I hate that I can basically recycle my posts about Chat Control every month or so. These lobbyists are extremely motivated.

Let's show them that we are
even more motivated than them to protect privacy rights, human rights, and democracy! ✊🔒

You know what you have to do:
👉 fightchatcontrol.eu/

• Recent news:
"Just before a decisive meeting in Brussels, digital rights expert and former Member of the European Parliament Dr. Patrick Breyer is sounding the alarm. Using a “deceptive sleight of hand,” a mandatory and expanded Chat Control is being pushed through the back door, in a form even more intrusive than the originally rejected plan. The legislative package could be greenlit tomorrow in a closed-door EU working group session."

#ChatControl #Privacy #HumanRights #DigitalRights #Democracy #EUpol

CHAT CONTROL 2.0 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – Breyer warns: "The EU is playing us for fools – now they’re scanning our texts and banning teens!"

^{Patrick Breyer}

For you activist folk that still use Google services, get your shit off google and do it now. Don't store your files there and move your email to @Tutanota

If you can't make that effort you're not to be trusted. Look at the last item on the list in the linked article. Given the current fascist admin, it's clear your files are not safe, secure or private if stored on Google. Likely other US services too.

#privacy #security #google #fascism #democracy #resist

inverse.com/input/tech/google-…

Heads up, Google is monitoring everything you do in Docs and Drive

It might be time to move any sensitive information to your hard drive.

^{Matt Wille (Input)}

"Trump was totally unhinged last night after he found out how big the No Kings Protests were. He was posting weird AI videos of himself wearing crowns. Then he posted an AI video of himself flying a fighter jet and defecating on peaceful protestors at the No Kings protest in Manhattan. Yeah, that was not a typo. He posted a video of himself dropping feces on the faces of peaceful protestors."

~ Ben Meiselas

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/10

meidasplus.com/p/important-sun…

IMPORTANT Sunday Message from Meidas Founder!!

By Ben Meiselas

^{Ben Meiselas (Meidas+)}

"The president posted an AI video showing himself as a pilot, wearing a crown, literally dumping shit on protesters from the air: A clear statement of what he feels about Americans exercising their rights to free assembly and free speech."

~ Anne Applebaum

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/9

anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/w…

Will the Beacon Go Dark?

What happens when "democracy" isn't part of our identity anymore?

^{Anne Applebaum (Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum)}

"Nationwide protests comprised of millions of people are a direct rebuke to the president’s narrative. They send a signal to the most disconnected parts of the American public that the president is far from as popular as he says he is, and they send a clear warning to those institutions under pressure from the administration: Bend the knee and lose our business and support."

~ Jamelle Bouie

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/7

nytimes.com/2025/10/18/opinion…

"Today was the largest political protest in American history.

Don’t let Donald Trump pretend he’s popular, beloved, or even respected.
He isn’t. And he never has been."

~ Steve Hofstetter

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/6

threads.com/@stevehofstetter/p…

Steve Hofstetter (@stevehofstetter) on Threads

Today was the largest political protest in American history. Don’t let Donald Trump pretend he’s popular, beloved, or even respected. He isn’t. And he never has been.

^Threads

Here's what Olear said at Kingston:

"If there’s one thing we can say about Donald, it’s that he’s unfit.

This is why we’ve come here today—to give him our message, which consists of just one single word—the word Donald Trump hates most of all to hear:

NO.

ICE in our cities? NO!

Soldiers in our streets? NO!

Political retribution? NO!

Plenary authority? NO!

No thrones. No crowns. NO KINGS!"

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/5

Noting that he spoke at the No Kings demonstration in Kingston, New York, Greg Olear says,

"The press estimates there were seven million Americans participating in the rallies. This figure seems low to me.... WaPo had it as the lead story yesterday. The craven New York Times led with the Venezuela stuff, which, in hindsight, seems like it was cooked up just so the New York Times would lead with it and not No Kings.)"

