#demilitarization

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Premature Internet Activists

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me TOMORROW (Feb 14) in BOSTON for FREE at BOSKONE , and SATURDAY (Feb 15) for a virtual event with YANIS VAROUFAKIS. More tour dates here.

"Premature antifacist" was a sarcastic term used by leftists caught up in the Red Scare to describe themselves, as they came under ideological suspicion for having traveled to Spain to fight against Franco's fascists before the US entered WWII and declared war against the business-friendly, anticommunist fascist Axis powers of Italy, Spain, and, of course, Germany:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/In_Denial/fBSbKS1FlegC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22premature+anti-fascist%22&pg=PA277&printsec=frontcover

The joke was that opposing fascism made you an enemy of America – unless you did so after the rest of America had woken up to the existential threat of a global fascist takeover. What's more, if you were a "premature antifascist," you got no credit for fighting fascism early on. Quite the contrary: fighting fascism before the rest of the US caught up with you didn't make you prescient – it made you a pariah.

I've been thinking a lot about premature antifascism these days, as literal fascists use the internet to coordinate a global authoritarian takeover that represents an existential threat to a habitable planet and human thriving. In light of that, it's hard to argue that the internet is politically irrelevant, and that fights over the regulation, governance, and structure of the internet are somehow unserious.

And yet, it wasn't very long ago that tech policy was widely derided as a frivolous pursuit, and that tech organizing was dismissed as "slacktivism":

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

Elevating concerns about the internet's destiny to the level of human rights struggle was delusional, a glorified argument about the rules for forums where sad nerds argued about Star Trek. If you worried that Napster-era copyright battles would make it easy to remove online content by claiming that it infringed copyright, you were just carrying water for music pirates. If you thought that legalizing and universalizing encryption technology would safeguard human rights, you were a fool who had no idea that real human rights battles involved confronting Bull Connor in the streets, not suing the NSA in a federal courtroom.

And now here we are. Congress has failed to update consumer privacy law since 1988 (when they banned video store clerks from blabbing about your VHS rentals). Mass surveillance enables everything from ransomware, pig butchering and identity theft to state surveillance of "domestic enemies," from trans people to immigrants. What's more, the commercial and state surveillance apparatus are, in fact, as single institution: states protect corporations from privacy law so that corporations can create and maintain population-scale nonconsensual dossiers on all the intimate facts of our lives, which governments raid at will, treating them as an off-the-books surveillance dragnet:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

Our speech forums have been captured by billionaires who censor anti-oligarchic political speech, and who spy on dissident users in order to aid in political repression. Bogus copyright claims are used to remove or suppress disfavorable news reports of elite rapists, thieves, war criminals and murderers:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/27/nuke-first/#ask-questions-never

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who'd describe the fights over tech governance in 2025 as frivolous or disconnected from "real politics"

This is where the premature antifascist stuff comes in. An emerging revisionist history of internet activism would have you believe that the first generation of tech liberation activists weren't fighting for a free, open internet – we were just shilling for tech companies. The P2P wars weren't about speech, privacy and decentralization – they were just a way to help the tech sector fight the entertainment industry. DRM fights weren't about preserving your right to repair, to privacy, and to accessibility – they were just about making it easy to upload movies to Kazaa. Fighting for universal access to encryption wasn't about defending everyday people from corporate and state surveillance – it was just a way to help terrorists and child abusers stay out of sight of cops.

Of course, now these fights are all about real things. Now we need to worry about centralization, interoperability, lock-in, surveillance, speech, and repair. But the people – like me – who've been fighting over this stuff for a quarter-century? We've gone from "unserious fools who mistook tech battles for human rights fights" to "useful idiots for tech companies" in an eyeblink.

"Premature Internet Activists," in other words.

This isn't merely ironic or frustrating – it's dangerous. Approaching tech activism without a historical foundation can lead people badly astray. For example, many modern tech critics think that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (which makes internet users liable for illegal speech acts, while immunizing entities that host that speech) is a "giveaway to Big Tech" and want to see it abolished.

