Daniel Gaytan

It has been one long battle for WikiLeaks merely to exist on the Internet since it started publishing the U.S. diplomatic cables. The cat-and-mouse game that it has had to play to retain an accessible address in cyberspace is the result of a virulent attack launched by right-wing lawmakers in America and their supporters, and commercial entities such as Amazon, which caved in to the pressure. But more fundamentally, the WikiLeaks saga represents the acid test for free speech. With each tranche of documents published online, the world is witnessing the total loss of dominance of secretive governments over information. The backlash has come swiftly, with bellicose American Senators engaging in plain intimidation to get commercial entities to stop offering services to WikiLeaks on the ground that it is distributing material it does not own. Some politicians have made a jingoistic pitch and called for the execution of the source of the leaks. This is nothing but Digital McCarthyism. Were it not for the threat it poses to the free Internet, it would even appear amusing. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama was ‘troubled’ by the cyber attacks on Google, which were said to originate in China, and wanted those responsible to face the consequences. The more freely information flows, the stronger society becomes, he had said during an earlier visit to China. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also strongly critical of Internet restrictions in China. Now the boot is on the other foot. Concern for free speech is nowhere in evidence as extra-legal methods are deployed to deny Americans their First Amendment rights.

The campaign against WikiLeaks is a clear move to censor political material on the Internet and, potentially, on other media. The first moves made by lawmakers such as Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, have no legal foundation and yet have succeeded with Amazon and PayPal. What has followed is shockingly repressive and obscurantist. The Library of Congress blocked access to WikiLeaks across its computer systems, including reading rooms, and Columbia University students aspiring for diplomatic careers have been advised not to comment on, or link to, the whistleblower website’s revelations. It is doubly tragic that such concerted attacks are securing support from countries with a progressive legacy such as France. The intolerant response to WikiLeaks is a potential threat to all media and must be fought. Senator Lieberman and other lawmakers have introduced legislation that proposes to make the publication of an intelligence source a federal crime. Already, U.S. law allows the shutting down of some Internet domains managed in that country on grounds of infringement of copyright. The threat to the publication of inconvenient material, even with responsible redactions, is all too real.

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Writing is only as good as the things you write about.  And as all causes are, relevancy is only relevant as long as you stay focused on the ultimate objective.  Coming together and establishing a future happiness together is a tremendous objective for all.  There are many hurdles and boundaries to jump over while pursuing this objective, absolutely, and that’s what many of us face.  But ironically, that’s the beauty of life.

The best ways to succeed in crossing these hurdles of life is to understand them, and not to make them worse by cursing, blaming and/or hurting them worse.  Plant and grow things together, sow from life that which you want, develop a mind and body that evolves constantly and keeps you happy and in shape physically and metaphysically.  And always keep your mind focused on learning new things.  Education is the key to everything and everyone loves learning new things, that is the beauty of being a teacher and student, father and son, a line and a circle.

I never talk about heroes, but there is one person that I am extremely proud of.  His name is Nelson Mandela.  Nelson Mandela was put in jail for 27 years. He was put in jail for terrorism to the white “Afrikaner” Government of South Africa.  Afrikaner’s knew that South Africa was majority Black, but its social, political and economic infrastructure was kept only for Whites.  A One-Person One-Vote Democracy would have changed it all, but Afrikaner’s kept it the same by violently repressing Blacks through a system of Apartheid.  For 27 years this great man was confined to isolation at Robben island.  When released, his leadership was a symbol for his people that change had indeed come.  But he did not seek revenge as many had called, instead he chose the path of reconciliation and healed the wounds of its people and its nation by uniting them.

Civil war was NEVER an option for him, living together in peace was the most important, and for me, that is the true objective of life.

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