The Sun, the Moon, the Truth, and Wikileaks

For the past few weeks I've been thinking about why the Cheney administration has been so adamant about re-asserting the power of the executive office. My thoughts are still jumbled on this complicated matter, but one thing I'm thinking is that perhaps the progressive movements of the 1960s were much more effective than I realized. The civil rights movement, feminism, the environmental movements, the right-to-know movements, gay & lesbian rights movements, and the many other social movements were all assertions of the rights of individuals to be treated as equals and to use the power of the State to help enforce those rights. In doing so, this tended to do two things. First, it crowded out the claims made by big business. If Congress was busy passing civil rights legislation that meant it didn't have as much time for the multi-naiontal mining company that "needed' special tax treatment. At the same time, many of the specific claims made by these groups had the unintended consequence of making these groups more effective consumers, thus aiding at least some businesses. Second, and more importantly, it taught ordinary citizens that they could assert themselves and succeed. As J.E. Hoover is claimed to have said, the most dangerous thing the Black Panthers ever did was to give free breakfasts to black school children. If a group of young not-terribly-rich folks could provide free meals to kids, why couldn't the US government?

Another development, in many ways not related to the political developments, happened on the technology front. Over the past 20 years or so, there has been an explosion in computer, communication, and media technologies that have increased the power of citizens relative to large institutions (the State, corporations, foundations, international institutions like the IMF and the WB). In the hands of intelligent, dedicated, and organized people--i.e, average citizens with a legitimate claim--these technologies have made it substantially cheaper and easier to organize political activities, analyze complex situations, and publicize new claims. When you have a powerful, vested interest in keeping things the way they are, these kinds of developments are threatening.

As I said, all of this is still a jumble in my head. I hope to present a better summary in the future. But, as I was trying to organize these thoughts I received an email about a new site from the revolutionaries at Wikipedia.

http://www.wikileaks.org/index.html

Wikipedia describes the page as:

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this means our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by non-technical people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking about with regards to citizens' newly-discovered ability to assert their power. I encourage everyone to check out the site. It is an amazing idea and it is a perfect example of what is scaring the shit out of Dick Cheney and, in my current thinking, helps to explain why he needs terrorism and the Patriot Act, Guantanamo, etc,.