Plan
TEXT: The State Department should expand its Internet freedom agenda to include an increase in technical assistance for uncensored Internet access for Bahraini civil society.
First is Revisionism
The Bahraini state is one of misinformation. The Al Khalifa regime has taken over domestic human rights organizations and even rewrites history books taught in schools. It’s no surprise that they have ramped up Internet censorship in the past few months – not only do they fear the Internet’s unitary and democratic potential, but its unique ability to expose their lies.
Desmukh September 21 (Fahad, “The Internet in Bahrain: breaking the monopoly of information.” 9/21/11. http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/3409)
When there is breaking news…exacerbate the desire for change.
Revisionism abdicates the regime of responsibility and guarantees more violence.
Kurasawa ‘7 (Fuyuki, Associate Professor of Sociology at York University, 07, The Work of Global Justice: Human Rights as Practices, p. 47-48, OG)
We should now examine … if not entirely impossible (Wieviorka 1998: 17–79).
Second is Torture
The apprehension and torture of online protesters via network monitoring has increasingly silenced dissent. The loss of internet-anonymity has made the regime’s human rights violations invisible.
BCHR ’11 (Bahrain Center for Human Rights, “Bahrain: After destruction of the actual protesting site at "the Pearl", the government shifts to eliminate virtual protests.” May 17th, 2011. http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/4101)
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its deep concern … calls demanding their arrest and punishment.
Nothing is worse than torture. It reduces its victims to screaming humiliated bodies begging to die. It is the ultimate denial of human dignity.
Luban 9 (David, M. Phil., Ph.D., is University Professor and Professor of Law and Philosophy, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC. “Human Dignity, Humiliation, and Torture,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 19:3 September. Project Muse)
In the case of torture…The denial of human dignity is close to total.
Torture is the internal logic of a political order that relies upon violence that culminates in extinction.
Dillon and Campbell ’93 (Mick and David the political subject of violence, the political and the ethical)
Nowhere do the yawning duplicities … the real prospect of extinction.
The Internet has radically changed politics- opening the Internet allows the people of Bahrain to reclaim agency in the face of oppressive regime power.
Kahn and Kellner ‘4 (Richard Kahn is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate School of Education, UCLA who has recently written the entry on "Internet and Cyberculture" for the forthcoming George Ritzer (Ed.), Sage Encyclopedia of Social Theory. Douglas Kellner is George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA and is author of many books on social theory, politics, history, and culture, including, most recently, Media Spectacle and From 9/11 to Terror War: The Dangers of the Bush Legacy. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/oppositionalpoliticstechnology.pdf
The analyses in this paper … constitute much of our global and local reality.
Free Internet would give a voice to those who have been tortured – it’s the ideal space for the worldly self-extension and catharsis that can alleviate the torture victim’s pain.
Scarry 87 (Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University, Elaine, The Body in Pain, 1987, BH)
In this closed world … can be swallowed alive by the body.
Your rejection of torture should be unconditional- it’s an evil that can never be justified, regardless of the consequences.
Gross ‘4 (Oren, Law Professor @ University of Minnesota, Minnesota Law Review, June 2004, p. 1492-1493)
Absolutists - those who believe … to refrain from torturing others.
Engaging civil society and government actors is key to an ethical approach of stopping human rights violations.
Kurasawa ‘9 (Fuyuki, Associate Professor of Sociology at York University, “A Message in a Bottle: Bearing Witness as a Mode of Transnational Practice,” Theory Culture Society, 26(92), p. 103)
Hence, the intersubjectivity … and civic actors to respond to them.
And just because one actor intervenes does not mean another should sit on the sideline – we all have an ethical obligation to act.
Aiken 77 (William professor of philosophy at Catham College, 1977, World Hunger and Moral Obligation, pg. 53-4)
There is a danger in adopting this “last resort” … a minimal condition for obligation.
Enter the U.S- we have the technology to circumvent the Internet of oppressive regimes like Bahrain’s but we don’t because they serve our security interests.
The Frontier Post ‘11 (“A Hilarious Joke”, The Frontier Post, June 14th 2011, ONLINE, http://www.biyokulule.com/view_content.php?articleid=3588)
Funnily, the Obama administration … in the long run, for sure.
And Hillary’s speech at a recent global Internet freedom conference proves that not only is a globally coordinated effort the most successful approach, but that a firm U.S. stance is key to deter companies from selling censorship technology to oppressive regimes.
Hillary Clinton, December 8, 2011 (Secretary of State, Fokker Terminal, The Hague, Netherlands http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/12/178511.htm)
Delivering on internet freedom … Thank you all very much.
Shadow network can’t be monitored or shut down.
Korea Times 6/11 (Obama Leads Global Efforts for ‘Shadow Internet’”, Korea Times, June 14th 2011, ONLINE, http://www.biyokulule.com/view_content.php?articleid=3588)
Such telecommunications network … it reported.
Third is Calculations
The future is unknowable and predictions are guesswork. Our focus should be on preventing global injustices occurring NOW.
Kurasawa ‘7 (Associate Professor of Sociology at York University, 07, Fuyuki, The Work of Global Justice: Human Rights as Practices, p. 1)
When engaging in the practice … harm to our successors.
The “any-risk” mentality is the logic of torture.
Evans ‘5 (Rebecca, Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A Human Rights Perspective. The Ethics of Torture. 2005. The New Press.)
The danger with this, … but broadly targeted groups (43; 167; and 198).
Obsession with risk aversion leads to policy paralysis.
Rescher 83 (Nicholas, PhD in Philosophy from Princeton, former President of the American Philosophical Association, RISK p 192-193)
And so we are led back to … absolute security is absolute stultification.
The “any-risk” mentality makes decision-making impossible—evaluate probability over magnitude.
Meskill ‘9 (David, professor at Colorado School of Mines and PhD from Harvard, “The "One Percent Doctrine" and Environmental Faith,” Dec 9, http://davidmeskill.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-percent-doctrine-and-environmental.html)
Tom Friedman's piece today … with the time (just barely) to take action.
You should privilege impact claims that acknowledge violence at a local level- bold impact claims from pundits have a worse track record than a coin flip – voting aff is the only way to stop victimization that eliminates the ability to create change.
Guild 10 (“The Illusion of Punditry”, Gerald, June 25, http://geraldguild.com/blog/2010/06/25/illusion-of-punditry/, Gerald Guild is a licensed psychologist, outdoor enthusiast and lover of life)
Have you ever wondered …. rational choice to stop victimizing ourselves.
Fantasmic threats to security are inaccurate – privileging extinction claims falsely frames the debate.
Huysmans ‘6 (Jeff, Ph.D. (University of Leuven) is Lecturer at the Open University (UK), Agency and the politics of protection: implications for security studies,” The Politics of Protection: Sites of Insecurity and Political Agency, p. 8)
Such an approach accounts … between security speaking and writing agents (Bourdieu 1982; Weldes et al 1999; Bigo 2000).
Our demand turns the tables on the biopolitical apparatus. We utilize the tension between freedom and control to articulate a series of demands which are a strategic reversal of power relations.
Campbell, Professor of IR @ Univ of Newcastle, 98 (David, Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity)
Recognizing the possibility of rearticulating …. which identity is articulated.
