September 2010 – Modpress

New York Times advarer mod Dansk Folkeparti

Eller rettere sagt, det gør de ikke – men de advarer i en leder den svenske statsminister i at lave nogen form for aftaler med de rabiate fremmedkritikere i Sverigedemokraterna. Kort fortalt advarer avisen Sverige mod at blive som Danmark:

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt plans to stay on as head of a minority center-right government. For now, all of the mainstream parties say they will make no deals with the Sweden Democrats. They should stand firm.

Most Swedes abhor racism. But they have legitimate complaints about inadequate government policies for integrating poorly prepared new arrivals. At a time of high unemployment and growing pressure on the traditionally generous welfare state, highly visible immigrant communities — like the 500,000 Muslims who now make up roughly 5 percent of the overall population — make especially tempting scapegoats.

Keeping immigrants out is no answer. Nor is forced assimilation to an imaginary pure national culture. Immigrant dynamism is essential to keeping all of Europe competitive. Sweden’s mainstream politicians are still battling over old questions of welfare versus markets, while largely ignoring newer ones like globalization, immigration and social integration. They can’t afford to ignore them any longer.

Indtil videre lader de almindelige svenske politikere til at stå fast og opretholde et cordon sanitaire mod Sverigedemokraterna af samme type, som i Belgien holder fascisterne i Vlaams Belang uden for indflydelse. Gid vi her i Danmark havde politikere med den samme form for rygrad overfor intolerancen i Dansk Folkepartis højreekstreme form.

Link: Even Sweden.

Karikaturkrisen og dens konsekvenser

Rune Engelbreth Larsen skriver om den gamle affære i det berømte amerikanske nyhedsbrev CounterPunch:

Among the most important and often overlooked elements in understanding why the Cartoon Crisis originated in Denmark and how it escalated into the biggest international crisis in the history of Danish foreign politics since World War II, are. 1) The increasing acceptance of demonizing and antagonistic rhetoric directed against Muslims in Danish mainstream politics and the media since the mid-1990’s. 2) The lack of diplomatic efforts by the Danish government to prevent the escalating crisis. 3) The stridently patronizing and arrogant approach of the Danish government and media towards ambassadors from Muslim countries as well as the deliberate misrepresentation of their intentions displayed by the then Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in October, November and December 2005.

Without these elements, an escalation of the crisis would have been highly unlikely, and the violent protests and riots seen in some Muslim countries four months after the publication of the cartoons would never have taken place. The whole affair would have most likely blown over before it became a global media phenomenon.

Gennemgangen er god at få forstand af, og det er godt (og mildest talt på tide) at en analyse af de grumsede indenrigspolitiske farvande her i Danmark kommer uden for landets grænser også. Hvordan kan et næsten helt homogent land gå i så voldsom, nationalistisk selvsving, at et højreekstremt politisk parti som Dansk Folkeparti kan anses for at være en normal del at det politiske billede?

Det kan i hvert fald få grimme konsekvenser, ikke mindst for os danskere – men, som Engelbreth påpeger, i netop dette tilfælde har dansk arrogance og Foghs lunkne, indenrigspolitisk beregning haft “held” til at gøre hele verden til et lidt dårligere sted at leve:

This so-called Muhammad Cartoon Controversy has succeeded in establishing a rift between Denmark and many ordinary Muslims worldwide, as well as providing a host of anti-Muslim movements in the West with ammunition in their proclaimed struggle for ‘freedom of speech’. A struggle which often seems to be nothing more than an excuse for the ‘right’ to demonize Muslims! At the same time radical Islamists have benefited from the cartoons by ‘proving’ that freedom of speech and other human rights serve to legalize blasphemous and Islamophobic hatespeech, whereas various types of anti-Semitism on the other hand are often considered serious offences.

Unfortunately, these double standards are the rule rather than the exception, enforcing an ongoing conflict that stimulates anti-Muslim tendencies in the West, as well as anti-Semitic and anti-Western tendencies in the Muslim world. In this way, the fundamental weakness of Danish diplomacy, coupled with a constant flow of anti-Muslim rhetoric and provocations in Denmark have played a key part in deepening the religious and ethnic rift that unfortunately dominates parts of the international political arena today.

Artiklen er også tilgængelig på Engelbreths egen engelsksprogede hjemmeside Panhumanism.

Blev kidnappet og forsøgte at slå igen: 86 år i fængsel

Prøv at forestille dig, at en dansker i Afghanistan bliver kidnappet af al-Qaeda. 5 år må han henslæbe i skumle og ubehagelige fangelejre, indtil han en skønne dag ser en chance: Han griber én af fangevogternes gevær og forsøger at skyde sig fri.

