The text loads slowly. It actually freezes if you're in another tab, which IMO is a poor implementation decision; it means you actually have to sit and watch it come on the screen word by word.
For those who either don't want to wait for it to load, or didn't get to it before it got taken down, here's what it says:
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To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side - tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become. We salute your determination to be non-violent in the face of the regime's brutality, and admire your willingness to pursue justice, not mere revenge. All tyrants will fall, and thanks to your bravery Bashar Al-Assad is next.
To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country - rise up against the regime! - Anonymous
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Once the text has loaded, it links to several revolutionary sites, and also scrolls images across the top that apparently link to youtube videos.
To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side - tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become. We salute your determination to be non-violent in the face of the regime's brutality, and admire your willingness to pursue justice, not mere revenge. All tyrants will fall, and thanks to your bravery Bashar Al-Assad is next.
To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country - rise up against the regime! - Anonymous
<!-- mod.gov.sy was seized for the people by Poppy :) Support the fight vs oppressive regimes in #operationfreedom @ irc.anonops.li Props to the hundreds of Syrians that had mailed this server with messages of protest over the past year. You're admirably, recklessly brave! -->
This is a very good hack and also a reminder for Western countries and political actors that these kind of break-ins are not necessarily criminals acts but may be political demonstrations. If a break-in is non-destructive and has as motivation a political demonstration, in a democracy it should be treated as such and not be brushed aside as "criminal".
A break-in, by definition, is criminal regardless of the motivation. This would be like breaking into city hall to stage a protest -- the protest part is democratic, the break-in part is criminal.
When the folks making the laws are criminals, breaking the law is still criminal. By definition.
Whether it's right or wrong is a different and more nuanced question; but it's not the question addressed by the parent. I sympathise with your perspective, but I dislike "debate drift."
In that case, using the word 'criminal' as if it's at all relevant to the situation is 'debate drift'. It's a loaded word and its use as a label carries well known connotations. I'm not disputing the tautological definition, I'm disputing the implicatons of invoking it.
Put another way, you don't often hear Gandhi or Martin Luther King referred to as 'criminals', even if by definition it's the truth. There's a reason for that, and there's a reason why I'd tend to be pretty skeptical of someone who chose such a label for those men in conversation, technically factual though it may be.
That's not the way I read the original use of "criminal," but that's a legitimate argument to make. The thing to do would have been to say something like "I agree with you denotatively, but disagree with your connotations," and explain why. Not to fight debate drift with more debate drift.
>When the folks making the laws are criminals, breaking the law is still criminal. By definition.
some other definition:
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "
On the contrary, "by definition" has a very clear meaning in mathematics and logic. On HN and other forums with logically-slanted people, it's used to reduce ambiguity in drifting debates like this one.
This gets to be a complicated question. Basically, if you believe that your government is corrupt and no longer represents you, you may have the right or even a responsibility to revolt [1]. This gets fuzzy with right and wrong. You see if you pull off a revolution, you get to set the rules. You may even be able to call the losers criminals and try them as such. In some cases you could even make up laws and try the prior government members for them retroactively and get away with it if enough people think that what you are doing is right and just. However, until you win, the current government will consider you a criminal.
General McArthur, after the fire bombing of Tokyo and other large cities in Japan said that if the US doesn't win the war, he will be a war criminal. the definers tend to be the winners at least initially. From the longer term historical perspective, not so much, for example, Japanese internment during WW2.
The Syrian government has already said the protests are illegal. So if we follow pure logic, they are all criminals and should be locked up. This comes back to a fundamental question of democracy, who owns the government?
It's far too easy to jump to "if the non-digital equivilent happened.." comparisons without realising that they don't actually line-up right.
If I broke onto an MoD base in person, no matter how little damage I did or how much my motivation was politically driven, I'd be arrested pretty damn quick. And I'm talking about countries like the UK/US, not Syria.
Greenpeace did that lots of times. They usually went straight to the roof of the company building and unrolled a large sign with their protest text ("{companyname} polutes {someplace} with {somesubstance}" etc.
The beginnings of protests try to call attention for a cause. It gets media attention and people notice it. Now people know and can actually support the cause. If it can get a majority, the initial "illegal action" changed the law by forcing the government to react to what people actuallt want.
That's the essence of democracy: to make the government do what the people want and not the other way around.
I am really surprised (not positively) that this sparked a big discussion.
I can't load the page so don't know if the text was in English only or also in Arabic. I was in Syria in October 2009 on business and.. about 80% (or perhaps even higher) of the population did not speak any English, so this text isn't going to help much.
EDIT: Ok, I see from the mirror that it is in both English and Arabic.
For those who either don't want to wait for it to load, or didn't get to it before it got taken down, here's what it says:
--------------------------
To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side - tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become. We salute your determination to be non-violent in the face of the regime's brutality, and admire your willingness to pursue justice, not mere revenge. All tyrants will fall, and thanks to your bravery Bashar Al-Assad is next.
To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country - rise up against the regime! - Anonymous
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Once the text has loaded, it links to several revolutionary sites, and also scrolls images across the top that apparently link to youtube videos.