Open Letter to all Indians - Freedom of Speech

Remember, remember

The 5th of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot.

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Popularly said on every Guy Fawkes night, celebrated in England every 5th of November in honour of the only man, they say, "to have entered Parliament with honest intentions".



My dear Indian citizen,

Today, we stand at a crossroads. We are at that stage when we decide either to bow or to stand up to our oppressors. Today, in the lovely nation that we call home, the people trying to control us, the people who think that by telling us what to think and what to dream, they will be successful in achieving the kind of power they hoped to achieve. These people are those we elected to power and the corrupt rich they walk hand in pocket with.

Recently, the Madras High Court ordered some URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) promoting digital piracy to be taken off the internet. However, the ISPs (Internet Service Provider) did more than the law says they can and blocked entire websites. These websites are many, the likes of which you and I use almost everyday. File sharing websites like The Pirate Bay and video sharing website Vimeo were blocked in the guise of anti-piracy. Even websites like Pastebin, which share simple text were blocked. ALL THIS WAS COMPLETELY UNWARRANTED.

When we were unsure of how to deal with situation with our individual capacities, Anonymous came to help us. For the last 15 days, Anonymous has been attacking websites of the government and Indian ISPs with DDOSs (Distributed Denial of Service Attack) and defaced a few to send us, the citizens and the government one simple message -  The web is meant to be just the way Mr Berners Lee created it. Free. We will not have our freedom of speech violated and be content with it. We shall not comply with such acts of censorship in a democracy. Anonymous has sent message loud and clear. We are all part of it. We are all democratic citizens. We all have the right to speak as we wish, to debate, to build a better world based on our very ideas.

Anonymous went inside the packet filter system on the Reliance servers and procured a lot of data which was shocking. The government of India is not alone in corruption. We knew that. Now we know it even better. Reliance, on its own initiative, blocked numerous websites, thus violating our fundamental rights. They blocked information related to a Mr Satish Seth, involved in the 2G spectrum scam. A few months ago, Mr Kapil Sibal decided major platforms like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc, could be held responsible for 'objectionable' content on the web. When I use that word, about 71% of the content in question is political criticism.

All for what? What are the government and the corrupt rich trying to get out of this? They are keeping reality away from us. Just like the dark times in the USSR and what happens in China today. They are just calling for unrest. They have it. We are now not at peace with the way they operate. There are laws in place to do their bidding which violate articles in the Constitution (more on that later). It is time we bring the government to their knees and make sure that they will not mess with the voice of the 99%.

We want the bad laws cast aside. We want freedom of speech and expression. We want it back. We want it now. If the government decides it isn't for us, we'll take it by force. Let them try and stop us.

On this Saturday, the 9th of June, we shall be peacefully protesting against this tyranny in every major city in India. To find the city you live in and learn the directives of the protest, go here. We will OCCUPY INDIA this saturday. So, my dear Indian citizen, wear the Guy Fawkes mask (available for download here), carry a banner and get some of the flyers I am sharing below. We will not stay silent while Big Brother has his way. See, the people should not be afraid of their government. The government should be afraid of its people. Do not be afraid. Beneath the mask, there is an idea and an idea is bulletproof. It cannot be arrested. It cannot be killed. It sustains itself forever, even if the originator passes on. We all stand for the same idea. It is the perfect dream of freedom. We will not have it tramped upon.
 

I am sharing the following links here -

1. Flyers explaining what the Government and ISPs have been doing to promote internet censorship in India.

2. An Open Letter by Anoymous to all journalists, reporters and bloggers.

3. An Open Letter by Anonymous to the Government of India.

4. Finally, Anonymous' interview to a fellow blogger @Blogonerd - Part1, Part2, Part3.

All of the above should explain what Anonymous has been doing to help us fight our war and their stand and yes, mine and every Indian internet user's as well.For more on their work as part of Operation India, visit opindia.posterous.com

I request each and every one of you, to join me and the rest of the occupiers, if you are not already doing so. This is our chance to be a part of the change for the better that we drive into our country.

Jai Hind.