#how can protesting for human rights not allowed it’s literally 2022 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-rad1o-demon · 7 months

Text

@neil-gaiman, @transformativeworks, @vancityreynolds :

I am asking you to reblog this to spread the word, to make sure people see all of this. You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would be extremely appreciated it you did! 💛

youtube

It's important that we stop these bills and keep Project 2025 from ever winning. I do not want to live in a world where the Internet is censored by LGBTQ+phobic and racist politicians. I do not want to live in a country where Donald Trump is literally the dictator. I do not want to live in a country where people such as myself are oppressed and forced into hiding/out of the country because of extremists like the ones behind KOSA, behind all these other really bad Internet bills, and behind Project 2025.

I am asking you to reblog/share this post, and I am asking you also that if you're able to take action against these bills. And definitely try to make people more aware of Project 2025 especially, because it will seriously fuck things up for nearly everyone in the United States (except for the ones running that show, obviously).

To help stop KOSA in particular, I'm copying and pasting from a document I wrote for the folks on my campus:

[BEGIN COPY-PASTED SECTION]

WAYS YOU CAN HELP STOP KOSA

Email to your friends, family, classmates, professors, etc.

Stage protests (and stay safe if doing so!)

Create and print out posters you can put up in areas people will see (if it's allowed there)! Doesn’t need to be fancy, it can be something like this in terms of text content:

STOP KOSA 2023

This bill threatens to censor many marginalized communities and topics on the Internet, including but not limited to:

The LGBTQ+ community

The discussion of race

Mental health issues

And many more!

It also will take away even more of both children’s and adults’ privacy on the Internet!

Call your state’s senators to tell them not to sign. Slightly edited scripts you can use are copied and pasted below, the Google doc from whence they came is below:

………………

DEMOCRATIC VERSION Hi, I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. Almost 100 human rights and LGBT organizations came out in an open letter opposing it in 2022 and 2023 because of how dangerous it is. The new language does NOT meet any concerns brought up, in fact many organizations were ignored. Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. When you look online through social media, you will find hundreds of posts by Gen Z who are opposed to this bill. We do not want this. This bill would allow any state attorney general to sue any website for “harmful” content. When you have Republicans calling anything LGBT “sexual exploitation” or anything about race “CRT” to successfully ban books and teachers, then they will use any justification to censor the internet. The Missouri attorney general used “mental health” successfully to ban gender-affirming care with backed up research. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content. Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. Furthermore, updated language threatens encryption the same way the Earn It Act does. How is this protecting children’s privacy? KOSA actively harms kids by taking away educational resources they need right now. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

REPUBLICAN VERSION I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. This is a dangerous bill that will harm children. Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them. We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution. This bill would allow any state attorney general to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online and continue to censor people? This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects people by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship. Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies, which would put them in further danger. How is this protecting children’s privacy? What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you. ……………… This version comes from this Google doc, which has additional learning resources! (It also has additional resources for fighting the KOSA bill, but some of it is outdated due to Congress having already done their thing):

Note that there is a separate script for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, use THIS ONE for him:

If you know anyone in Massachusetts specifically, tell them to call Senator Warren in order to ask her to rescind her support of KOSA. Script you can use written below (this one I wrote myself):

……………… Hello, Senator Warren. I am calling you today to ask that you rescind your support of the KOSA bill. It does not protect children. If anything, it will actively them by cutting them off from important discussions about the LGBTQ+ community, discussions about race, and mental health issues. There are even children in abusive situations who might not even know they’re being abused, and by censoring the Internet like this, or blocking children out of certain discussions, they may not find out until they’re adults. Senator Blackburn has made it perfectly clear that this bill aims to “protect” children from the trans community. Civil lawmakers, civil rights organizations, and many others have been saying over and over that this bill could be used to censor other marginalized groups as well. Please don’t support this bill. Thank you for your time and your consideration. ………………

Another important and final thing to do is to stay informed. Keep an eye on the news and on what’s happening with the KOSA bill.

