Pleased to read today that Raed (blogger, journalist, world citizen) has won his lawsuit against JetBlue and the Transportation Security Authority in the US.? You’ll recall my shirt, the We Will Not be Silent black tshirt, which made headlines when Raed was taken off a plane in the US for wearing it (it has arabic script on it).? In case you don’t remember, he was taken off the plane because it was thought that his shirt was threatening and he was asked to change his shirt. He refused and was taken off the flight, at some point a security worker said wearing such a shirt was the equivalent of wearing a shirt in a bank that reads, “I am going to rob you”.
I’ve very proud and happy for Raed, yet at the same timeContinue reading “We Will Not Be Silent Redux”
There are many events that take place in this world that we… myself included.. can describe as crimes. Crimes take many forms and have different degrees. Among these forms, one of the most horrendous in my eyes – becuase it is so tacidly approved of and glorified in our collective culture, is war.? Stop with the World War II references, there hasn’t been a just war since… since.. how can anyone call a war just? It is a contradiction in terms, especially in 2009, when as a world we know so much more about why things happen, why people suffer and who benefits in keeping in that way.? It is not a mystery of why one group hates another, there are very clear causes and those causes are rarely addressed because too many people profit from perpetuating hatred and conflict.
Inside we are several thousand, over the past 3 days, shuffling about the Berliner Congress Center. Some for the first time, some for the third time, and many for the 25th time. The voices are loud and plentiful, people waving a laptop in one hand, planting them in front of neighbors to show them something they’re working on. A whole line of guys in one corner all have those Madonna headsets, though none of them has said a word in the last 30 minutes.? The flying object guys connect their flying objects to various sockets, an occasional test to see how the take off would look or the propellers are spinning. They don’t notice the Italian hacker walking around in his flowing robe with a bottle of grappa and a stack of plastic cups for anyone who wants to partake.? He comes over to the group of people I am with
This edition is simply an update about what is going on with me and the program. It is also a preview of the big event that is beginning in a few hours, the 25C3 in Berlin. I will be attending as well as speaking on the topic of GMO Soy. In this podcast I browse the schedule and point to society related topics I’ll be looking into and doing interviews related while at the congress.