All who claim anyone is in charge of Million Mask March knows little of Anonymous. There is no official site, and nobody is in charge: it’s a movement, not an organization.
Quote from the Anonymous website: http://millionmaskmarch.org/
“To remind this world what it has forgotten, that fairness, justice and freedom are more than just words,” is the stated aim, according to the gathering’s Facebook page.
November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK and this was deemed an auspicious day to hit the streets by Anonymous, and not only in Merry England, all over the developed world.
Reports came in by the next day of the mostly festive events as the more youthful generation and sympathisers took to the streets in many places, hundreds of people turning out in New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and other US cities. A focal point of the DC protest was the ongoing, invasive surveillance methods employed by the National Security Agency but elsewhere it was the divisive economics and inequalities.
Twelve were arrested in London.
One Filipino protester told local (Philippines) media that they were protesting against rampant pork-barrel politics in the country. In Indonesia a lack of co-operation from the government caused confusion as to where the protest was to be held.
Sara Firth [@SaraFirth_RT] writing for RT.com says, “Often described in the media as a loose-knit collective, Anonymous was propelled to public prominence over the last years for a series of politically-motivated cyber-attacks on businesses and government institutions. Groups calling themselves by that name targeted entertainment industry, financial institutions, websites of governments from Latin America to Asia and international organizations.
“The agenda of those behind Tuesday’s [November 5, 2013] protests was wide-ranging. The movement is said to be growing in strength as global citizens report greater dissatisfaction with their local governments and because of the perception that corporations have a stranglehold on international politics.
“The deeply unpopular Monsanto Corporation, which champions the benefits of genetically modified food, was among the favourite targets of those who were demonstrating Tuesday.
“‘We are not slowing down, we are speeding up,’ John Anthony Fairhurst, one of the organizers of the Million Mask March in Washington, DC, told RT. ‘These people all over the world need some serious change.’”
As a worldwide movement, Anonymous has rallied in support of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and army soldier plus whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Also supporting the Arab Spring anti-dictatorship protests in the Middle East as well as the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started in New York City two years ago – though inspired by Tunisia – but has since spread across the world as a means of addressing the elitist ties between corporations, the military-industrial complex, arms suppliers, and fearful governments; in Hong Kong, the poverty gap and a truly democratic voting regime figure large.
The Occupy Movement in Hong Kong has left its Central site and moved into small pockets of occupation away from the limelight. Well, there is a rather large political grouping that has taken the name of Occupy and is planning rallies but limited to protesting against the lack of a universal vote in Hong Kong – a circumscribed platform and not at all like the pure form Occupy Movement that today made its reminding remarks heard from quite a few places, though mostly in the economically developed world.
In what this writer sees a major gaff, the supporters on this local political group took part in a deputation sent to Taiwan, seeking that island’s support which will not endear them to either the Hong Kong administration or to Beijing. But also, what was the point of that trip?
Just voting in a Chief Executive is a poor alternative to having a real and functioning democracy of participation – which is a long way off even in the so-called democratic countries, whether the USA or UK.
