Syrian Protesters Roll Out New iPhone Apps 105
An anonymous reader writes "Protesters in Syria, dealing with a strict media blackout, have rolled out new iPhone and iPad apps to share news, stories, and even jokes. Amid a brutal crackdown, rebels are fighting back on their iPhones. The Arab Spring's newest weapon keeps the opposition informed—and the regime in check."
Wait for the media (Score:5, Insightful)
praises of brave souls trying to bring democracy into their lives in 3,2,1 while at the same time making fun of the occupy protests in "free" countries.
Re:Wait for the media (Score:5, Informative)
Oh yeah. Because a crackdown that killed 3,500 people (according to TFA) is clearly the same as throwing away a few tents.
You realize that the OWS movement will never be taken seriously by reasonable people if hyperbole like this seem to be the common view of the movement, right? Because it totally won't. And shouldn't. Not saying it is. What I'm saying is your comments, and comments like this (which I see all the time on /.) only hurt yourself and the movement you (implicitly seem to) support.
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Re:Wait for the media (Score:5, Informative)
But by any common-sense interpretation of the English language, they were not abandoned. It was not voluntary. You are full of shit. And the bill of rights has a little something to do with every law in existence, for laws must take it into consideration in order to be legal. (Though there is always that awkward point after a law is passed, but before it is struck down. . .)
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They tried to squat on private property (it was a public park, but NOT publicly owned property), for about 2 months. And youre complaining that they lost their tents? Theyre lucky that they werent all arrested for trespassing.
The first amendment does NOT give you the right to squat on property.
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Also, you are trying to equate summary punishment by police with some sort of justice. That's not how the justice system works.
So in 3 sentences, you managed to lie and equate summary justice with actual justice. Nice to know where you stand.
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Public use does not mean "campground". Seriously, do you really think its OK to go to Farragut Square in DC and set up a camp and a bonfire? What about camping out on the National Mall, does that sound "OK" or "Not OK" to you?
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Say I want to go to a park for 4 hours, and tak
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The Bill of Rights speaks of due process ... (Score:5, Interesting)
So you're saying it's okay to destroy property, but not lives. Funny -- the bill of rights seems to disagree with that.
The Bill of Rights speaks of due process. Setting up a camp in a public park against regulations, being *notified* to remove your property, being *warned* that property left in the park will be thrown out, might be considered a constitutionally acceptable due process. Requiring a permit to camp may also be considered a constitutionally acceptable practice.
To be fair everyone was given notice that the park had to be cleared for cleanup. If a person chooses to leave their stuff there despite such announcements and warning there is an argument that the property was abandoned in a legal sense. It is a public park where camping is not allowed, is there not an inherent risk in setting up a tent? Personally I suspect may of those tents were left there in the hope they would get tossed, they were more valuable as PR tools than shelter. The cold weather is going to shut this thing down real soon and the tents will not be needed much longer.
Police throwing 5,000 donated books into a dumpster is not a visage of democracy.
The Mayor's office is reporting that Sanitation workers, not police, cleaned up things and that they handled books separately from trash. Books are being held at a city garage and may be picked up.
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Except it's a private park. Good work though.
The relevant laws apply to both public and private parks open to the public. The owners, Brookfield, requested that the city enforce the law.
The Mayor: "We have been in constant contact with Brookfield and yesterday they requested that the City assist it in enforcing the no sleeping and camping rules in the park."
The Owners: "In our view, these risks were unacceptable and it would have been irresponsible to not request that the City take action,"
http://www.observer.com/term/brookfield-properties/ [observer.com]
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The Mayor's office is reporting that Sanitation workers, not police, cleaned up things and that they handled books separately from trash. Books are being held at a city garage and may be picked up.
Yes, that was their story.
OWS's story is that they went down to this supposed holding area and were presented with 25 boxes of books. That was it. I don't know how many books were in those 25 boxes, but it's a pretty good bet it was only a very tiny percentage of 5,000.