Ingen kommer noget til, men den afghanske regering griber nu ind og beslutter at statuere et eksempel: Danskeren stilles for retten, anklaget for mordforsøg. Dom. 86 års fængsel. Han anfører forgæves, at han i fem år har været kidnappet i strid med enhver international lovgivning og blot forsøgte at forsvare sig selv.

Ville en sådan dom være en sejr for det afghanske demokrati, et bevis for, at vi endelig har opnået det demokrati, vore soldater har kæmper for? Sådan vil alle nok ikke opfatte det.

Sådan er det heller ikke alle, der opfatter det, nu hvor en kvindelig pakistansk neurolog er dømt for det samme – godt nok ikke i det nye, demokratiske Afghanistan, men i det nye, demokratiske USA:

Siddiqui, 38, was convicted of attempted murder this year after shooting at US soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan in 2008 as she tried to escape from custody. Siddiqui claimed she had been abducted by US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years. The case has drawn appeals from the Pakistani government for her release, and divided legal opinion.

Protesters took to the streets across Pakistan after the sentence, lighting fires and chanting anti-American slogans. The Jamaat-e-Islami religious party announced a national strike after weekly prayers. Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said he was “saddened”‚ by the sentence; his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, called the sentence a “crime against humanity”.

Siddiqui’s family in Karachi accused the US justice system of bias against Muslims. “This is the beginning of the greatest travesty of justice,” said her sister Fowzia, who has campaigned for the past two years. “My sister is going to come back. This is not her downfall. This is her victory.”

Although the FBI accused Siddiqui of supporting al-Qaida, she was not charged with terrorism. But prosecutors alleged that when she was arrested in Afghanistan two years ago she was found with instructions on how to assemble bombs and a list of New York city landmarks.

86 års fængsel. For at skyde op i luften efter at have været indespærret uden lv og dom (det, vi andre kalder “kidnappet”) i fem år. Velbekomme d’herrer, som stadig tror på “krigen mod terror”.

Link: Pakistan neurocientist given 86 years for shooting at US agents

90 milliarder i underskud? Her er et palæ!

I år præsenterede VK regeringen det næsthøjeste underskud på statsfinanserne nogensinde. De ufinansierede skattelettelser og skattestoppet har givet et gigantisk underskud, der nu skal betales af børnefamilierne og de arbejdsløse.

De danske skatteydere må formentlig være helt paf, når regeringen nu giver én enkelt særdeles velstående børnefamilie på overførselindkomst, der i forvejen ejer et dusin slotte, et palæ til over 2-300 millioner kr(!!). Millioner der kunne bruges til at hjælpe de fattige der er blevet ramt af regeringens sparekniv og i de kommende år må smides fra hus og hjem.
Skam jer

EU-parlamentet vedtager anbefaling om at lukke for fildeleres Internet

En kniv i ryggen på borgernes rettigheder, skriver La Quadrature du Net i en pressemeddelelse:

This very repressive text is one more step in the entertainment industries’ crusade against their own public. The Members of the Parliament have failed to recognize that the measures called for in this non-legislative text profoundly undermine fundamental freedoms1. For the next steps, citizens must remain on their guard and should continue to inform their elected representatives about the lies of the industry, and the importance of the Internet for the future of our societies.

In the end, the lobbying from the entertainment industries proved extremely powerful, as demonstrated by the nefarious influence of a few members of the ALDE group who helped rejecting alternative approaches and thereby paved the way for a call to ruthless enforcement2. Baseless studies3 and letters signed by dead or unknown movie producers, fake signatures4, or 7 years old singers5 were used among other deceptive techniques to get this vote, against the general interest of EU citizens.

“The Gallo report is an illustration of the will of the entertainment industry to try to impose private copyright police and justice of the Net6. Repressive schemes such as the “three strikes” policies and other Internet access restrictions –typified by the French HADOPI or the UK Digital Economy laws– negate fundamental rights, such as the right to a fair trial, the freedom of communication or the right to privacy. So far, they have also turned out to be a political and technical failure. Even if they are encouraged by the European Commission and the draft ACTA agreement, such measures giving investigation, evidence collection and sanction powers to private actors are not tolerable in democracies abiding by the rule of Law.” analyses Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

“EU citizens must remain watchful and continue their essential work of informing their elected representatives about the crucial role that a free Internet plays for the future of our societies and an expanded creative economy. Only through civic engagement and democracy can the lies of the entertainment industries be rejected as such. Soon, elected representatives across Europe will realize that the crusade of these industries against their own public undermines the founding values of our democracies, and that it should be stopped by all means.” concludes Zimmermann.

