in fact mostly insignificant fact that there is no evidence that the voice on the tape is Osama Bin Laden and that he may indeed have died last April for all we know, the timing of the release seems no coincidence.

Don't you love how anonyomous Indymedia commenters have access to all that classified information and forensic data of the voice recording? Here's more 'evidence':

It's staggering that people can't see outside the box here-

1. Anyone could make a tape. How many people have access to recording equipment these days? Millions. We should all make OBL tapes and flood The Sun and similar paranoid rags!

2. It was mentioned on the news that "the quality was bad because the caves are so far from the outside world". But somehow a courier was able to get the tape to Al Jazeera.. so you would have thought OBL would have asked the courier to stop by Dixons (or whatever they have) and pick up a spanking new mp3 recorder.

Meanwhile, at the Headquarters of the NSA. "Sir, sir, we just picked up this iPod which we believe may be another one of the millions of possible recordings of Osama bin Laden we've received this week." "Well done Agent Jones. Tell me, was this one also recorded in English?"

Further to yesterday's example of the Spectacular Denial of Indymedia it gets even more ridiculous.

Stacy, a moderator on Sydney Indymedia is publicly refusing to hide a most disgracefully antisemitic and downright stupid article on the Sydney Indymedia Newswire. It is of zero newsworthiness, untrue, antisemitic and offensive. There is no valid reason whatsoever to keep it, and this was pointed out by several people in the comments.

Read the responses by Stacy on the page however, and see it's all about "free speech".

There are crazy and deluded people with all sorts of politics and conspiracy theories, not just the left. Indymedia is a space where these people can bounce their ideas off the public.

Some" ideas"... Here's just one example:

you should just shut your nasty ass trap bitch just because you used to screw sharon for a shekel a pop doesnt (sic) mean you sould (sic) be crying over the fat shit ball

Aren't we all better off from having that 'idea' bounced off us. Stacy then triumphantly claims:

there has never been a more open and transparent media in the history of mankind

Are you really sure about that?

On second thoughts, every now and then someone might actually wash the filth off the back of the toilet door. Indymedia on the other hand is far more righteous...

Continuing from yesterday's insight into the Indymedia mindset, comes further comments on this disgraceful Sydney Indymedia post which shine a spotlight onto the mindset of an Indymedia advocate.

To the question:

according to your very own [editorial] guidlines..."IMC Sydney is primarily a news website. Articles posted on the imc newswire should contain an element of news or journalistic commentary.
Anything posted on the newswire that does not contain an element of news or journalism is prone to being removed."

Care to tell me which bit of the post on this page has any news or journalistic commentary, or relevance to Indymedia?

The post in question, features this paragraph:

Medical observers say sharon's failure at having the ability to wake means the inbreed comatose condition is due to his total lack of a brain function, which can be traced back to the imbeciles inbred origin that began for all the zionazis back in Rome a few dozen generations ago by four lunatic zionazi whores working the brothels of Rome which is probably the root cause of the insane brain-dead imbeciles lack of abilities.

Fairly typical for Indymedia, but surely not 'newsworthy'.

However, one of the (confirmed) Indymedia moderators justifies the decision not to hide the post as follows:

I leave it up because of this:

"The editorial board believes in the spirit
of free speech. Such denigrations against large chunks of humanity are better out in the open where they be argued against than hidden away."

I would rather know that the person who posted this can see the reactions it provokes, than hide it and have them feel vindicated by the censorship. Obviously the person is not living in the realm of rationality. If nobody every tells them that, they will be more likely to remain deluded.

There you have it folks.

There are additional comments on the page pointing to double-standards, and these have certainly been demonstrated on UK Indymedia and other sites. What's amazing though, is how Indymedia advocates believe they are furthering the cause of "free speech" by allowing such crap, nearly always in countries where speech is essentially free anyway. So what exactly is their contribution again?

Greenpeace has been getting up to shenanigans again, this time ramming (or being rammed depending who you ask) a Japanese whaling boat.

Evil Pundit reports satire discovered on Melbourne Indymedia.

‘What part of the word ‘sanctuary’ do the Cattlemen not understand?’ said Pasha Paul Watson from the Hindu Cowboys bunker Farley Mowat. ‘The Cattlemen have assaulted Cattle-defenders with water cannons and wooden poles. The Cattlemen have rammed two Greenpeace wagons and attempted to ram the Farley Mowat.

Sorry. Even less funny than last time satire was attempted.