The mayor gave himself a major black-eye over this, and he'd kinda like to stay mayor after the next election. He has every incentive in the world to paint this action in the most positive light possible, perhaps even fudge the facts a li
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As for the Mayor. I can easily envision him instructing workers to set books aside and I can equally envision sanitation workers ignoring the mayor and intentionally tossing books in with the trash. Both to reduce the am
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Police throwing 5,000 donated books into a dumpster is not a visage of democracy.
It sure can. It only takes 51% of the vote to pass a law which requires police to throw ALL books into a dumpster.
Fuck me you're a retard. You have allowed your right wing hatred of democracy to over-power your right wing love of law and order, so you end up shooting yourself in the bollocks with a shotgun. Good work.
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Do people have to die before you listen to them?
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Have a look at history. While strictly pacifist movements have gotten results (Ghandi), there are much greater number of examples where lives have to be lost before the demands are taken seriously.
Self-immolation seems to be rather effective way to turn heads at the moment. Thich Quang Duc's example is probably one of the most famous ones. It has been said that Arab Spring has gotten into swing only after Mohamed Bouazizi's immolation which was followed by quite a number of copycats in other regions.
So in t
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So in the end I would answer: Most likely yes, people do have to die before any significant change is to happen.
Let's just hope it's some of the fascist state goons, sorry law enforcement officers, rather than protesters.
Once the police start beating young women with batons and pepper-spraying grandmothers, they have crossed a line. I don't care if the protesters were trespassing on the fucking President's front lawn, vague "property rights" (it's a publicly accessible park) do not trump people's rights to protest peacefully.
Except in dictatorships.
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These comparisons between OWS and Syria are frankly sickening. People over there are dying, and you want to compare that to the tragedy of only having a modest house, a comfortable suburban lifestyle, and a short stint of unemployment? You know what the people in syria would give to have a fraction of what you have?
Heres a shocker for you: 80% of the people in this country ARE the 5%, when compared to the rest of the world. But no, your cause is totally on the same level as people fighting for their liv
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THe people in Arab spring were under brutal dictatorships, and one man lit himself on fire because of massive, widespread government corruption that meant he could not make a living-- government thugs would take his vendor cart, his goods, etc.
You really want to try to draw a comparison between that and some trespassing protesters getting their illegally pitched tents confiscated because they refused to buy the permits (which basically every other protesting group had NO issue getting)?
You either lack persp
Re:Wait for the media (Score:4, Informative)
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Oh yeah. Because a crackdown that killed 3,500 people (according to TFA) is clearly the same as throwing away a few tents.
The manner in which a government responds to a protest has no bearing on the importance of what is being protested. Whether protestors die or not is a function of the government, not the protestors.
Suppose somebody does die in OWS at some point. Will the two movements suddenly be equivalent in your mind? Are you going to perform an arithmetic comparison of the number of deaths? What's
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And despite Americans' peculiar insistence on the infinite value of human life [...]
wtf? remind me, which members of the OECD still practice the death penalty?
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hummm
http://www.oecd.org/document/58/0,3746,en_2649_201185_1889402_1_1_1_1,00.html [oecd.org]
from the list - a lot ..
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wikipedia is your friend [wikipedia.org]
death penalty abolished for all crimes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom
death penalty abolished for crimes but under exceptional/special circumstances: Chile, Israel
death penalty abolished in practice: Korea
still practice death pena
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The manner in which a government responds to a protest has no bearing on the importance of what is being protested
I think the deaths might be part of what theyre protesting; care to stack that up against complaints of "Im not as rich as that guy"?
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No, but I would ask that the magnitude of two oppressions is different by several orders. Also, the reason for the protests is radically different. Long story short, comparing the two is... difficult.
Complain and protest all you want, I'd even encourage it (I think OWS has some valid points). Just make sure you don't exaggerate the situation too much.
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We have had 50k deaths and at least 10k disappeared in Mexico in the last 5 years in a phony drug war by a government that came from a stolen election but, since the killing is made on USA's behalf no many people there will raise their voice.
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By your relativistic logic, the events in Syria are insignificant when compared to something like the Second World War (tens of millions dead instead of a few thousand) so Bashar al-Assad's basically OK?
Protesters or campers? (Score:5, Interesting)
praises of brave souls trying to bring democracy into their lives in 3,2,1 while at the same time making fun of the occupy protests in "free" countries.
