Ana,
Are you being moderated?
or are you moderating other people?
Bob T
On 3 October 2016 at 17:06, Warren Lewington <wjlewington@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Nice post Ana. Fortunately, it is only a voluntary organisation. And yes.
I know what it is like to be ‘watched’. Surprisingly that episode is in
Australia – hi guys – hope this post finds you well.
As so often happens in small voluntary organisations, people who have
never otherwise made it in life to any great degree, see any title given to
them; not as an added, voluntary responsibility they have to help and
sacrifice themselves to others – but as a ‘right’ to power. They then wield
power without really understanding how powerless and petty they actually
are. Criticism is seen not as suggestion, but as dissent, and they choose
to combat it in the only way they know how – by bullying.
It serves as a reminder that all appointments to small, people thin
organisations, need to be VERY careful who they elect to lead them... The
one making the most noise about leading them is usually not the best
choice.
*From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@
freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *Ana Young (Redacted sender "ana_young2000"
for DMARC)
*Sent:* Monday, October 03, 2016 2:01 PM
*To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* atw: Censorship in Australia?!
Have you ever lived in a country ruled by a dictator? Do you know what it
is to have all communication censored? Have you ever been followed? Do you
know what it feels when your phone is being monitored? Do you know what it
is to live in a place where you have no idea if the person sitting next to
you is spying on you? I do. Why? I grew in up in Portugal when Salazar
ruled. Because of that, freedom of speech is precious to me. Let me explain.
To establish and grow a dictatorship you need a minimum of two key
ingredients. The first is to keep the population in the dark. Dictators
cannot have their rules questioned in any way, hence censorship. The first
thing to be censored is the news – all news. Back then, that meant
newspapers, television, books, magazines and documentaries (local and
international). Now it also must include the internet.
Because the population started to communicate in other ways, the
censorship was extended to include song lyrics, theatre and movies. But
that was still not enough, so "agitators", as Salazar called them, were
dealt with: a special branch of police was formed and given extreme powers.
Many Portuguese suddenly disappeared some never to be seen again. It was
easy enough – most of the special jails were conveniently located next door
to cemeteries. And with the military under the control of Salazar, fear,
the other key ingredient for a dictatorship, was established.
To save themselves, some "agitators" left Portugal. They had to do it in
secret, using illegal means (border control was strict) and go to countries
that didn’t have an extradition agreement with Portugal. And they had to
say goodbye to their families not knowing if and when they would see them
again, as their families were now also under supervision.
But what to do with word of mouth? Easy! Unless approved, all public
gatherings were banned and strongly dealt with if courageous (silly?!)
people went ahead and held them. And remember, you never knew who was next
to you. How strong was the dictatorship? With the police and the military,
Salazar ruled Portugal for 36 years and his followers continued for another
six.
So why have I recounted the history of the Portuguese dictatorship?
Because now, here in Australia, my written communication is being
supervised. Having tried to publicly and privately ask a number of
questions from the ASTC Committee and never receiving an answer, I have
recently discovered that I have been added to LinkedIn’s moderator’s list.
In essence, I can be censored. Who will be next? And what can I expect? As
an active member of the Society for over 15 years, am I going to be
expelled? And if I am, who is going to ask the hard questions? Is the
membership going to let the Committee rule like Salazar – absolutely and
with no accountability? Over to you.
Ana Young
