The Long Road

My name is Isaac Wilder, and I'm on the directors of the Free Network Foundation. We build and advocate for distributed and decentralized communications infrastructure.

I stand before you today in that capacity, but also, and perhaps more so, in my capacity as a citizen of this nation, and a passenger on this planet. I stand before you ultimately as a part of humanity - distinguishable, but ultimately undivided from the whole.

There are three topics I'd like to address today, if you'll allow me to speak.

The first issue that I'd like to address is courage - how you gathered here, and those gathered elsewhere on this day embody that virute.

The second issue is why we're here, why we have to be here - why we must continue to be here until we are heard.

The third issue - the heart of this all - is an exploration of the strategies, technologies, and philosophies that might, just might make for successful resistance to the hegemony of neocolonial capitalism.

First, to the incredible bravery, deep courage, and unbridled hope that are the rule here, and not the exception: You all are the vanguard - make no mistake. We all, you all, are the first small wave of a rising tide. The seeds of change are well sown - they are nearly ready to germinate. They need only our patient care, the irrigation of our love and devotion, constant vigilance to keep the forces of division at bay, and some time in the sun. I do not doubt that this gathering is both the continuation and the beginning of something quite beautiful. This is the inception of harmonious revolution. This is continuing the walk down that long road toward a more perfect union, and a better world. This is all power to all of the people.

We gather in the names of Franklin, Jefferson, Hegel, Marx, Guevara, Shabazz, King, Carmichael; in solidarity with those that gathered in the streets of Tunisia, and Egypt, and Spain.

We invite all lovers of freedom, all seekers of equality, all who believe that our best days are ahead of us, to join us in our struggle. We welcome them as part of ourself. We ask all humanity to partake in the hope and courage on offer here today.

But what is our struggle, why is what we're doing courageous, and why should they join us?

The second thing I'd like to talk about is the impetus for this gathering. It may be clear to those in attendance, but I think that there are some others that could use a reminder.

There are those that have to be reminded, that a people, when presented with a government that is coervice and oppresive, has a right - no, a responsibility - to rise up against that government. Faced with a corrupt and dysfunctional state, we are charged with an imperative to restore our democracy. We are patriots precisely because we are willing to defend our nation from its government.

There are those that have to be reminded, that a government acting against the will of the people is no government at all.

We are gathered here in opposition to the avarice, myopia, and greed that characterize the order of the day. We will not sit silently by, as the wholesale exploitation of resources, both human and environmental, threatens the flourishing of our species, and the very survival of life on our planet. In the name of what, we ask. In the name of profit? Profit for whom?

We stand against a few have everything, while so many have nothing.

We stand against corruption.

We stand in opposition to the erosion of liberty in the name of security.

We stand, though we have been told time and again to sit, because we believe that we can help.

We can help grow the tree of democracy - not just here, but in any place where people yearn for freedom, justice, and equality.

We can help. We can help.

But how can we help, when our voices are drowned by the shrill noise machine of the established powers? When the very breath we draw is polluted with the toxic vitriol of ubridled greed?

How can we help?

We can build something - something revolutionary - that will ensure an equal voice for all, abundant knowledge for all, liberty and peace for all.We can build a ubiquitous, person-to-person communications network that is financed, owned, and operated by us all. The network would belong to communities and neighborhoods when considered on the local level, and to humanity as a whole when viewed globally.

The technological means to do so exists already, and improves with every passing day. This network would be immune to censorship and resistant to disruption by virtue of its design. It would secure the right of all to speak freely, and enable the greatest exchange of knowledge in the whole of history. Educating the world means empowering all to provide for themselves.The network would serve as a mode of organization for a return to localism and self-sufficiency that is indicative of a new way. The network would help restore sovereignty to a flourishing and uplifted humanity.

The promise of such a network gives me hope - it makes me believe that a new and beautiful order is upon us, emergent. The construction of such a free network is imminently possible, but our ability to do so requires action on the part of all those gathered here.

In order to build a free network, we have to secure our ability to communicate with one another using those portions of the electromagnetic spectrum best suited to the transmission of information at a distance. Significant portions of that spectrum have been auctioned to the highest bidder in the name of the american people. That spectrum will be used by telecommunications conglomorates in order to turn a profit by leasing access to infrastructure that could be provided by each of us, as a human right and a public good.

Spectrum that could be used to build a system providing access for all, is sold to profiteers, the proceeds used to fund war, and line the pockets of a corrupt few.

We must demand our rights to the spectrum that is rightfully ours, while preparing to carry on with construction in the event that we are denied. It is not enough to stand here and shout about the sorry state of society. It is not enough to say that the way we are living is unsustainable. It is not enough to be outraged.

If we want to witness democracy in bloom, to reap the fruits of our extraordinary potential, then we will have to be self-reliant. We'll have to make it ourself, build it ourself, grow it ourself. It is not dream. We are building a shared pool of knowledge, a commons for the future, where we can share the knowledge that we need, in order to do for ourself.

The Free Network Foundation demands a return of significant electromagnetic spectrum to the people, for use in the construction of a civil network. We hope that you will join us in our struggle to secure free speech, free information, and a free society for all. We envision a world where communities provide for themselves, where less reliance on central powers means more sovereignty for us all.

We are making our own tools.

We are building our own communities.

We are growing food, and growing networks.

We are in motion already, and picking up speed.

It may seem sometimes that we have just begun that long march to freedom, but the march was started long ago. We are blessed to continue the march. Many before us have walked the road, and the road continues farther than any of us may walk, but it is clear that we can remain still no longer.

The time has come to forge ahead - though there's comfort here, and the passage before us is arduous and long, we are taking the first steps.

I am proud to walk with you all, towards a freer network, and a freer world.