Copyright enforcement as benevolent assimilation
http://www.korakora.org/node/38
Dear Joel Tenenbaum,
My name is Fatima Lasay, artist from the Philippines.
Reading about the transformation of your life under this trial brought about by the American legal system and the American recording industry, I am reminded of the history of the transformation of life in the Philippines brought about by American expansion in the late 19th century.
It seems far fetched, but your account makes me think that Expansionist Corporate America is now fiercely colonizing its own people.
For example, imperial America engaged in a massive re-education (i.e. indoctrination) campaign in the Philippines upon occupation. The present copyright regime has a strong indoctrination agenda in Asia, and I’m sure in your country as well.
Another example, is when US Senator Albert Beveride was strongly advocating the use of the rod in bending our people to the will of Expansionism. This resulted in the massacre of close to a million Filipinos and the deployment of 126,000 US troops. Copyright enforcement and its attendant processes of intimidation, searches and seizure, and other threats is getting closer and closer to grave violence. In many other countries, lives have already been ruined or lost while escaping police enforcement of copyright. If many of the 40,000 people in the US being sued have no other choice but to settle to escape such violence, then it seems true what China says about America, that it is a “money democracy.” Where commercial lobbying is so powerful in US Congress, then laws are enacted on the basis of profit, and not social justice. This is evident in the numerous injustices faced by the American people - racism, poverty and an incapacitated health care system.
Here (http://korakora.org/sites/default/files/citizen-or-subject.jpg) is an interesting illustration by Horace Taylor printed in an American publication called “The Verdict.” I assume this was published during the Philippine-American War at the end of the 19th century. It is called “Citizen or Subject.” It shows the Statue of Liberty who has walked down into the sea from her pedestal. She holds in her right hand an image of a Filipino inside a folded American flag. The sign behind her says, “65,000 dying troops in the Philippines is a business investment.” The illustration’s caption reads. “Citizen or Subject - Which? Do I represent the idea of popular government to 10 million of these, or am I simply a trademark for goods of American trust manufacture?”
Perhaps now you can put the American people inside that folded flag, and Lady Liberty can ask the same question.
Ironically, your country’s Rep. Wexler said at the CISAC World Copyright Summit this year: “The creativity and innovation that have transformed the United States and enhanced our standard of living should stand as MODELS for nations still in transition to healthy and resilient modern economies. Everyone here knows that intellectual property is the backbone of global economic competitiveness.”
As they say, what goes around comes around?
Although you may perhaps be fighting a legal battle on the basis of copyright law, I think that the fight is a greater fight for change. As an artist, I know that copyright makes no sense in truly creative work, and I believe that copyright law has to go away - like the laws of slavery and imperial expansion.
I truly wish you and your legal team the best. I also hope that the 39,999 others, and Courtney Loves and Trent Reznors in your country stand up with you and against “benevolent assimilation.”
In solidarity,
Fatima Lasay
Quezon City, Philippines
http://www.korakora.org/