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Why Indy Media Must Win
Mark Dankof - 03.07.2002 06:04
American Lutheran pastor Mark Dankof, a correspondent for Global News Net (GNN), underscores the importance of the mission of Indy Media, and why it must defeat the powers in the Netherlands and elsewhere who want public freedom of expression destroyed worldwide.
One does not have to possess a Ph. D. degree in rocket science to understand the global threat to freedom of speech and information dissemination posed by the legal case being pursued in the Netherlands against Indy Media.
It is essential that Indy Media is vindicated in its titanic struggle against this dangerous attempt to suppress essential truths from the general public in the Netherlands, not simply for the sake of the Dutch readers of Indy Media, but also for men and women worldwide who depend on responsible news sources not controlled by multi-national corporate conglomerates, central banks, the Israeli lobby, and the burgeoning legal and political threats to honest, free expression of ideas and dissent posed by developments in the United States presently headed by the Bush/Ashcroft Federal Leviathan. The hour is indeed late.
It is a lot later than many think. In America, thanks to the President of the United States, the Attorney General, and the Congress of the United States, a new law known as the USA Patriot Act has now been enacted. In brief synopsis, this Act not only greatly expands government surveillance of all manner of electronic communication, but jettisons the Constitutional protections enjoyed by individual Americans against "unreasonable search and seizure" according to the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Thanks to the USA Patriot Act, and the aptly named "George W. Bush Sneak and Peek Provision," American federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies can now legally break into any private residence or business without a judicially mandated warrant, or even a consultation with a federal judge. This can be done for a period of up to 90 days. And this Sneak and Peek provision also allows American federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies to engage in such warrantless searches and break-ins without informing the individual home or business owner in question. This is the state of affairs in post 911 America, with the gravest implications for the insidious movement toward the potential establishment of a police state at the beck-and-call of the Executive Branch headed by Mr. Bush now, and who knows whom in 2004 and thereafter. Yes, the hour is late.
And where are the "mainstream" American electronic and print publications in informing the citizenry of this latest wholesale assault upon the foundational ideology of individual freedom vis a vis the State so cherished by the Founding Fathers of the United States? Absolutely nowhere to be found. Whether it be the USA Patriot Act, or the absolutely bogus coverage of the Middle Eastern controversy by the American press, the citizenry on this side of the Atlantic must depend on alternative, independent media sources for any semblance of substance--or truth. This includes such entities as www.LewRockwell.com, www. AgainstBombing.org, www.Antiwar.com (where this writer learned today of the legal case against Indy Media in the Netherlands), and yes, all of the domestic and international branches of Indy Media, where yours truly has obtained more qualitative data and commentary in a single evening than what is available year round from any "namebrand" American media source in the business.
This is why Indy Media´s fate is your fate and mine, regardless of where you live, what you do for a living, who you are, or what your philosophical/ideological foundations and convictions happen to be. Let´s get behind something Jeffersonian for a change, and fight for its existence and future survivability while there is still time. Because the hour is indeed late, and the impending darkness too horrifying to contemplate.
(Mark Dankof is an ordained Lutheran pastor and post-graduate theological student in the United States. He was a 3rd party candidate for the U. S. Senate in Delaware in 2002 and presently serves as a correspondent for the Internet news service Global News Net, based in Tempe, AZ. His web site may be found at www.MarkDankof.com. A free on-line subscription to Global News Net may be obtained at  global_news_net-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)
 E-Mail: med1chd2@concentric.net  Website: http://www.MarkDankof.com
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| aanvullingen | | | kijk naar je eigen | sjaak bralt - 03.07.2002 10:38
although i´ll agree that the decision made by the dutch judges is a blow to the freedom of speech in the netherlands, but i find it appalling to be ´taught a lesson´ by an american, a lutheran pastor no less. before calling the dutch situation a threat, the good sheperd should do something about the american control on (international) communication. i applaude his comments on this, but his article is directed at holland. this is strange, since the courts decision contitutes only a sligth infraction on an otherwise very liberal free-speech environment. the american domination on all international communication-control are the true threat, to the world. this has consequences for all teh world, while the radikal articles will be found easily in other manners, such as the printed press (not distrubed at all in the duthc civic world).
