March 6, 1997

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

As I have mentioned several times because it matters terribly, a little more than a year ago the Zundelsite was in the eye of an enormous electronic hurricane in that the German government, via Deutsche Telekom, tried to block access to the documents that we were heaving onto our website in anticipation of a scholarly "debate" with Nizkor on the forbidden, all-important question:

"Did Six Million Really Die?"

This was the first time EVER that a so-called "democratic" government had shown its anti-democratic claws in cyberspace and launched into a power grab by trying to prevent access to what was posted on our website.

In altogether voluntary and spontaneous response to this, in my opinion, grotesque display of panic on the part of the world's shadow government, computer screens around the world went black for 48 hours, the blue ribbons of Internet freedom of speech made their appearance, and John Perry Barlow wrote some of the most beautiful passages of this century:

"Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks.

I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.

...You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves.

In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.

In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media. . . "

I still shiver when I read those words, knowing that these passages were written in response to the Zundelsite concept of truth in history - no matter where the chips may fall! - with its defiant five small words and big, fat question mark exemplifying one man's uncompromising lifetime struggle for the sake of reclaimed honor for his people.

This was a time of great emotional upheaval in my life, and I will always wonder what fate commanded me to keep my fingers at the keyboard of the Zundelsite, attempting to translate WHAT THIS WAS REALLY ALL ABOUT.

This was the first time in the history of cyberspace that a website was cloning itself - an awesome display of independence - and when, in the midst of it all, the Communications Decency Act was rammed through the US Congress the way a splinter is pounded into flesh with a hammer, I genuinely believed, as I do to this day, that it was us: Five little words plus a big, fat question mark against the proverbial "Six Million" and all that concept implies. And even though the CDA was peddled in the media as a measure of "protecting minors from pornography" - a transparent ruse if ever I saw one! - it was really done, I believed then as I do now, in response to protect grown-ups from growing up and looking at the scenery free of the fog of lies.

And I have good reason to think so: two separate Federal Courts have agreed that THE LAW GOES FAR BEYOND THE CLAIM that children need to be protected, and have stated that the CDA, if rubber-stamped as "constitutional", would ban otherwise constitutionally protected materials.

According to influential censorship busters, many of them with impressive legal backgrounds, the CDA is not about obscenity at all, not about child pornography, and not about using the Internet to stalk or prey on children. These activities are already illegal under current law and are not at issue in this case. The outcome of this legal battle, so they state, will have far reaching implications. AT STAKE IS NOTHING LESS THAN THE FUTURE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT IN THE INFORMATION AGE.

I tried to tell them that - right from the start. I said this was about the Shadow Government that feared the Zundel question. I said at stake was nothing less than tangible, vast empires under the umbrella of an enormous lie - empires built on ignorance, falsification, trickery, duplicity and fraud.

I was met with nothing but derision and contempt. I was puffing myself up, was the verdict.

I have watched this group ever since. In my opinion, they are as infiltrated with the same manipulating, shady entities as any other group that matters in America today - and these computer-savvy, freedom-loving youngsters matter terribly because they are, for the most part, not only young but smart. They are the leadership class of tomorrow - if not already today. And not a few of them are slowly waking up as to what this IS really all about - not about keeping smut that rolls so glibly off their tongues, but about keeping freedom, of which they soon won't have enough unless they stop fooling around with their four-letter words and take a firm grip on the future.

A few already have, and kudos go to them. There is a long, long story to the legalistic path the CDA has taken I won't pretend to understand except to say that it was fought with intellectual strength and moral dedication, and in two weeks the Supreme Court of the United States is going to hear final oral arguments.

Below I now bring you the latest - an incredibly important appeal.

So many of you have asked what YOU can do to help us in our struggle. Here is something that you CAN do. RIGHT NOW.

The Center for Democracy and Technology and the Voters Telecommunications Watch have launched a COUNTDOWN TO THE SUPREME COURT campaign to help spread the news about this case and provide an opportunity for Internet users to join the fight. I urge each and every one of you do so. Please do not let this item slip you by! The fate of the Internet and the future of the First Amendment in the information age hang in the balance.

Please think about this very clearly:

If the so-called Communications Decency Act is upheld as constitutional, the CDA WILL impose broadcast-style content regulations on the Internet. The issue at stake is as follows:

1. Will the Supreme Court agree with two federal courts that found the
Communications Decency Act unconstitutional, ruling that the Internet is a unique communications technology that deserves the same First Amendment protections enjoyed by the print media?

2. Or will the Court side with Senator Exon, the Justice Department,
and the Christian Coalition, who have argued that the government is the best judge of what material is appropriate online?

JOIN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUR FELLOW NET USERS IN A HISTORIC COUNTDOWN!

With your help and support, the entire Internet community will have an opportunity to join together in the fight for the future of the Net.

Here are your instructions on how to participate:

In anticipation of this historic event, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and the Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) have launched a COUNTDOWN TO THE SUPREME COURT campaign to help spread the news about the case and provide an opportunity for Internet users to join the fight.

If You Maintain A World Wide Web Page:

1. Add the following link *TODAY* in a prominent location on your site:

<a href="http://www.ciec.org">
<img src="http://www.ciec.org/images/countdown.gif" alt="Countdown to Supreme Court"></a>
<br clear=all><br>

2. IMPORTANT - Let us know you have joined the campaign:

Drop them a note at feedback@ciec.org

Back to Table of Contents of the March 1997 ZGrams