Free Khader Adnan from 63-day fast

It is difficult to believe in freedom, justice and human rights without being touched, one way or another, by the plight of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian held under Administrative Detention in Israel.

Today, Khader Adnan enters day 63 of his hunger strike to protest his detention without charges or trial.

Administrative Detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. The legal basis for Israel's use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Law on Authority in States of Emergency as amended in 1979.

Khader Adnan was seized from his home south of Jenin on the West Bank on December 17, 2011 by Israeli military and security personnel. He is now in Israel’s Rebecca Ziv Hospital in Safed where he is chained to his bed.

Cartoon in support of Khader Adnan's release by Carlos Latuff

Khader Adnan is 31 years old. He has rallied the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people and their supporters for rights, dignity and self-determination.

France’s Foreign Ministry yesterday (February 17) appealed to Israel for his release. It said:

« Nous espérons que les autorités israéliennes prendront une mesure humanitaire en faveur de M. Khader Adnan, compte-tenu de la précarité de son état de santé. Nous suivons de près la situation de ce détenu palestinien et sommes en contact avec les autorités israéliennes à ce sujet.

« La France rappelle que la détention administrative doit rester une mesure d’exception, d’une durée limitée et dont la mise en œuvre assure le respect des garanties fondamentales, en particulier les droits de la défense du détenu. »

Amnesty International has appealed to Israel to end the use of Administrative Detention and the release of Khader Adnan. It says:

Palestinian activist Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike since 18 December 2011 in protest against his detention by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial.

Khader Adnan started his hunger strike the day following his arrest from his home in the occupied West Bank to protest his ill-treatment by the Israel Security Agency (ISA).

On 10 January 2012 he was given a four-month administrative detention order signed by a military commander. It ends on 8 May but could be renewed indefinitely.

Khader Adnan's father, wife Randa and daughters leaving Ziv

Hospital, Feb. 15. Photo by Activestills via The Electronic Intifada

Khader Adnan is now in a hospital in northern Israel. After more than 60 days on hunger strike, doctors warn that his life is in imminent danger. He is still under detention and is shackled to his hospital bed at all times and under constant armed guard. 

Administrative detention is a procedure under which detainees are held without charge or trial for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed repeatedly. Under administrative detention, detainees' rights to a fair trial as guaranteed by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) are consistently violated.

Khader Adnan is one of 309 Palestinians currently held in administrative detention by the Israeli authorities, including one man held for over five years and 24 Palestinian Legislative Council members. Hundreds of other Palestinian detainees and prisoners have joined Khader Adnan's hunger strike.

Take Action

Support Palestinian activist Khader Adnan’s protest for respect for the human rights of Palestinians in Israeli detention. Call on the Israeli Minister of Defense to:

• Immediately release Khader Adnan and other Palestinians held in administrative detention, or immediately charge and try them for internationally recognizable criminal offences in full conformity with international fair trial standards;
• End the use of administrative detention, which violates the right to a fair trial;
• Ensure that detainees are treated humanely at all times, and that no detainees are punished for their decision to go on hunger strike.

You can take action by signing Amnesty International’s petition. Some 472,893 people around the world have already done so, and you can too.

Demo in support of Khader Adnan in Gaza (via Ahlam Ali)

The family and friends of Khader Adnan have set up a blog to send messages of support to his wife Randa and his family. The letters from all over the world are poignant and share a love for freedom, justice and human rights.

Among these messages of support was one by British-American veteran journalist, writer and researcher Helena Cobban from Washington, DC. She writes:

To Khader Adnan and his beloved family,

Dear friends,

I can barely imagine the pain all of you are going through, and the determination and depth of faith that have brought you to this point. I am sure you are well aware of the historic role that hunger strikes have played in many freedom struggles-- through Gandhi, South Africa, the Irish struggle... and of course, very frequently indeed in your own beloved Palestine.

I am among a number of people here in the United States-- not enough of us, but our number is now growing-- who have protested Israel's inhumane and unjust system of administrative detention for many years. I grew up in Britain, so I am well aware of the role that the British Mandate administration played in putting some of those (il-)legal provisions into place in Palestine in the first place; and I also know well the way that U.S. government power has shielded Israel from any accountability under international law throughout the past 45 years.