To paraphrase Mick Dundee, That's not satire. This, is satire.

The captain of the Japanese whaling ship, Nisshin Maru, has defended his actions during a collision with the Greenpeace-owned vessel, Arctic Sunrise as being undertaken “purely for research purposes” as part of an ongoing program to establish whether a more institutionalised cull of activitists may be needed.

I previously reported on this sad indictment of Sydney Indymedia.

Some comments left on the article (which hasn't been hidden of course) shed some light on the Indymedia mindset. The first, by 'AVM':

hello all, I'm just wondering how you expect this site to have any credibility at all by allowing people to print articles like this, in turn followed by sick comments below. I don't even know if you guys realize it, but you are as hate-filled as the nazis were in your view of the jewish people. You sound deranged, deluded, filled with hate, paranoid, possibly on hallucinogenic drugs, and you also use the same rhetoric as islamic fundamentalists. This article and some of the following comments are a good example. In short, until the powers that be decide to take control of the foaming-at-the-mouth nutjobs that shit out their mouths like the fucking nazi that wrote this bile, all indymedia sites will continue to be the laughing stock of the political blogosphere.

Read some of the other comments on the page and you will reach a similar conclusion very shortly. A response from 'Stacy' to AVM however is stunning in its naivete:

Hmmm... I don't remember the Nazi's (Sic) allowing feedback to their propaganda.

Finally, a comment in response to AVM which drops a bombshell:

AVM, Your comment is quite correct.

Pointing it out however, usually results in one or two standard responses.

1) Someone will claim posts like this were actually by Jews, as part of some twisted conspiracy to prove anti-semitism. The argument doesn't make much sense, but then, neither do its proponents most of the time.

and

2) But but but... This is freedom of speech, and we want people to discuss these matters and disagree with them.

Stacy, who it should be pointed out is a moderator with the authority to hide examples such as this, has very nicely demonstrated example 2 with her previous post.

That this site allows "feedback" - and considering some of the "feedback" which appears on this page, is apparently some form of justification and even vindication of such garbage for which some Indymedia moderators are quite proud.

And so the cycle revolves...

I have reported on the black-flag antisemitism conspiracy angle before (see here for a reference to it on Sydney Indymedia) and it can safely be ignored for what it is. Reading the subsequent denial by a moderator, of everything which is wrong with Indymedia however, left me dumbstruck. Not only does Stacy (a Sydney moderator) ignore the problem, she is apparently so enamoured with Indymedia, she defends this case as proof of how worthwhile the whole thing is.

Unbelieveable.

Update: AVM scores another direct hit:

Just wondering why you've never had an article ridiculing the death of arafat by any of your so-called supporters of "free-speech." Doesn't that fit you agenda? For you to say that this site doesn't promote religious hatred of jewish people is laughable. I suggest you remove your head from you anus and read the forementioned "article" again. If you still don't get it, repeat this step over and over until it sinks in.

Yeah, you might allow feedback - but you also provide a forum for rotten hate-mongers to spew their bile. This so-called article has absolutely no substance, yet is nothing more than a bigot taking cheapshots at a dying man. A poster below had it right - with free speech comes responsibility. And by allowing garbage like this to be seen on you site, it shows that the moderators (hatemongers) have none at all. In turn, indymedia as a whole has lost any shred of credibility. I expect to see things like that post on sites such as stormfront, an outwardly racist/supremacist site that doesn't hide behind "free speech." They are racist jew-haters, and they admit it. Sydney IMC is actually worse than they are. At least the nuts at stormfront have the guts to admit what they are, unlike the people that you allow to post hate-speech here, then the moderators hide like a bunch of cowards behind the guise of "free-speech." If Sydney IMC were so for free speech, you'd allow articles by people with viewpoints other than radical socialist/Anti-Israeli/Anti-American stuff. But that wouldn't their agenda now would it? The folks that run this toilet seem to be a bit one-sided in which articles they post. Again, I challenge you - post something by someone ridiculing Arafat the same way you did this sick individual did Sharon, then I'd actually believe that you are for free-speech. Otherwise, admit what this site is - A radical leftist/hate site filled with cowards that can't even admit what they truly are - jew-hating socialists that should probably be writing for stormfront.
Make a rating on this comment.

According to this article, the Catholic League has pointed their finger at Bay Area Indymedia.

