April 2017 - Page 2 of 2 - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

Fascism & The Harsh Lessons Of Failure (Gonzo Notes)

A protester dressed in a yellow raincoat holds a sign reading "Fascism is so 1930s." Protest against Trump travel ban, American embassy in London, February 4, 2017. (Flickr / Alisdare Hickson, CC SA license)

April 10, 2017

Kit

Fascism & The Harsh Lessons Of Failure (Gonzo Notes)

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Gonzo Notes

I’m in a strange position this month as a gonzo journalist, because I can’t really write about the major action I attended last month.

The short version is that I attended a counterprotest against the Austin version of the national “March 4 Trump.” We were badly outnumbered, surrounded and attacked by fascist Trump supporters. I survived a serious assault and was hospitalized overnight. I now face a misdemeanor assault charge even though I was the victim, along with hospital bills, and this charge prevents me from writing much more.

Still, here’s the main lesson I learned — at least the one that’s safe to share:

We are not ready.

WikiLeaks’ Vault 7, Broadband Privacy With Black Tower Radio

A street medic in a Guy Fawkes mask uses a smartphone to film a protest. August 29, 2011. (Flickr / Daniel Hoherd, CC NC license)

April 5, 2017

Kit

WikiLeaks’ Vault 7, Broadband Privacy With Black Tower Radio

Posted in Act Out!, Audio, Journalism, and Lee Camp

Last week, I made my monthly appearance on Black Tower Radio to discuss recent developments in online privacy. WikiLeaks’ Vault 7 release, which I discussed in a recent Act Out! script, left some people wondering if it’s now impossible to protect yourself from surveillance. In fact, there are still steps we can take to protect ourselves from most online threats.

Of course, a recent vote by Congress to repeal Obama-era FCC online privacy protections not only allows Internet Service Providers to sell our online browsing behavior to advertisers (and others), it shows how our elected representatives answer to their corporate donors, rather than to voters. Interest in Virtual Private Networks has sky-rocketed since the vote, but not all VPNs are created equal.

Resistance, Self-Care And Threat Modeling After Vault 7 With Katie Klabusich

The open door of a bank vault. (Flickr / ninniane, CC NC license)

April 2, 2017

Kit

Resistance, Self-Care And Threat Modeling After Vault 7 With Katie Klabusich

Posted in Act Out!, Audio, Gonzo Notes, and Journalism

Katie and I talked about the difficulty of building a resistance against odds that can seem insurmountable using “How to survive Hurricane Donald,” the February 10 issue of Gonzo Notes, as a jumping off point. I also mentioned activist Liam Shea, the community activist who inspired me to write both “Hurricane Donald” and the following issue of Gonzo Notes, “Stay and fight fascism where you are.” Shea died tragically and unexpectedly in early February.

Local organizing is a theme I’ve been returning to frequently recently, and will probably keep talking about, because it seems so vital. Until there is another Occupy-style moment of national “rupture” — which, so far, hasn’t materialized via the Trump regime — the best we can do is strengthen our local communities and share the skills we have with each other.

Inspired by my script on “Vault 7” for Act Out! we closed with a discussion of what WikiLeaks’ latest release means for activists, and I explained why threat modeling means we can still fight back even when the government has access to terrifying mass surveillance tools.