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MIAMI (CBSMiami) With the Cuban governments ability to limit access to internet communications during the current anti-government demonstrations, US Government officials and Cuban American activists have suggested the US provide unfettered internet.

In a way, the US Government is already in the game with the help of a Canadian-based software company.

Canadian-based Psiphon provides people with uncensored access to the internet.

Psiphon bypasses government restrictions by letting people sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere.

Critical in the developing Cuban street protests, as in all movements, especially those in nations in the grips of repressive regimes, where internet services are censored or cut off entirely.

Psiphon engineers say they can keep the Cuban demonstrators hooked up.

We reconnect you to the internet. A secure tunnel that cant be interfered with, said Michael Hull, President and founder of Psiphon.

Cubans in recent years have accessed, embraced the internet.

They make use of communication apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, but when the anti-government protests spread across the island the regime shut down those services.

The protestors ability to communicate and send videos went dark.

A simple free app helped cut through the censorship.

Our service is designed to be able to support that type of activity. Upholding social media or sending through instant message app. We make it so that continues to work, said Hull.

US politicians have suggested internet satellite services such as Elon Musks star-link might skirt the Cuban internet crackdown, but the service is not practical, since it requires a dish, which would be easily spotted by the Cuban government.

An app, on the other hand, in the hands of a Cuban protester would be a much different story.

Psiphon claims, There are a million and a half people in Cuba using Psiphon, getting on the internet.

The cry is for the US Government to bring uncensored internet to Cuba.

A healthy portion of Psiphons funding, according to the company, comes from the US Governments open technology fund.

It is a determined effort by the u.S. Congress that internet freedom, in general, is available, said Hull.

Keeping the movement alive on both sides of the straits of Florida depends heavily on communication and mobilization. Psiphons app has been used to push through video of the Cuban demonstrations.

We are there to solve a real-world problem and then happily step away, Hull said.

It is a cat and mouse game. The Cubans continually modify their censorship technology and Psiphon reenforces their secure tunnel.

Excerpt from:
Cubans On The Island Circumvent Internet Censorship With Psiphon App - CBS Miami

Booksellers at Hong Kongs annual book fair are offering a reduced selection of books deemed politically sensitive, as they try to avoid violating a sweeping national security law imposed on the city last year.

The fair was postponed twice last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It usually draws hundreds of thousands of people looking for everything from the latest bestsellers to works by political figures.

This year, far fewer politically sensitive books are on display. Vendors are curating their books carefully to avoid violating the national security law, which Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020. Authorities have used it to crack down on dissent, arresting more than 100 pro-democracy supporters in the region.

The law has drawn criticism for restricting freedoms not found on the communist-ruled mainland that were promised to the former British colony for 50 years after it was handed back to China in 1997.

Jimmy Pang, a local publisher who used to sell books about the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations that became known as the umbrella movement, said many books critical of the government had disappeared.

Every vendor will read through the books that they are bringing to the book fair to see if there is any content that might cause trouble, said Pang, who is president of the Subculture publishing house.

We dont want to get into trouble that will affect the operation of the book fair, so we self-censor a lot this time. We read through every single book and every single word before we bring it here, he said. Some books published by Subculture were pulled from the shelves of Hong Kongs public libraries earlier this year. Those books are not available at the fair.

Now that authorities have used the national security law to quash dissent, publishers, distributors and even importers and exporters have become wary about the risks of publishing or dealing with potentially sensitive books, said Hui Ching, research director of the Hong Kong Zhi Ming Institute, a private, independent thinktank.

Political author Johnny Lau, author of a book about the Chinese Communist party and Hong Kong in the last century, said his book was not allowed at the fair this year because of the political pressure from government policies.

Thats why we can only see publications which are (in) favour to the government, he said.

Benjamin Chau, deputy executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which organises the fair, told reporters earlier this week that books written by pro-democracy authors could still be sold as long as they didnt break the law.

Some visitors, such as Alex Chan, lamented the lack of such books this year. Is the book fair still a place we can buy any kinds of books? Is Hong Kong still a place with freedom of speech or freedom to publish? he said.

A number of publishers have gone ahead and displayed books about the 2014 protests and other politically sensitive topics.

When we publish a book, we put a lot of effort into ensuring the content is legal. Thats why we dont think theres a big problem and would still bring them, said Raymond Yeung, a spokesman for publisher Hillway Culture Company. We hope this will be an encouragement to our fellow publishers, to show that theres still some people publishing books like this, he said.

Original post:
Self-censorship hits Hong Kong book fair in wake of national security law - The Guardian

In the aftermath of infamous British troll Katie Hopkins's cancelled visa, we need to take care that the howls of the progressive left don't veer into the oppressive.

The principle of the vaccine is that you need to introduce poison into yourself to get better, which brings us to Katie Hopkins. She is presumably on a plane by now, yelling at flight staff about the peanuts, winging her way back to a newly "FREE!" UK, but her brief visit really brought on a fever in a tired debate.

Like a lot of right-wing pathogens, it is said she doesn't believe COVID-19 exists, or that social distancing doesn't work, or both together, and it sounds like there was a little difficulty finding a spot on a plane for her. If only someone knew someone associated with a luxury travel company who shared her crackpot beliefs, she would have been away sooner.