The Respect Life Ministry of the Oakland Diocese is waging a PR campaign in BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains promoting a pro-life message. One of the ads, “9 MONTHS,” calls attention to the amount of time the Supreme Court allows abortions to take place. The other ad reads, “The Supreme Court says you can choose: after the heart starts beating, after its arms and legs appear, after all organs are present, after the sex is apparent, after it sucks its thumb, after it responds to sounds, after it could survive outside the womb.” The ads end by asking “Have We Gone Too Far?”

Though most of the ads have been destroyed by pro-abortion activists, the Oakland Diocese has been busy replacing them. Many of the placards have been covered with the most incredibly vicious anti-Catholic and obscene remarks, and some of the ads have been torn to shreds.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this issue today:

“Anyone who wants to know what makes these people tick should click into the website indybay.org. It will soon be discovered that abortion rights is only one small part of the agenda: the website embraces every conceivable anti-American, left-wing cause, including issues that are positively insane, e.g., ‘Bathroom Safety for Transgenders.’

There's further discussion at Bay Area Indymedia including predictable calls for further vandalism, which appear to fly in the face of this whole 'freedom of speech' thing for 'some reason'.

Elsewhere on SF Indymedia, the previously reported post about a bomb at Starbucks is no longer visible. I'm unsure if it's a technical hitch (everything else seems to be working) or something more.

Swinging by Sydney Indymedia, it usually takes me less than a minute to find another disgraceful example of what's wrong with Indymedia.

This afternoon, it took less than five seconds.

Read it and puke.

Sharon showing lack of brain activity due to inbreeding

Issuing their first bulletin in 24 hours, officials at the Jerusalem hospital treating sharon said he or it is a brain-dead sack of shit..

Sigh... Comments follow:

that fat piece of shit gorged on too much human blood and flesh and probably picked up some spungiforum (sic) pirons (sic) . . .
but his inbred origins didnt (sic) give him much of a brain to start with ,. . .
...
FUCKING UNPLUG THE FAT TUB OF LARD

MAY THE SON-OF-A-BITCH ROT IN HELL
WHERE HES (sic) FROM

Much of a brain huh? I've said it before... What is it with antisemites and spelling ability?

WILLisms.com is discussing the 'Babe Theory of Political Movements'.

The Babe Theory, first described by P.J. O'Rourke in his Parliament of Whores book:

"Best of all, there were hardly any beautiful women at the [Housing Now!] rally. I saw a journalist friend of mine in the Mall, and he and I purused this line of inquiry as assiduously as our happy private lives allow. Practically every female at the march was a bowser. "We're not being sexist here," my friend insisted. "It's not that looks matter per se. It's just that beautiful women are always on the cutting edge of social trends. Remember how many beautiful women were in the anti-war movement twenty years ago? In the yoga classes fifteen years ago? At the discos ten years ago? On Wall Street five years ago? Where the beautiful women are is where the country is headed," said my friend. "And this," he looked around him, "isn't it."

He then goes on to demonstrate the cutting edge of political movements by showing gorgeous protesters in Lebanon, the Ukraine and beyond, and then compares these to American protesters over the decades, and now.

Read it all, gaze upon (some of) the pictures and come back to finish this.

An article on Indymedia Melbourne - Women Launch Campaign to End Iraq War and the subsequent comments shed more light on this phenomena. (Update: The following image is completely fraudulent - see here).

Comment: Hey, I'm convinced. How can you resist such hot babes with I.Q.'s ranging in the 600's?

(Note the filename by the way)

...

They have a campaign that excludes one gender, and by implication makes the excluded males the villains of the piece.

How about a Coalition Against Sexist Women's Groups?

Err.. Yes.

Also found on the same page (now hidden but irresistible) was this gem:

George Galloway: Pussy.

It has been one year since my First Annual Call for Indymedia Seppuku.

In that year, what has Indymedia achieved? Has it succeeded in its goals? Have its positives outweighed its negatives? Has it resolved disputes? Has it satisfied critics?

No.

As I said one year ago:

Indymedia attempted to be a viable alternative to the corporate media. It attempted to encourage a diverse range of opinions. It attempted to be "a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth" (What is Indy Media). It attempted to be honest. It attempted to be accurate. It attempted to be fair.

It failed.

It is now nothing less than a breeding ground for the exact opposite of what it set out to achieve. It contains no content which offers any tangible value that even begins to outweigh the negativity, hostility and downright ignorance of its usual content. Racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, fraud, defamation, lies and hate-speech are the norm and this is apparent to anyone who takes even the most cursory look. Serious readers have vanished, serious contributors have left. At best Indymedia sites syndicate and repeat content readily available from elsewhere. At worst it encourages publication of content fair-minded people would run away from quickly and with good reason.

