Censorship, protests, pandemic addressed in Mont Order 2020+ conference

The positions and views of the Order in relation to the complex and challenging global dissident landscape in 2020 have been explained in an Academia(dot)edu conference paper upload. It summarises the results of a discussion held June 13, 2020, 18:00-19:43 GMT. The transcript itself remains closed to the public. Participating members were L'Ordre, Syeda Qudsiya Mashhadi, Hugo Turner, and Kristian NF. After members were consulted, the following positions were agreed and approved by the Guides of the Mont Order: (1) Online censorship is worsening, with the pandemic potentially being used as a gateway for governments and corporations to exercise more powers to screen out or suppress dissenting views; (2) The turmoil in the US is not likely to lead to any political change or power transition; (3) We should be aware of the existence of algorithms that may hide content, and be cautious with our own content to avoid controversy (search "Being effective dissidents without freedom of speech" at LOrdreNet) for the best approach when dealing with this issue).

Mont Order 2020± conference held earlier this month

Using Skype, a 90+ minute discussion was held between Mont society online members on 13 June. The discussion switched between a number of topics, including ongoing social and political unrest in the United States and the broader global implications. A transcript will be available to all members in July. Announced in the same discussion is the reduced use of the name "Mont Order" for any specific media entity or organised body, with such roles instead being the business of member entities of the Order. As of 2020, the Mont Order doesn't fit into any category of organisation or group, being instead a loose association with active and inactive participants. In 5 years, the Mont Order's anti-imperialist Code has not been altered or superseded by any other statement of values. It still effectively describes the common agenda shared by members.

To members of the old Mont Order

If you are a member of the older Mont Order group or groups and you are reading this, I encourage you to influence the development of the new group. Use the contact method found on this website to get in touch, tell me who you are, share your knowledge about the older Order, and help us avoid repeating any mistakes this older group may have made.

Fully restoring the Mont Order to its original and true nature requires an accurate understanding of that nature. Anyone who can help solve this mystery is welcome to participate in this reconstruction.

Being effective dissidents without freedom of speech

When we oppose the status quo - the rule of the establishment - the pain motivating our actions is often very specific to us as individuals, leading to our own unstable brands of political advocacy. It is always tied to a sense of being deceived, and this in turn leads to emotional behaviour. It can also lead to outbursts we did not think through - to a series of accusations against states and/or corporations that often don't have merit, but we as accusers no longer cared to check properly. That is where caution is needed, so as not to damage your own cause.

In defense of dissidents as emotional accusers, it is possible that a system or regime can be already guilty enough that it became forgivable to stop thoroughly fact-checking each accusation brought against it. Anyone accusing the state of lies can be presumed to be correct, if we reached a point of no return. Officials already proven to be liars can be accused of lying again, without us hearing further evidence they are lying. It can reach a point where everything they say is rejected by us.

Where the emotional accusations become a hindrance to an effective dissident is where they result in a strong counterattack against the dissident, leading effectively to the dissident recanting or being otherwise eliminated. When a dissident intended to be destroyed or took the risk willingly, as Julian Assange may have done, it can be considered a form of martyrdom and therefore a victory. However, if the dissident actually aimed to maintain their brand, in hopes of some level of input into a civilised political discussion, or to maintain an official publication or source of revenue, then the destruction of the dissident is a definite defeat. It served no purpose. Such individuals are useless even to their own cause, in the end.

If dissidents find that they are being de-platformed, hidden from search results, or otherwise censored online because they made emotional claims or peddled a conspiracy theory that holds neither strong evidence nor credibility in any academic or journalistic source, that is a defeat. It is a defeat because they won't even be able to convince people that their sacrifice was a real one. It is also an avoidable defeat, and a lamentable one, because unfounded claims and emotional-based tirades are not ultimately worth sacrificing for.

The only thing worth sacrificing your freedom of speech for is to expose a definite crime - one you could not only prove beyond any doubt in a court of law but one you really will prove in the eyes of society with your sacrifice. People who are de-platformed or get their writing omitted from search results because they asserted uncertain or disputed claims and theories as facts, and because they broke laws and rules they did not know existed in doing so, are making a mistake. They are at fault for becoming lazy, and could easily have continued to be an effective dissident if they kept to promoting better-founded criticisms of the state instead of unproven claims.

We should all investigate what is acceptable discourse and self-censor whatever we can't establish as true for all readers. On any topic under dispute, we should look for scholarly backing for what we say, and we should make sure we check and understand our own words and the implications of them under law before saying them. We must stand on the shoulders of giants and be able to deliver our own points with the competence of scholars - like all those best dissidents before us in history - before we analyse or speak. We must make sure that - in the event you really are censored - the world has really lost something and has become less beautiful.

We don't have freedom of speech. For us to somehow pretend we do, in hopes of eventually being censored or detained so we can then disprove freedom of speech, would not be clever but incredibly foolish. Trying to provoke the powers that be into censoring or detaining you, or more likely just damaging your finances and ability to reach readers, is ineffective for promoting any cause. It is a self-imposed defeat, unless you are going to expose a real crime or truly change society's perceptions of the state in the way Assange, Manning and Snowden did.

Changes to Mont Order social media, websites

As part of a reorganisation, significant changes have been made to some elements of Mont Order websites and social media. You may no longer recognise them. The deletion of some unfortunate and neglected elements of the society's online presence will follow. Some portions of the presence will be gone, others scaled back, and others renamed or upgraded to be more useful to members of the society. The name or brand of the group isn't important and never was. The purpose of this society isn't about generating attention, traffic or profit (one reason this website is free of ads). In fact, the use of different names for the group should be encouraged wherever possible. The exact extent of the changes can be seen by searching through Mont Order links and media. The goal of all such updates is to make our individual members more successful. In this case, the goal is pursued by making the group and its name less 'distracting' for readers who should instead read the works of our members. By decreasing the visibility of the Mont Order society itself, the society's future activity should instead draw more traffic to the individuals it most aims to promote. This better meets the Order's aim - to benefit those who participate.