therefore, take a good look at yourself before telling us what to do.
| | it may take some time, it may be hard to find | johan - 03.07.2002 15:23
Ik weet niet precies tegen wie ik het hebt, maar ik denk, vrijheid van meningsuiting is een nutteloos en ongevaarlijk gegeven in een democratisch systeem. Ik heb allang opgegeven om in te gaan tegen wannabe vertegenwoordigers als bovengenoemde Mark Dankhof, lobbyist voor de wapenindustrie, enge pro-lifer en judea christen moraalridder.
Dat is niet waarom indymedia zou moeten overleven, evenmin ter verdediging van democratie, -waar ik toch al niks om geef- waarbij de meerderheid altijd gelijk heeft.
In het verleden zijn al talloze idiote wetten aangenomen en vonnissen uitgeproken, wat is er in de praktijk helemaal van terecht gekomen?
In welke zin heeft democratie en vrijheid van meningsuiting ooit bijgedragen aan een betere wereld, behalve het verkopen van rotzooi en verkondigen van onzin.
Wat interesseert het mij dat Hitler in een anti-euro spotje is te zien, wat ik allang had bedacht, of dat Jennifer Ashton´s privacy te weinig is geschonden door de bladenpers.
Indymedia moet blijven bestaan omdat we als individu niet vertegenwoordigd moeten willen worden door omhoog gevallen consumptie gerichte mediamagnaten, publieke omroepen en politici.
Binnenkort weer bericht, maar dan vanuit standplaats Midden-Amerika voor indymedia.nl
See me beautiful, look for the best in me
it´s what I really am, and all I want to be
it may take some time, it may be hard to find
but see me beautiful
See me beautiful, each and every day
could you take a chance? could you find a way?
to see me shining through in everything I do
and see me beautiful
groet en tot ziens,
| | The Paradox of Mark Dankof and the Real Right | Elizabeth Farina - 04.07.2002 01:41
I saw this article by Mark Dankof on the Netherlands Indymedia only because of a forward to me from a friend connected with the League of Women Voters in Dover, Delaware who monitors such articles and position papers written by a variety of people known in the Delaware Valley and the Philadelphia/Wilmington region. I was glad to receive this forward because it acquainted me with the incredible network and concept represented by the various Indy Media locations around the world,including Philadelphia Indy Media. My husband was similarly impressed.
My husband and I voted for Mr. Dankof in the U. S. Senate race here two years ago; our friends voted for the Libertarian candidate. In both cases we did so because these candidates were the only ones speaking about the dangers of globalization to individual economic and political freedoms. Despite my serious differences of opinion with Dankof on certain social issues, he was the only candidate in the race who spoke openly on the dangers of the current American policy in the Middle East and the influence of the Israeli lobby in American domestic politics. He virtually predicted the kind of catastrophe that later befell us on 911. For that he is to be commended.
One more observation---through our study of the political race in Delaware in 2002, my husband and I discovered that a strong element within the American Right, known as "paleoconservatism" shares the concerns of both the American and International Left on the dangers of globalization, constant military interventions, reduction of press freedoms, threats to legitimate human rights, et. al. posed by the multi-national corporate structure and the National Security State. This receives little attention in the controlled American press, but it does indeed exist. I suspect that as the economy worsens worldwide and the threat of war in the Middle East becomes more imminent, this interesting coalition and alliance will become clearer in its purposes and more widely known in terms of its existence. It may come as a surprise to many Europeans, but figures like Ralph Nader and Ramsey Clark on the Left may have more in common with Rightists like the much maligned Patrick Buchanan, than previously believed. This phenomenon bears watching.
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