Thursday, April 21, 2011
Under Attack by Chinese Hackers, Change.org Asks Supporters of Ai Weiwei to Tweet Sec. Clinton for Help



Despite a highly sophisticated Chinese cyber attack on Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing social action platform, the U.S. State Department has yet to condemn the attack.
Chinese hackers temporarily brought down Change.org earlier this week after more than 90,000 people in 175 countries endorsed an online call for the release of internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, an increasingly outspoken critic of the Chinese government.

 (photo via Hollywoodreporter)



The ongoing cyber attack is targeting Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing social action platform. It follows the viral success of a Change.org petition calling for Ai Weiwei’s release by leading global art museums, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Modern, London, as well as the Association of Art Museum Directors.
Change.org issued a formal request for urgent assistance to both the FBI and U.S. State Department’s Bureau of East Asian Pacific Affairs within hours of the attack. But the U.S. State Department, has yet to issue a public condemnation of the attack, despite worldwide coverage of the attacks, including in The Guardian, Reuters, Mashable, El Mundo, Bloomberg, AFP, Yahoo Newsand Al-Jazeera.
We need your help! Please join us in calling on the U.S. State Department to publicly condemn the attacks by tweeting this:
This aim of this online attack originating in China is to prevent the lawful, democratic organizing of American citizens.
“Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns about the issues they care about, and we do not intend to stop this campaign or the hundreds of other Change.org campaigns because of this attack,” said Ben Rattray, the founder of Change.org. “We need your support. Please ask the U.S. State Department to condemn the attacks on Change.org by Chinese hackers.”
The U.S. government’s reaction to previous Chinese attacks on U.S. companies like Google is to investigate and condemn them.
“Change.org is experiencing an ongoing, highly sophisticated denial of service attack originating in China which is clearly in response to the viral success of a campaign by leading global art museums to free China’s most famous artist,” Rattray said. “In the past, the U.S. State Department has aggressively gone to bat for U.S. companies attacked from hackers in China.”
Change.org is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by more than 400,000 new members a month, empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011
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Date: Sunday, April 17th, 2011
Time: 1pm
Location: Chinese embassy/consulate in your area
Demonstrators carrying posters of the artist Ai Weiwei gathered outside a Chinese government office in Hong Kong earlier this week.Ym Yik/European Pressphoto AgencyDemonstrators carrying posters of the artist Ai Weiwei gathered outside a Chinese government office in Hong Kong this week.
Artists and curators will hold a sit-in outside Chinese embassies and consulates on Sunday to protest the detention of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Mr. Ai was detained on April 3; on April 7, a Chinese official told The Times that he was being held on suspicion of “economic crimes.”
The form of Sunday’s planned protest—in which participants will bring chairs and sit down outside Chinese government buildings around the world — draws on an installation titled “Fairytale: 1001 Qing Dynasty Wooden Chairs,” which Mr. Ai did at Documenta in Kassel, Germany, in 2007. In it, he arranged 1,001 late Ming and Qing Dynasty wooden chairs around the exhibition; he also recruited 1,001 Chinese citizens through the Internet to volunteer to go and live in Kassel for the length of the show. The plan for the protest took shape after Anne Pasternak, the president of Creative Time, posted a question on Facebook asking what the art community could do to support Mr. Ai’s release. Steven Holmes, an adjunct curator at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, listed “about 11 ideas all based on Ai Weiwei’s work, and I thought that was really beautiful,” Ms. Pasternak said in an interview.
With a friend from Sweden and others, Ms. Pasternak put up a Facebook page for the protest, titled “1,001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei.” The protest will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

By Kate Taylor Via NYTimes
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Friday, April 8, 2011
1001 Chairs For Ai Weiwei




Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is an internationally regarded figure who has fought for artistic freedom and for freedom of speech throughout his distinguished career, envisioning and shaping a more just and equitablesociety through his work. He has been missing since his arrest on April 3rd in Beijing. 

Steven Holmes was inspired by facebook discussion on what art communities can do to support the safe release of Ai Weiwei. He proposed to reenact Ai Weiwei's project Fairytale: 1,0001 Qing Dynasty Wooden Chairs—an installation which was comprised of 1,001 late Ming and Qing Dynasty wooden chairs at Documenta 12 in 2007 in Kassel, Germany—in front of Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.

This Sunday, April 17, at 1 PM local time, supporters are invited to participate in 1001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei, by bringing a chair and gathering outside Chinese embassies and consulates to sit peacefully in support of the artist’s immediate release.

Event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163478807041517
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Friday, April 1, 2011
"TO JAPAN WITH LOVE" Fundraising Event



Asian American Arts Centre
Together with 
Morning MUSUKO & Tender Hearts Crusade

Presents

TO JAPAN WITH LOVE 

Featuring live performance by Morning MUSUKO
Participatory art mural for all to join in - done by Mike Ming and Hiro Kurata.

DATE: MONDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2011
DOORS OPEN @ 7:45PM
LIVE PERFORMANCE STARTS @ 8:30PM

ENTRANCE FEE: $11 (suggested donation, more is welcome)



LOCATION: TENRI CULTURAL INSTITUTE43 West 13th St # A, New York, NY(212) 645-2800 


A collaboration between Japanese and non-Japanese musicians, Morning MUSUKO was formed in December 2010 by New York City based trombonist Joe Beaty. A funky mix of New York and Japan, Morning MUSUKO is expanding Japanese pop music to a wider and diverse audience while giving J-Pop hits a New York music scene twist. This event on April 4th will feature a live performance by Morning MUSUKO, Una Aya Osato & Akiko n’ Nana doing a special tribute song "Tsunami".

Morning MUSUKO is developing a community that actively creates and supports the cross- cultural understanding between Japan and other nations and peoples. Their music seeks to inspire and connect a growing and willing international community to accept and incorporate different cultures, music, and ideas. 

Participatory art mural done by Mike Ming and Hiro Kurata will enable personal messages to be sent to the earthquake victims in Japan. All attendees are invited to contribute a message, drawing, or poem on the mural prepared by Mike & Hiro, which will be displayed in Japan. 

At the door $11 is the suggested donation (more is welcome) for the March 11,2011 Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts. 

The members of Morning MUSUKO include: Joe Beaty & Daniel Barnidge for Arrangements, Daniel Barnidge Conducting, Trumpets are Jonathan Powell, Miki Hirose, Takuya Kuroda, Jon Crowley, on Trombone are Joe Beaty, Adam Dotson, Frank Cohen, on Alto Saxophone are John Beaty, Naoki Iwane, on Tenor Saxophone are Chris Ward and Matan Chapnizka, on Flute is Kaoru Watanabe, on Guitar isAki Ishiguro, on Piano is Senri Oe, on Bass is Jim Robertson, and on Drums is Tomoaki Kanno. 

“I found the performance of Morning Musuko to be really amazing, At times, to me it was a blend of pop music meets the big band era with a bit of Jazz thrown into the mix. Truly unique and memorable.” - Michael G. re: Gerswhin show 12/20/10

100% of proceeds will go to Japan Platform. The Japan Platform is a consortium of 32 different NGO organizations in Japan, and are supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan as a trustworthy humanitarian aid organization. Donations going to the Japan Platform will be distributed to multiple small organizations that are currently working in the affected areas. Japan Platform accepts credit card donations, which is not common for smaller organizations in Japan (wire transfer to a bank account is the most common there). Their website: http://www.japanplatform.org/E/index.html

For more information, contact Asian American Arts Centre rlee@artspiral.org or Morning MUSUKO morningmusukonyc@gmail.com
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