Alas, we must also think seriously about what we must do if, despite our best efforts, we lose our access to the Internet.
The progressives have, for the most part, been effectively excluded from talk radio, the print media, and the airwaves. (There are worthy exceptions, of course -- the Krugmans, the Goodmans, "Real News Radio, etc. -- but their rarity only validates the right-wing media bias). Now the Internet, the last effective refuge of progressive-liberal opinion might be lost.
But the protests of free men and women, denied one outlet, will seek and find another. "Truth crushed to Earth, will rise again!" (William Cullen Bryant).
But how? Here are some suggestions:
American dissenters might find assistance abroad, in the "overseas internet." They could seek, and likely would be welcomed, at such websites as The BBC and The Guardian of England, and The Toronto Star. It is one thing for a government to silence dissent within its borders. It is quite another to attempt to stifle dissent abroad.
Some brave souls might try to "break into" the "privatized" Internet, inviting legal retaliation from the corporate owners. A court challenge to the restriction of access could prove to be productive.
Samizdat. (From the Russian: "Sam Izdatel'tsvo" -- self-publishing). The dissident movements in the Shah's Iran and in the Soviet Union had no access whatever to the state-run media -- indeed, their attempts to get their message out were ruthlessly repressed. And yet, eventually, they triumphed. Their modes of communication, although primitive, were manifestly effective.
Today, even if the progressives were totally excluded from the media (not likely), they have far better alternatives than the Iranian and Soviet dissidents.
In Iran, the dissident message was distributed via audio cassette tapes which, when received, were copied and then passed on. Similarly, in Soviet Russia, where ordinary citizens were denied access to duplicating and copy machines, manuscripts were laboriously copied on typewriters, with five carbons, and then distributed with the solemn promise that the recipients would also produce carbon copies.
If the American political "underground" is reduced to hand-to-hand distribution of "subversive" material, it will enjoy enormous advantages denied to the Iranian and Soviet dissidents. Rather than taking several hours or even days producing five copies of contraband opinion pieces, all that and more can be accomplished in a few seconds at the computer where dissident opinions can readily be transferred to CDs and thumb drives. And while the Soviet officials could restrict access to copiers and duplicators, there is simply no way that the digital genii can be put back into the bottle. There are too many computers "out there," and they can not all be recalled and shut down without shutting down the economy as well.
However, it is most unlikely that we would be reduced to copying and passing samizdat CDs and thumb drives hand to hand. An American government reduced to such levels of suppression and thought-control would probably not be tolerated, given our political traditions. But one never knows. Who among us could have imagined what we have come to since the 9/11 attacks.
The Voice TO America. Despite the corruption and downfall of the once-magnificent American media, there remains in the United States, one untouched beacon of journalistic integrity: The Voice of America. The VoA understands that the best, indeed perhaps the only, guarantor of credibility is an uncompromising allegiance to truth and to scrupulous confirmation. (See my "What if American loses its voice").
Ironically, this impeccable source of news is not available to the American public, for according to its charter, Voice of America broadcasts and news copy are not to be distributed domestically. Thus the audience of the Voice of America, in fifty languages throughout the world, gain unbiased and accurate information about the United States, that American citizens are hard-pressed to obtain from their own media.
So my suggestion: Given the deterioration and the present peril of the American democracy, perhaps it is time for "The Voice TO America." Of course, the aforementioned journalists in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere are individually performing a fine service for us with the insight and integrity that we once enjoyed from our own media.
Still, seventy-five years ago the United States came to the defense of democracy in Europe. So perhaps it is time for the Europeans to return the favor, now that our own democracy is in peril. If the Internet, the last refuge of the dissenting American progressives, is lost (or even before this happens) it will be time for the establishment of "Radio Free America" and "The Voice TO America."
Today, many independent progressive websites are facing grave financial crises. Where are the liberal billionaire "angels" -- eg. Dan Cuban, Nick Hannuer, etc.? Where are the Hollywood millionaires -- Streisand, Beatty, DiCaprio, Sorkin, etc. -- now that we need them? A few five figure checks -- pocket change for these guys -- could keep endangered websites like The Smirking Chimp, Democratic Underground, Truthout, Consortium News and Democracy Now, afloat. Absent substantial grants from the affluent, these worthy websites desperately need support from their users.
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