The People's Cube
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Communists for Kerry
Communists for Kerry is a tax-exempt 527 group founded in the Summer of 2004 by the Hellgate Republican Club of New York, now itself disbanded...
.
Founder's biography
Oleg Atbashian:Before moving to the U.S. in 1994, Atbashian lived in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
where he sometimes worked as a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
artist for the old Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, creating agitprop posters for the local Party Committee in a small town. During that time, Oleg says he "witnessed the transition of Republics of the Soviet Union
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
from corrupt socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
to corrupt kleptocracy
Kleptocracy
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often without pretense of honest...
."
When he arrived in the U.S., Atbashian was puzzled by the "level of delusional affection for all things Left among the 'liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
' intellectual elites who take America's exclusive well-being for granted." At that time Oleg dismissed this "delusional affection" as silly and of little consequence.
Then 9/11 happened. Oleg witnessed that day from the base of the Twin Towers. "I'm still haunted by the horror I came to be a witness of," says Atbashian. "The subsequent blame-America attitude among the intellectual trend-setters enraged me; 'liberalism' no longer seemed laughable. It was dangerous suicidal madness that had to be confronted. I took up political activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
."
Oleg's activism blossomed into the satirical street-theater group, "Communists for Kerry." Atbashian says that, "Communists for Kerry was started in July, 2004 as a six-member satirical group with the stated goals of helping George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
get re-elected and having a lot of fun in the process. I was the group's writer, graphic artist, and webmaster. The project exceeded our expectations. Our last street theater event on Union Square
Union Square
Union Square may refer to:Asia* Union Square * Union Square station on Dubai MetroCanada* Union Square, Nova ScotiaUnited States* Union Square, Baltimore, Maryland* Union Square * Union Square, San Francisco, California...
in New York featured over 30 volunteers in communist costumes; many more people joined us online from all over the USA. We even had a sister group in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and people wearing CFK shirts at a rally in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
."
With The People’s Cube, Oleg is hoping to turn it into a nation-wide community web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
of spontaneous political humor and parody for conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, libertarians, objectivists
Objectivism (Ayn Rand)
Objectivism is a philosophy created by the Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand . Objectivism holds that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception...
, and anyone who supports and celebrates America's freedoms, individual rights
Individual rights
Group rights are rights held by a group rather than by its members separately, or rights held only by individuals within the specified group; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by individual people regardless of their group membership or lack thereof...
, and capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
." He currently writes for The People's Cube under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Red Square."
Oleg and Bryan McCarthy (a recent immigrant from Ireland) also launched the commercial website Che-Mart, which sells products lampooning Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
.
The actual cube
The People's Cube is named after its flagship product, a Rubik's CubeRubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
that is red on all six sides, thereby ensuring equal results for all who attempt to solve it, with no potential loss of self-esteem.
The Google controversy
In early March 2006 it was noticed by The People’s Cube that GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
erased/blocked any link to TPC site in its database. The People’s Cube suspected it was a deliberate move by Google because of TPC’s criticism of Censorship by Google in China, and also TPC’s political views. Based on another known case of Google blocking individual political site pages. TPC then wrote letters to Google asking for an explanation, to which there was no immediate reply.
Once The People’s Cube posted the topic of the Google removal it spread quickly through the Blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
. Including a post by Google employee Matt Cutts
Matt Cutts
Matt Cutts works for the Search Quality group in Google, specializing in search engine optimization issues. In an interview with USA Today in June 2008, Cutts provided advice on how to optimize search results on Google.-Career:...
on his blog. Where he made the argument that TPC removal had to do with spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
in the form of hidden text.
Google eventually restored TPC to their database and in a written response to TPC stated “While we cannot comment on the individual reasons your page was removed, we'd like to assure you that we do not alter our search results based on political viewpoint or ideology”.
Articles of notoriety
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Was Overreaction http://thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=797&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=The article is an attempt to ridicule those who have criticized Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
for a "disproportionate" use of force during its 2006 military conflict with Hezbollah by implying they would have done the same in reaction to the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
by Polish Jews against Nazi oppression during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
An image from this article began circulating via email, which was taken seriously by some people. Both Snopes.com and About.com have entries explaining the parody.
The People's Cube Pwns Iranian Propagandahttp://www.thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=1657 Press TV - Iran's first international news network, in an on-line article titled "Iranian Jews reject emigration report" published an image from The People's Cube article "Israel Dismantles; World's Problems End". Press TV
Press TV
Press TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
mistook the image as authentic, when in fact it was an altered image used to spoof the relationship between Iran's leadership and Israel. After two days Press TV realized their mistake and replaced the image.
Tikritos: Cruel Ranch and Other Progressive Flavors Advertising Age
Advertising Age
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
magazine, June 27 2005 issue published an article referencing this piece.
Neocons Imprison Mick Jagger Without Trial was reprinted in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, August 28 2005.