Well done, Campbell, and thanks from me and everyone else involved.
We've updated the press release for our April rally and press conference to
reflect additional speakers, such as Glenn Greenwald and Barry Eisler. I've
pasted text version below, and here's a link for easy distribution:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/26/155416/846?new=true
Press ReleaseFor Immediate Distribution
January 13th, 2011
An unprecedented coalition of information activists and organizations have
come together in an effort to advance the ongoing campaign against the
informational tyranny that has been on view as of late in the context of
Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning. All three of these parties
have been subjected to state oppression, without due regard for the alleged
"rule of law;" all three have been maligned in dishonest and often bizarre
ways; all three have earned such treatment by way of having together ensured
that all of humanity may, for the first time in history, together learn how
it is that their wealth, loyalty, and lives are being used by those who
plead national security while having provided no such thing to their own
citizens and even seizing it from those living elsewhere (and the effects
may be seen in North Africa and particularly Tunisia, where
Anonymous-affiliated activists have been successful in establishing a freer
government to replace the prior tyranny).
In response to these latest outrages against competence and decency, and in
support of the ongoing digital reformation, our coalition - comprised of
veterans and anti-war groups, a faction of the Anonymous movement, the
distributed think-tank Project PM, and a loose network of journalists, media
professionals, scientists, former intelligence and government officials, and
related organizations - announces a stepped-up campaign of information and
direct action which will culminate in a rally and press conference on the
steps of New York City Hall on April 7th at 3:00 pm. This event, the Rally
for Information Freedom, will be supplemented by a campaign on the part of
Anonymous, Project PM, and related entities to bring attention to the dozens
of significant stories that have been largely ignored due to the unfortunate
dynamics by which too many media have come to operate. The New York
conference - conceived by longtime resident activist, Navy veteran, and
acclaimed photographer John Penley - will feature about a dozen speakers
including Penley, author and Project PM founder Barrett Brown, key Anonymous
activist and Chanology co-instigator Gregg Housh, former civil litigator and
author/blogger Glenn Greenwald, and National Lawyers Guild executive
director Heidi Boghosian. Messages from other figures in the
pro-transparency movement will also be presented in lieu of their ability to
attend.
Never in human history has mankind endured a period in which so much of the
terminology employed at its end would have been unrecognizable at its
beginning. The last twenty years have changed the landscape in which man
operates, expanding the potential for human collaboration in such a way as
to eliminate the barriers that rendered the nation-state a viable
institution. As those barriers fall, so too does the primacy of the world's
governments, which in turn have increasingly found themselves unable to
maintain the secrecy through which they have run a great portion human
affairs with results that may be politely characterized as mixed. The
various states have responded to these developments with a collective
message to the effect that such secrecy is necessary if they are to continue
operating without the informed consent of their respective populations,
though this has generally been expressed in slightly different words.
Meanwhile, several such governments have, through their specific conduct in
the wake of the last year, provided a timely reminder as to why it is that
many of those who truly value liberty and morality have lost faith in those
same governments.
This event is part of an effort to counter the dishonesty and injustice of
the states which have reacted to such emergent phenomena with censorship and
persecution while also forging greater coordination among the various
parties that have been fighting on behalf of the cause of informational
liberty. To this end, a series of meetings both formal and otherwise will be
held throughout the first week of April; further information will be relayed
in a second press release in late March.
Confirmed Speakers
John Penley is a Vietnam era Navy vet who was put in solitary confinement in
1984 by the U.S. government for a past protest at the Savannah River Nuclear
Weapons Plant. A 59-year-old veteran of New York City housing, anti-war and
civil rights activism, Penley is also a longtime photojournalist whose work
has been pubilshed by most NYC major media outlets; his photo archive is
housed at New York Universitys Tamiment Library.
Barrett Brown is a writer and author as well as the founder of Project PM.
His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, The Guardian, The
Onion, New York Press, Skeptical Inquirer, American Atheist, and other
outlets. He has been active in the Anonymous movement for several years and
serves as an advocate for efficient, ethical alternatives to traditional
methods of governance.
Gregg Housh is an Internet activist involved with the online non-group
Anonymous. His work has included coordinating global demonstrations against
human rights abuses in the Church of Scientology and assisting Iranian
members of the Green Movement in reaching the global media. Having built a
strong sense of trust among several disparate subgroups of Anonymous, Housh
now acts as a media interpreter for major online initiatives such as
Operation Payback.
Glenn Greenwald is a former constitutional and civil rights litigator, the
author of two bestselling books on the American socio-political environment,
and a longtime blogger who currently writes for Salon. He now serves as one
of the nations most formidable advocates of Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, and
information freedom in general. Depending on his location on the day of the
event, hell be speaking either in person or via relay.