It is quite unacceptable to any humane conscience that the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza have had to live under foreign military occupation for 45 years. Under international law, foreign military occupation was only ever envisaged to be a temporary situation! But here you are, chafing under a military rule, and one run by foreign occupiers who daily steal your land and resources and stunt the lives and dignity of all your people... for 45 years, with no quick end in sight.

After all the talk about 'peace processes' and the like, it seems clear to me that we in the west who profess to stand for "human rights" around the world need to refocus our attention, regarding Palestine, on the basic and clear issues of human rights for all the people there. Your very brave action-- risking your own survival-- shines an inescapable light on the abuses of the occupation regime. I wish survival, comfort, and strength to all of you. But beyond that, I wish self-determination and the assurance of the lasting protection of your rights and dignity to you and all the Palestinian people.

Freedom, justice and human rights cannot be selective. You either believe in them or you don’t. You either support them or you don't. I can only hope that on day 63 of his hunger strike, one of the longest in the history of political hunger strikes, Khader Adnan will be allowed to return to his family before it is too late.

Related sites:

http://khaderadnan.posterous.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KhaderAdnanSolidarity

The Independent

Female Genital Mutilation must stop

Last Monday (February 6) was International Day against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). The United Nations marks the day to raise awareness about this traditional practice that severely violates the human rights of women and girls.

Female genital mutilation includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.

It was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the subject. My curiosity, and I must say fear and horror at the practice (especially after seeing pictures), took me on an Internet journey for a few days, after discussing it with a friend and reading in the British press that around 66,000 women and girls in England and Wales alone are subjected to this illegal practice -- 24,000 being under the age of 15 and at high risk.

Speaking in the Commons, Home Secretary Theresa May said the British government is doing everything it can to warn young women about the dangers of the practice. “We need to redouble our efforts to make sure we educate young girls about the prospects of being taken abroad or having this done to them, but also ensure that we educate others not to do this terrible act,” May said.

Also known as female circumcision or simply as “cutting,” FGM/C involves removing all or part of the clitoris, the surrounding labia (the outer part of the vagina) and sometimes the sewing up of the vagina, leaving only a small opening for urine and menstrual blood.

There are no medical benefits to this tradition. It is carried out for cultural reasons, often because it demonstrates a girl's virginity on her wedding night.

It seems the practice predates Christianity and Islam. There is mention made of Egyptian mummies that display characteristics of FGM/C. The historian Herodotus claims that in the fifth century BC the Phoenicians, Hittites and Ethiopians practiced circumcision. It is also reported circumcision rites were practiced in tropical zones of Africa, in the Philippines, by certain tribes in the Upper Amazon, and in Australia by women of the Arunta tribe. It also occurred among the early Romans and Arabs.

As recent as the 1950s, clitoridectomy was practiced in Western Europe and the United States to treat “ailments” in women as diverse as hysteria, epilepsy, mental disorders, masturbation, nymphomania, melancholia and lesbianism.

Many different peoples and societies have followed the FGM/C practice. It cuts across ages, continents, religions and is performed by Muslims, Christians, Ethiopian Jews and Copts among others.

Prevalence in FGM/C in women and daughters (via WHO/UNICEF 2005)

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 100 and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to one of three types of female genital mutilation. Estimates based on the most recent prevalence data indicate that 91.5 million girls and women above the age of nine in Africa are currently living with the consequences of female genital mutilation. There are an estimated three million girls in Africa at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation every year.

In the 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East where FGM/C is performed, some 130 million women and girls have been affected, according to a UN interagency statement. It calls on all states, international and national organizations, civil society and communities to uphold the rights of girls and women as well as develop, strengthen and support specific and concrete actions directed towards ending FGM/C.

FGM/C causes severe pain and trauma. It can result in prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and death. The practice is still widespread in spite of a global commitment following the 2002 UN Special Session on Children to end FGM/C by 2010, the statement says.

WHO says cases of FGM/C have been reported in Asian countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and it is suspected that it is performed among some indigenous groups in Central and South America. 

Opposition to FGM/C, and efforts to combat it, has increased since the late 1980s. The UN Secretary General's in-depth study on violence against women reported that, as of April 2006, 15 African states where FGM/C is prevalent have made it an offence under criminal law.

FGM/C is common in parts of Africa, Asia and in some Arab countries. It is practiced among communities in: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.