That’s all I have for you!

[END COPY-PASTED SECTION]

Also!! Petition you can sign!

Thank you so much for your time, and please do whatever you can to help stop this train wreck.

EDIT - UPDATE:

Please look at the following post!

79 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

Text

How Palantir will steal the NHS

Britons are divided on many matters, but one uniting force that cuts across regional, party and class lines is jealous pride for the NHS and fierce resistance to its privatisation and the importation of America’s grisly omnishambolic health care “system.”

But while the British people oppose privatisation, the British investor class are slavering for it. Oligarchs love to loot public services, which is why the IMF is so adamant that the countries it “helps” sell off their public water, housing, even their roads and schools and museums.

Normally, the corrupting, immiserating effects of privatisation happen so slowly that they can feel like a natural phenomenon, a gradual change in the weather that makes everyone a little colder, a little more uncomfortable every day, until one day, the situation is unbearable.

But there have been moments of “big bang” privatisation where governments and oligarchs speed-ran the process of looting the public coffers and transferring them to private hands — think of the sell-off of ex-Soviet state industries to connected insiders.

Or think of Thatcher’s sell-off of council homes, an airdrop that converted shelter from a human right to an asset, in which “market forces” were allowed to “optimise” the housing system, with the result that everyday people can’t afford a home, while wealthy speculators trousered billions.

Thatcher had a supermajority, and she understood how to play different economic blocs against each other, resulting in the “shock therapy” of the 1980s. Her successors — both Tories and New Labour — had to move more slowly:

https://jacobin.com/2022/10/liz-truss-mini-budget-imf-boe-government-debt-brexit

Back to the NHS. It has been subject to the death of a thousand literal cuts, as Tories and Labour alike have starved it of resources. More importantly, both parties have turned ever-larger chunks of the NHS over to private-sector looters who have taken over hospitals, services, record-keeping and more.

These “public-private partnerships” were billed as a “third way,” combining the strengths of both the public and private sectors. In reality, they were a way to transfer a ever-larger sums from the public purse to private investors.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose proposition. When a private sector manager takes over a public service and extracts so much profit from the system that it risks collapse, the public sector is blamed for undersubsidising the service, and the looter can demand more money.

Lather, rinse, repeat. After decades of this, everyone understands how PPPs can be used to siphon endless sums out of the public coffers. But there’s a more sinister aspect to PPPs that is only just coming to light, exemplified by Palantir’s leaked plans to take over the NHS.

Palantir is one of the most sinister companies on the global stage, a company whose pitch is to sell humans rights abuses as a service. The customers for this turnkey service include America’s most corrupt police departments, who use Palantir’s products to monitor protest movements.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122417725865#articleCitationDownloadContainer

Palantir’s clients also include the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency who rely on Palantir’s products for their ethnic cleansing:

https://theintercept.com/2018/03/26/facebook-data-ice-immigration/

Palantir also sells to the CIA:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-palantir-peter-thiel/

One of Palantir’s best markets is the UK, where it has insinuated itself into numerous public services:

https://privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/All%20roads%20lead%20to%20Palantir%20with%20Palantir%20response%20v3.pdf That includes the NHS, where Palantir has been jockeying for an ever-larger slice of the health service’s private procurements. But the company’s reputation has preceded it, and even NHS commissioners understand that they risk public outrage if they sign over the NHS to a notorious private-sector surveillance company.

Palantir has a solution. The company has effectively unlimited access to the capital markets, as well as to its deep-pocketed founder Peter Thiel, a cartoon villain who’s written that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote and that democracy and freedom are incompatible.

All that liquid capital means that Palantir doesn’t have to win NHS contracts — it can simply buy up other companies that have won them. Palantir’s strategy leaked to Bloomberg, and Olivia Solon lays it out:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-30/palantir-had-plan-to-crack-uk-health-system-buying-our-way-in

In a Sept 2021 email with the subject line “Buying our way in…!” Palantir regional boss Louis Mosley describes a plan to go around “hoovering up” NHS contractors, to “take a lot of ground and take down a lot of political resistance.”

