By Justin Bonitz
“Who are Anonymous?”
When asked that question, 27-year-old Garrett Vedan from Calgary, Canada responded by saying, “We are Anonymous. We are legion.”
Anonymous is a “hacktivist” group of truth-seekers who live purely to spread the truth and awaken the masses so that one day the world will be a beautiful place to live in. On November 5, 2013, millions of “Anons” marched all over the globe for peace and free information.
While most Anons prefer to remain “Anonymous”, Vedan, organizer of the Calgary Million Mask March, offered to speak up.
“Our numbers were small in Calgary, but you could hear our chants from 2.8km away. No megaphones, just passion. We had about 300 likes on our Facebook page, but I think that a lot of people were scared because of a misunderstood law passed by Steven Harper banning masks at unlawful protests. We had full police escort stopping traffic. I didn’t do a head count, but altogether I think we had around 50 people wearing the Guy Fawkes mask and chanting in the streets. We definitely created an impulse. I would love to see how many people googled ‘Anonymous’ on the fifth of November.”
Vedan, along with some local Anons who wish to be unnamed all state their general goal is to “educate themselves, find other like-minded people and spread the truth”.
Anybody can be Anonymous. We have no leaders. We are just free-thinking people who are sick of the shadiness of government officials. Information should be free and available to everybody.
About the March, Vedan mentions, “We had news coverage, and I was interviewed by the city T.V. The mainstream media did not want to give us any attention, so unfortunately the coverage never saw the light of day.”
Although the March was not televised, other larger marches all over the world were. Vedan said, “We didn’t just educate the world about Anonymous. We united with our brothers and sisters. That alone was rewarding enough for me. I put my blood, sweat and tears into this event. I even lost my job and girlfriend because of it. Anonymous is bigger than that. We fight for the people and our future.”
Vedan was originally going to attend the Ottawa Million Mask March, but that would have been an extremely long journey across the country for him. He decided instead to start his own event through the use of social networking sites such as Facebook. His goal was to build a bridge with the Ottawa March so that people wouldn’t have to travel quite as far of a distance if they wanted to participate. He said, “Although I very nervous at the start of the March, it was easy to settle in after a while because the energy level was so freaking high.”
While the police treated the Calgary March very professionally, it was not as pretty in Washington D.C. Vedan stated, “In D.C., an officer brutally beat an Anon for no reason. He is currently MIA, and we are all very worried about him; however, we are the final boss of the internet. There will be repercussions. I’m sure of it.”
Vedan’s biggest fear is that more Anons will get hurt fighting for the people and go missing off the face of the Earth.
Vedan will be organizing another Calgary March next year with the help of five Anonymous administrators. He uses a Facebook group, which can be found by searching “Calgary Million Mask March”. Unfortunately, Vedan will not be attending next year, because he will be heading down to Washington D.C. to attend that one. He said, “It will be truly amazing. We will regain control of our rights and freedom of speech. It seems like freedom in general is more of a fantasy these days. The U.S. is becoming a police state. It’s baffling the lengths that the government will go just to retain its power when a fellow human being gets 130 years in prison for exposing secrets that break the law. Things need to change, my friend.”
If you want to learn more about Anonymous, or are simply curious about the subculture, you can type “Anonymous” into YouTube and attain more than enough information. Vedan said the best video is a documentary called “We Are Legion, The Story Of Hactivism”.