I am not the first to identify the problem and it is abundantly clear a solution or fix is not imminent. The prognosis is negative. Indymedia will continue to wither and any disbelief is merely denial. I propose Indy Media die with honor.

I therefore formally call on Indymedia to salvage whatever honor it ever had by commiting seppuku.

I will repeat this call until it is heeded and ask you all to join me. We implore Indymedia to do the honorable thing and fall upon its sword.

I am not looking to offend anyone with this. I am not trying to censor anyone, nor am I interested in gloating after Indymedia's demise should this take place. I am simply stating that Indymedia is seriously broken and at this point can confidently say it isn't likely to be fixed. Rather than inspire Indymedia advocates to dig in their heels in spite of my comment, I would ask that they take a long hard look at themselves, and someone - anyone, accept a bit of responsibility and act with honor. That's all. I am of course skeptical... Denial's funny that way.

This image, previously reported on Sydney Indymedia continues the rumour that Jews Neocon Zionists are controlling the world via top-secret mind rays.

To celebrate the Second Annual Call for Indymedia Seppuku I am convinced it's all part of a plot to increase stock price of Jewish Neocon Zionist tinfoil manufacturing companies. Oh... And control the universe.

Thanks to BM for pointing it out in an email which notes:

look what passes for journalism at the UCIMC.....founded deep in the heart of the University Of Illinois....

Via LA Indymedia -riding on the (ahem) success of their last mission, World Can't Wait are back with their latest scheme.

Bush Step Down-Massive Protests Jan 31 & Feb 4th
http://www.worldcantwait.org

BUSH: STEP DOWN And Take Your Program With You!
1. Jan. 31, on The Night of President Bush’s State of the Union Address:

Bring the Noise! Drown Out Bush’s Lies!

In large cities and small towns all across the country, join in rallies one hour before Bush’s address as we make our determination to “Drive Out the Bush Regime” the political message of the day.

At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices.

No doubt this will be followed by complaints about freedom of speech and censorship...

Is this seriously the level of political debate from a group who believe they can engineer Bush's downfall? It's the large-scale equivalent of putting your hands over your ears and shouting "la la la I can't hear you la la la".

Honestly...

Subsequent comments on the post suggest excitement is building...

Oh yeah, we're all just waiting for the usual "massive protests" that never seem to happen. Even when you manage a few losers at these "actions", they get hijacked by your little "black bloc" goons and turn into little nasty fits of vandalism. The world, it seems, CAN wait. Three more years, baby.

It's also interesting to note LA Indymedia's addition of buttons after each comment where you can flag the comment as offensive, fraud or "Best of IMC". That last one should prove interesting.

A comment on a UK Indymedia post argues:

There is no place for anti-semitism within the activist community and IM [Indymedia] should be ashamed it continues to allow these posts to remain, perhaps the involvement of the truly appaling Roy Bard (aka FTP) who is still allowed to work as an IM London editor explains the bias over this area.

The credibility of the UK IM site is at an all time low at the moment and for bloody good reasons, if it wants to stop its never ending reduction in readers and contributors it must take a long look at those involved in the editorial decisions and the choices they are making.

as I have said here.

The writer then makes a prediction:

The irony is of course rather than dealing with this issue and hiding the original post the unelected small group who control the editing passwords and therefore the whole site will hide this comment.

Which is precisely what they did as well as hiding several other comments for no good reason, and one very, very bad reason.

I had no idea, but apparently Cow tipping is an urban myth. It simply can't be done.

Even if you appreciate the physics involved.

Unless it's a baby cow of course.

Via Melbourne Indymedia comes a challenge:

I HEREBY, with full knowledge of the laws and penalties contained in Schedule 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005, urge all readers of this column to arm themselves with the nearest blunt instrument, storm Parliament House and overthrow the Australian government by force.
...
We know you chickenshits don't have the balls to go all the way so eat shit fuck off and die all you Liberal, gNat's, Family First arsefuckers and all yr hanging dags and running vomit eating dogs. Especially those vomit eating dogs like Mick Keelty.

You are GUTLESS!

We called you out and you piked you yellow stinking maggots!

FUCK YOU and all who sail in you. And fuck the brownosing corpse media - your all dead meat talking. Don't you know we're talkin bout a revolution.

And we are long past whispering.

