[liberationtech] Call for Participants @ Noisy Square - Putting the Resistance back in OHM

[micah]

Eleanor Saitta <ella at dymaxion.org> writes:

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> On 2013.06.24 07.19, Douwe Schmidt wrote:
>> Dear LibTech Readers,
>> 
>> In a little bit over a month OHM2013 is happening in The
>> Netherlands. There has been a lot of controversy in the run-up to
>> this gathering. There was criticism of the involvement of tech
>> security company Fox-IT, then there was a heated debate on the
>> presence of Dutch High-tech Crime Unit in a village of their own.
>> Both discussions have calmed down. But the relevance of these
>> topics was clarified and reinforced.
>
> It's very sad that the organizing team has not actually taken any
> meaningful steps to address either their complicity with the
> manufacture of surveillance equipment, their acceptance of the
> promotion of a fascist police force, or the way they treated people
> who had previously been part of their own team during the "discussion"
> that ensued.  In fact, as far as I can tell, absolutely nothing has
> happened on their end, they've just out-waited any discussion.
>
> A lot of people are asking me to change my mind on attending, and it
> sounds like you guys are going to have a lot of fun, but I'm finding
> myself pretty unmotivated to change my mind given that much of the
> organizing team doesn't seem to care at all about human rights.

I felt the same way as you, but someone convinced me that boycotting
just removes my voice from this conversation, and that attending gives a
chance to have this well needed discussion with the community.