NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This is a hastily written post, published without any edit and polish. People in Sudan are suffering after decades of war. Now their internet has been shut for several days. It was hard enough for them to keep going during bombings while managing patchy electricity.
In most parts of Sudan, banks, shops, businesses, churches and infrastructure have been destroyed. The Sudanese depend on the internet to receive money for food, medicine, electricity, calls for news and help.
Brits gave the English language to the world. A Brit, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, invented the World Wide Web and gave it to the world, free of charge. He gifted it for the benefit of everyone instead of becoming a multi-billionaire.
This post is a direct message to Sir Tim to tell him that the internet has, once again, been shut down in Sudan. Right now, after five days "communication networks are still completely out of service throughout Sudan, except for limited terrestrial internet service in very few areas in some states".
In essence, this is an appeal to Sir Tim, the UK, EU and Mr Elon Musk to restore the internet in Sudan. Millions of lives and livelihoods depend on it. The Sudanese people are terrified of what is going on, why and for how long.
Being cut off from the internet is catastrophic for most of them. They fear heavily armed evildoers carrying out abductions and atrocities in secrecy.
The world could easily bring satellite communications technology to Africa. Mr Musk could not have created Starlink without the work of Sir Tim.
If anyone reading this knows Sir Tim or Mr Musk please pass it on. Thanks.
I have taken it upon myself to write this urgent appeal because I am blessed to live safely in England, UK where I enjoy freedom of speech, constant electricity and free blogging technology courtesy of, and hosted by, Google.
Peace and love, Ingrid x
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Related
This photo shows the resilience of Sudanese people. All the walls they built, stone by stone, brick by brick. At night the walls were removed by the Sudanese gov't. Next morning the walls would reappear as a silent protest.
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Photo: Another civilian road block in Khartoum, Sudan. Tyres billow black smoke when set on fire. After walls were removed, residents would dig ditches to block roads in their neighbourhoods to RSF militia vehicles. RSF terrorists often stay in/around homes in residential areas to protect themselves from Sudanese army bombardments, thereby endangering local residents. pic.twitter.com/szkxpJfvEL
Source: Sudan Watch, May 29, 2023:
'Sudan: Dig ditch instead of making wall to block road!'
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/05/sudan-dig-ditch-instead-of-making-wall.html
Photo: “This barricade cannot be removed, this barricade is being guarded by men behind it” chant these little boys standing behind their barricade today in one the outskirts of the capital city khart #الردة_مستحيلة
Source: Sudan Watch, Nov 30, 2021:
'Sudan protest: “This barricade cannot be removed, This barricade is being guarded by men behind it"' https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/11/sudan-protest-this-barricade-cannot-be.html
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HERE is a recent photo from a village in Sudan showing a Starlink satellite receiver atop cardboard boxes with a cable running into war-torn premises.
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Source: Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc reposted NabeilShakoor @NabeilShakoor post “Star Link in one of the villages in #النيل_الابيض #السودان_خارج_التغطية state” 12:24 PM · Feb 10, 2024 https://twitter.com/_hudsonc/status/1756303186661454089
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Image: Hassan Ahmed Berkia @HassanAhmedBerk, a journalist from Khartoum, Sudan writes today (Feb 10, 2024) on X: “All communication networks are still completely out of service throughout Sudan, except for limited terrestrial internet service in very few areas in some states. #Sudan #Sudan_Blackout #Sudan_Out_Of_Coverage #Sudan_War_Updates #InternetShutdown 7:03 AM · Feb 10, 2024.”
Source: https://twitter.com/HassanAhmedBerk/status/1756212348346335238
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Elon Musk FRS in 2022
- Founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX
- CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.
- Owner and CTO of X, formerly Twitter
- President of the Musk Foundation
- Founder of The Boring Company, X Corp., and xAI
- Co-founder of Neuralink, OpenAI, Zip2, and X.com (part of PayPal)
- Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
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Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by private aerospace company SpaceX,[3] providing coverage to over 70 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023.[4]
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
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Space Exploration Technologies Corp. commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider, defense contractor and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon and Starship spacecraft.