Ole Wolf opsummerer konsekvenserne på dansk:

Når man tænker på, hvordan visse pladeselskabers lobbyisme har gjort grænsen mellem mistanke til dom temmelig tynd, skal der ikke meget til. Eller antag alternativt, at jeg ikke kan kontrollere, om mine børn deler filer, og således bliver dømt på grund af dem, fordi et passende indrettet juridisk system ikke finder det relevant at bære bevisbyrden.

Tredje gang risikerer jeg at miste internetforbindelsen. Det har EU-Parlamentet netop vedtaget mulighed for, selvfølgelig takket være de Konservative.

Det vil betyde:

At jeg ikke vil kunne være en del af “det digitale Danmark”, hvilket i praksis betyder fratagelse af en del borgerrettigheder.

At jeg ikke ville være i stand til at arbejde hjemmefra.

At også min familie, hvor min kone og vores to børn ikke har hver deres internetforbindelse, bliver afskåret fra kommunikation med det offentlige og således frataget borgerrettigheder.

At min kone ikke ville være i stand til at arbejde hjemmefra.

At mine børn ikke ville kunne logge på Elevintra og se, hvad de havde for af lektier.

At mine børn ville være afskåret fra de samme sociale netværk, som deres venner deltager i.

Der er indtil videre intet af dette, der er omsat til dansk lov, men det er umiddelbart helt usædvanligt dårlige perspektiver.

Venstremand: Dansk Folkeparti har kostet Danmark dyrt

Det er Venstres Eyvind Vesselbo, der tager bladet fra munden i et interview med Sveriges Radio, hvor han advarer den svenske statminister mod et samarbejde med Sverigesdemokraterne:

– Undgå Sverigedemokraterna. Det har kostet, at arbejde sammen med Dansk Folkeparti, siger han til programmet Ekot mandag.

– Jeg synes, det er et problem, at udlændinge i Danmark hver morgen skal vågne op og høre, at de er et problem i Danmark, siger Eyvind Vesselbo og fortsætter:

– På en lang række områder er vi gået for langt. Dansk Folkeparti presser og presser, og vi er gået for langt i vores indrømmelser til dem.

Vesselbo tilføjer, at hans egen regering burde have sagt nej til DF’s retorik og mange af partiets krav, “for Dansk Folkeparti vil aldrig vælte en borgerlig regering”.

På tide, vi hørte fra det mere anstændige Venstre. Ansvaret for de sidste års højredrejning og uhørt stramme udlændingepolitik hviler derfor tungt også på Vesselbos skuldre.

Sverigesdemokraterne vil forbyde jazzmusik

Jyllands-Posten proklamerede her til morgen under overskriften “Svenske vælgere trodsede eliten” ganske åbenlyst fryder sig over, at Sverige nu også har et højreekstremistisk og grundlæggende racistisk parti repræsenteret i parlamentet. Ja, er der ikke aldeles herligt:

Förutom diverse retorik gentemot de etablerade partierna, vilka SD uppfattar som elitister, var det mest förvånande Jimmie Åkessons krav på ett totalförbud mot Jazzmusik;
– Detta är en osvensk musiktradition som inte hör hemma i Sverige, jazzmusiken leder svenska ungdomar in i ett icke-svenskt leverne, Jazzen är dessutom en inkörsport till icke-skandinaviska relationer.

Åkesson menar att det finns åtskilliga risker förknippade med den Afroamerikanska musikstilen;
– Svenska ungdomar som lyssnar på den här musiken förleds lätt av det djuriskt rytmiskt erotiska i den. Över hela Sverige har jag hört om sammankomster där sån här “djungelmusik” spelats, efter ett par timmar är de unga männen aggressiva och kvinnorna överkåta, och det slutar nästan alltid i bråk. Som alternativ till den Afroamerikanska musiken vill Jimmie Åkesson istället ha en svensk folkdans-revival …

Så – ud med trompeterne og de store bløde guitarer og ind med halm og træsko …

🙂

Link: SD vill ha förbud mot Jazz

The dark side of Facebook

For fire år siden skrev han sådan her:

ZUCK: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard
ZUCK: just ask
ZUCK: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
FRIEND: what!? how’d you manage that one?
ZUCK: people just submitted it
ZUCK: i don’t know why
ZUCK: they “trust me”
ZUCK: dumb fucks

I dag ejer han Facebook.

Føler du, dine data er i gode hænder?

