IMPORTANT: In the coming weeks expect Democrats to push respond to this moment by pushing for:
-more surveillance
-more policing
-more Internet censorship
This is the exact opposite of what we need to do. We need to address this problem at its root: systemic racism & injustice
The mainstream pundit narrative will focus almost exclusively on the tactics used by those who stormed the capitol. The tactics are not the point. There is nothing inherently wrong with militant protest, the problem is weaponized white supremacy sparking violence.
You'll hear self-avowed progressives call for things like more funding for the FBI to "monitor domestic extremist groups." In their imagination this will be used to target Proud Boys etc. In reality it will just deepen the surveillance state that harms Black & brown communities
You can't stop fascism with authoritarianism. The weaponized white supremacy, patriarchy, and economic injustice that led to this eruption of violence cannot be stopped by cracking down on dissent, criminalizing freedom of expression, or militarizing police. We have work to do.
Surveillance always criminalizes Black and brown and Muslim and LGBTQ+ dissent the most.
Expanded policing just deepens the systemic injustice that caused all of this in the first place.
When people are scared they cling to authoritarian structures. We've seen this since Trump came into office, with progressives and liberals lionizing institutions like the CIA and FBI that exist primarily to uphold US imperialism and oppression. it's a path that leads to disaster
We need profound, transformative, structural change. We need to dismantle the economic & political systems that have brought us to this point and create new ones that protect people's basic human rights and take care of people's basic needs. We need to abolish failed institutions
I know it's kind of cheezy to quote him but Albert Einstein famously said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
We can't heal the wounds ripped open today by doubling down on the racist and authoritarian policies that got us here.
But that won't stop politicians from both parties from attempting to exploit this crisis to push an authoritarian agenda.
They'll demand the repeal of Section 230, even though that will actually make it harder to address online hate
They demand more funding for the FBI & cops
This IS a crisis. But it's a crisis that demands a true reckoning. It's a crisis that demands we reject the fundamentally flawed ideologies and institutions that have caused so much suffering since this country was built on stolen land. It's a crisis that demands hope, and action
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For the last fucking time Section 230 is not a "special legal protection afforded to technology companies"
It applies to literally every website. Including the comments section of The Hill, for example. It also protects you from getting sued for retweeting or forwarding an email
If Section 230 were repealed entirely, it would throw the Internet into chaos. It would also ironically solidify the monopoly power of the companies everyone is mad at: Facebook and Google. They have the armies of lawyers to figure out how to navigate a world without 230
Repealing Section 230 would lead to MORE censorship on the Internet, not less. If you don't like the way Twitter and Facebook do content moderation now, wait til they're making those decisions based on whether they think your post might catch them an expensive lawsuit
CNET interviewed me for this piece and asked me about this exact thing but didn't print my response, so I'll just say it here "the Internet is working just fine since the repeal of net neutrality...is kind of like saying 'it's snowing outside therefore climate change isn't real."
I could go back and find statements from organizations like @fightfortheftr@freepress@mediajustice@NHMC etc that carefully explained what was likely to happen in the immediate wake of Ajit Pai's repeal of #netneutrality. The "doomsday" msg was always a telecom talking point
It's frustrating to see reporters repeat these talking points and messages that are concocted by AT&T lobbyists as if they are facts, when an even cursory glance at the actual substance of #netneutrality advocates messaging would make it clear why this is an absurd thing to write
Okay readers please send help because in this THREAD I will be semi-live tweeting today's hearing the Senate Judiciary Committee where lawmakers like Lindsey Graham will pretend to care about things like free speech and Big Tech abuses while showboating about the election
Live video for the hearing hasn't started yet, so quickly here's what to expect. Republicans will yell about specific moderation decisions, spread baseless claims of bias, and talk a lot about Hunter Biden's laptop. Democrats will mostly argue platforms don't moderate enough.
And we're off. Graham is working on a world record for the most @BadSec230Takes in one sentence. He just incorrectly stated the way Section 230 liability protections work. In fact, Section 230 *does* protect individuals from liability for, for example, retweeting Lindsey Graham
really really miss throwing queer dance parties and i'm going through old videos for a project so just gonna tweet a thread of good times from the beforetimes
UPDATE: A spokesperson for the University of Miami is now DENYING that the school used facial recognition surveillance to intimidate student protesters.
But @fightfortheftr uncovered documents that prove they're not telling the truth.
And here's the kicker. We found the resume for @univmiami Chief of Police David Rivero, which is publicly available on the university's website: umpd.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/ri…
In it he claims to oversee the school's surveillance camera systems, INCLUDING FACIAL RECOGNITION.
Now that Trump has declared entire US cities "Anarchist Jurisdictions," maybe it's a good time to do a quick THREAD on anarchists and anarchism. Fascists throughout history have invoked these words to spread fear & seize power, but actually anarchy is about love & cooperation.
There are lots of different types of anarchists & strains of anarchism, but at a basic level anarchists believe that arbitrary forms of hierarchy are inherently oppressive, and that humans are better off organizing ourselves horizontally rather than thru laws enforced by violence
Anarchists believe in communities making decisions together through consensus & discussion rather than having those decisions be imposed by politicians or those with institutional power (say, bosses, religious leaders, or landlords.) They believe in mutual aid and solidarity.