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Nov 14 24 tweets 10 min read
#THREAD

Remember when RADICAL FEMINIST Elon Musk won plaudits for "activating Starlink" to help Iranian protestors? His superfans swooned & the White House entered into talks with him about setting up SpaceX's satellite internet service in Iran to FIGHT THE POWER! About that...
This thread quotes from recent articles in @PrivateEyeNews & @WIRED.

The Iranian Govt imposed widespread internet blackouts to try to contain the unrest that followed the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, detained for not wearing a hijab properly.

theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…
In response, billionaire SpaceX founder & serial attention-hogger Elon Musk asked the US government for exemptions from Iran export controls for his Starlink satellite internet service.

"Activating Starlink,” he tweeted, quickly gaining 187,000+ likes.
The tweet received great applause, with some of Musk's followers declaring him “one of the greatest freedom fighters of our century!"

Even the US government fell for the hype, with the State Department saying it would welcome & prioritise a licence application.
The idea was that satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the regime's restrictions on accessing the internet & certain social media platforms, & so help Iranian women in their struggle - a noble ambition hardly anyone would criticise.

However...
While Starlink has plenty of satellites in position, there aren't any ground stations in Iran to receive signals. A terminal costs $599 & doesn't just require access to the satellites - they also need to be within a few hundred miles of a ground station. There are *none* in Iran.
They will only work, therefore, around the perimeter of the country, where terminals in neighboring nations, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan or Iraq, can be accessed.

While they're reasonably easy to disguise visually, they transmit as well as receive - making them simple to detect.
Musk hasn't said he'll cover the cost of the necessary satellite receiver dishes ($599 each) nor even the $110-per-month subscription fee - & thanks to Iran's ban on international transactions, Iranians can't buy them themselves.

Don't believe the hype.

While there is some evidence of receiver dishes being smuggled into Iran, it doesn't really matter as given that the dishes transmit as well as receive, they'd be announcing their presence to the Iranian authorities.

The fact is "there isn't a hope in hell of the plan working".
Concerning the protests in Iran, at tremendous risk to their safety, young people are demanding an end to years of oppression - burning their hijabs, shearing their hair, & marching in solidarity as the protest anthem Baraye, with its chorus “for #WomenLifeFreedom”.
In addition to instituting strict internet controls, blocking access to social media & knocking the entire web offline, the Iranian authorities have responded with a brutal crackdown in which over 230 Iranians are believed to have died.

pbs.org/newshour/world…
Govts across the world are using technology to oppose uprisings, but another equally important question is: should grotesquely wealthy individuals like Elon Musk - known to have strong political views - really have a similar power? They already own swathes of our (news) media...
Many nations have severely curtailed internet freedom, including full shutdowns, as their default response to popular protests.

The most repressive regimes learn from each other, sharing technology & sometimes personnel to establish an ironclad grip on the web & their citizens.
At least 225 internet shutdowns have taken place in response to popular protests since 2016.

Access Now, which tracks internet shutdowns, reports that protests & political instability were the cause of 128 of 182 confirmed internet shutdowns in 2021.

ohchr.org/en/press-relea…
Draconian protest laws & internet restrictions, including complete shutdowns, have followed popular protests in at least five countries in just the past 10 months, including Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Burkina Faso & Tajikistan.

With great power comes great responsibility.
Protecting democracy & curbing the use of internet shutdowns—and the severe second-order consequences that attend them—requires a united approach that recognizes the underlying impulses & technologies, as well as the struggle of those impacted.

wired.com/story/iran-mah…
Repressive Governments have sought full control over the internet from the moment it was introduced, but shutdowns have emerged as a tactic in the past decade.

The number of shutdowns ballooned from just a handful in 2011 to a peak of 213 in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
While I welcome Musk's preference for an absence of censorship, in a democratic society, access to social media platforms, satellite technology & other essential components for the free flow of information should not be in the hands of profit-hungry corporations & individuals.
The Declaration for the Future of the Internet, signed last spring by the US, the European Union, & 60 other countries, is the strongest commitment governments have yet made to the future of a free, open, and global internet.

state.gov/declaration-fo…
Among the declaration’s provisions is a commitment to “refrain from government-imposed internet shutdowns or degrading domestic Internet access, either entirely or partially.” The signatories to the declaration could form an alliance to counter creeping digital authoritarianism.
With Governments like the UK's signalling it wants to reduce or even withdraw from long-established internationally agreed laws & conventions of basic human rights, citizens & organisations that favour democracy over authoritarianism must remain vigilant.
hrw.org/news/2022/10/2…
The threat to free access to information & the enjoyment of basic human rights is not an isolated one, but a global, networked menace. Countering it will likewise require a deeply interconnected global movement.
Transnational movements like the #MilkteaAlliance, have further united protesters demanding democracy & respect for human rights.