That she was brought out here by the Seven network is no coincidence, either. The line is that she's "controversial", "exciting", etc, and it's a purely commercial decision. But Seven has a lot of these: Sam Armytage comparing twins with different skin tones, brown and white ("good on her" about the last); Prue MacSween calling for a new Stolen Generation, and for a young Muslim writer to be run over; the casual reference to"blackfootballers" losing the UK's Euro penalty; and that's just a recent haul. Proprietor Kerry Stokes doesn't seem to see cleaning out his Augean stables as a high priority for his khaki-clad patriotism. Hopkins, here for Seven's Big Brother VIP, wouldn't have been out of place.

Excerpt from:
Caution needed banning people for their views is the road to censorship - Crikey

Photograph by Dan Swartz.

Black Lives Matter Plaza is once again open only to pedestrians, starting today. All traffic lanes are closing to car traffic while the city undertakes work to make the plaza a permanent installation. Construction is expected to run through October.

Sidewalks and access to businesses will remain open during the project. But all northbound and southbound lanes will be closed on 16th Street NW between H and K streets NW.

While the lanes are closed, the Districts transportation department will install roadway pavers, bollards, and the permanent BLM mural. A rendering of the design, below, shows two exterior lanes for car traffic, and an interior pedestrian plaza sectioned off by the bollards.

The Plaza was previously opened to traffic in March, and then paved over in May when the yellow paint began to fade.

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Construction to Make Black Lives Matter Plaza Permanent Is Starting Today - Washingtonian

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The ongoing mass protests in Cuba are a clarifying thing and not just about the brutal nature of that countrys communist regime. They have equally shown the true colors of Black Lives Matter in the United States.

As the past few days have demonstrated, the supposed social justice group cares far more about advancing the red banner of Marxism than protecting Black and Brown people.

The truth became clear on Thursday morning, when Black Lives Matter (BLM) released its official statement about the Cuban protests. Its telling that it took so long for the group to issue any statement at all the protests started Sunday, and the regime crackdown not long after. Whats more telling is what the statement said. It was full of blame for the United States, and full of praise for Cuban communism.

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BLM minced no words: "The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government." Apparently, through a decades-long embargo, the U.S. has "instigated suffering for the countrys 11 million people of which 4 million are Black and Brown." The group simultaneously claimed that "Cuba has historically demonstrated solidarity with oppressed peoples of African descent."

Both claims are false obviously so.

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To start, the United States is not oppressing the Cuban people. That distinction belongs to the communist regime founded by Fidel Castro and the U.S. embargo is a response to Cubas tyranny.

For more than 60 years, the countrys leaders have denied all basic freedoms, imprisoned people for their political views, and systematically pillaged the countrys wealth. And while the BLM statement claimed the U.S. is "undermining Cubans right to choose their own government," it is in fact the Cuban authorities that protect the communist regime at any cost even violence toward the countrys citizens.

Thats whats happening right now, and it directly disproves BLMs second claim. The Cubans marching in the streets want nothing more than libertad, yet the regimes response has been to shoot at protesters, raid homes, and kill at least one person, though my sources in Cuba tell me the true number of deaths is much higher.

And who, pray tell, are authorities punishing in this crackdown? Among others, Black and Brown Cubans. These are the very people for whom BLM claims to advocate. Yet the arbiters of racial justice cant muster a word of criticism against the communist regime.

The question is why BLM tolerates such obvious injustice. The answer is the same ideology that animates the Cuban regime Marxism.

Two of Black Lives Matters founders are trained Marxist agitators, according to one of them, and the organization itself reflects it. Its operational agenda is essentially to overthrow American society, which it deems irredeemably unjust, and build a new one in its place.

If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States.

It has made perfectly clear what it wants in this brave new world: A state with the power to punish anyone it pleases, and penitents forced to publicly repent their privilege.

What is that vision, if not a Marxist state with struggle sessions? Such countries already exist, like China. Another example is the country BLM refuses to denounce: Cuba.

Theres a reason the groups recent statement condemns the U.S. for trying to "crush [Cubas] Revolution." Its the same reason one of BLMs founders has stood side-by-side with Nicolas Maduro, the dictator who has brought Cuban-style socialism and oppression to Venezuela.

If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States. That it refuses to do so points to its real goal the same goal that Marxists have sought since the Russian Revolution and in every Marxist movement since. They want nothing less than power, and theyre willing to obtain it by any means.

The proof is playing out on the streets of Havana, Santiago, Camaguey and countless other Cuban cities. In the fight to tear down the U.S., what does it matter if Black and Brown Cubans must be killed in the streets?

Josef Stalin may not have actually said "you cant make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," but that sentiment animates the leadership of BLM. For them, the suffering of minorities on that communist island nation is not in vain, because it provides an opportunity to further undermine the locus of liberty in the world.

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By backing Cuba and bashing the U.S., Black Lives Matter is standing in the way of Cubas liberation. So are BLMs allies, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who make similar arguments. Their defense of the indefensible and criticism of their own free country have dangerous effects. It intimidates Americans from supporting the Cuban people and may even block the Biden administration from punishing the Cuban regime for its oppression.

Whether Black, Brown or any other color, the Cuban people deserve the libertad for which theyre chanting in the streets. The same is true for the American people, who also deserve better than dangerous hypocrisy of Black Lives Matter.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM MARION SMITH

Read more from the original source:
Marion Smith: Marxist Black Lives Matter here's why it supports Cuba's communists over the protesters - Fox News