Barry Eisler is a former employee of the CIA's Directorate of Operations who
now acts as a critic of that and other intelligence organizations. He's the
author of two bestselling series of novels drawing on his own intel
background and blogs for a number of outlets. He'll be speaking either via
relay or a pre-written message to be read at the event.
Heidi Boghosian is the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a
progressive bar association established in 1937. She is co-host of the
weekly civil liberties radio program Law and Disorder on WBAI, New York and
over 30 national affiliate stations. She has published several articles and
reports on policing, protest, and the First Amendment.
Professor Jonathan Farley is a mathematics professor whom Seed Magazine
named one of 15 people who have shaped the global conversation on science
since 1995, with a career including stints at MIT, Vanderbilt, and Johannes
Kepler University. His work has appeared in Time, The Guardian, Huffington
Post, and other publications; hes also appeared on the BBC and NPR and
occasionally serves as a political advisor in addition to his anti-war
activism and related pursuits.
Bill Quigley is the Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights,
a national legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and
defending the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Bill joined CCR on sabbatical from
his position as law professor and Director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis
Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. He has been an
active public interest lawyer since 1977. He has served as counsel with a
wide range of public interest organizations on issues including Katrina
social justice issues, public housing, voting rights, death penalty, living
wage, civil liberties, educational reform, constitutional rights and civil
disobedience. Bill has litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with the ACLU of
Louisiana, for which he served as General Counsel for over 15 years. Bill
received the 2006 Camille Gravel Civil Pro Bono Award from the Federal Bar
Association New Orleans Chapter. Bill received the 2006 Stanford Law School
National Public Service Award and the 2006 National Lawyers Guild Ernie
Goodman award. He has also been an active volunteer lawyer with School of
the Americas Watch and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
Bill is the author of Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing A Right to
A Job At A Living Wage (2003) and Storms Still Raging: Katrina, New Orleans
and Social Justice (2008). In 2003, he was named the Pope Paul VI National
Teacher of Peace by Pax Christi USA and is the recipient of the 2004 SALT
Teaching Award presented by the Society of American Law Teachers.
Vagabond Beaumont is a writer, artist and filmmaker. He's worked in the
Puerto Rican independence movement since 1997 and has organized rallies,
protests and marches and created murals, pamphlets and agitprop in support
of thatcause with the artist collective RICANSTRUCTION Netwerk. His work has
been featured in Blu Magazine, AWOL, SALVO and Left Turn. His first feature
film, MACHETERO, covers the ongoing struggle for Puerto Rican independence
and has screened at festivals around the world, winning awards in South
Africa, Wales, England, Thailand, Ireland and New York.
Sebastian Gillen is a 21-year-old graduate of Tufts University. When he was
eight years old, he was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma, a rare form
of pediatric cancer, and given two weeks to live. More than ten years later,
he is still cancer-free and an active advocate for childhood cancer
research. He has spoken at rallies on Capitol Hill and Greg Norman's Shark
Shootout, among other places. He thinks science is totally awesome and runs
a blog at Weareinthefuture.com and administrates Project PMs Science
Journalism Program.
Faith Laugier is a musician, artist, activist, and New York native whos
worked with many of the citys human rights organizations, art & cultural
non-profits and homeless centers in an effort to advance the inherent right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. -And she believes in
government that is for the people and by the people.
General Press Inquiries
Barrett Brown
barriticus@gmail.com
(512) 560-2302
irc.freenode.net #projectpm
projectpm.org
John Penley
(917) 204-0857
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:23 AM, Campbell Vertesi
<campbell@vertesi.com>wrote:
Hello everyone -
With the Egyptian crisis at hand, and so much development on so many
fronts
for our membership, it was time to have a place for our communities to
organize. Enter ProjectPM Commons!
http://commons.projectpm.org
Registration is open, so *sign up and sign in*! You can create a Group
for whatever area of work you are in. I've already started groups for
Project Tunisia and Project Egypt, we need someone to start a group for
the
Science Journalism project, and one for the Africa Development Program at
least. Each group has:
- a discussion forum for rapid development of ideas
- a blog for posting updates and news
- a wiki for writing quick notes and keeping information on the
situation
- a document storage and sharing area for any formal documents
- a calendar for scheduling events and demonstrations
- a shoutbox for posting quick messages and having online discussions
- a feed aggregator (for collecting information as it happens from
sources like google news)
- an RSS feed of it's own, so people can follow updates conveniently
- automatic emails of updates to any of the content, so members find
out about updates as they happen
Every member of the group can access and create this content. This is a
huge improvement over just our IRC and typepad organization so far. And
more improvements are coming!
Many thanks,
C
---
*Campbell Vertesi* | Project Manager | Trellon, LLC
*web* www.trellon.com | * email* cvertesi@trellon.com
*tel* 347.329.4511
--
Regards,
Barrett Brown
512-560-2302