To achieve meaningful & durable change, connections like these must be further supported, sustained, & deepened.

theguardian.com/technology/202…

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More from @docrussjackson

Nov 14
#THREAD

Paul Bristow was Chair of the lobbying trade body, the Association of Professional Political Consultants (2017 & 2019). He was also director of the healthcare PR consultancy PB Consulting which he founded in 2010, resigning his directorship in 2020 - now run by his wife! Image
All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) are influential - & underregulated.

They have no official status within Parliament & APPG members meet to discuss a particular issue of concern & explore relevant issues relating to their topic. Image
Officially, APPGs examine issues of policy relating to a particular areas, discussing new developments, inviting stakeholders & Govt ministers to speak at their meetings, & holding inquiries into a pertinent matter & bringing together parliamentarians & interested stakeholders. Image
Read 7 tweets
Nov 14
#THREAD

Here's something (else) about @elonmusk that should make everyone nervous.

On 11th November, @Reuters reported that @Tesla had commenced a feasibility study into exporting China-made electric cars to the US. In a very Trump-like response, Musk simply replied "false".
The review of potential exports to North America from Shanghai was confirmed in a memo seen by Reuters, detailing steps being taken by the Shanghai plant to test its readiness by early 2023.

Back in May, @Tesla China exported over 4,000 EVs to Belgium.

So why did @elonmusk do a Trump & claim the news agency @Reuters would simply make something up when they have evidence supporting their claim?

My suspicion is that it may be an act of childish vindictive revenge for this article, from 28th September:

reuters.com/article/twitte…
Read 10 tweets
Nov 11
#THREAD

This study theorizes 'connective democracy' as a means of enabling the type of democratic discourse envisioned by deliberative democracy in highly polarized political climates.

But what is 'connective democracy'?
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
Deliberative democracy's foundational principle – that rational discussions across differences are normatively laudable & beneficial to democracy – has wide support. Yet critics see it as an idealistic, unachievable utopia that privileges the powerful over the marginalized.
Connective democracy is not meant to replace deliberative democracy, but rather to help enact it in everyday life by seeking to build bridges between divided groups so that they can hear each other in a deliberative manner.

mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/brow…
Read 6 tweets
Nov 10
Over the summer of 2013, Mark Harper trialled a grotesque campaign aimed at illegal immigrants that consisted, in part, of lorries with hoardings attached to their load areas driving around London displaying the sign "Here Illegally? Go Home or Risk Arrest".
#bbcqt Image
In October 2013, Mark Harper told MPs: "The advertising vans in particular were too much of a blunt instrument and will not be used again".

As immigration minister, Harper misleadingly stated "British citizenship is a privilege, not a right".

It is a right.

#bbcqt
Harper resigned as immigration minister on 8 February 2014, after he discovered that his self-employed cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK.
#bbcqt
Read 6 tweets
Nov 10
#THREAD

'Dealing with modern illiberal democracies: From vintage electoral autocracy to today’s jumble of populism with nativism'.

"Democratic illiberalism is no other than populism... it bespeaks a conception of democracy that is openly hostile to liberal principles" - Pappas.
Liberal politicians accept that the diversity of modern society – ideological or otherwise – should be protected through the rule of law. Illiberal politicians claim society is divided between 'ordinary people' & an 'establishment', a division they play up for electoral reasons.
Populists make the bullshit claim that only they truly represent the (will of the) people, & that their political competitors are all part of an immoral & corrupt elite. Whoever does not support the populist agenda therefore does not belong to the real people to begin with.
Read 8 tweets
Nov 9
'Framing' migrants.

“(Media) frames are persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse.” Gitlin.

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Entman specified that frames fulfil four functions: they (a) define situations or events as un/problematic, (b) identify causal conditions or responsible actors, & (c) make moral judgments of these circumstances, thereby (d) justifying & endorsing specific courses of action. ImageImage
Since problem definitions, causal interpretations, and moralization serve to legitimize and rationalize certain policies (Edelman), frames resonate to varying degrees with different ideologies. Right-wing media rarely frames migration in a positive light. ImageImage
Read 7 tweets

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