A subsequent comment provides a stunningly appropriate response:

Bay City News is reporting that a Bomb was defused at Starbucks on Van Ness.

SF Indymedia is already discussing it.

okay, seems fairly convenient...in the post-round-up of environmental activists lull, police discover an explosive at, -- cliche of cliches! -- a starfucks.and calling it an IED? used to just be called a homemade bomb...it's like they want any reason to hype this up like it was a bomb that just killed 50 little kids by calling it a term that is explicitly used when referring to the iraq war. i doubt it even rated a cherry bomb.

watch each others backs...there will be mass raids on anarchist spaces following this "discovery." way to easy for them. be prepared.

In other words, like every other terrorist activity, this is all part of a covert government/police operation. Cliche of cliches indeed!

This will be an interesting one to watch.

Arizona Indymedia is reporting a new discovery that the Nazi salute came from the USA.

Historians are confirming new discoveries regarding the history of Nazism in the USA, including the discovery that the salute of the horrid Party originated in the USA

Dr. Curry showed that the USA's first Pledge of Allegiance used a straight-arm salute and it was the origin of the salute of the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis). Professor Curry helped to establish that it was not an ancient Roman salute, and that the "ancient Roman salute" is a myth.

Therefore, USA=Hitler right?

Not exactly. It's obvious why someone at Indymedia has jumped to this conclusion and printed the article. Reading some of the source however indicates some of the Indymedia people may not like what else he had to say. It had nothing to do with Nazism and the USA at all:

RexCurry.net also exposed the “Nazi” cover-up. Many people use the word “Nazi” to cover-up for socialism by hiding the actual name of the horrid party: the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The practice is so widespread that most people who use the word “Nazi” are ignorant of what the abbreviation abbreviates. http://rexcurry.net/mediacover.html

I don't agree with a lot of what Rex Curry has said, particularly the danger of his desire to expose "Nazis" as "National Socialists" and reduce the popular use of the former term, with the resultant possiblity of watering down the memory of Nazi activity versus bashing socialists.

For sure however, someone should have RTFA before reprinting it on Indymedia.

Stupid socialists...

BC Indymedia tries satire.

And fails.

I think I'm pretty qualified to say so.

Idiots.

Update: But wait... There's more.

Israeli leader sharon a brain damaged vegtable (sic)

nothing new about this, sharon has always been brain damaged, now that his head has been spit (sic) open several times and hand fulls (sic) of his rotten brain matter ouzzed (sic) out on the floor I hope he recovers to suffer as a drooling imbecile

From one drooling imbecile to another... How touching.

What is it with antisemites and spelling?

An argument has broken out on Melbourne Indymedia concerning the two convicted vandals who painted "No War" on the Sydney Opera House. Specifically, the vandals wished to auction their infamous pot of paint however :

NSW Police have applied to the Downing Centre Local Court for the ‘disposal’ (i.e. destruction) of the famous paintpot

Comments ensue:

You vandalised a national treasure for your selfish egotism and you act like you're proud of it.

Obviously you haven't learned the lesson that what you did was a crime.

Rack off to Iran and take your stupid paint pot with you.
...
Why didn't you 'work your butts off' to raise money for the cancer hospital as a priority , fuckwits, instead of carrying out a political stunt? That way, the kids would have received more money than they will now.

Don't blame the cops because you chose to put all your efforts into a political stunt rather than raising money for sick kids.
...
Congratulations on some fine activism you two, I saw your handy-work on my ride home after work over the Sydney Harbour Bridge... It made me feel fuzzy inside, and made me realise that there were plenty of other anti-war folk out there willing to risk life and limb to make the message heard.
...
Telling a bunch of lies about the imaginary reasons for the acts of vandalism won't change the reality.

These people are crooks and they can piss off.
...
Why not just auction any old pot of paint and SAY it's the one used to vandalise the Sydney Opera House? That is, lie.

After all, you clowns regularly publish lies about Iraq, DU, 9/11, Bush, Howard, Israel, Afghanistan, terrorism, racism, 'suppression of dissent', etc.

Why stop the lies now?

One comment however stands out for pointing out something common to plenty of 'activists' engaging in frequently pointless criminal activity:

Self absorbed wankers who are only too happy to break the law when it suits their political purposes but would be the first to whinge if the authorities broke the law in dealing with them.

From the "News you Won't Read on Indymedia Department" comes this report that Rachel Corrie's parents were kidnapped in Gaza

GAZA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen briefly seized the parents of slain U.S. activist Rachel Corrie as they visited the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, but relented after being confronted by a member of the security forces, witnesses said.

