Review
previous electronic activism
campaigns and home pages
Protect
your freedom ~
Resist the Interception of Communications Act
The government
gazetted the Interception
of Communications Act on 3 August 2007. This legalises the interception
and monitoring of postal and electronic communications, including
emails, faxes, letters, phone calls and text messages. The Act is
invasive, repressive, undemocratic and unconstitutional. It is indicative
of the current government’s paranoia, and its retrogressive
instinct to prevent dissent by limiting communications - as if it
could dictate people’s very thoughts. The law is just the
latest restriction of Zimbabweans’ freedoms. Non-cooperation
remains an important part of resisting these restrictions and protecting
your rights.
Here are some
things you can do to resist the ICA:
Know
your rights. The ICA makes certain types of government
snooping and interception legal - but it does not make sending or
receiving information inherently illegal or even threatened. It
is not illegal to receive human rights and civic information either
via email, through the post or by leaflet dropped in your post box.
Refuse to allow the ICA to intimidate you into silence or ignorance.
Stand
up for what you believe in. Put your name to what you write
and think, and refuse to be intimidated into not reading or receiving
the information you want.
Make
interception harder. The effort of sifting through emails
that feature “key words” like democracy, freedom or
justice is enormous. The more emails that contain words like this,
the harder it will be for the regime to keep track of all of them.
Add a signature at the bottom of your email which is an inspiring,
motivating, phrase you believe in. This could be something like:
It is
time for mass action: mobilise and fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Be part of the movement for respect and dignity: stay-away from
unprotected sex.
Or add even
just a series of words and organisations which you believe might
be on the government's list of key words to look out for on email.
If enough people do this, sniffer programmes will pick up on key
words that the censors will have deemed "malicious" and
they'll soon be bored by ploughing through loads of innocuous messages.
Resist
paranoia. As an act of defiance, an act of faith, and certainly
an act of patriotism in the hope for a new democratic Zimbabwe,
remain on important email mailing address lists. These include Kubatana.net,
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
(MMPZ), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), National Constitutional
Association (NCA), Sokwanele, SW Radio Africa, Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU), ZWNews, and others.
Protect
your privacy. Be aware of what you are sending, and to
whom. Like any form of communication, email can be intercepted or
observed. If you do want to communicate something subversive, do
so intelligently. If you're afraid of receiving or imparting information,
create a web based email address in another name. Hotmail, Gmail
and Yahoo addresses are free and they're internet based. Being internet
based means that your messages do not pass through a local Internet
Service Provider's mail servers. Perhaps you don't have access to
the internet at work but you could always use an internet café
once a week in order to stay informed. And if you can't be bothered
to go this extra mile then you should reflect on whether you believe
freedom of expression is worth protecting and fighting for. Or not.
Share these
tips with your friends, family and colleagues. Discuss the ICA and
help others know what it means, and what they can do about it. Stand
together, and protect your rights by claiming them.
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