By Ben King, on September 3rd, 2013  This post is part of a series of report-back posts from the 15th annual Allied Media Conference held in Detroit in June.
The title of this post is borrowed from a session at this year’s Allied Media Conference. The workshop was timely when it was conducted on June 21 because Google had just been implicated in the NSA’s spying scandal, known as the PRISM Program. Apparently, Google could not live up to its mandate, “Don’t be evil.” Also taking place that weekend in Detroit was a commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” (MLK gave a version of that speech in Detroit in the summer of 1963 before bringing it to DC for the March on Washington in August.) One wonders what Dr. King would have said about our information freedom fighters today, like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.
So what is the cloud and why should we care?
According to the workshop presenters, the “cloud” simply means your software or data living on another machine. A great example of a cloud service is Gmail. Google keeps your emails on its own machines. That means you can access these files from any computer. Additionally, Gmail is convenient because it gives you a web-based interface (software) that allows you to view, sort, or search your emails.
For activists in the information age, trusting Google to keep our information 100% secure is delusional at best. The company is ultimately accountable to its shareholders and its advertisers, and it does not have the best interests of people (i.e. human beings) in mind. There are already a few alternatives to the services you get through Google (see below), although they might not be as convenient at the moment. However, if we want to envision a future where people are free from information tyrrany, we have to imagine a future where we don’t keep everything on Google Drive or the iCloud. We have to start coming up with our own, more complex networks that will strengthen our internet backbone as a whole, rather than forcing a centralized system.
Freedom in the 21st century means freedom of information. For our information to be free, it must be decentralized, copied, and reproduced from a variety of locations, available for a variety of uses, at a variety of times. Small cloud networks can start with wireless mesh networking. Communities could build their own servers, hosting data for neighbors and friends. A co-operative model might be used to administrate such a cloud. Community cloud computing isn’t really that crazy an idea.
What is crazy is that Verizon, Comcast and a variety of other companies, want to charge us for accessing the internet as individuals. The private sector is poised to make billions off of expanding cloud services. Our collective energy is what makes the web awe-inspiring. Though we might not all be connected directly, our participation in networks, social and technological, makes us part of something bigger than ourselves. Hence, we cannot resist the flow of truth, freedom of information, and transparency. With Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other digital service providers (i.e. Google) as the gatekeepers, it is our responsibility to make sure that we develop alternatives that can keep the web free. As businesses continue to colonize online space, we have to think even more about what freedom really means when so much of our lives are online.
Alternatives to Google
May First/People Link – “May First/People Link is a politically progressive member-run and controlled organization that redefines the concept of “Internet Service Provider” in a collective and collaborative way.”
Electric Embers – “EE is a worker cooperative providing Internet hosting services and support to nonprofits, cooperatives, artists, and others contributing to the common good. We’re here to help you create a more just, sustainable, and beautiful world.”
RiseUp.net – “Riseup provides online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change. We are a project to create democratic alternatives and practice self-determination by controlling our own secure means of communications.”
By Brenda Hayes, on August 29th, 2013 I spent a little time with a few of our Potomac Gardens neighbors talking about the 50th anniversary of The March On Washington;
it was a time to reflect on experiences of the past, take stock of the present, and consider the possibilities of the future. Thank you Annie Ferguson, Carlton Moxley, Enoch Pratt, Potomac Gardens Greeter Claudia, David, Gary Anderson, Ms. Teasley and Wilson Senior High School student Levi.
 Pianist Carleton Moxley talks about growing up in Washington, DC when it was still segregated
[audio:http://www. grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CarltonMoxleymow.mp3]
 Enoch Pratt talks about the importance of education.
[audio: http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/enochmow.mp3]
 Wilson High School Student Levi wants to attend North Carolina University.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/levi.mp3]
Ms. Teasley, talks about the history of the March on Washington, the important changes that have taken place but admits that racism is still our biggest problem.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/MsTeasley.mp3]
Annie Ferguson is in her 70s. She has relatives who were able to march in 1963 but she didn’t attend. If it weren’t for her recent stroke, she would have gone to the anniversary march herself.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Annie-FergusonMOW.mp3]
 Claudia says talks about recent set backs in civil rights.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/claudia.mp3]
 David talks about the importance of honoring the sacrifices of the past.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/david.mp3]
Gary Anderson, a computer technician, believes we should not have to recognize color. We are all part of one race, the human race.
[audio:http://www.grassrootsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/garyanderson.mp3]
By Barrett Jones, on August 20th, 2013  On an early morning in the third week of June we packed a mixer, a pair of speakers, a microphone, and five mini-synthesizers into our car. We were on 270 heading west as the sun came up. By late afternoon we’d reached Detroit. We went there to participate in the Allied Media Conference and to present Beat Club, a digital music workshop that travels to neighborhood libraries and community centers in the DC area.