FGM/C is also practiced among certain ethnic groups in a number of Asian countries (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan); among some groups in the Arabian Peninsula; Iraq; Palestine and among certain immigrant communities in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US.

WHO has identified four types of FGM/C:

Type 1: Excision of the prepuce, with or without excision of part or the entire clitoris.

Type 2: Excision of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora.

Type 3: Excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening (infibulation) -- sometimes referred to as pharaonic circumcision.

Type 4: Others, such as pricking, piercing or incising, stretching, burning of the clitoris, scraping of tissue surrounding the vaginal orifice, cutting of the vagina, introduction of corrosive substances or herbs into the vagina to cause bleeding or to tighten the opening.

The removal of, or damage to, healthy, normal genital tissue interferes with the natural functioning of the body and causes several immediate and long-term health consequences. For example, babies born to women who have undergone female genital mutilation suffer a higher rate of neonatal death; end in stillbirth or spontaneous abortion; and in a further 25%, the newborn has a low birth weight or serious infection, both of which are associated with an increased risk of perinatal death.

A road sign in Ghana

Communities that practice FGM/C report a variety of social and religious reasons for continuing with it. Seen from a human rights perspective, the practice reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. WHO says FGM/C is nearly always carried out on minors and is therefore a violation of the rights of the child. It also violates the rights to health, security and physical integrity of the person, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

Data obtained by WHO over the last decade have shown little change in the frequency of FGM/C. But as a result of an emphasis on the negative health implications, there has been a dramatic increase in the proportion of FGM/C operations carried out by trained health-care personnel.

The same billboard in Uganda

In Egypt, 94% of women arrange for their daughters to undergo this “medicalized” form of FGM/C, 76% in Yemen, 65% in Mauritania, 48% in Côte d’Ivoire, and 46% in Kenya. This approach may reduce some of the immediate consequences of the procedure -- such as pain and bleeding – but, WHO and UNICEF point out, it also tends to obscure its human rights aspect and could hinder the development of long-term solutions for ending the practice.

Traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths, mostly carry out the practice. However, WHO says health care providers perform more than 18% of all FGM/C, and this trend is increasing. It published a global strategy in 2010 “to stop health care providers from performing female genital mutilation" in collaboration with other key UN agencies and international organizations.

I touched on the topic with friends one evening last week and we wondered how this trend could be eradicated. Would it need another generation or two? Is the magic word “education” of the future generation? Is FGM/C a practice too deep-rooted to overcome? Maybe only time will tell…

Egypt: From camel to tear gas warring

February 2012: Battling tear gas

February 2011: Confronting camels

With protests against the military rulers continuing in central Cairo, Port Said, Suez, Alexandria and other parts of Egypt, I am reminded of a guest post at Mich Café in February 2011 about “The Camel versus Facebook” in Egypt. It focused on the faceoff in Tahrir Square between supporters and opponents of former president Hosni Mubarak. A year since, tear gas has replaced the camel.

Clashes in many Egyptian cities -- between police and the security services commanded by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on the one hand and demonstrators on the other -- have not subsided since 79 football fans were killed and several hundreds more injured in Port Said on February 1, 2012.

The confrontations erupted as the dust was still settling on the deadly pitch invasion in Port Said Stadium. There, supporters of local team al-Masry set on the visiting al-Ahly team and fans after al-Masry had unexpectedly won the match 3-1.

Port Said Stadium, February 1, 2012 (Photo by Reuters)

Police react at Port Said Stadium (Photo by Reuters)

With most deaths believed to be al-Ahly followers, hardcore fans known as “ultras” accused police and military authorities of planning the killings because they had stood up to them during last year’s revolution.

The question raised then – “Where is Egypt heading?” – is just as relevant today.

When Mubarak was ousted 18 days into the January 25, 2011 uprising and his powers shifted to SCAF, my sole observation online was: “How can military rule be compatible with democracy?” The question is just as fitting as well.

Camels have now been replaced by tear gas to fight off demonstrators in cities that have been sharing in the “Occupy” movement.

Wikipedia photo

At the end of last year, sadly “occupy” and “tear gas” were the words most commonly used and searched for on the Internet. The media analysis company Global Language Monitor lists “Occupy” in the top 10 list.