(A Palantir spokesman said the email was “regrettable” and “not an accurate characterization of our relationship with the NHS”)

Palantir’s Mosley said he’d target NHS software suppliers with “credible leadership” and revenue between £5–50m, offering their founders “v. generous buyout schedule (say 10x, especially if all stock),” adding “(we might even be their only real exit option).”

Palantir also urged the lobbying group TechUK to pressurise the NHS and other government departments to buy commercial, proprietary systems rather than building their own.

Palantir ran their own separate lobbying as well, hiring Indra Joshi and Harjeet Dhaliwal away from the NHS to push their agenda in Westminster:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-21/palantir-hires-ai-chief-from-nhs-in-u-k-as-it-bids-to-expand

For backup, they retained Global Counsel, a lobbying firm run by the Blairite archvillain Peter Mandelson, to push Palantir to the UK government. Mandelson is one of the great monsters of New Labour, masterminding a plan to permanenly disconnect British households from the internet if any member of the family was accused — without proof — of illegaly downloading music:

https://memex.craphound.com/2009/11/19/breaking-leaked-uk-government-plan-to-create-pirate-finder-general-with-power-to-appoint-militias-create-laws/

Palantir’s plans are bearing fruit. In Dec 2020, the company won a £23.5 no-bid contract to manage NHS patient data:

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-02-24/revealed-data-giant-given-emergency-covid-contract-had-been-wooing-nhs-for-months

The deal was successfully challenged by Foxglove, who represented Opendemocracy in a suit to force the government to make future Palantir deals subject to public tender:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/weve-won-our-lawsuit-over-matt-hancocks-23m-nhs-data-deal-with-palantir/

The real prize isn’t a mere £23.5 contract, though: the NHS is about to open to bids for a massive, £360m IT project. That’s where Palantir’s plan to buy out its rivals for the deal could bear real fruit.

That’s not a bug in PPP, it’s a feature. The point of PPP is to apply market dynamics to public service provision. Foremost among these market dynamics is the right of company owners to sell their businesses to other companies.

The UK — along with the rest of the west — has spent 40 years waving through anticompetitive mergers, under a doctrine that holds that monopolies are “efficient” (Thiel agrees: according to him, “competition is for losers”).

The combination of lax merger scrutiny and PPP inevitably leads to this kind of play: one deep-pocketed company can “hoover up” all the contractors to the NHS and form a single entity that can hold the NHS to ransom.

Palantir’s commitment to proprietary, secretive software development methodologies makes it utterly unsuitable for NHS service provision. Compare the NHS to Ben Goldacre’s landmark “Better, broader, safer: using health data for research and analysis”:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-broader-safer-using-health-data-for-research-and-analysis/better-broader-safer-using-health-data-for-research-and-analysis

Goldacre argues that the only way to unlock the medical insights in aggregate NHS patient data is with public software: an open and free “trusted research platform” that anyone can audit and verify.

While the code for this platform would be public, NHS patient data would never leave it. Instead, researchers who wanted to investigate hypotheses about the effectiveness of different interventions would send queries to the platform and get results back — without ever touching the data.

This is a system that only works if it’s hosted by democratically accountable public services — not by private actors accountable to their shareholders, and certainly not secretive companies whose primary expertise is in helping spy agencies conduct mass surveillance.

Image: Gage Skidmore (modified) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Thiel_(51876933345).jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A haunted, ruined hospital building. A sign hangs askew over the entrance with the NHS logo over the Palantir logo. Beneath it, a cutaway silhouette reveals a blood-spattered, scalpel-wielding surgeon with a Palantir logo over his breast, about to slice into a frightened patient with an NHS logo over his breast. Looming over the scene are the eyes of Peter Thiel, bloodshot and sinister.]

