Shutting Down Independent Thought and Dissent
By Junious Ricardo Stanton

"Monday October 11, 2004 The Guardian American authorities have shut down 20 independent media centres by seizing their British-based web servers. On Thursday a court order was issued to Rackspace, an American-owned web hosting company in Uxbridge, Middlesex, forcing it to hand over two servers used by Indymedia, an international media network which covers of social justice issues and provides a "news-wire", to which its users contribute.

The websites affected by the seizure span 17 countries. It is unclear why, or to where, the servers have been taken. The FBI, speaking to the French AFP, acknowledged that a subpoena had been issued but said this was at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities." - The Guardian Unlimited Online

Last week the US FBI moved to shut down over twenty Independent Media Centers by seizing the servers used by the grassroots collective. The servers were located in England according to an original report in the Guardian. No information was provided for the rationale for the warrant and seizures.

The servers located in Middlesex are owned by an AmeriKKKan owned company named Rackspace. Rackspace provides Internet servers to Indymedia a grassroots network of alternative media which includes: newspapers, Websites, Internet radio stations that generally have a progressive anti-fascist philosophy that have been extremely critical of the Bush administration, globalization, war and imperialism.

While no information is available as to exactly why the FBI demanded the servers, the move has resulted in the shutdown and disabling of over thirty Indymedia sites worldwide. Indymedia outlets around the world passed the word as soon as the servers were seized by the FBI. A report in Truthout another progressive alternative media source hinted the seizures were prompted by politics.

Truthout's Friday October 8th report carried a by-line written by John Leyden of the Register. In it Leyden stated no information was available about the seizures because discussing warrants and investigations is illegal. " The FBI yesterday seized a pair of UK servers used by "Indymedia , the independent newsgathering collective, after serving a subpoena in the US on Indymedia's hosting firm, Rackspace. Why or how remains unclear.

Rackspace UK complied with a legal order and handed over hard disks without first notifying Indymedia. It's unclear if the raid was executed under extra-territorial provisions of US legislation or the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Provisions of RIPA make it a criminal offence to discuss warrants, so Rackspace would not be able to discuss the action with its customer Indymedia, or with the media."

The Indymedia collective will be forced to make alternative arrangements to continue their operations. Many use Indymedia outlets as an alternative source of information and another view of the world. Indymedia provides a counterweight to the propaganda disseminated by the corporate owned media. Indymedia outlets share and exchange information, photos commentary and Op-Ed pieces eschewed by the so called mainstream media which many of us refer to as the corporate controlled mind control apparatus.

The Truthout report gave some indication of the impact of the seizures, "The seizure of Indymedia's servers affects more than 30 Indymedia sites worldwide. The list of affected local media collectives includes Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Nice, several French groups, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), multiple Belgian sites, Serbia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, the UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site. One of the servers taken down at Rackspace provided streaming radio to several radio stations and served files related to the Blag Linux distribution, among other purposes.

While Indymedia is not exactly sure what prompted the action, the group does have one strong idea. A French Indymedia site last month posted photos of what it believed to be undercover Swiss police officers photographing protesters at a French event. Indymedia received a request from the FBI to pull those photos down, as they "revealed personal information" about the undercover police, said Indymedia press officer Hep Sano. Rackspace appeared to confirm that the photos were an issue with the FBI."

One thing we know is the FBI is an appendage of the Bush/Ashcroft cabal bent on pushing their fascist agenda forward. A move like this is consistent with their ongoing program to undermine personal liberty and whittle away civil procedures under the ruse of "National Security" and their bogus "War on Terror".

Committed grassroots activists will work assiduously to keep the truth alive and let the world know Ashcroft not Bush will not suppress the truth. If your favorite Website is down, keep the faith, rally to support them, help them find another server, use the experience to see the importance of having a Plan B a backup. Create a mirror site or backup server. We must fight an asymmetrical war.

The corporate media is monolithic even though they have seeming separate outlets. They are all the same. A grassroots truth movement must create and employ numerous mediums: alternative press, blogs, Websites, Internet and short wave radio stations to get out an independent point of view publish photos that support a liberation position. If they can move to shut down an Indymedia collective, the fascists pushing their New World Order global white supremacist program will certainly soon move to shut down the Afrocentric and Pan-African movement! Let us not be caught unprepared.

© 2004 by Afromerica

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