They said Craig and Cindy Corrie, whose daughter was fatally run down by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in 2003, were at the home of a friend in the Gaza town of Rafah when it was stormed by gunmen.

The gunmen appeared set on kidnapping the two Americans, the witnesses said. Gaza has seen a rash of foreigner abductions since Israel withdrew from the territory in September after 38 years of occupation.

But a local security officer intervened and the gunmen beat a retreat.

"A neighbour known to be a member of the security forces told the gunmen to leave," a witness said.

Neither the Corries, who are from Olympia, Washington, nor their host, Samir Nasrallah, could immediately be reached for comment.

I wish I had friends like that.

UK Indymedia is reporting that that Indymedia images may be infected with a Windows Exploit which infects computers as soon as they view the image.

Whilst this is a Windows security hole, for which security updates are available, and not an Indymedia flaw per se, it does highlight another problem (from a technical standpoint) of a wide-open publishing medium.

Better read the article and comments before they are censored...

The Proper Care and Feeding of Moonbats

Provide your moonbat with plenty of aluminum foil with which to line his nest and encase his cranium, as this will ease his irrational fear of Karl Rove's "mind-ray". He may occasionally playfully attempt to wrap the heads of other family members in tinfoil as well. This behavior, though seemingly odd, is quite harmless and a sign of great affection, so play along once in awhile to make your moonbat feel loved and accepted.

Your moonbat will need access to the Internet so he can vent his pent-up anger and feed his insatiable need for outrageous conspiracy theories and anti-Bush rhetoric, so be certain to provide him with a computer and a modem connection. He will happily spend hour after hour at such mind-boggling, psychotic websites as Democratic Underground, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Indymedia, MoveOn.org, Eschaton, Oliver Willis and Pandagon, blaming President Bush for everything from tsunamis to global warming on Mars. It is this very behavior that makes moonbats so entertaining and has caused such an explosion in their popularity as housepets --- but be warned, if left unchecked, your moonbat can easily become "net addicted" and spend every waking moment on the computer, trolling Republican-friendly websites and calling everyone he finds a Nazi.

Read it all.

(Hat Tip: Scott, the Environmental Republican)

Further to my post yesterday regarding the possibility of UK Indymedia censoring material its moderators disagreed with, comes absolute proof this is taking place. Additionally to a comment left on the above post, 'TH', a UK Indymedia contributor emailed me copies of two comments which were left on this anti-Israel news piece, given prominent visibility on the UK Indymedia 's front page.

The two pieces were not inflammatory, couldn't be called 'trolling' and simply disagreed with the substance of the article. They have now both been 'hidden' (which effectively means deleted as there is no means whatsoever to view them). This raises the question I asked yesterday, of how many other comments have been removed?

Unfortunately for UK Indymedia, I retain copies of them which I shall reprint in full. I'd be thrilled to hear what the problem was. To me, it appears damned obvious.

Denial of Truth

03.01.2006 09:23
Your article claims: "Clearly, Israel is afraid of the power of non-violence."

If it's that "clear", why is it that "two (UK) citizens were allowed to enter the country"?

Is it because you are lying?

"Clearly", if I may use that term, your article is propaganda not rooted in facts. It is this behaviour that Israel takes umbrage to, and with very good reason. Israel craves non-violence, which has been wholly absent from the Palestinian side. Instead, Israel receives terrorism and murder, aided and abetted by "useful idiots" such as the International Solidarity Movement and spinoff groups.

This group has lied in the past about their objectives and there is no reason for Israeli security to take at face value the claims of someone at a border security check that they are "here for a conference" and not in fact to interfere with legal military or police activity.

See: http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/2005/10/saga-of-olives-more-ism-fraud.html for previous examples of exactly this.

See: http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/2005/02/nonviolence.html on "Non Violence" and Indymedia dishonesty in its reporting of such and http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7361 for the lowdown on the ISM's Solidarity with Terrorists.

TH

---------------------------------------------
Cynical Snakes

03.01.2006 09:28
They weren't going there to advocate peace, but to agitate violence.

Bobby

Anyone care to tell me what the problem or 'policy violation' with that content is?

In yesterday's comments, Annie writes:

they regularly delete or hide pro-Israel comments. I've lost count of the times that my comments have mysteriously (not!) disappeared.

and this has been discussed on UK Indymedia before, where someone made the point:

Whats going on here? I didn't agree with the missing posts but that doesn't mean they should be airbrushed from history. They don't even appear in the 'view all posts' section of the site. Its all a bit Stalinist and undermines the whole point of indymedia.