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/4

gregolear.substack.com/p/sunda…

Sunday Pages: My "No Kings Day" Speech

Delivered at Academy Green Park, Kingston, New York, October 18, 2025

^{Greg Olear (PREVAIL by Greg Olear)}

"Americans across all 50 states marched in protests against the Trump administration on Saturday, aligning behind a message that the country is sliding into authoritarianism and there should be no kings in the US.

Millions of people turned out for the No Kings protests, the second iteration of a coalition that marched in June in one of the largest days of protest in US history."

~ Rachel Leingang and Edward Helmore

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/3

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/o…

Millions across all 50 US states march in No Kings protests against Trump

Crowds of Americans, many in costumes, aligned behind message that US is sliding into authoritarianism

^{Rachel Leingang (The Guardian)}

"Such a high turnout means businesses and institutions that thought they must cater to the administration to appeal to a majority of Americans will be forced to recalculate.

And the protests showed that Americans care fervently about democracy."

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/2

"The No Kings demonstrations ran the gamut from hundreds of thousands of protesters in large, blue cities, to smaller crowds in small towns in Republican-dominated states. Together, they demonstrate that the administration’s claims to popularity are a lie."

~ Heather Cox Richardson

#NoKings #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/1

heathercoxrichardson.substack.…

October 18, 2025

Today, millions of Americans and their allies turned out across the United States and around the globe to demonstrate their commitment to American democracy and their opposition to a president and an administration apparently bent on replacing that d…

^{Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American)}

If every country starts requiring that people provide official ID in order to "verify their age" to use social media, there will be no way to use any social media without associating the account with a legal identity.

This is horrible for democracy,
and should terrify everyone.

It doesn't matter if platforms use third-parties or not. It doesn't matter if they use some special encrypted code, the result is the same. This gatekeeps open discussions and government criticisms free from reprisals.

This is bad.
This is China "free-speech" bad.

#Democracy #AgeVerification #Privacy

“The ‘Freedom Convoy’ was a foreign-funded occupation and political destabilization movement, not a grassroots movement about COVID mandates." And of course #PeePee was its hand servant. cultmtl.com/2025/10/observatio…

#Cdnpoli #NeverVoteConservative #democracy #FreedumConvoy

Observations from Montreal

An ever-changing collection of commentary and observations by Montrealers or about Montreal politics and culture.

^{Cult MTL}

Chat Control is one of the most important issue for human rights and democracy in the West right now.

There is little time left to fight back!🚨

❓If you don't know what it is: read this article

🇪🇺 If you are in the EU: Contact your MEPs NOW

🇪🇺 If you already contacted your MEPs: Contact your local media TODAY to ask them to report and inform on the dangers of Chat Control.

🌎 If you are not European: Spread the word! Talk about it on social media. Contact your local media. Contact your representatives to share your concerns about similar proposals and the loss of privacy rights. This would affect you too!

This is an urgent matter. We cannot let the West slip in this authoritarian dystopia.
We must stop Chat Control ✊🛑

#ChatControl #Privacy #HumanRights #Democracy #DigitalRights #EUpol #UKpol #USpol #CanPoli

Chat Control Must Be Stopped, Act Now!

Chat Control is back to undermine everyone's privacy. There's an important deadline this Friday on September 12th. We must act now to stop it!

^{Privacy Guides}

Fighting for privacy rights is fighting against fascism. In case there were any doubts that mass surveillance is a fascist's tool.

Privacy isn't some secondary luxury, it's fundamental to democracy and civil liberties.

#Privacy #Democracy #Fascism

I know it’s just a social media post, but I stand with my colleagues and the students at America’s HBCUs.

It’s a short hop from radical anti-intellectualism to outright racism, and we’ve experienced these headwinds before.

But the work to build America’s pluralist democracy will not be halted by this kind of cowardice.

#uspol #democracy #highered
#academia

apnews.com/article/threat-hbcu…

Katy Rubin gives an energetic defense for #democracy in this podcast:

accidentalgods.life/peoples-ch…

Our current “democracy” is not fit for the challenges of preserving complex life on Earth—it functions more like a kleptocracy. Ordinary people need to reclaim governance by building what they call a “House of the People,” where wisdom—not wealth or power alone—drives decision-making.

