Bulgarian MPs Wear Anonymous/Guy Fawkes Masks To Protest ACTA

from the good-for-them dept

We recently pointed out that a bunch of Polish politicians wore Guy Fawkes/Anonymous masks in Parliament to protest ACTA:

It appears that some politicians in Bulgaria thought that was a good idea, and have done the same thing:
It’s really quite fascinating how much of a meme this has become within politics. While some still like to pretend that Anonymous is just a bunch of vandalizing kids, it certainly seems that some of what Anonymous stands for is having a real impact. I still think that the DDoS attacks are dumb and do more harm than good, but it’s quite fascinating to see the wider ideas of what Anonymous is fighting for percolate all the way up into politics around the globe.

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Comments on “Bulgarian MPs Wear Anonymous/Guy Fawkes Masks To Protest ACTA”

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34 Comments
Chris From Poland says:

If it weren’t for the DDoS Attacks, the Polish media would never have reported on ACTA, the Polish people would never have taken to the streets and ACTA would never have been questioned. Yes, DDoS is a crude blunt instrument, but sometimes one has to smack someone over the head with a hammer to make them notce something.

Rapnel (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Interesting.

The more thought I give to denial of service attacks the more I am inclined to see them as more of the natural and most effective means of short burst protest on the Internet. They are, in effect, a street riot without the street, blood and tear gas.

If only all of DC could be targeted, but, then again, they’re already denying service well enough on their own now aren’t they?

Robert (profile) says:

Are they sincere?

They don the mask, but do they believe in the cause?

Let’s not forget politicians are experts at BSing people to gain support. I know, some actually have integrity, but how do we know the Ron Paul’s from the Mitt Romney’s? Meaning how do we know who’s legit, with integrity, and who’s just spinning yarn, saying what people want to hear?

Politicos are not stupid, they know the youth love rebellion and the best way to connect with them is to provide the image (or illusion?) of supporting what the youth support (aka: Anonymous).

DDoS is one thing, a form of sensorship if you will, but those on the receiving end are simply being given a taste of their own medicine anyhow.

Cohesion is better. If that takes DDoS’s to do that, then so be it! We need to align ourselves with a common goal.

We can’t be natural iron ore, domains pointing in all direction. We need to be even stronger than neodymium. We need to be like an electromagnet at the scrapyard. All domains aligned, in a Hallback array, so none of our sub-collective forces repel one another.

That’s what we need more than anything!

Too bad we can’t DDoS the cable and airwaves. Imagine Synapse (movie Antitrust) broadcasting a message like that, all mobile devices, all broadcast mediums, and all websites.

If Anonymous did that, you’d have everyone’s attention (I’m certain the apathetic general population in US/Canada would certainly wake the hell up if you interrupted their favourite shows).

Anonymous Coward says:

In V for Vendatta...

The Fawkes masks was a sign of the People; those who’d lived, those who’d died, those who’d fought and those who’d resisted. I’d quote the line that Evie said at the end in response to ‘who was V’, but will leave that to imdb.

I see it more fitting if it was interpretted that politicians use the masks to represent the people than to represent Anonymous. The debate whether Anon represents the people, or is more like Loki is still under debate.

SMobius says:

Re: In V for Vendatta...

The Fawkes Mask is meant to be a sign of the people and should be seen as such.

It’s adoption by anonymous has reinforced it’s use as a symbol of protest against authority. More an more people who do not necessarily agree with Anonymous’s views are using it as such.

I think Anonymous can take some of the credit for this trend though.

Rapnel (profile) says:

Re: In V for Vendatta...

If the people were not anonymous then the people would not have Anonymous. Anonymous are the people. Our corporations have been and are attempting to rule and reign over the free world at the expense of the people, the anonymous.

A politician seen donning a Fawkes mask can roughly be indicative, in so far as we’ve seen, as a representative of the people in the truest sense.

You do not have to agree with Anonymous or their ways at all, however, to believe you’re not a part thereof is to have played into the hands of those that are truly not anonymous – the 1% if you will.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

Whining is not a mature response. Being babies about it and putting on masks as some sort of protest is childish. Politics is about the will of the electorate, and if the people elected a government, the government is to do their job.

Childish protests both look stupid and demean the concept that they are trying to embrace.

Anonymous Dude says:

A funny thing happened...

…to me this morning. I was standing outside an electronics store waiting for it to open. Another guy was waiting too, and noticed my T-shirt with a Guy Fawkes mask on it. He asked me if I was “Anonymous”. I thought that was funny, so I replied in the affirmative. (I’m not in the group called Anonymous, but I wish to remain anonymous, so I wasn’t really lying.) Anyway, we start talking about downloading stuff, and he tells me that he used to download a lot of music until he realized that it was “stealing” and “wrong”. We sort of debated this and I asked him what he thought about the whole Megaupload thing. Get this: he didn’t even know what Megaupload was! LOL!

Chace Torrence says:

Big business is stupid. They are not in our future because fossil fuels and the insanely wealthy are not. The only thing non-renewable resources should be used for are national defense, and the development of clean alternatives. The last country to have fuel will be the most defended one, and their policies will be what’s written in the history books. So the sooner we ditch these morons, the better.

Screw big business!

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