Rusland bruger Microsoft til at lukke kritiske medier

Typisk strategi for et diktatur, der prøver på at opretholde en illusion om, at tingene går lovligt til: De russiske myndigheder laver razziaer efter piratkopieret software hos aviser og tidsskrifter, der kritiserer regeringen – og ikke hos de officielle medier.

Dette er en strategi, som meget vel kan blive brugt til at kvæle alternative medier og græsrodsbevægelser også i Danmark. Løsning: Drop Microsoftprodukter. Brug fri software.

Cory Doctorow fortæller på Boing Boing:

Russian police use the pretense of enforcing Microsoft’s copyrights as an excuse to raid the offices of human rights, environmental and dissident NGOs, and Microsoft has not intervened to stop it, even when the groups are using legitimate, licensed copies of Microsoft software. Police often claim to have discovered pirated software on seized computers even before examining them, and claim that the investigations come at Microsoft’s requests. Microsoft lawyers have cooperated with raids on opposition newspapers, whose editors say that the raids would not have taken place without Microsoft’s complicity. During raids, police have been spotted removing Microsoft “Certificate of Authenticity” stickers on confiscated PCs. Microsoft’s lawyers testified in support of police claims that pirated software was found on PCs, even though the court later found that the PCs were never examined.

Interviews and a review of law enforcement documents show that in recent cases, Microsoft lawyers made statements describing the company as a victim and arguing that criminal charges should be pursued.The lawyers rebuffed pleas by accused journalists and advocacy groups, including Baikal Wave, to refrain from working with the authorities. Baikal Wave, in fact, said it had purchased and installed legal Microsoft software specifically to deny the authorities an excuse to raid them. The group later asked Microsoft for help in fending off the police. “Microsoft did not want to help us, which would have been the right thing to do,” said Marina Rikhvanova, a Baikal Environmental Wave co-chairwoman and one of Russia’s best-known environmentalists. “They said these issues had to be handled by the security services.”

Microsoft executives in Moscow and at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., asserted that they did not initiate the inquiries and that they took part in them only because they were required to do so under Russian law.

Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent

Update, 14. september: Så meget jeg end mener, der kan være grund til at kritisere Microsoft for deres misbrug af eget monopol og generelt underlige forretningsmoral, har de tilsyneladende faktisk slået bremsen i her, efter historien var oppe i New York Times.

Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols skriver:

After the New York Times reported that Microsoft lawyers have helped Russian authorities to raid advocacy groups and newspapers in the name of copyright enforcement in recent years, Microsoft slammed on the brakes on its copyright enforcement policies. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith wrote in his blog, “We want to be clear that we [Microsoft] unequivocally abhor any attempt to leverage intellectual property rights to stifle political advocacy or pursue improper personal gain.”
(…)

What’s even more impressive was that Smith then wrote, “To prevent non-government organizations from falling victim to nefarious actions taken in the guise of anti-piracy enforcement, Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products.”

With this move, Microsoft stops any government from using Microsoft software licensing as an excuse to seize computers and shut down organizations. Of course, governments can also find another excuse, but Microsoft won’t be a party to their efforts to suppress dissent.

Det kan dog stadig bruges mod kritiske medier, hvis de ikke er NGOer, måske. Men noget er noget. Lad os holde øje med, hvordan historien udvikler sig.

Dagens citat: Oehlenschläger om indvandring

Fra prologen til Aladdin (1805):

        Thi Nordens Kraft er uden Østens Ild
	Det samme som et hærdet Demant-Sværd,
  	Der mangler en varmblodig Muskel-Arm,
	For stærkt at svinges. Blomsten, sund af Frøe,
	Til Solen trænger, for at giennemglødes;
	Og bliver der for langt et Mellemrum,
	Før Asianerne til Norden drage,
 	For at forædle Slægten, varme den —
	Da bliver Slægten, som du seer desværre!
	En Blomst, forlængst engang fra Syden hentet,
	Men som vantrives Aar for Aar, hentørres,
	Blier bleg af Farve, søvnig, mat — og døer.

Uden indvandring sydfra ville den nordiske race hensygne og dø – og da dette kunne have lange udsigter, måtte Danmark i 1805 altså lade sig nøje med Oehlenschlägers orientalske digt om en fattig, utilpasset muslim og hans vej gennem, tilværelsen. Skarpt set af Oehlenschläger dengang.

Siden har vi fået den ægte vare (om man så må sige), og der kan næppe være tvivl om, at kulturblandingen har gjort Danmark til et bedre og mere helstøbt og spændende land, som Oehlenschäger forudsagde allerede for 205 år siden.