Any IMC'ers want to comment? Is this normal practice/policy or a one-off? What was that Volraire quote 'I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. Censorship Stinks and undermines my trust in the otherwise valuble resource that is IMC-UK.

Unsurprisingly, that discussion itself was censored. How "otherwise valuable" is it again?

As I have said in the past, I am not opposed to good moderation, which I don't consider "censorship'. I have deleted comments from this blog which were offensive, off-topic or ten pages in length (yes, I've received those). If Indymedia did more of that, it would be a better place. I have not however deleted anything I simply disagreed with, and I've received plenty of that as well. Many Indymedia advocates have insisted that any control of their site is tantamount to censorship, and Sydney Indymedia demonstrates what happens in that wide-open situation. I disagree with this.

On the other hand, you have on UK Indymedia, what can not only be described as hypocritical, but an utter disgrace. The antisemitic overtones are obvious as well, from the prominence given to the anti-Israel article versus the stifling of any dissenting argument. Will the "anti-censorship" crowd speak up and do something about this? The history of Indymedia self-reform suggests probably not.

I have previously discussed a bogus 'test paper' being cited by Indymedia as proof of 'grooming' students by the Government Machine.

Via my referrers, I can see UK Indymedia got into a frenzy over it as well. Someone pointed to my post in a comment on UK Indymedia and I received quite a few few visitors as a result. Visiting the page in question however, I can see no such post or comment pointing to this blog.

What's going on?

It would appear the comment which linked to my blog was 'hidden' by a UK Indymedia volunteer. Unfortunately, on UK Indymedia there is no way to view hidden comments, only articles.

In other words, the comment might as well have been deleted as it cannot be viewed by anyone.

Whilst I'm in favour of effective moderation, and don't know for sure what was said and subsequently hidden, there's a problem with this. Specifically, knowing UK Indymedia's Questionable Agenda I wonder what other dissenting comments are hidden for no reason other than the moderators disagreeing with them.

It's a fine line between effective moderation based on reasonable policy, versus censorship. Sydney Indymedia is evidence of what happens when you leave the gates wide open. This is bad. A lack of accountabililty on the other hand (and Indymedia has proved to lack this) doesn't help when the pendulum swings the other way and people in a position of responsbility delete content for no good reason other than they don't agree with it. I don't trust Indymedia to negotiate that line.

For example, this article appears on the front page of UK Indymedia. For any post regarding Israel, I simply can't believe in the nearly 5 days since it was posted, there wasn't a single comment.

I would love to hear from readers via comments or email (address on the left) of their experiences, especially with UK Indymedia. You don't need to register with Blogspot to leave comments, however select 'other' and pick a unique name rather than 'anonymous' to make any replies a little more clear.

Finally, whomever posted the comment on UK Indymedia is obviously a reader of this blog, so please let me know what you said. Update: It's happened - Check the comments on this post and scroll down to my next post - Hard Evidence of UK Indymedia Censorship.

Update 2: Via the comments, an anonymous visitor has accused me of censorship by deleting one of his comments. Thing is, I didn't. Commenter lied, people died...

Update 3: Apparently it is now possible to view hidden comments by appending "?c=all" (without quotes) to the end of the URL. For example, http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/330593.html?c=all. I don't know if this is a new change to the UK site.

Have a read of comments on this post , and then view the Bethlehem article with comments enabled (the preceding URL) and particularly comments by TH and Bobby. Can you see a problem? All six (at this time) comments have been hidden given the impression to readers not using the 'secret URL' that there is no reply or complaint about the article, when this is (un)clearly not the case. Can you say "crushing dissent"?

See also another comment of TH's which was hidden for similarly questionable reasons. Its hiding also breaks the flow of subsequent responses.

Update: Various comments on this post have speculated why some of the posts may have been hidden. The two latest comments by TH on the UK Indymedia piece which were hidden (and may be viewed here) suggest my theory is accurate, and UK Indymedia really is a disgrace, stifling dissent and censoring opposing points of view for no good reason. Any other excuses?

Update: I'm getting called all sorts of things in the comments. None of them are true of course.

Update: Indymedia UK is doing some introspection... Not really.