#pluralistic

70 notes · View notes

timelesswillow · 5 years

Text

Support Hong Kong

I know a lot of us want to be able to show support to the protestors in Hong Kong but live abroad. Here’s a list of things that can be done to join in and help out. Please Please Share. If I’ve left anything out or something doesn’t work let me know.

*Please do not allow your anger/outrage towards the events that are occurring due to the actions of the Chinese Government to turn to stereotyping, hatred, racism, etc. towards Chinese individuals.

Sign a Petition

Write the HK government to protect and respect the rights of the people of Hong Kong. [Petition to Protect Rights]

Contact Olympics Committee to not host the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing - Mention Hong Kong and Horrible violations of Uyghur Rights

Petition United Nations to Condemn Hong Kong Police for Excessive Use of Force and Call for an Independent Inquiry [Petition United Nation]

Request International Court of Justice to Investigate Excessive Force of Hong Kong Police [Petition International Court of Justice]

Support Radio Television Hong Kong’s editorial independence [Petition for Editorial Independence]

Revoke Carrie Lam's Legion of Honor Award (France) [Petition Grand Master of the Legion]

Petition Amnesty on behalf of the July 1st Legco Building Protesters [Petition Amnesty for Legco Protesters]

Reporting HK Police Force to the International Police Association for breach of professional code of conduct and excessive use of force [Petition International Police Association]

Petition Starbucks to terminate franchise deal with Maxim's in Hong Kong [Change.org Starbucks]

Boycott or Protest Chinese products/Companies kowtowing to China

Disney

BLIZZARD

Apple

NBA

Make a Monetary or Non-Monetary Donation

Help send protective gears to Hong Kong protesters (helmets, goggles, gas masks, etc. ) via a US collection center.

PLEASE do not brag about this or show this to media. I’ve heard the HK authorities found out about people in Taiwan doing this and they subsequently increased inspections of packages and luggage from Taiwan.

Donate to Spark Alliance Legal Aid (Website in Cantonese)

Demosisto International Campaign - Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow for international outreach

Hong Kong Medic Volunteers crowdfunding for first aid supplies, saline water to wash eyes from tear gas [Pic]. In US Dollars they’ve raised about 13K as of 10/18/19

Support The Stand News a Not-for-Profit News (Cantonese)

Hong Kong Citizen News Not-for-Profit News (Cantonese)

Hong Kong Free Press Not-for-Profit News (English)

[CANTONESE] 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund Legal Aid

Crowdfund to give away Stand with Hong Kong T-shirts at Blizzcon 2019, Los Angeles Oct 31 - Nov 2

Crowdfund to give away The North Stand with Hong Kong T-shirts at NBA Opening Toronto Raptors Oct 22nd

If anyone knows any other way to send money/donations to the actual protestors please inform me and I’ll update.

Spread the News

Not everyone knows or is even informed about the situation. Please spread the news but be sure to spread information that has been fact checked because the Chinese Government is doing a lot to spread misinformation.

Join online protest campaigns, retweet, share, like #Eye4HK l #Mask4HK l #birdfoldingchallenge #FiveDemandsNotOneLess #SupportHongKong #Antielab #StandWithHongKong l #NoChinaExtradition l #antiELAB l #SOSHK l #反送中 l #FreeHongKong l #StandwithHK l #HKLastwords #SaveHongKong il #HongKongProtest l #DemocracyNow l #NoExtraditionToChina l #Shout4HK l #BoycottBlizzard | #BoycottChina

Join/Support a Rally

Join and support your local #StandwithHongKong rallies. Global events/rallies near you. If you can't find one nearby, think about starting one or even making signs to put up around your city.