The company offers internet service via its Starlink satellites, which became the largest-ever satellite constellation in January 2020 and as of November 2023 comprised more than 5,000 small satellites in orbit.[7]
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX
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Elon Musk is the second wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$232 billion as of December 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $182.6 billion according to Forbes, primarily from his ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.[5][6][7]
He is a citizen of South Africa, Canada and the United States. A member of the wealthy South African Musk family, Elon was born in Pretoria and briefly attended the University of Pretoria before immigrating to Canada at age 18, acquiring citizenship through his Canadian-born mother.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
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Photo: Early Starlink user terminal with dish, as shipped in early 2021.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
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Photo: Starlink dish on sidewalk of a residential home.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
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Photo: Starlink WiFi Router
A wireless router or Wi-Fi router is a device that performs the functions of a router and also includes the functions of a wireless access point. It is used to provide access to the Internet or a private computer network. Depending on the manufacturer and model, it can function in a wired local area network, in a wireless-only LAN, or in a mixed wired and wireless network.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
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Photo: This NeXT workstation (a NeXTcube, monitor Cern 57503) was used by Tim Berners-Lee as the first Web server on the World Wide Web. It is shown here as displayed in 2005 at Microcosm, the public science museum at CERN where Berners-Lee was working in 1991 when he invented the Web. The document resting on the keyboard is a copy of "CERN DD/OC March 1989 Information Management: A Proposal. Abstract" which was Berners-Lee's original proposal for the World Wide Web.
(Further text visible: "...distributed hypertext systems, Hypertext, computer conferencing, document retrieval, information management. Project, IBM Group talk, VAX/Notes, CERNDOC, UUCP News, Hierarchical systems".)
The partly peeled off label on the cube itself has the following text: "This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!" The labels on top of the server and on the keyboard read "PROPRIETE CERN" (French for "Cern property").
Just below the keyboard (not shown) is a label which reads: "At the end of the 80s, Tim Berners-Lee (TBL) invented the World Wide Web using this Next computer as the first Web server." The book is the enyclopedia in many parts of Robert Kemp Philp, ed.: "Enquire Within upon Everything", London 1856 and later editions, which TBL describes on page one of his book "Weaving the Web. The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web as "a musty old book of Victorian advice I noticed as a child in my parents' house outside London".
(Text that is almost legible in the high resolution picture: 750. Diuretics, 756. Diaphoretics, 761. Expectorants, 765. Ginger).
Text at the beginning of Tim Berners-Lee: Weaving the Web, Chapter 1 Enquire Within upon Everything: "When I first began tinkering with a software program that eventually gave rise to the idea of the World Wide Web, I named it Enquire, short for Enquire Within upon Everything, a musty old book of Victorian advice I noticed as a child in my parents' house outside London. With its title suggestive of magic, the book served as a portal to a world of information, everything from how to remove clothing stains to tips on investing money. Not a perfect analogy for the Web, but a primitive starting point. What that first bit of Enquire code led me to was something much larger, a vision encompassing the decentralized, organic growth of ideas, technology and society. The vision I have for the Web is about anything being potentially connected with anything..."
This is a new upload by Coolcaesar of the original JPEG file on en:September 22, en:2008 directly to Commons in response to continued vandalism of the original.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web
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Sudan Watch - Nov 10, 2021
Sudan cuts off internet despite court order to restore
Technology & internet accessibility are a human right. Shutting down an entire country for 16 days is a violation of #humanrights and should be recognised as such. I didn’t speak to my mother & family in 16 days. This in 2021. #InternetShutDown #SudanCoup #Amnestyinternational
[…] Internet remains largely disrupted in #Sudan for a 16th day after a military coup targeted the transitional civilian government. The shutdown is ongoing despite successful legal intervention and court ruling to restore internet service.
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/11/sudan-cuts-off-internet-despite-court.html
Sudan Watch - Nov 10, 2021
Sudanese court orders telcos to restore internet
The US Agency for International Development Mission in Sudan said cuts to internet services were a breach of international law and a “suppression of freedom of speech".
https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/11/sudanese-court-orders-telcos-to-restore.html
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