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U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

inventati.org

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Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#221

Post by dudefeliciano »

gwbas1c wrote: post #17
Avicebron wrote: post #3

I clicked around a bit, read the manifesto, I still have no idea what these people do. I guess they claim to have been around for a while, but a bunch of the links don't work and the manifesto has definitely been updated to reflect 2026 opinions. What is this?

Did you click on https://www.inventati.org/about ? (I also tried reading the manifesto first.) From it: > We support individuals, collectives, communities and groups whose political and social activities fit within this worldview and who share with us some fundamental principles: anti-fascism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-militarism I suspect they have some "not mainstream" political views; although I think underst…

It’s a sad day when antifascism is considered not mainstream

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#222

Post by isityettime »

nonethewiser wrote: post #39
napolux wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autistici/Inventati is an Italian collective, active since around 2001, that runs free digital services for activists, grassroots groups and anyone who wants to communicate without being profiled. It provides email accounts, mailing lists, blogs, websites, chat and VPN access.

[flagged]

The US sanctions the PKK because we're obliged to do so by our NATO ally Turkey, which gave rise to the PKK by carrying out a genocide against its local Kurdish population.

Meanwhile the SDF, the armed wing of the PYD, follows the same ideology as the PKK and was trained in military tactics by the PKK, and was among our chief allies against ISIS. They fought alongside US soldiers and we even supplied them with small arms.

The history of the PKK is complicated and the state they struggle against has a long history of genocide and (more recently) outright dictatorship. The relation of these countries to the PKK isn't ultimately determined by the PKK's history, morality, ideology, or even the use of terrorist tactics per se.

If you're curious about the bigger picture, there's actually an organized movement whose aim is to "de-list the PKK" as a terrorist organization, and that's probably a good place to start: https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/activities/delist-t...

There are also some books and some academic papers on the history of the PKK and their ideology. Those written by independent academics are generally neither fully condemnatory nor exculpatory towards the PKK, but give a clear sense of how the term "terrorism" and its use is at least contestable, geopolitical, etc. And any familiarity at all with the history of the conflict makes it clear that the Turkish government is likewise guilty of state terror conducted against Kurdish civilian populations in Turkey for generations now.

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#223

Post by mdp2021 »

apopapo wrote: post #112
epolanski wrote: post #29

What does it entail, in practice? They are sanctioned, okay, and? What happens practically.

They will become pariahs financially speaking. Nobody will be authorized to wire money to/from them. It's brutal.

> Nobody

In the USA - the consequences should be only related to USA pertinent actors. The newspapers in Italy say, "there is no judgement against them in Italy".

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#224

Post by dudefeliciano »

flumpcakes wrote: post #145
napolux wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autistici/Inventati is an Italian collective, active since around 2001, that runs free digital services for activists, grassroots groups and anyone who wants to communicate without being profiled. It provides email accounts, mailing lists, blogs, websites, chat and VPN access.

Is it truly anyone, or only anyone that politically aligns with them?

Obviously not to fascists, and if you look at their website they make it very clear that you need to align ideologically and explain why and how you will use their services

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#225

Post by actionfromafar »

inigyou wrote: post #164
hamburga wrote: post #62

As far as I can tell, there were no credible criminal charges against this group, except that they are effective organizers on the opposite side of political spectrum. In the White House’s deranged logic, this qualifies them to be officially designated as domestic terrorists [1]. Can we all agree that this is an assault on the First Amendment? [1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/desi...

The first amendment only applies inside the US. The US is allowed to cancel the speech of foreigners.

And murder foreigners, of course. It's allowed in the Constitution!

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#226

Post by roughly »

graemep wrote: post #208
giraffe_lady wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Palestine Action has been designated a terrorist group in the UK as well after sabotaging military aircraft This is already an extreme perversion of justice all on its own. Damaging military equipment is absolutely outside any useful definition of terrorism. This is simply armed conflict.

Damaging property for political ends has been part of the definition in the UK, and I think the US, for decades. I would say the case for targetting military equipment is stronger than for damaging most other things. > This is simply armed conflict. Armed conflict by residents and citizens against the state is usually a serious criminal offense everywhere.

> Armed conflict by residents and citizens against the state is usually a serious criminal offense everywhere.

I think it’s worth considering that you’re much more likely to be a resident or a citizen than a state when you’re deciding how you feel about these kinds of things.

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#227

Post by tptacek »

AnonC wrote: post #213
tptacek wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have real operational security concerns, your provider shouldn't know anything about you; should in fact have bilateral shielding between themselves and you to prevent either counterparty from learning stuff. That's how Signal works.

But Signal requires a working phone number for registration and it knows the phone number. The backend could be modified at any time to store this somewhere else while maintaining end to end encryption between the two parties communicating on it. How can Signal prove continuously that it doesn’t store or disseminate the phone number? I know in past precedent it has told courts that it only has very limited informatio…

There's all sorts of things any service provider could do to sleuth out who its users are. The implication of this OFAC determination is that A/I didn't need to sleuth anything out; they are accused of knowingly and deliberately assisting the PKK.

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#228

Post by Varelion »

Remember, Trump and his cultists are symptoms -- not the cause. I.E. Cuba's embargo was in place long before the orange buffoon, and that is the same force at play here. Fear that the people will get a taste of a fairer, more just alternative. > “are you antifa or are you fa?”

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#229

Post by KPGv2 »

jpcfl wrote: post #69
Avicebron wrote: post #3

I clicked around a bit, read the manifesto, I still have no idea what these people do. I guess they claim to have been around for a while, but a bunch of the links don't work and the manifesto has definitely been updated to reflect 2026 opinions. What is this?

It is intentionally vague. From the State Dept: > The A/I Collective exclusively offers its tools and services to radical left-wing actors and manually vets all potential users for ideological affinity before granting them access to its infrastructure.

I don't trust the US State Department to tell the truth. At this point, it's like citing a Wikipedia edited entirely by bad faith actors.

Re: U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

#230

Post by tptacek »

inigyou wrote: post #179
tptacek wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have real operational security concerns, your provider shouldn't know anything about you; should in fact have bilateral shielding between themselves and you to prevent either counterparty from learning stuff. That's how Signal works.

Impossible for a public thing though, noblogs.org will always be traceable to where noblogs.org is hosted because that's how the packets get there. You can maintain much better opsec in a two way communication than a broadcast.

Right, I'm only moved to comment by the implications being drawn on this thread that Signal and WhatsApp are next. Different fact patterns and different legal standards.
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