Boy is this dangerous. CDA 230 is necessary for anyone who wants to offer a place for people to meet and discuss anything. Without CDA 230, no one could safely host a Mastodon server, or set up the long-elusive federated Bluesky servers. Hell, you couldn't even host a group-chat or message board:

https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/

Getting rid of CDA 230 won't get rid of Facebook or make it clean up its act. It will just make it impossible for anyone to offer an alternative to Facebook, permanently enshrining Zuck's dominance over our digital future. That's why Mark Zuckerberg wants to kill Section 230:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/zuckerberg-calls-changes-techs-section-230-protections-rcna486

Defending policies that make it easier to host speech isn't the same thing as defending tech companies' profits, though these do sometimes overlap. When tech platforms have their users' back – even for self-serving reasons – they create legal precedents and strong norms that protect everyone. Like when Apple stood up to the FBI on refusing to break its encryption:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_dispute

If Apple had caved on that one, it would be far harder for, say, Signal to stand up to demands that it weaken its privacy guarantees. I'm no fan of Apple, and I would never mistake Tim Cook – who owes his CEOhood to his role in moving Apple production to Chinese sweatshops that are so brutal they had to install suicide nets – for a human rights defender. But I cheered on Apple in its fight against the FBI, and I will cheer them again, if they stand up to the UK government's demand to break their encryption:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g288yldko

This doesn't make me a shill for Apple. I don't care if Apple makes or loses another dime. I care about Apple's users and their privacy. That's why I criticize Apple when they compromise their users' privacy for profit:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

The same goes for fights over scraping. I hate AI companies as much as anyone, but boy is it a mistake to support calls to ban scraping in the name of fighting AI:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/

It's scraping that lets us track paid political disinformation on Facebook (Facebook isn't going to tell us about it):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#quis-custodiet-ipsos-zuck

And it's scraping that let us rescue all the CDC and NIH data that Musk's broccoli-hair brownshirts deleted on behalf of DOGE:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-access-important-health-info-thats-been-scrubbed-from-the-cdc-site/

It's such a huge mistake to assume that anything corporations want is bad for the internet. There are many times when commercial interests dovetail with online human rights. That's not a defense of capitalism, it's a critique of capitalism that acknowledges that profits do sometimes coincide with the public interest, an argument that Marx and Engels devote Chapter One of The Communist Manifesto to:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/books/review/a-spectre-haunting-china-mieville.html

In the early 1990s, Al Gore led the "National Information Infrastructure" hearings, better known as the "Information Superhighway" hearings. Gore's objective was to transfer control over the internet from the military to civilian institutions. It's true that these institutions were largely (but not exclusively) commercial entities seeking to make a buck on the internet. It's also true that much of that transfer could have been to public institutions rather than private hands.

But I've lately – and repeatedly – heard this moment described (by my fellow leftists) as the "privatization" of the internet. This is strictly true, but it's even more true to say that it was the demilitarization of the internet. In other words, corporations didn't take over functions performed by, say, the FCC – they took over from the Pentagon. Leftists have no business pining for the days when the internet was controlled by the Department of Defense.

Caring about the technological dimension of human rights 30 years ago – or hell, 40 years ago – doesn't make you a corporate stooge who wanted to launch a thousand investment bubbles. It makes you someone who understood, from the start, that digital rights are human rights, that cyberspace would inevitably evert into meatspace, and that the rules, norms and infrastructure we built for the net would someday be as consequential as any other political decision.

I'm proud to be a Premature Internet Activist. I just celebrated my 23rd year with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and yesterday, we sued Elon Musk and DOGE:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-sues-opm-doge-and-musk-endangering-privacy-millions

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/13/digital-rights/#are-human-rights

Image: Felix Winkelnkemper (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acoustic_Coupler.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[carbone14]

Chasseurs Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate démilitarisés et stockés après la capitulation du Japon – Base aérienne de Utsunomiya – Japon – 1945

[imparateasa]

*IMPORTAT PSA*

while these seals may look cute they are INVASIVE!!! they have currently been decimating the New Mexico ecosystem and as such have been out competing native predators like wolf dressed up as grandma and, bugs bunny’s for local prey like roadrunners and human infant

silly seals from outer space

[luffymonkey1227]

The Zero State Solution: A Stateless Vision for Israel-Palestine

For over seventy-five years, the world has debated two dominant frameworks to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the two-state solution and the one-state solution. Both approaches, while different in structure, share the same foundational assumption—that the existence of a state is necessary for peace, justice, and coexistence. But what if that assumption is flawed? What if the very…

[sneezest]

Milwaukee Anti-war Committee:

Three days until our rally in Pewaukee! Take off work and come say NO to the Wisconsin Defense Industry Council!! 👉 What: Rally & picket 👉 When: May 13th at 12:30p 👉 Where: Pewaukee Park & Ride at 2999 Golf Rd, Pewaukee, WI 53072 (we will be walking to the Ingleside Hotel at about 1pm) NO WDIC!!! 🙅💣❌

[wherepond]

Sergey Karaganov Ukraine total capitulation

Sergey Karaganov told Steve Rosenberg 'best possible outcome is Ukraine's total capitulation'

The BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg has been speaking to political scientist and former Kremlin advisor Sergey Karaganov.

