Kapitaali.com

Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You’ll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier. 

There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it. But even under the best scenarios, their work will only apply to things published in the future. Everything up until now will have been lost. That is too high a price to pay. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It’s outrageous and unacceptable. “I agree,” many say, “but what can we do? The companies hold the copyrights, they make enormous amounts of money by charging for access, and it’s perfectly legal — there’s nothing we can do to stop them.” But there is something we can, something that’s already being done: we can fight back. Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world. And you have: trading passwords with colleagues, filling download requests for friends. Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by. You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends. But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral — it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy. Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it — their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies. There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access. 

I am also still suffering from severe malnutrition due to the difficult conditions and lack of food, while trying to stay strong for our very young daughter, who still needs both her mother and father.

What are we waiting for? Do we wait until I lose my husband? Do we wait until my little daughter grows up without her father? Time is passing, and Ahmed’s condition is becoming more difficult every day under these devastating circumstances in Gaza.

We urgently need $1,500 to buy the necessary medications for my husband and continue his treatment. Please do not leave us alone during this difficult time. Any donation, share, or support could truly make a difference in saving our family.

I am begging you, please help us before it is too late. 🙏💔

To donate, click here.⬇️

GoFundMe

Deadline 13 July

Subject: Collecting money for my mother's operation in her back

Current process:

USD 2,751 / $3,563

Vetted by @sar-soor

Vetted by @opencommunion

Vetted by @el-shab-hussein

💔 My Mother’s Life Depends on Your Kindness

My mother is in Gaza, where every day is a struggle to survive. Some time ago, she was injured when shrapnel from nearby shelling struck her back. She tried to endure the pain for as long as she could, but her condition has become much worse.

Today, my mother is in critical condition. She suffers from unbearable back pain, extreme exhaustion, and her suffering is increasing with every passing day.

After examining her, the doctors told us that she urgently needs emergency back surgery. They warned us that delaying the operation could lead to serious complications and further deterioration of her condition.

The cost of this life-saving surgery is $1,000.

Thanks to the kindness of generous people, we have managed to raise only $188 so far. While we are deeply grateful for every donation, we still need $812 to reach the goal.

For my family, trapped in the devastating conditions in Gaza, raising this amount alone is simply impossible. Every day we wait means more pain for my mother and more fear that her condition will become irreversible.

Iam begging you from the bottom of my heart: please help us save my mother.

Every donation no matter how small brings us closer to giving her the urgent surgery she desperately needs. And if you cannot donate, please share this post with your friends and family. Your share could reach someone who is able to help.

Please don’t let my mother’s pain continue because we couldn’t raise the remaining $812 in time.

Thank you for your kindness, your prayers, and your compassion. ❤️🙏

We urgently need just $60 to buy milk and diapers for her. Please, if you can, donate or share our story. Even the smallest act of kindness can bring relief to my little girl. ❤️

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My grandmother needs your help.

She urgently needs an expensive treatment that we cannot afford. If we cannot buy her medication, she may be forced to undergo emergency surgery, and there is a serious risk to her life.

Please, I love my grandmother and I want her to stay with us. Every donation, no matter how small, brings us closer to our €600 goal and gives her a better chance of getting the treatment she desperately needs.

Please don't leave us alone. Your kindness, your donation, or even sharing our campaign could help save her life. 🙏💔

My grandmother's life = €600 😭

Imagine someone you love fighting for their life simply because they can't afford a surgery and the medicine they urgently need.

Please help my grandmother stay with us. 💔

My mother is still fighting for her life in the hospital.

My pregnant wife is in the ICU after her condition suddenly deteriorated.

For the last 5 days, not a single donation has come in.

Right now, we urgently need $300.

I'm begging you please don't let silence be the reason I lose my family.

Donate or share before it's too late.

$290 still stands between my family and the care they urgently need.

People have chosen to “park” their rented scooters and bikes wherever they want, including intersections, sidewalks, and other areas which comprise the Commons, the area owned by all in the community, that is maintained through public taxes. People are also leaving these bikes and scooters on private property, and on tiny bits of the city that are usually reserved for trees, or that act as divisions between pieces of an urban space such as bike lanes, medians, entryways, and parkways.

This has created a problem that has not been seen before: voluntary, intentional, migrating, mobile, functional, litter. The bikes and scooters are disruptive to the locations where they are abandoned and, because they are constantly moving, the issues of abandonment and refuse are constantly cycling (sorry) throughout an urban region. Yesterday’s bike or scooter blight might be around today, or it might move for a few days and then return. In short, the bikes and scooters share a civic pattern similar to that of homelessness. Thus, in an unexpected way, the dockless bikes and scooters are also competing with the homeless for pieces of urban space upon which to temporarily rest.

[…]

It is one thing to create a transportation sharing system with vehicles that require, either due to sufficient expense or size, some type of accountability or responsibility. It is another to dump a set of bikes and scooters in a city without racks, or places to “put” them. When companies “disrupt” the Commons by installing products aimed at “disruptors,” there will be disruption. However, for those disruptive companies to expect their customers to then follow rules, is naive at best.

One argument against these transportation-share companies area is similar to one that has been made against Google busses, Uber, and Lyft: that these companies profit from using publicly funded roads, bus stops, and other parts of the Commons, without significantly contributing to their upkeep, and without concern for others within them. The strongest argument for San Francisco has been that the abandoned (parked) bikes and scooters are dangerous and create safety hazards.

Concern for others is the foundation of sociability and the fabric of community. How we are bound to each other to live peaceably to a large extent hinges on our ability to cooperate and to collaborate and share with each other. Cooperation isn’t an option for humans: we are dependent upon each other to live. Indeed, all of the systems that we rely upon are built upon massive amounts of human cooperation.