Thousands Rallied In DC This Weekend Against NSA Spying
from the a-change-is-gonna-come dept
Last week, we mentioned that the Stop Watching Us coalition had put together a rally against surveillance in Washington DC this weekend, and it turned out to be a massive success. USA Today had some pretty good coverage, noting that thousands attended. The official count we heard was that more than 3,000 ended up attending, which is mighty impressive. It also was the top story on the NBC evening news. Attendees also delivered a petition to Congress signed by nearly 600,000 people demanding that Congress do something about the NSA surveillance. There's a great three-minute summary video.
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Filed Under: dc, nsa, nsa surveillance, rally, stop watching us
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In any case considering we are talking about America (and its lack of tradition in such protests) it was a great job!
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Probably that combined with, as Mike said, the organizers putting this together on short notice and without the help of the ‘“usual” well-connected DC organizers’.
It’s a start, though.
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Which brings us to another issue: Brazil managed to put over 300k (using the official number) on the streets with a facebook event because people thought that increasing 20 cents in the buss fare was too much. You see, I'm not trying to say Brazil (or Egypt, or whatever other protests) is better or something, I'm just thinking this is a much more serious issue so I expected a bit more.
Still I must emphasize and stress that it was awesome and even if *I* consider the attendance somewhat low it does not mean it wasn't successful.
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It's a bit difficult being anonymous at or near a protest these days, which links people to the protest whether they took part or just went along to see the fun. Welcome to the world of total information gathering, where any available information will be used against you if it possibly can, and it suites those in power to do so.
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I went to a high school football game on Friday night. Attendance was about 2,300. Look closely, there's a message for you here.
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Or how many were detained at the airport for so long because of having communicated with the wrong people that attending was no longer realistic...
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Re: Attendence
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The US doesn't have a public protest culture like many other places. 3,000 turnout is HUGE by US standards.
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The US doesn't have a public protest culture like many other places.
Really?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protest_marches_on_Washington,_D.C.
Hell, the Million Puppet March in 2012 managed 1,500 to encourage continued funding of public broadcasting.
3,000 turnout is HUGE by US standards.
Even the protest organizers are only claiming 2000. And they have every reason to puff up the numbers. The first rule of DC cause-related protests, is don't be embarrassing. This was, by even the most charitable yardstick, an abject failure. You don't scare official Washington with group of 2000 that includes Code Pink (pacifists) gay groups, Teabaggers, black activist groups, Occupy Wall Street and the homeless. Those groups were there to wave their flag for their cause. They were there for the free publicity (such as it was).
"Estimates varied on the size of the march, with organizers saying more than 2,000 attended. U.S. Capitol Police said they do not typically provide estimates on the size of demonstrations."
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/World/2013/10/27/Hundreds-march-in-Washington-against-NSA-spying.aspx
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protest_marches_on_Washington,_D.C.
Yes really. Your link doesn't work, but he's comparing it to Brazil. And I know you don't know shit outside your echo chamber in DC, but the US doesn't match protests in places like Brazil (where the original commenter says he's from) or Europe, where protesting is a way of life.
Even the protest organizers are only claiming 2000.
Not true. They're claiming 5,000 (according to the emails from them directly). The most credible reports I've seen have said 3,000.
Again, given the situation, the amount of time, and the lack of DC insiders to organize, that's amazing.
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Certainly NO WHERE NEAR enough to make even the slightest difference, if anything more a confirmation of just how little the "people" actually care.
Was there any arrests, people placed on no fly lists, or overt spying on these people ? Was the 'protest' broken up, or did the media not attend, as was predicted here on TD ?
NO WAY was there even 1000 people, let alone "thousands", again 300 tops, if that !
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I guess if you set the bar low enough, anything can become "amazing".
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my concern is, like a lot of others i am sure, that no notice will be taken at all by any of the security agencies! all that will happen is that someone will get a wrist slap rather than locked up for life as a terrorist or similar, like if it had been an ordinary person doing something not liked (Snowden) and life will carry on the same, just a little bit more buried, a little bit more difficult to find out about and expose.
when Obama is saying that had he known about the Merkal spying, he would have stopped it, what does that actually tell you? that no one is taking any notice of the top dog, or he is lying like the rest of them. whichever it is, it aint gonna stop!!
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Oh I'm quite sure they security agencies will take notice of this.
They can build a list of "adversaries"/"targets" from the attendees.
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FTFY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT1ACmLvX_0
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"Would you expect there to be any chilling effect on US intelligence gathering?"
Referring to the bugging of world leaders as "diplomatic ruffled feathers"
"Distraction from Chinese and Russian 'cyber espionage'"
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troubling numbers
There are no real big overview crowd shots or photographs, that's usually a good way to tell that the group isn't all that big.
(and more Techdirt censorship as my posts are held for moderation - you guys are classic!)
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Spam isn't the issue - telling the other side of the story is.
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Petition to do 'Something'
Really? What if that 'Something' is worse than the 'thing' they are doing now?
How about we all sign a petition that says, dismantle the system spying on Americans or else we American citizens will just take turns shoving a camera/mic in YOUR face every place you go in public.
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Re: Petition to do 'Something'
1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.
https://optin.stopwatching.us/
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They should have gone naked.
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300 is piss poor. Just as is claiming "thousands" !!!
I am guessing no one from TD was there representing, or actually finding out first hand what the actual facts were!!
Too easy to copy/paste reporting, lazy mans blogging !!
"Not true. They're claiming 5,000 (according to the emails from them directly)."
SOLID GOLD that !!!! I wonder why they would have any reason to inflate the number, like add a zero or something.
I guess you can could, and I also guess you've seen footage of the 'mass' protest, I guess you also notice the lack of wide angle shots, there is a reason for that you know !!!
Again, if there was more than 1 in a million US Citizens there (300 people) I would be very surprised.
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watch at 12 seconds
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