Very few people are making fun of "occupy" protesters. Its "occupy" campers that are being made fun of to some degree, even by supporters of the "occupy" protesters and the occupy movement in general.
Camping in a public park despite regulations to the contrary is something quite separate and different from showing up on wall street carrying signs and speaking up about abusive practices. Get a room? Stay with a friend who lives in the city? Stay with a supporter who lives in the city? Camp in a *real* campsite outside the city and take a bus into the city? People I've spoken with who attended big protests in the 60s did these sort of things. Is there a lack or organization and planning today compared to the 60s, or is there a lack of supporters offering their couch or living room floor?
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People I've spoken with who attended big protests in the 60s did these sort of things.
People you've spoken with who attended big protests in the 60s weren't going through Great Depression 2: Foreclosure Boogaloo.
Do the math. There are altogether fewer couches. People big-hearted enough to open their homes to protesters likely already have their homeless friends on the couch...
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People I've spoken with who attended big protests in the 60s did these sort of things.
People you've spoken with who attended big protests in the 60s weren't going through Great Depression 2: Foreclosure Boogaloo. Do the math. There are altogether fewer couches. People big-hearted enough to open their homes to protesters likely already have their homeless friends on the couch...
Are you sure that most of the regrettably foreclosed upon are homeless rather than renting a smaller less expensive place? Those couches may still exist, just sitting in a smaller rented property rather than a larger owned property.
From what I heard from the 60s protesters they often stayed in a crappy little rented apartment, not some large home. I think the comparison to the 60s is still appropriate.
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From what I heard from the 60s protesters they often stayed in a crappy little rented apartment, not some large home. I think the comparison to the 60s is still appropriate.
Yes, the comparison to the 60s is certainly appropriate, since as others have said, the 60s was a dress rehearsal for what's happening now. Though keep in mind that in the 60s there were still (lots) of poor people living in Manhattan. Nowadays, there really isn't a "crappy little apartment" to rent, anywhere in Manhattan. Even Harlem has been largely "gentrified".
My thought when OWS first started in Zucotti Park was that they would eventually be forced out, and would need to look for other places to sta
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However, I think the "camping" is actually a good strategy, for many reasons, foremost probably being the 24/7 presence accelerated coverage of the protest.
The problem is that I think the coverage may be counterproductive. As the 99% watch on TV they feel less in common with these people. Basically the movement "leaders" are playing into the hands of their opponents who want to mischaracterize the protesters as largely the neo-hippie "professional protesters" who travel from one WTO/G20/etc event to another. The more the TV cameras focus on campers rather than protesters with signs on wall street the more distorted the perception of the movement gets.
There are MANY precedents for american citizens "camping out" for their rights. Of the top of my head, the biggest one I can think of was the WW1 vets in Washington DC in the 30s. Tent city for miles...
You might
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It may be a negative in some respects, but there *are* a lot of people losing their homes, mostly due to the activities of a few very rich men. So symbolically it is appropriate... It probably can't be sustained long term, at least in it's current form. In the 60s, many "communes" formed. Most of them were not successful, though a few survive to this day. I think that idea could do better now than it did then. Not in the "flower power" sense, but in the practical living and survival sense, in an incre
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Camping in a public park despite regulations to the contrary is something quite separate
How pathetic has your country become when people sleeping in tents appals your nice middle class sensibilities?
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Because the Occupy folks havent made clear what they want, and are generally trying to instigate violence with a reluctant system?
Trying to compare the two scenarios is in such bad taste its not even funny. People are dying over there trying to unseat a brutal government, whereas over here theyre making a massive nuisance of themselves vandalizing parks, instigating violence, and illegally camping on public property. Yea, thats real noble.
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People are dying over there trying to unseat a brutal government, whereas over here theyre making a massive nuisance of themselves vandalizing parks, instigating violence, and illegally camping on public property. Yea, thats real noble.
You do not see the heavy irony here. It was the people demonstrating en masse by occupying public squares that finished off the Tunisian and Egyptian fascist governments, and it was those governments who tried to bulldoze camps and characterized the protestors as vandals.
