https://cryptome.org/2016/06/appelbaum-solidarity.pdf
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saturday 11th June 2016
We, the undersigned, are a group of women who
have been friends, colleagues, co-workers or
partners of Jacob "Jake" Appelbaum over many years.
We have decided that we must speak out due to the
nature of this coordinated and one-sided attack
on his character and work. It has become clear
the mainstream media are unwilling to fact-check,
and only too willing to persist in spreading
uncorroborated and unfalsifiable rumor. This
statement is to give our positive experiences
with Jake from our first-hand, long-term
perspectives, over many public and private situations.
We do not claim to know what happened in precise
situations that we were not present for, and we
do not want to trivialise and minimise any pain
that may have been caused. But we are observing
beyond the allegations, that are not for us to
comment on specifically an egregious character
assassination is being played out with numerous
defamations online and offline. This is not how
the truth can be determined, or justice for
anyone done, whether law enforcement is to be trusted or not.
We would like to state that our experiences with
Jake are different than what is often being
portrayed. We know Jake to be a kind, loyal and
dedicated person. We do understand Jake can be
outspoken and provocative regarding a number of
issues which can come across as offensive
however, we have never found Jake to be as is being alleged.
We are not apologists for any genuine wrongdoing,
and as women working in this community we know
that there are struggles around sexism. However,
simple punitivism is not how the human rights
that we all defend should be enforced or framed.
We believe that an open and evidence-based
discussion in this situation is necessary to
allow our community to develop better processes
to handle any allegations. Furiously targeting
one person without allowing for proper fact
analysis will never solve the bigger structural
problem that has been highlighted. We should use
this moment to grow and make things better, not
destroy the movement and create divisions. We
need to create a channel for discussions on how to make things better.
We stand in solidarity with Jake against the way
this is being handled and on the side of justice
for all, in hope the truth on all sides will be
able to come to light in a rational and constructive manner.
Renata Avila, Human Rights Lawyer
Susan Benn, Artist
Cathleen Berger, Policy Advisor
Geraldine de Bastion, Policy Expert
Annegret Falter, Political Scientist
Marie Gutbub, Journalist
Sarah Harrison, Journalist
Christy Lange, Writer
Isik Mater, Infosec Specialist
Angela Richter, Theatre Director
Felicity Ruby, PhD Candidate
Joana Veron, Lawyer
The initial signatories to this statement (named
above) have opened an email address to receive
additional signatories as well as any other constructive comments.
Email: [email protected]
Key ID: 3D1CEF58
Key Fingerprint: 2A1D 7685 7AF0 ADD5 F3E5 D5B0 748C FAE0 3D1C EF58
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]
# @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