On Friday we set up our gear in a classroom in the Education building of Wayne State University. People began coming through the door. They headed for the seats but I invited them to stand around the table. As I demonstrated how to play the instruments, more people came in and joined the group. Everyone took a turn playing. Pretty soon a beat was going, bass lines were squealching, chords and notes began to come together. Grouped around their instruments, people laughed and encouraged each other. Freestyle raps began flying. Like any good party, it got too loud and after about half an hour we began receiving complaints about the noise from neighboring classrooms.
The next morning the streets around the campus were filled with marchers marking the 5oth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s 1963 march in Detroit. We set up at the campus conference center in a room designated as a play area for kids. Over several hours all sorts of people- kids, teens, adults – came by to play and ask questions. Parents snapped pictures of their kids making music. Eventually a nice man who was leading a session next door came over to ask me to turn the volume down.
I mixed down the recording from our Friday session and brought it to the temporary radio station set up for the conference so it could be broadcast. They were interviewing Quese IMC (who later hosted a great session). We left the next day, grateful to have met so many good people, both at the conference and in the city of Detroit.
Watch a vine of Beat Club at AMC2013 or listen to the recording
By Grassroots DC, on August 19th, 2013 On August 17, a coalition of organizations held a unity rally for immigrant rights in front of the White House, calling for Congress to act on immigration reform and put an end to deportations. Organizers of the rally included WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend), DMV LOLA (Latinas Organized for Leadership and Advocacy), and NAPAWF-DC (National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum), joined by the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). Speakers at the event discussed the misrepresentation of immigrant rights as an exclusively “Latino issue,” instead demonstrating that the movement for immigrant rights is part of the movements for women’s rights, workers’ rights, and human rights. A running theme of the rally was that whether we like it or not, the hijacking of immigration reform at the national level has devastating consequences for all our families, economies, and communities.
 The mainstream media often falsely represents immigration as a Latino issue, leaving out large portions immigrant populations and not accurately reflecting migration patterns. A more complicated picture emerged at Saturday’s rally, which was led by a diverse coalition of immigrants and their allies.
Standing in front of the White House, Linda Khoy shared her sister Lundy’s story with the audience. Lundy was born in a refugee camp, and eventually, their parents were able to leave Cambodia because of the war. Linda, however, was born in the United States. They wouldn’t realize until many years later the effect that different sorts of papers would have on their lives. Lundy went to college and at the age of 19, found herself arrested for a misdemeanor level offense. In immigration terms, however, that meant deportation proceedings. Now they work with One Love Movement, organizing Southeast Asian refugees and others to put a stop to deportations. Listen to Linda tell Lundy’s story and her message for President Obama:
Interview with Linda Khoy
Diana, another speaker at the event, shared her experience of being undocumented in DC. “I was a career criminal before I could even talk, and since then, every breath I took was labelled an unlawful one.” A DREAM Activist member and UDC honor student, Diana was born in Lagos, Nigeria and arrived in Washington, DC when she was only 2 months old. She attended Bancroft Elementary, Shaw Junior High School, and Roosevelt High School.
“I was a career criminal before I could even talk, and since then, every breath I took was labelled an unlawful one.”
Diana said she felt like any other Washingtonian until her senior year, when she found out she was undocumented. Listen to Diana tell her story and come out as undocumented, joining 11 million others in the US:
Diana’s Coming Out Speech
Catalina Nieto with the Detention Watch Network, who is originally from Colombia, posed a provocative question to the crowd: “What does it really  mean to be in unity, to be in solidarity, and have each others’ backs, for real?” — also bringing up the important point that “there is a group of people right now who are benefiting from having us divided.” If you want to listen to more of what she had to say about moving from slogans to meaningful change, listen below:
Catalina Nieto Unity Speech
These stories illustrate the very real impacts of a broken immigration system upon families, and particularly women, facing the threat of deportation. Their call to action is clear: they want President Obama and Congress to stop deportations. Cases like Lundy’s show that judges need to use discretion in the sentencing process for undocumented people, rather than deporting immigrants for minor offenses. More broadly, the organizers demonstrated that they are part of much larger struggles, including the struggle to end mass incarceration of US citizens and to stop prison labor profits via the prison industrial complex. Nieto urged the crowd to consider what it means to be unified with people going through solitary confinement, trapped in an immigration system with no access to family and friends.
“At this point, seeing each other as humans and having each others’ backs is a revolutionary act,” said Nieto.
Visit the websites of the organizations linked in the post above to get involved in the unified struggle for immigrant rights. Join Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD) at the 50th Anniversary March on Washington Rally beginning @ 8 am at the Lincoln Memorial, then marching to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
By Chioma Iwuoha, on August 8th, 2013
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This post is part of a series of report-back posts from the 15th annual Allied Media Conference held in Detroit in June.
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