It's a hopeful discussion of what is possible, and indeed what is actually being done.

People's Charter for People Power - with Katy Rubin and Oli Whittington of Our House — ACCIDENTAL GODS

When people have experienced ways to bring Power to those with Wisdom and Wisdom to those with Power, then they’ll work together to make it a reality at a larger scale.

^{everydaywild (Accidental Gods)}

Not to do one of those "Americans make everything about themselves" type comments, but bear with me for a moment here:

The "mature #democracy" is dying because it's so lazy defending something it never thought it had to defend

While the emerging democracy vibrantly defends its democracy because it's painfully aware of what it can lose and how much it suffered to get the chance to have one

"#Moldova Just Jailed Its #Putin-Aligned Governor. Here’s What She Did"

united24media.com/world/moldov…

#USA

Moldova Just Jailed Its Putin-Aligned Governor. Here’s What She Did

A pro-Kremlin regional leader has been jailed in Moldova, marking a major blow to Kremlin influence in the country’s autonomous south. As Chișinău deepens ties with the EU and Ukraine, Russia’s decades-long grip continues to unravel.

^{Jess Daly (UNITED24 Media)}

We’re proud to support @HowTheyVoteEU with our open source donation for their important work: making EU politics more transparent for everyone.

🔎💌 Open source + transparency = a perfect match!

👉 Learn more about this inspiring project & our support for open source: tuta.com/blog/open-source-spot…

#opensource #EU #Democracy #Privacy #Email #FOSS #Tuta

My father's first memories are of a concentration camp. My grandmother screamed through nightmares every night for the rest of her life. I exist because she risked her life so my dad could survive.

This Fourth of July, I'm not feeling very patriotic. But I know exactly which America I believe in.

werd.io/america-is-a-myth/

#democracy

America is a myth

We have to decide which story we believe in.

^{Ben Werdmuller (Werd I/O)}

Democracy & climate advocates, listen up! 🌍 On "You Are Not So Smart," Erica Chenoweth discusses the 3.5% Rule: nonviolent change with just 3.5% participation. Powerful insights for planet & people. #Democracy #ClimateAction #DigitalGov

youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/1…

YANSS 313 – Why the number of people needed to make a protest movement successful is much lower than you might assume

If you want to overthrow a dictator, resist an authoritarian regime, or create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don’t need half the country to join, you only need 3.5 p…

^{You Are Not So Smart}

Sen. Padilla's speech on being forced to the ground & handcuffed after asking a question:

youtube.com/watch?v=G-mKheWHHD…

"… we've seen masked federal agentsn in tactical gear, ordered into our communities. We've seen a disturbing pattern of increasingly extreme and cruel immigration enforcement operations targeting nonviolent people, at places of worship, at schools,
in courthouses, all to meet an arbitrary quota."

(automated captions, some errors)

#USPol #Padilla #Immigration #Democracy #Resist

WATCH: Sen. Padilla's full Senate floor speech recounting his removal from Noem's LA briefing

Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.Su...

^YouTube

NBC News:
Actors Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon among New York's protesters

Ruffalo told NBC News that he was marching "because democracy is in real trouble."

"We're not going away. We're not going to be quiet," he said. "We love each other, and ...we love this country..."
nbcnews.com/politics/trump-adm…

#News #Politics #Democracy #Democrats #Trump #NoKings

If Apple complies with this, the UK government will gain access to all iCloud data globally. The only way Apple comes out of this with any integrity is to leave the UK market. If they give in to this, every regime in the world will demand the same thing. And that’s before we even get to the fact that there’s no such thing as a “backdoor” for just so-and-so. Either there is a door or there isn’t and if there is, anyone who obtains the key can use it.

theguardian.com/technology/202…

#apple #backdoor #UK #encryption #privacy #security #personhood #data #democracy #humanRights #iCloud