Continue making Memes, Posters, Videos, Drawings. Wear a #StandwithHongKong T-shirt, Carve a Pro-Hong Kong Pumpkin, 3D Print your own #LadyLibertyHK

Write to Local Representatives (Divided by country)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

3.1 Send VOTE YES postcards to your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 [Senate Bill S.1838] . Get your Free VOTE YES Postcards

3.2 Write to US Congress (Senators and Representatives)

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

3.2 Ask Your US Senators to Co-Sponsor the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/co-sponsor-hong-kong-human-rights-and-democracy-act-of-2019

3.3 Call your representative https://www.callmycongress.com and tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong, the excessive amounts of tear gas used, some of which are expired, releases dangerous levels of hydrogen cyanide that could literally kill a person, which qualifies as chemical weapons, a flagrant violation of international law. Please support the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 by passing [Senate Bill S.1838] and review/revoke the United States - Hong Kong Policy Act 1992. It's in the interest of leaders who value democracy, international laws, human rights, to stand up for those who don't have the same freedoms we have. Thank you.

3.4 Petition 12 US Congress leaders to support the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act [Pass the Act S.1838/H.R.3289]

UNITED KINGDOM (UK)

4.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (UK)

https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/

4.2 Petition UK to Uphold the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration

https://petition.standwithhk.org

4.3 Petition Liz Truss from Department of International Trade and Dominic Raab from Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Stand up for Human Rights in Hong Kong

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/uk-should-safeguard-human-rights-and-rule-of-law-in-hong-kong-in-future-trade-deals

CANADA

5.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (CAN)

https://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/constituencies/FindMP

5.2 Stand up for Hong Kong and Petition to Canadian MPs and Federal Elections Candidates https://chkl.ca (Dateline: Oct 20th)

5.3 #BoycottBlizzard If you are a CAN player, instead of just deleting your account, you should request PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act) and if they do not comply within 30 days, you can complaint to the Canada's Federal Privacy Commissioner

AUSTRALIA

6.1 Write to your Senators and Members of Parliament (AUS)

https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/guidelines_for_contacting_senators_and_members

6.2 Australian Taxpayers' Alliance Campaign to Save Hong Kong https://www.taxpayers.org.au/save-hong-kong

6.3 Expel the Chinese Consul General in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia [Dear Australian Prime Minister]

6.4 Impose Sanctions on Persons Found to be Suppressing Human Rights in Hong Kong [Petition Australian Senate]

6.5 Write to your MP to re-introduce the International Human Rights and Corruption Bill 2018 (Magnitsky Sanctions) [Template]

NEW ZEALAND

7.1 Write to your Members of Parliament (NZ)

https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/members-of-parliament/

EUROPE (EU)

8.1 Write to Your Members of European Parliament (EU)

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search/advanced

8.2 Petition to Jean Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic calling for concrete actions against China to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy to prevent a humanitarian crisis Petition to Jean Yves Le Drian

8.3 #BoycottBlizzard If you are an EU player, instead of just deleting your account, you should request GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and if they do not comply within 30 days, they will have to pay a hefty fine of 4% of Global Annual Turnover of Blizzard.

CHINA or CHINESE

9.1 Considering you are reading this, you already know how to use VPN. If you feel safe enough speak out but be anonymous. Let other Chinese, Hong Kong people, the world know that there are Chinese or Mainland Chinese who do supports the Hong Kong protest. Examples: You are not alone! l ChenSiuQi 陈秋实 l Passport l HK Stay strong Be vigilant l I support HK from Mainland l I will pray for HK l The reality is Hong Kongers are also fighting for Mainland Chinese l Beijing supports HK

OTHERS

10.1 Switzerland Write to your local representatives https://www.parlament.ch/en/ratsmitglieder?k=

10.2 Japan Write to your local representatives and councilors

http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_english.nsf/html/statics/member/mem_a.htm

https://www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/joho1/kousei/eng/members/index.htm

10.3 Petition Japanese parliamentarians to introduce a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Bill in Japan [Petition Japan]

Also a lot of this information was grabbed from Reddit so please head over there if you want more information because I did not grab all of it.

3 notes · View notes