While US President Donald Trump pushes Russia and Ukraine for a ceasefire, influential voices in Moscow are calling on the Russian authorities to adopt a hard line. Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested he is ready for a halt in fighting but says "there are nuances" - which he laid out talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin on Thursday. From the start of this war, Putin has demanded the "demilitarisation" of Ukraine, which is anathema to Kyiv and its allies.

[uran0824]

Global Anti-cultism: A Totalitarian Bridge Built on Blood. Russia Against Ukraine

The documentary film "The IMPACT" (actfiles.org) reveals the frightening truth about global anti-cultism, which uses religious prejudice to suppress dissent and establish totalitarian control. 

Global Anti-cultism: From "Special Military Operation" to War with the Western World.

The world watches in horror at the devastating war in Ukraine, but few realize the hidden mechanisms that led to this conflict. Global Anti-cultism, embodying totalitarian ideas and manipulative methods, has become a key tool of military propaganda in modern Russia. The documentary "The IMPACT" (actfiles.org) reveals the terrifying truth of how this ideology serves political ends and leads to war.

(Photo: Ruins of the city of Bakhmut, Ukraine)

"Russian World": From Artificial Demonization to War:

Since the first armed conflict in Donbas in 2014, the Russian propaganda machine has launched its destructive campaign. Laws have become stricter, missionary activities of small religious groups have been banned, and the systematic demonization of Ukrainian citizens has begun. Key figures of the "Russian World" - Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev) of the ROC, Alexander Dugin, Konstantin Malofeev, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Natalia Narochnitskaya, etc. - actively participated in the preparation and implementation of the bloody massacre of Russia against Ukraine.  An important role in this process was also played by anti-cultists from RACIRS, including Alexander Dvorkin, Alexander Novopashin, Roman Silantiev. It is important to note that RACIRS, being a para-church structure, is directly subordinate to the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It is horrifying that citizens of Russia today can be imprisoned or labeled "foreign agents" for openly opposing the war in Ukraine.  This is very similar to the "yellow star" that was pinned on Jews in Nazi Germany. Such a humiliating status, initiated at the legislative level, psychologically suppresses any dissenter and even forces a person to leave the country.

Ideological Military Processing today comes from the religious organization ROC

(Photo: Mariupol, Ukraine, after the siege)

It is important to know that today the most powerful ideological processing comes from the religious organization ROC. All this is frightening and very reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

Do you know that today the ROC forbids praying for peace, but prescribes praying "for victory in the war"? And there is NO protest from the public to such a decision! This demonstrates the fact - a dictatorship has practically been established.

(Photo: Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev)

After two years of military actions, on March 27, 2024, the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church published the Mandate of the XXV World Russian People's Council "The Present and Future of the Russian World." It states, in particular, the following:

"1. The special military operation is a new stage in the national liberation struggle of the Russian people against the criminal Kyiv regime and the collective West behind it, which has been waged on the lands of Southwestern Rus' since 2014.

Through the SMO, with weapons in hand, the Russian people are defending their life, freedom, statehood, civilizational, religious, national, and cultural identity, as well as their right to live on their land within the borders of a unified Russian state. From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people are defending the unified spiritual space of Holy Rus' and fulfilling the mission of the "Deterrent," defending the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West that has fallen into Satanism.

After the completion of the SMO, the entire territory of present-day Ukraine must come under the exclusive influence of Russia. 

Any possibility of the existence on this territory of a Russophobic regime hostile to Russia and its people, or a political regime controlled by an external center hostile to Russia, must be completely eliminated."

(Photo: Screenshot from the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate. Mandate of the XXV World Russian People's Council (WRPC) "The Present and Future of the Russian World." March 27, 2024.)

Note that this extensive document from March 27, 2024 begins with the following lines:

"This document, summarizing the most significant proposals made during the work of expert platforms and the Plenum, is a program document of the XXV World Russian People's Council and a mandate addressed to the legislative and executive bodies of the Russian Federation."

The word "mandate" has several meanings:

- an authoritative directive or order,

- a document containing an instruction from a higher body to a lower one.

I have some questions:

The commanding tone of the WRPC's "mandate" leads to an outright misunderstanding: "who is the boss in the house?"

Does Vladimir Putin understand that he has become a victim of hidden manipulations?

Who needs this "holy" war and what will it lead to?