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Heres the difference, the police HERE have basically ignored the Occupy folks for two months, even though they were illegally camping in whats supposed to be a public park; and the protesters THERE didnt care because they wanted to dismantle the government due to its brutality and oppression.
So lets be clear and open here: Is the dismantling of the US government the goal of the Occupy folks? We might as well get that out into the open.
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Well, sure, some of them. Anarchists are drawn to this kind of thing. What percentage I don't know, somewhere in the 1% range I would imagine.
As others have noted, you ask 10 occupiers what it's all about, & you get 10 answers. Ask 100, and 1 may say "yes, we don't need govt".
App Store Policy (Score:1, Informative)
That is until Apple takes their app down for no apparent reason.
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Depending on how you want to define the term [WMD], the free and unfiltered exchange of ideas and information could well be described in such a fashion.
I mention this, because of some of the verbage in the appstore agreement.
When the pen is mightier than the sword, for those wishing to uphold the status quo, both must be controlled. The former moreso than the latter.
Given apple's philosophy about openness, (or lack thereof), I wouldn't doubt that they would remove the app from the appstore for "inciting vio
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That is until Apple takes their app down for no apparent reason.
Or the Syrian government shuts down cellular communication or network communication among smart phones.
Apple wouldn't dare get into bed with the Syrian government, as the look of it would do immense harm to the company image.
Axis of Evil (Score:2)
Isn't Syria one of those evil countries who American companies aren't meant to trade with or ship technology to?
How do they get Mac's and app developer licenses if there's an embargo?
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Knowledge is power.
It will be interesting to see how many posters here will back Al-assad claiming that he is the rightful ruler of Syria.
No ruler has a greater right to life than any of the people he governs. He's past the tipping point already. Start killing people and cooking up preposterous storys to back up your claim and you might as well leave now, rather than gunned down by a rebel soldier after escaping from your flamin motorcade.
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Re:cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Be sure to run such arguments through the Abraham Lincoln test. Quite a few Americans were killed in defense of his "regime."
Not in the same ballpark, not in the same league, not even in the same sport.
Syrian "Arab Spring" revolt isn't about secession and landholders right to keep slaves, it's about people tired of a leader who, though elected, they have no real say in his election. His father was leader for 29 years. Don' t think that fits Abe or the conferacy even tangentially.
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The idea of "rightful" is silly because "rights" are subjective.
Assad has many SUPPORTERS for various reasons, very much including opposition to Islamic fundamentalism.
I support Assad. I support anyone willing to kill radical Muslims and I could care less about the technicality of their humanity since their superstition nullifies any reason to be concerned with that.
Ideally, the Baathists and Jihadists will bleed each other out in many years of violence which will keep them distracted from annoying anyone o
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and I could care less about the technicality of their humanity since their superstition nullifies any reason to be concerned with that.
You know, remind me never to vote for you for a position of power. Attitudes like that are how brutal dictatorships and genocidal campaigns begin.
Steve Jobs was part Syrian (Score:3, Interesting)
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Would be rather fitting if the iPhone helped along a revolution for freedom.
Which would somehow make all the Apple marketing people puff out their chests in so much pride you'd have to walk through Cupertino sideways.
That kind of PR you can't buy -- just quietly do what you can for them and let the media go on tooting your horn for you.
Perhaps Microsoft or Google could take a page from that book -- Twitter was part of the Green Revolt in Iran, which certainly enhanced their exposure -- maybe Microsoft or Google could foment a rebellion somewhere... Gad. What a cynic I'm becoming.
Re:Steve Jobs was part Syrian (Score:4, Insightful)
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Why IPhone (Score:4, Insightful)
So the dissident first has to jailbreak out of his cell, only to have to jailbreak his cell? Why would they want to rely on an app that can be remote wiped by Apple at a moments notice? Not only are the Android phones more free, the faster processors will speed up encryption/decryption. Poor choice of phone.
Phillip.
Re:Why IPhone (Score:4, Insightful)
So the dissident first has to jailbreak out of his cell, only to have to jailbreak his cell? Why would they want to rely on an app that can be remote wiped by Apple at a moments notice? Not only are the Android phones more free, the faster processors will speed up encryption/decryption. Poor choice of phone.
Phillip.
