Slashdot Mirror
Zimbabwe Makes Arrest Over Facebook Comment
inasity_rules writes "It seems using Facebook/Twitter to try overthrowing a corrupt government can backfire a bit, especially if they are expecting it. In Zimbabwe your Facebook posts can get you arrested. Probably for anything up to and including treason."
In Zimbabwe anything can get you arrested, heck nothing can too. Zimbabwe does not exactly have what we call the rule of law.
etc, etc, etc... "that the government of the Facebook, by the Facebook, for the Facebook, shall not perish from the earth."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
What, they still need an excuse to arrest you in Zimbabwe?
Go make some crazy-ass threats to some public figure on your facebook and see what happens. Facebook posts are no different than any other forum for speech - if you post shit that's illegal in your country, they can arrest you.
I think that publicly trying to overthrow your government might have consequences, whatever the forum.
In the Facebook age, dissidents have Prime Ministers arrested. I think this PM should be careful.
The "facebook age" (seriously, no!) has also made it much easier for oppressive regimes to figure out what dissidents are up to, who they associate with, etc. I'm not terribly amazed that this is happening, nor would I be amazed if this becomes standard procedure for some countries.
Aside from that, I think that it's all too easy to say that from a few facebook posts governments and dictators will fall. "Every civilization is three meals away from revolution" is perhaps more appropriate, but that doesn't mean the revolution is a success. Have a look at the current situation in Libya. That one is going to take a little while, and it's going to be very uncivilized compared to clicking "LIKE +1".
Ever wonder why we don't have more revolutions? My country is currently going through an economic crisis, has no real government to speak of, and by this time next year I'm going to be about 6% poorer effectively than I am now (by estimation). So the question is, why aren't we revolting in the streets? Is it because we're civilized and polite? Or is it because we're entertained by mass media, well fed by our supermarkets, and we've still got a roof over our head and a relatively well maintained (false) sense of security. (Note that I am not advocating a revolution, merely pointing something out)
It's nice that terrible regimes not prepared for the Internet now fall with the aid of it, but it's not "because of the Internet" that this is happening. It's because the people were fed up, and with or without the Internet they would've found a way to make it happen.
Remember that Moammar "threw off" tyrrany to declare his own dictatorship.
Also remember that Eastern Europe threw off tyrranies to create actual democracies. Just because a revolution happens doesn't mean that the end result is predictable.
Remember that when you're posting stupid shit on slashdot.
--
BMO
Where are the fools who always pop up under a story like this to explain to us, with great indignation, why it is no better in the West, that the West does the same thing? Whenever China, Iran, North Korea, Egypt, Zimbabwe, etc., does anything vile with human rights, I need the solace of my false equivalency fools who are always there to tell me why in the West it is exactly the same, and no better.
Of course, these brave false equivalency fools are always so critical of the West... from within the West. What I want to see is their "bravery" and lazy iconoclasm, from within another country. Let's see how brave they are to post criticism of China, from within China, to post criticism of Iran, from within Iran, of Zimbabwe, from within Zimbabwe.
Any takers?
(crickets)
Don't seem so brave and counterculture now, do they? And maybe that means more about the true relationship between your rights and freedoms in the West versus those in countries that genuinely grant you no rights to expression or other simple aspects of human dignity, whatsoever.
The West does plenty wrong, and the West can improve, of course. But if you understand how good you have it RELATIVELY SPEAKING (never mind that we can do better), only then you can begin to say something intelligent about the world you live in. But if you think you are saying something intelligent by equating human rights in the West versus Zimbabwe, or China, or Iran, you're just announcing how sheltered and ignorant you are.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Yep, it's not Facebook despite the current habit of the media to link Facebook with everything (have they linked it with cancer yet? ;) ). Egypt has to import lots of wheat. Russia and India banned exports. Australia had a bad crop.
So wheat shortage = expensive bread = lots of hungry unhappy people. But just hungry unhappy people doesn't mean revolution.
Revolutions happens when the hungry unhappy people think the rulers are to blame for the problem, and then they become hungry very angry people. You can be starving and not blame the ruler/Government for the situation.
http://theweek.com/article/index/212433/fighting-over-food
In the Facebook age, silly naive people will get caught. The more reliant the become on computers finding conspiracies for them, the more subject to misinformation and obfuscation.
The reality is, you should only use open social networking when you are ready to go. Up until then more direct means of communication are safer.
If your live in a troubled country use external sources and people to pass on your information to a broader audience. Now it is global activism, so people can act locally via globally sourced support.
Revolutions occur because people no longer believe they are alone and without support.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
if an airport security guy asks me if i have any bombs and i go "yeah, in my underwear," i'm joking. but no one is going to laugh
context my friend, learn the value of context
in another context, you'd be the height of dry wit. here, there are no clues to tell if you are joking or not, and there are a LOT of dumb, serious posts
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it