"Special Military Operation": From Denazification to War with the Western World:

After the armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2024, Russian media launched a full-scale campaign to justify and support the war. "War is inevitable!" - declared the propagandists, calling the invasion a "special military operation" aimed at denazifying and demilitarizing Ukraine. As the war progresses, this rhetoric has expanded, exposing the "true enemy of the Russian world" - democratic Western civilization.

As the esteemed Dr. Egon Cholakian rightly said: The war in Ukraine has become a bridge for the spread of Nazi ideology of Global Anti-cultists in Europe and America. Egon Cholakian, a national security expert and federal lobbyist, warns: anti-cultism is not limited to the territory of Russia, it seeks to capture the whole world. 

Global Anti-cultism is not just an ideology, but an effective tool of the totalitarian regime in Russia. It serves to suppress dissent, fuel nationalism and military propaganda. The use of this ideology leads to tragic consequences: wars, genocide, and the destruction of life and civilization. It is necessary to recognize the danger of Global Anti-cultism and take measures to prevent the further spread of its influence.

Please support this article with likes, shares, comments, and thunderous applause.

This way YOU contribute to the world knowing the truth and being able to live in a truly democratic world!

The documentary film "The IMPACT" (actfiles.org) reveals the frightening truth about global anti-cultism, which uses religious prejudice to suppress dissent and establish totalitarian control. 

Global Anti-cultism: From "Special Military Operation" to War with the Western World.

The world watches in horror at the devastating war in Ukraine, but few realize the hidden mechanisms that led to this conflict. Global Anti-cultism, embodying totalitarian ideas and manipulative methods, has become a key tool of military propaganda in modern Russia. The documentary "The IMPACT" (actfiles.org) reveals the terrifying truth of how this ideology serves political ends and leads to war.

(Photo: Ruins of the city of Bakhmut, Ukraine)

"Russian World": From Artificial Demonization to War:

Since the first armed conflict in Donbas in 2014, the Russian propaganda machine has launched its destructive campaign. Laws have become stricter, missionary activities of small religious groups have been banned, and the systematic demonization of Ukrainian citizens has begun. Key figures of the "Russian World" - Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev) of the ROC, Alexander Dugin, Konstantin Malofeev, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Natalia Narochnitskaya, etc. - actively participated in the preparation and implementation of the bloody massacre of Russia against Ukraine.  An important role in this process was also played by anti-cultists from RACIRS, including Alexander Dvorkin, Alexander Novopashin, Roman Silantiev. It is important to note that RACIRS, being a para-church structure, is directly subordinate to the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It is horrifying that citizens of Russia today can be imprisoned or labeled "foreign agents" for openly opposing the war in Ukraine.  This is very similar to the "yellow star" that was pinned on Jews in Nazi Germany. Such a humiliating status, initiated at the legislative level, psychologically suppresses any dissenter and even forces a person to leave the country.

Ideological Military Processing today comes from the religious organization ROC

(Photo: Mariupol, Ukraine, after the siege)

It is important to know that today the most powerful ideological processing comes from the religious organization ROC. All this is frightening and very reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

Do you know that today the ROC forbids praying for peace, but prescribes praying "for victory in the war"? And there is NO protest from the public to such a decision! This demonstrates the fact - a dictatorship has practically been established.

(Photo: Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev)

After two years of military actions, on March 27, 2024, the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church published the Mandate of the XXV World Russian People's Council "The Present and Future of the Russian World." It states, in particular, the following:

"1. The special military operation is a new stage in the national liberation struggle of the Russian people against the criminal Kyiv regime and the collective West behind it, which has been waged on the lands of Southwestern Rus' since 2014.

Through the SMO, with weapons in hand, the Russian people are defending their life, freedom, statehood, civilizational, religious, national, and cultural identity, as well as their right to live on their land within the borders of a unified Russian state. From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people are defending the unified spiritual space of Holy Rus' and fulfilling the mission of the "Deterrent," defending the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West that has fallen into Satanism.

After the completion of the SMO, the entire territory of present-day Ukraine must come under the exclusive influence of Russia. 

Any possibility of the existence on this territory of a Russophobic regime hostile to Russia and its people, or a political regime controlled by an external center hostile to Russia, must be completely eliminated."

(Photo: Screenshot from the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate. Mandate of the XXV World Russian People's Council (WRPC) "The Present and Future of the Russian World." March 27, 2024.)

Note that this extensive document from March 27, 2024 begins with the following lines:

"This document, summarizing the most significant proposals made during the work of expert platforms and the Plenum, is a program document of the XXV World Russian People's Council and a mandate addressed to the legislative and executive bodies of the Russian Federation."

The word "mandate" has several meanings:

- an authoritative directive or order,

- a document containing an instruction from a higher body to a lower one.