It is no surprise the use of CS in war is outlawed under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by most nations in 1993 with all but five other countries signing between 1994 through 1997.

Only five states have not signed the Convention and are therefore unhindered by restrictions on the use of CS gas. They are: Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia and Syria.

Use of pepper spray too is also banned in wartime under Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention. It forbids the use in warfare of all riot control agents, whether lethal or less-than-lethal.

Having lived through the Lebanese civil war and covered various turbulent zones during my career as a journalist, I was fortunate not to be exposed to these gases. Wars, in the pre-Internet days had a different feel, especially as it took days sometimes for news of to travel and reach the world at large.

With enough to follow in our region, I hadn’t paid much attention to the Occupy protest movement directed against economic and social inequality. What started in Occupy Wall Street and Occupy San Francisco last September had by the end of 2011 taken place and/or is still taking place in over 95 cities across 82 countries and over 600 communities in the US, according to Wikipedia.

The Occupy movement has hit closer to home with the recent events in Cairo and Port Said where the use of tear gas and pepper spray is common. CS gas, an aerosol of a volatile solvent, is also being used to control Occupy participants and demonstrators in Egypt, alongside tear gas and pepper spray.

Broken promises

Egypt's military rulers have failed to live up to their promises to uphold human rights. Instead, they have been responsible for a catalog of abuses that sometimes exceeds Mubarak’s appalling record, Amnesty International said in a new report released last November 21.

In Broken Promises: Egypt's Military Rulers Erode Human Rights, Amnesty documents a woeful performance on human rights by SCAF.

"By using military courts to try thousands of civilians, cracking down on peaceful protest and expanding the remit of Mubarak's Emergency Law, the SCAF has continued the tradition of repressive rule, which the January 25 demonstrators fought so hard to get rid of," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Acting Director.

"Those who have challenged or criticized the military council -- like demonstrators, journalists, bloggers, striking workers -- have been ruthlessly suppressed, in an attempt at silencing their voices.”

Amnesty said that by August, the SCAF admitted military courts had tried some 12,000 civilians across the country. At least 13 were sentenced to death.

Dealing with tear gas

Tear gas irritates the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs. A chemical reaction to the sulfhydryl group of enzymes may cause the irritation. The results of exposure are coughing, sneezing, and tearing. Tear gas usually is nonlethal, but some agents are toxic.

One of many tear gas canisters from the streets in Cairo 

Exposure to tear gas gives: stinging and burning of the eyes, nose, mouth, and skin; excessive tearing; blurred vision; runny nose; salivation (drooling); exposed tissue may develop a rash and a chemical burn; coughing and difficulty breathing, including a feeling of choking; disorientation and confusion, which may lead to panic; and intense anger.

The best defense against tear gas is a gas mask, but if one is not on hand there are other steps you can take to lessen harm: You can soak a bandana or paper towel in lemon juice or cider vinegar and store it in a plastic bag. You can breathe through the acidified cloth for several minutes, which should give you enough time to get away.

Fleeing tear gas in Cairo (Photo by AP)

Goggles are a great defensive gear. You can use tight-fitting swim goggles.

Don't wear contacts anywhere you might face tear gas. If you are wearing contact lenses, immediately remove them. Your contacts are a loss as is anything else you can't wash.

You can wear your clothes again after washing them, but wash them separately that first time.

If you don't have goggles or a mask, you can breathe the air inside your shirt, since there is less air circulation and therefore a lower concentration of the gas, but that is counterproductive once the fabric becomes drenched.

First aid for eyes is to flush them with sterile saline or water until the stinging starts to subside. Exposed skin should be washed with soap and water. Breathing difficulties are treated by administering oxygen and occasionally by medications used to treat asthma. Medicated bandages can be applied on burns.

Anonymous Press has also put out a guide for “Defending against tear gas” that might help.

Stay safe!

Related posts:

Tear gas used in Egypt banned, causes liver, heart damage, miscarriages – November 21, 2011

Egypt: “The camel versus Facebook” – February 4, 2011

Vicky: My mother, my child…

My mom Victoria

Those telephone calls you dread… I got one in June 1984. It was to say my mom, Vicky, was in hospital and risked going into a coma.

