Arara (Ara macao)
Arara is a young geek from Southern America. His interests range from applied math, computing theory, programming, free software and hacking in general to collaboration, virtual and real self-managed communities, politics, economy, social movements, anarchist theory and how the hell we are going to get the world out of this shithole it is in right now.
Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii)
Blue-footed booby is just like Tufted Puffin, but less hardcore about everything.
Gadfly Petrel (Pterodroma)
Gadfly Petrel works to bring about communications policies and systems that are based on human needs not corporate profits. She thinks that there is no technical solution but that technology can be useful if used in moderation. Other interests include cooperative living, urban gardening and Captain Beefheart. She's also a firm believer in mutual aid and loves jokes about pirates.
Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)
Roadrunner is a large, long-legged, ground foraging bird in the cuckoo family.
Originally indigenous to the North American Southwest, this specimen is
currently enjoying being out of the desert and soaking up the moisture of
Cascadia. He spends days as an undercover anarchist hacking on free software
for a large multinational corporation, dreaming of one day being free.
Roadrunner helps to herd the vast flock of riseup server hardware and waters
the network to help it grow.
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Although deeply critical of technology, House Sparrow spent seven years in the riseup collective in a quixotic attempt to use technology for liberation, losing feathers and sleep along the way. Sparrow is now beak-deep in books, studying social movements in graduate school.
Snow Owl (Bubo scandiacus)
The Snow Owl sits perched high on a icy branch, peering from afar at the insides of Riseup machines to find little bugs to snack on. He helped start Riseup when living in Seattle because he was dismayed by all the activists who showed up to shut down the WTO with their hotmail and yahoo accounts. No longer living in Seattle he works hard remotely keeping Riseup servers running, the network fast, and the spam from polluting your inbox. During the day he works at running a cooperative, occasionally reading and writing books, and sometimes winning strange and puzzling awards. He spent a lot of time building up the technical infrastructure for Indymedia, but now just contributes by maintaining some small pieces. He spends too much time in front of the computer, sadly.
Sunbird (Nectarinia asiatica)
Sunbird has called the pacific northwest home since 1998, but took a hiatus from the United States for two years, living abroad in Lahore, Pakistan where he studied Urdu and volunteered for the
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. For his day job, he is a legal worker focused on protecting the rights of immigrants and refugees. Sunbird also has a strong interest in internet law as it relates to privacy and freedom of expression. He joined the riseup collective because it is essential for activists to have communication tools that we can trust. You may find Sunbird on IRC, answering your help tickets, struggling to learn Debian and dreaming about a future free of AOL. Sunbird's public gpg key ID is 709F062C, available from keys.indymedia.org.
Tucán Piquiverde (Ramphastos sulfuratus)
Like a tucan
On the highest tree
I shall leave my enemies
Way down below me
My enemies
Who gather together
Who spread vile gossip about me
Who enrage me
I fly with the wind
And show them
Nothing but the tips of my feet
Beaten, thy fall back
I let my enimies disappear
Like an anaconda
Which devours everyone
I am Tucan
I shout "cuan", "cuan"
Way down below me
My enemies disappear
High above everyone else
I sit in a bare tree
My hair fluttering in the wind
Like flickering flames
Bright, so bright
No one can reach me
No words can do me any harm
Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata)
Tufted Puffin is medium sized sea bird and a member of the riseup collective. She nests in Seattle, which is pretty far south for a tufted puffin. Tufted Puffin spends much of her time in front of a computer, using flashy interfaces like pine, but she likes to go outside too. She gets around by biking or swimming with wings which have adapted to offer her a flying technique while underwater. Tufted Puffin appreciates learning tech skills from riseup and other radical tech projects and, more importantly, helping to build alternative infrastructures.
The Riseup Collective is an autonomous body based in Seattle with collective members world wide. Our purpose is to aid in the creation of a free society, a world with freedom from want and freedom of expression, a world without oppression or hierarchy, where power is shared equally. We do this by providing communication and computer resources to allies engaged in struggles against capitalism and other forms of oppression.