Only 20 days are left until the biggest, globally concerted action day for freedom and against angst, terror and surveillance takes place. So lets see what we have right now:
- Protest Marches: Berlin (Germany), Paris (France), Stockholm (Sweden), London (UK), Sofia (Bulgaria), Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
- Parties: Kopenhagen (Denmark), Berlin (Germany), Stockholm (Sweden), Prag (Czech Republic), Washington, DC (USA)
- Street Events: Zurich (Switzerland)
- Workshops / Conferences: Rome (Italy), Washington, DC (USA)
- Street Carnival: Prag (Czech Republic)
- Full Program (street protest, speeches, music, arts, privacy market) : Den Haag (Belgium)
This list is already very promising. I’m sure a couple of currently planned, but unannounced activities will follow, since more contacts to civil rights activists in South America (Argentinia, Ecuador and Brasil) and Asia (South Korea) have just been established.
This is overall an amazing development if you think about it. What started in 2006 with a few hundred demonstrants in Bielefeld and Berlin, found its intermediate highlight in September 2007 when more than 15.000 people went on the streets of Berlin again, has now created a huge charisma and serves as an example for activists around the world. I’m very sure, the upcoming October 11th will mark yet another milestone.
Colin J. Bennett, Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, also notes the achievements of our working group in his new book “The Privacy Advocates – Resisting the Spread of Surveillance”:
“In Germany, there have been high levels of activism against new laws mandating the retention of communications data by telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, including a rally in Berlin in September 2007 in which fifteen thousand people participated.”
Colin spoke with many fellow activists for his book, amongst them Ralf Bendrath, which recently told us a nice anecdote on our mailing list:
[…]Everytime I spoke to him in the last couple of months, his reaction was like: “Can’t you guys just pause your activities in Germany for a moment? You just submmitted the biggest constitutional court case in German history, which means I have to re-write this chapter of my book again!”
It may be hard sometimes, but I don’t think we’re here for slowing down the pace, are we?