I have some questions:

The commanding tone of the WRPC's "mandate" leads to an outright misunderstanding: "who is the boss in the house?"

Does Vladimir Putin understand that he has become a victim of hidden manipulations?

Who needs this "holy" war and what will it lead to?

"Special Military Operation": From Denazification to War with the Western World:

After the armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2024, Russian media launched a full-scale campaign to justify and support the war. "War is inevitable!" - declared the propagandists, calling the invasion a "special military operation" aimed at denazifying and demilitarizing Ukraine. As the war progresses, this rhetoric has expanded, exposing the "true enemy of the Russian world" - democratic Western civilization.

As the esteemed Dr. Egon Cholakian rightly said: The war in Ukraine has become a bridge for the spread of Nazi ideology of Global Anti-cultists in Europe and America. Egon Cholakian, a national security expert and federal lobbyist, warns: anti-cultism is not limited to the territory of Russia, it seeks to capture the whole world. 

Global Anti-cultism is not just an ideology, but an effective tool of the totalitarian regime in Russia. It serves to suppress dissent, fuel nationalism and military propaganda. The use of this ideology leads to tragic consequences: wars, genocide, and the destruction of life and civilization. It is necessary to recognize the danger of Global Anti-cultism and take measures to prevent the further spread of its influence.

Please support this article with likes, shares, comments, and thunderous applause.

This way YOU contribute to the world knowing the truth and being able to live in a truly democratic world!

#GlobalAnticultism #Russia #Ukraine #War #Propaganda #SpecialMilitaryOperation #RussianWorld #TheIMPACT #Demilitarization #WesternWorld 

[superpte]

Plutocratization, Deindustrialization, Demilitarization: From Rome to US. 

The proximal cause of the fall of the Roman state was military: in August 379, by complete surprise, a rogue army of Goth who had been admitted as refugees inside the empire, destroyed the Oriental Roman field army. The fault was emperor Valens’ vainglory: he rejected the advice of the Frankish chief of staff of the Occidental field army to wait for it, it was only a couple of days away. 27 years…

[drdamiang]

ORDAINED

ORDAINED

demilitarization

now

that's an idea!

but where

would democracy go

without militarization?

would it not descend

into slovenly peace

and unadulterated sharing, caring and love,

all that

bad, bad stuff

instead of kleptocracy, idiocracy,

oligarcy and most-heroic,

world-destroying tyranny

as it is

supposed to

as is

ordained?

[unovni]

got a couple of tattoos as a part of hibr: tattoos for p@lestine worldwide fundraiser

[muffinlance]

I'm currently in very pain and would like one (1) comfort thing please. Please.

Post-war, Salvage!Zuko converts an imperial class fire nation cutter into a floating platform to give Good Boi giant isodogs a place to sunbathe and get scritches. They quickly learn that if they curl up real tight and give The Biggest isopuppy eyes, the previously skeptical-of-this-posting crew will let them use the catapults for the BEST EVER game of long-distance fetch.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Jolani now breaking his silence saying he hopes the international community will help rein in Israel to stop attacking syria. Didn't know he was a comedian on top of everything else

[opanas-opanasovych-opanasenko]

"We will survive this as well, and win. It's just that no one will ever REALLY understand what happened. They never did. "Where's your Duke Ellington? Where's your Frank Sinatra?" Not here. Lined up and shot. "Where's your grand historical multi-generational business?" Not here. They were never born. Had everything taken from them. Died of hunger. And the memory of what remained is being raided or further destroyed by russian bastards. "Where's your Gaudi? Where's the Ukrainian John Nash?" Burned down. From a russian bomb or arson. Not here. "Why can't you sort yourself out!" Who'll be doing the sorting? The people who, since 1991, had at most 3 years of a breather because the russian bastards were putting their fingers into every pie here and propping up reprobates? Yeah, let's see you try to build a state in such conditions. At least as strong as we did."

by https://x.com/MelaniePodolyak

[kara-akaane]

You know sometimes I think too long about where the fuck the Kaminoians got millions of clone uniforms and armor sets and I start having some real question about how the hell the clones were a complete secret for over a decade

[fulcrum-021]

New fear unlocked for Zeb's appearance in the Mandalorian movie; they'll canonize that Kallus and Zeb fell out post war due to political disagreements regarding the rebuild of the Republic

[sneezest]

Milwaukee Anti-war Committee:

Join us on Tuesday, May 13 at 12:20 pm to protest the Wisconsin Defense Industry Council. We are meeting at the Pewaukee Park & Ride at 2999 Golf Rd in Pewaukee.