Wait. You think Apple would do that? You don't work at Apple. If they did Apple would be seen as a tool of bloodthirsty tyrants. I expect if the Syrian government even suggested Apple drop these apps you'd find an epidemic of "deaf ears" in Cupertino.
Apple is all about saluting the Rebel in you, after all.
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Ultra-capitalist Apple left behind their rebel years a long time ago. They have more important things to do like stifling competition with law suits. All it would take is for a couple of guys at wikileaks to use the app and it would be yanked in a heartbeat. Cupertino have deaf ears to anything except what will maximise profits. Of course they would invent some transgression in the ToS of the app to make it appear their hands were tied and they would release a press statement soundly condemning bloodthirsty
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If you check the stats you'll find that it is Google who have used their ability to remotely wipe apps from Android phones on a number of occasions, not Apple. I'm sure at least some of those would have been with good reason, in response to yet more malware masquerading as a legitimate Android app, but you carry on believing whatever Google want you to believe.
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Um. Google *can* and does remotely delete apps from phones:
Um, only through the Google market. Install an application from an APK and they cant do anything. Not like you can install an application package file on an Iphone without Apple's Express permission.
Hey, dont let the facts in the way of a good baseless rant.
Talk about baseless! (Score:2)
Not like you can install an application package file on an Iphone without Apple's Express permission.
Millions of jail breakers do just that every day.
Watch how far you chuck those stones there, the walls are mighty close.
I see you had no response about pre-installed root kits on many Android that the protestors would not have the technical ability to remove and the government could compel Syrian carriers to cough up data for...
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Because this is Apple's iProduct feel good story for 17th November 2011.
Yesterdays was probably about a boy trapped down a well and Facebooking out on his iPhone for survival. Tommorrows will be someone using their iPad to get out of a forest they got lost in, the day after it'll be a miracle iPhone being dropped off a boat and find by it's owner washed up on shore using find my iPhone, after that we're probably due another one about one being dropped from a plane or cliff and not breaking again, it wont be
What app, exactly? (Score:1)
I didn't see any application link or name in that article, and a google search leads only to slashdot and that article.
Did they mean a website, maybe?
PS: I hope the new ruling party of Syria will be nicer to Israelis than ASSad.
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I was wondering that too. What's the app called? Is it too much to ask for a link to the App store from the original story? Vapourware perhaps?
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Unfortunately Fundementalists are (Score:1)
For the record I despise the Assad dictatorship ( who wouldn't unless you are the dictator
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That's because the USA and their allied dictators saw any moderate leftist social democrat as sons of Fidel Castro and Stalin born in hell, and the ones not allied to the USA applied the same methods; any natural leader except for the religious leaders was killed by the secret services of arab dictators, so they don't have union leaders, members of professional associations or a free press that could be pool of new moderate leaders.
Civil war - Sunni vs Alawite (Score:1)
The easy access to weapons is symptomatic of another problem - t
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Turkey is one.
If by "Muslim country" you mean a country whose citizens are mostly Muslim.
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Turkey is one.
If by "Muslim country" you mean a country whose citizens are mostly Muslim.
Stop spoiling his fun.
Anyway, Britain is also just about a democracy, despite over 75% of the population being Muslim Asylum Seekers (Copyright The Daily Mail).
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Being an European, I could not object to political parties that declare themselves "islamic", since most of Europe has been governed by parties that call themselves "christian democrats" for the last 60 years. We can't deny the same thing to happen for religions other than chri
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That's because the USA and their allied dictators saw any moderate leftist social democrat as sons of Fidel Castro and Stalin born in hell, and the ones not allied to the USA applied the same methods; any natural leader except for the religious leaders was killed by the secret services of arab dictators, so they don't have union leaders, members of professional associations or a free press that could be a pool of new moderate leaders.
If I have made any more mistakes in my writing, corrections are welcome.
Rebels? Wealthy rebels, you mean (Score:2)
How dum you have to be to believe this? (Score:1)
> rebels are fighting back on their iPhones
Translated: the government have created an app so that they can better track and manipulate the citizens
Or maybe this is saying that they are throwing iPhones instead of stones?
Syria app in English? (Score:1)