Although always there, the memories came flooding back this week when a close and loved relative went into a coma. As my thoughts and prayers are constantly with the family, it took me back to those difficult months 28 years ago and the eight years that followed.

I was in Cannes, with my sister Asma, already dealing with a misfortune when the phone rang. My magazine had asked a London friend to reach me. I had to fly back to Beirut as quickly as possible.

That was easier said than done. I had left Beirut with much difficulty. Lebanon was still in the grip of a civil war and Beirut airport was closed. I had to fly out from Damascus and make the return trip the same way – by plane to Damascus then by road to Beirut.

My magazine, Monday Morning, made all the arrangements. I flew to Paris and then to Damascus where I arrived at night. My colleague, Nadim Abu-Ghannam (who has since passed away), met me at the airport. We drove to Beirut by night, passing through Syrian and Lebanese checkpoints manned by different factions. I think the state of my puffy eyes eased our way through the lot.

A neighbor who had our house keys got worried when, by noontime June 23, she didn’t see Vicky leave the flat. She decided to check on her. She found mom slumped on her bed. She quickly alerted the neighborhood and called an ambulance that whisked her to the American University Hospital (AUH).

Mom had suffered an aneurysm at the base of the brain. I had no idea what that was. The next 24 hours, I was told, would be crucial. She would either regain consciousness or have spasms and go into a coma.

During the journey back to Beirut I was praying for the first scenario and hoping at least to make it back before the second. It was not to be. She did go into a deep coma before I arrived.

By coincidence, while in Cannes, I read an article about a child in a coma in a village in Latin America. The whole village had rallied to take turns caring for the little boy. They were talking and singing to him and trying to trigger something that would wake him up.

We are talking about a time when there was no Internet, no Google search, and no telephone lines, electricity or water in Beirut… Hard to imagine, I know.

The first shock of seeing Vicky with tubes all over and helpless was devastating. Mom was strong, opinionated and full of life. She was the soul of any gathering, the busy bee of the family, always on the move and with something to say.

With Vicky in hospital

But there was no time to feel sorry. Acting on what I had read in that magazine, I got the hospital room looking homely in case we were there for the long haul and started the agonizing days of trying to bring her back to us.

I was very lucky in that my friend and soul mate, Zepure Hamparian Mansour, was at the time, and until a few months ago, the head of radiology at AUH. Zepure, her husband Yorki and her team at the radiology department, especially Elo Artinian and Seta Kazandjian, were good Samaritans. They did everything to help me overcome the absence of my sister and brother from the war-torn country.

There was no question of my going to work, a decision I paid for dearly. I lost my job at Monday Morning, which had changed ownership. It also meant having to move to London eight months down-the-line.

Strange how with one phone call, your whole life is shaken, stirred and turned upside down. Nothing would be the same again. It was a time to dig deep for all the strength the human body and mind can muster. That’s when love and caring take over.

Spending whole days in a hospital and losing contact with the real world are never easy. The hospital becomes your world, and one I got to know well along the years with long spells at AUH in Beirut and Charring Cross Hospital in London. I was there for more than 16 hours a day despite arranging for a night nurse.

The hardest part was leaving Vicky at night. It took me three to four hours each night to say good-bye and leave the room.

The days were one long, continuous soliloquy. Zepure, Elo and Seta helped relieve the pressure and we would joke and talk and involve Vicky in all our conversations.

We also kept up a chain system of massaging Vicky’s legs and arms to keep them mobile and avoid thrombosis. We had to turn her every couple of hours to prevent bedsores, keep an eye on of all the electronic devices Vicky was hooked on, make sure mucus did not gather in the tubes and choke her, as well as other innumerable tasks.

It was also our mission to keep it happy. I alienated a number of “aunties” who came into the room crying over Vicky. They were quickly shooed out.

Do people in a coma hear you? We didn’t know then and I still don’t know now. But there is always the hope and conviction they do.

Vicky was in a coma for five weeks, which felt like five years. Then one morning, I got a phone call from my cousin Dalal to ask about her. I told mom, “Come on, wake up and talk to Dalal.” Suddenly, her eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes. Panic followed. Hanging up, calling the nurses, paging the doctor…

The first test was to find out how alert mom was. The scans showed that one of her front brain lobs had been drowned in blood, but we didn’t know the exact effects.

