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>
>The Path To Revolution
>
>You Don't Have To Be There To Experience It
>
>By Linton Weeks
>Washington Post Staff Writer
>Thursday, January 9 1997; Page C5
>The Washington Post 
>
>The computer is a revolutionary tool.
>
>It really is. Revolutionaries, counterrevolutionaries, 
>extremist groups, radical wings, separatist movements, 
>cults, and their critics and sympathizers are aswarm on 
>the Net. Never before have so many people had direct access 
>to information from every angle. It's like a teeming
>hive of Gutenbergs. 
>
>For instance, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, 
>the Peruvian guerrillas who took hostages in the Japanese 
>embassy in Lima just before Christmas, has a Web presence. Its
>"Solidarity Page," with a link to the official Spanish-language 
>Tupac Amaru site in Europe, is nursed by a Toronto-based group 
>called Arm the Spirit.
>
>The solidarity page is touted on a more elaborate site 
>sponsored by the U.S. Committee to Support the Revolution in 
>Peru. Based in Berkeley, this committee sings the song of the
>Communist Party of Peru, also known as Shining Path.
>
>"Welcome to a real revolution in cyberspace!" reads the 
>Shining Path page. "We expose the lies about the 
>revolution put forward by the U.S.-backed Fujimori regime and 
>its apologists, while opposing U.S. and other foreign 
>intervention. We organize against the repression and
>terror directed at the revolution and the Peruvian people."
>
>Sinn Fein, the radical political wing of the Irish Republican 
>Army, the armed and rebellious Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers 
>of Tamil Eelam and a multitude of U.S.-based "Aryan"
>revolutionaries also have carefully designed Web sites. (Such 
>sites are so devoid of humor that it seems likely these people 
>really are who they say they are.)
>
>These are prime spots for unfiltered propaganda. Here in the 
>home of the free and the frenetic, the Net is protected by 
>the First Amendment and the wholesale distribution of
>political information -- the good, the bad, the ugly -- is as 
>old as Thanksgiving. Thomas Paine would have had an amazing home page.
>
>The Shining Path pages are elaborate. Various links highlight 
>"the crimes of the U.S.-backed Fujimori regime," list the 
>political prisoners in Peru, reprint the press releases of Shining 
>Path and Tupac Amaru and offer a gallery of incendiary souvenirs 
>you can buy -- leaflets, buttons, T-shirts and cassettes of 
>revolutionary music.
>
>The site also gives users a way to "hook up with, support 
>and/or join us." But it warns those interested not to use 
>e-mail, because U.S. government officials might be monitoring 
>it. "We encourage you to contact us by postal mail, phone or fax."
>
>"Terrorist fund-raising is illegal in this country," said one 
>U.S. State Department staffer who was reluctant to talk about 
>the government's monitoring of any Web pages. Speaking only on
>background, the staffer said that extremist Web sites are mostly 
>posted by U.S. citizens and are viewed as domestic material, 
>which is under the jurisdiction of the FBI and the Justice
>Department, both of which have Web sites.
>
>"There is genuine international concern that this information 
>is freely available -- and that it's legal," the staffer said. 
>
>John Russell of the Justice Department said, "There are First 
>Amendment considerations and there are legitimate law enforcement 
>concerns." The Justice Department, he said, would like
>"to find a legal and acceptable procedure" to discover who 
>is posting the information. He said several law enforcement 
>agencies, including the FBI, ATF and DEA, are planning a joint
>meeting soon to discuss the proliferation of such rabble-rousing pages.
>
>The Internet brings the far-flung complexities and dangers of the 
>world a little closer to home. The bright side is that most 
>people savvy enough to use the Internet may also be sophisticated
>enough to sort out the truth in the information supplied by 
>various groups such as Tupac Amaru, Sinn Fein and the Department of Justice. 
>
>GETTING THERE:
>Tupac Amaru at http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
>Shining Path at http://www.calyx.com/~peruweb/csrp.htm
>Sinn Fein at http://www.irlnet.com/sinnfein
>Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at http://www.eelam.com
>State Department at http://www.state.gov
>FBI at http://www.fbi.gov
>Department of Justice at http://www.usdoj.gov.
>
>(Source: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com)
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