NO CCTV - 1984 Action Day, June 8th

1984 Action Day - 8th June

1984 Pulp Cover - David Dunnico

8th June is the anniversary of the publication of George Orwell's novel '1984'. The date will be marked by protests against CCTV cameras and other surveillance, by groups from around the world.

To get involved contact No CCTV at action@no-cctv.org.uk

1984 Action Day is an annual event - it came about after a meeting of campaigners opposed to surveillance cameras at the Freedom Not Fear event in Brussels in September 2011. For more information see: http://1984actionday.wordpress.com

George Orwell described his book as an illustration:
"of the perversions to which a centralized economy is liable and which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe (allowing of course for the fact that the book is a satire) that something resembling it could arrive. I believe also that totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere, and I have tried to draw these ideas out to their logical consequences."

As society continues towards the "logical consequences" of which Orwell warned, campaigners will be asking:"When will you fight back?"

Image by David Dunnico

Action Ideas

1. PUBLIC READINGS FROM GEORGE ORWELL'S '1984'

Easy to do - all you need is a copy of 1984!

Simply select some passages and quotes from Nineteen Eighty-Four which have relevance to the contemporary surveillance society.

During readings anti-surveillance flyers can be handed out to passers by.
2. HUMAN CCTV CAMERAS 1 - CAMERA HEADS

'Authority figures' dressed in dark suits, shirts and ties - with a camera in place of a head.

Why is it that people tend to feel differently about camera surveillance if someone (i.e. a visible person) is filming them, as opposed to something (a video camera)?

A human body with a camera for a head makes this point very well. Wear a dark suit to represent government or 'authority'. This works well if there is a small group of people with camera heads.

Seattle artist Paul Strong came up with a clever way of driving home the problems of surveillance cameras in public spaces. His Camerahead Project consists of "agents" wearing giant surveillance camera props on their heads, deployed in locations where the city government has installed cameras to drive home just how pervasive and downright creepy surveillance can be.

See https://www.flickr.com/photos/no-cctv/sets/72157633948273944/
http://vimeo.com/95305501
aclu-wa.org/news/camerahead-project-dramatizes-surveillance
3. HUMAN CCTV CAMERAS 2
4. PROTEST SIGNS / SURVEILLANCE CAMERA PLAY

Be as creative as you like, but get the message across on International 1984 Action Day.

Suggested plackards/ signs:

'Just on my way home/shopping/waiting for a bus'

'going about my lawful business'

'George Orwell was right!'

Giant foam hands / pointing finger: to point out cctv cameras

The Surveillance Camera Players (http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html) hold signs up in front of CCTV cameras which allow them to both perform to passers by and to remind the watchers that they too are being studied.

This process is called "Guerilla Programming of Video Surveillance Equipment" - "a group of individuals create a scenario and act it out using surveillance cameras as if they were their own, as if they were producing their own program, and as if the audience consisted of security personnel, police, school principals, residents of upper-class high security neighborhoods, and the producers and salespeople of the security systems themselves."
5. COUNTER_SURVEILLANCE MEASURES

From something as simple as a paper bag over your head...

- Paper bag potato printing (wiki.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/Freedom_Not_Fear_2012/P3
Create your exciting personal tool against CCTV surveillance and face recognition using a paper bag and a potato!

- Pixelated balaclava (www.thelocal.de/lifestyle/20120823-44537.html)

- Dazzle hats - anonymise your face with LED lights (disinfo.com/2013/01/a-diy-hat-to-prevent-your-visibility-on-cameras-and-video/)
6.PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS

London: NoToMob - bikers highlight CCTV spy cars as protest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHOazGC7alk

Berlin: Large-scale, organied public demonstration: 'Freedom Not Fear', Berlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSNfgDxJo44

Community protest / public demonstration against surveillance cameras imposed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GAqlO8ecvE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAK43LuAjvs

Florida: Locals protest against Red Light cameras in Tampa, Florida, USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfgpdfqaVQ
7.PUT UP CCTV BIRD BOXES

See:
https://wiki.freiheitsfoo.de/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Lebensraum-statt-Ueberwachung
OTHER IDEAS?

Let us know your ideas - whether straightforward and simple or ingeniously creative!

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