Beyond Orwellian: Liberty and technology today

By: Robert Scheer

For democracy, privacy is the ball game. Without the assurance of a zone of inviolate space, both physical and mental, that a citizen can inhabit without fear of observation by others, there is no guarantee of the essential sovereignty of the individual promised in the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution. That should be clear, as it is to most people who have been oppressed by the tyranny of authoritarian regimes. Indeed, as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell brilliantly established in their classic writing on this subject, the totality of societal observation over the individual is the defining antithesis of freedom, even when that observation is gained through hidden and subtle persuasion.

The French Muslim ignored by Israel

The African man who saved the lives of at least six Jews in Paris has gone largely unacknowledged by the Jewish state, which judges people not by their acts but by their color and religion.

Source: haaretz.com

By: Kobi Niv

Lassana Bathily’s name probably does not mean very much to many people. He is a black Muslim immigrant, a 24-year-old Malian citizen who….

You might have thought that the above sentence was going to continue with a verb, such as “murdered,” “raped” or, at the very least, “stole” — but no. Bathily, the 24-year-old black Muslim immigrant, is the man whosaved at least six Jews from being murdered during the terror attack at the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris, where he worked, by hiding them in the walk-in freezer and turning off its power switch.

Within a week, the French interior minister granted him the citizenship he had applied for six months earlier. This was after about 300,000 French citizens who regarded Bathily as a national hero signed a petition asking that the government do so.

8 years old Jana Tamimi Is Palestine’s Newest Citizen Journalist (Video)

 Jana Tamimi is the West Bank’s youngest citizen journalist and is documenting the resettlement of her town by Israeli settlers.