Update: After yesterday's antisemitic stabbing inside a Russian synagogue, one of my readers, Annie writes:

Here's a rum thing. This article: https://www1.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/331254.html is a completely factual report about anti-Semitic incidents in Russia. It appeared only today on the newswire...but when I clicked on it, it says "hidden article"... Why on earth is it hidden? It says only the truth. Could that be the reason?

Could be.

Melbourne Indymedia was discussing the proposed introduction in Australia of RU-486, the 'abortion pill'.

As part of the discussion of abortion, someone echoed my call for Indymedia Seppuku suggesting:

Sydney imc should be aborted

There is some support for the idea:

All I know is this anti-Semitic filth has been on the newswire for a week and it's safe to assume nobody from SIMC has a problem with that.

If such matters are not taken seriously, the site certainly is a joke. Can anyone point to Sydney IMC's genuine contribution to society besides usual IMC motherhood crap about "giving activists a voice" and a "progressive alternative to the mainstream media"? As far as I can see, it's a pile of shite and there are far more useful activist/progressive websites whose moderators take their jobs a bit more seriously.

Bring on the abortion I say!

Sydney says No Way! and has responded with a typical cry of how great Indymedia is because of "Free Speech". I (and several of the respondents apparently) still don't the value.

An article on Portland IMC and linked to by the Global Indymedia page is suggesting:

Children in Washington State are being given "patriotism tests" which are completely unrelated to their studies. The paper gauges whether or not the student shows fealty to the power of the state and whether the student believes in the right to overthrow a corrupt government.

A copy of the 'opinionnaire" is provided and demonstrates students may agree or disagree with a number of statements therein such as:

1. It is never right to kill another person.

2. Political leaders usually act in the best interest of their countries.

3. If a political leader has done something wrong, it is alright to get rid of him/her by what ever means necessary.

4. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

5. In certain situations it may be justified for a political leader to bend or break the law for the good of the country.

6. People should never compromise their ideals or beliefs.

7. "My country right or wrong" is not just a slogan; it is every citizen's patriotic duty.

8. No cause, political or otherwise, is worth dying for.

9. "cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant taste of death but once."

10. "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is (often buried) with their bodies."

According to the original writer:

They are grooming our kids"

For what exactly? Having an opinion? Or grooming them to become goosestepping drones shouting "Heil Bushitler"? Comments follow:

to test a child on their patriotism? how many shades of national socialism are there? heil bush.

Did you think I was exaggerating?

A subsequent commenter adds his own suggestion for a question:

Would you grant several multi-billion dollar contracts with high tech companies of the Zionist crusader state while hundreds of thousands of high tech workers loose (sic) thier (sic) jobs in the US, like democraps and republitrash did in 2002??

After whipping the Indymedia readers into a frenzy, comes this rather disappointing observation:

Taking one of the questions in the "opinionnaire" (I used #2) snd plugging it into Google Advanced Search turns up multiple hits. It turns out that they all have something in common.

English Teachers.

Yep, it seems that this set of questions is used for classroom discussions of the play "Julius Caesar":
link to www.sd84.k12.id.us (from Sandpoint High School Ponderay, Idaho)
http://www.tarleton.edu/~robitai/ray_assignments.htm (from Tarleton State University in Texas)

http://lessmad.com/juliuscaesar.html (A more general teaching aids site)

It's been used in other contexts. This article, published in 1998 in the ALAN Review by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall98/tighe.html
is particularly interesting. It describes the use of, among other things, this questionnaire, in conjunction with the reading and discussion of two novels, as part of a project aiming at learning how classroom discussions of literature can improve students' critical thinking skills.

So, to sum up:

This is a tool used by English teachers in teaching a Shakespeare play.

It's been around for quite some time.

The original article presents it completely stripped of all context, seizing on something which in isolation can be made scary-looking.

Since we have no context about this instance, we can't be absolutely certain about its import, but, given what one can easily find out about the history of this teaching tool, I know which way I'd bet.

Looks to me like the paranoid conspiracy theory industry is keeping in shape for the Olympic conclusion-jumping event.

It's going to be a highly competitive event this year too! How embarrassing.

An article on Santa Cruz Indymedia suggests activists going to law school would be the perfect activist revenge.

We need to go to law school. Seriously. As activists, we are absolutely dependent on an industry of law that we know very little about and have very little influence in.
...
Our family are left in utter darkness about procedures and are reduced to begging for legal information from attorneys paid $200 an hour. I seriously believe we need more activist attorneys. NOW.

Well good luck with all that!

Maybe activists can become police officers as well. Revenge is sweet...