UK demands ability to access Apple users’ encrypted data

Expert says government has ‘lit the blue touch paper on a truly enormous fight’ as it challenges firm’s privacy stance

^{Dan Milmo (The Guardian)}

I really enjoyed this #podcast. It is a critique of how the internet has affected democracy. Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein provide some interesting insights. They talk too about podcasts and how the format itself hasn't (yet) been captured by the attention economy. I was reminded about Aaron Swartz’s work to create the open standard build on RSS which is still the way people download podcasts. #democracy #EzraKlein

nytimes.com/2025/01/17/opinion…

Also available as a podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/na/podcast/…

Opinion | Democrats Are Losing the War for Attention. Badly.

The MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes on why attention has become more valuable than money in politics.

^{Ezra Klein (The New York Times)}

I really enjoyed this #podcast. It is a critique of how the internet has affected democracy. Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein provide some interesting insights. They talk too about podcasts and how the format itself hasn't (yet) been captured by the attention economy. I was reminded about Aaron Swartz’s work to create the open standard build on RSS which is still the way people download podcasts. #democracy #EzraKlein

nytimes.com/2025/01/17/opinion…

Also available as a podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/na/podcast/…

Opinion | Democrats Are Losing the War for Attention. Badly.

The MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes on why attention has become more valuable than money in politics.

^{Ezra Klein (The New York Times)}

'#NobelPeacePrize winner #MariaRessa has said #Meta’s decision to end #factChecking on its platforms and remove restrictions on certain topics means “extremely dangerous times” lie ahead for #journalism, #democracy and #socialMedia users'

Listen to Maria

She's been speaking truth to power in the #Philippines for decades, one of the most dangerous countries in the world for #journalists

I greatly admire her and if anyone knows what they're talking about here, it's her

theguardian.com/world/2025/jan…

Let's roll! 🇨🇿

#17listopad #November17 #35let #35years #demokracie #democracy

I remember David Graeber's insight into #voting being a big 'Aha' moment for me:

"Majoritarian democracy was, in its origins, essentially a military institution. . . .

"It is of obvious relevance that Ancient Greece was one of the most competitive societies known to history. It was a society that tended to make everything into a public contest . . . So it might not seem entirely surprising that they made political decision-making into a public contest as well. Even more crucial though was the fact that decisions were made by a populace in arms. . . . [I]f a man is armed, then one pretty much has to take his opinions into account. . . . [E]ven if the vote was 60/40, everyone could see the balance of forces and what would happen if things actually came to blows. Every vote was, in a real sense, a conquest." #history #politics #democracy

- Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology theanarchistlibrary.org/librar…

Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

David Graeber Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology 2004

^{The Anarchist Library}

Have you heard about SUPER SWING DISTRICTS yet? I posted about it already, but I am so bad at using discoverability features of this platform. So let's give it a try and just go nuts with the hashtags on this repost, to see how much those help. Super Swing Districts is a slate of *state legislature* candidates that can maximize the value of your election donation dollar in crucial swing districts: mastodon.social/@glyph/1133473…

#USPol #election #democracy #fundraising #harris #election2024

Left-wing coalition wins French elections so King Macron forms right-wing government.

Such democracy.

(In case you needed yet another reminder that fucking neoliberals will always choose fascism over social justice when they feel their wallets are threatened.)

bbc.com/news/articles/c8rd52zl…

#France #Macron #democracy

Did you miss the online conference "Sortition and Socialism" yesterday? No worries! The whole thing was recorded, for your leisure 😊

Online Conference with these presenters:

- Dr. Camila Vergara - The relation between inequality and the law, and on alternative institutional solutions to systemic corruption.
- Violeta Garrido - The epistemic demands of representative democracy
- Christiana Mauro - From grand cause platforms to embedded constituent power.
- Suryamayi Clarence-Smith - Evolving Prefigurative Politics in an Intentional Community.

#Sortition #Democracy #Socialism
yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=UYNy…