One question puzzled us during the five weeks. I couldn’t remember where she had hidden her little box of jewels. So I asked, “Mom, where is the jewel box?” And she looked at me exasperated and said, “You know it is behind the cartons on the balcony.” So that was that.

Celebrating so many things in September 1984

Vicky had lost her recent memory. She had no recollection of anything that happened since the aneurysm. She didn’t realize she was not well, which during the next eight years would prove to be a blessing. At first, they didn’t want us to leave hospital, because they thought it was a matter of time for her. But Vicky proved the doctors wrong and fought for eight years in which we could bask in her warmth and love.

It is an experience that makes you appreciate every second of your life, your health, your family and friends. It puts many concerns in perspective and you learn to let go of trivial issues.

After five weeks, my mom was back, but more as a child.

When the coma patient wakes up is when the tough work begins. It is exactly like having a child on your hands. It is particularly difficult when you leave hospital and have to cope without the gamut of doctors and nurses and equipment.

The eight months after we went home were hard. As were the eight years that followed. They were dedicated to getting a child on its feet and trying to recover a mother. There were many complications along the road, especially in a country ravaged by civil war. And perhaps one of the many blood infusions she received when blood banks were still slackly controlled infected her with Hepatitis C. But all that is for future posts.

For now, I wish our patient well and my relatives patience and strength.

Related posts:

Dearest Mom – March 21, 2011

Soulmates for life  -- November 2, 2010

My quarrel with SOPA and sister PIPA

From Gino's Blog

I am protesting against SOPA/PIPA -- the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – and blacked out Mich Café all day Wednesday (January 18) because I oppose censorship. I believe in freedom of speech and in keeping the Internet open and free.

I also believe the two bills would stifle creativity and innovation. If passed in the U.S., they would surely trickle down to other countries. Typically, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. In this case, the world would be exposed to life-threatening pneumonia!

It is also a fight between the big players in the movie and music industries and the “little people.”

If SOPA/PIPA became law, the Internet would no longer be free and open. In the words of Wikipedia, which blacked out its English service yesterday (January 18) for 24 hours, “SOPA and PIPA are real threats to the free and open Internet… Among other serious problems in the current draft of the bills, the requirement exists for US-based sites to actively police links to purported infringing sites. These kinds of self-policing activities are non-sustainable for large, global sites -- including ones like Wikipedia. The legislative language is ambiguous and overly broad, even though it touches on protected speech. Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the ‘cure’ that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said January 17 he would not support SOPA. The bill is maybe killed for now, or for the duration of his administration. But PIPA is slated to go before the U.S. Senate next Tuesday (January 24). 

“Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing,” the White House said in a statement. “We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.”

Both SOPA and PIPA try to combat online piracy by preventing U.S. search engines like Google and Yahoo from directing users to sites distributing stolen content. Both bills would also enable people and companies to sue if their copyrights were infringed.

Under PIPA, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what YouTube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behavior.

PIPA would disrupt the Internet, stifle innovation, shut out diverse voices and censor the web. It is bad for freedom of expression, creativity, and does not protect our rights. Gone will be the open libraries for music, videos and books, for example.

Fight for the Future is leading the protest. It says, “We're living during a global shift as big as the industrial revolution… We, as a society, are literally building a new world. Fight for the Future is here to bring the most essential human values back into the debate about how society uses technology. We believe there's hardly anything as important as ensuring that our shared future has freedom of expression and creativity at its core.”

Fight for the Future wonders, among other things:

• After spending thousands of years building libraries of donated books, why do governments try to tear them down when they happen spontaneously online?
• Why can't I give money directly to every musician I like, instead of paying Apple or Spotify and leaving virtually nothing in the pockets of the artists?
• Why does the US pay so much for cellphone service? And for slow Internet?
• How is it possible that singing "Happy Birthday" in public is still illegal, and why does anyone stand by these laws?
• Will every kid growing up in every developing country have access to every book ever made, as soon as they get a Smartphone? Or will the books cost $12, an impossible expense for a poor kid?
• Why have we all been sitting idly while the movie and music lobbyists have been systematically advancing legislation that strips freedoms, blocks innovation, and exclusively advances Hollywood's financial agenda?

Keep the Internet free, please!

Related sites:

SOPA and why a Lebanese should care – by Lebanese freelance programmer Mireille Raad

The Oatmeal