Cats fighting against Internet censorship with Turkish national anthem

ISTANBUL

This piano has been specially designed to play at frequencies only cats can hear.

A few months ago the Turkish government offended the feline world by suggesting a cat was responsible for electrical blackouts during the vote counting process after the March local polls. Now, “The Pussycat Riot,” an association of cats united against Internet censorship – or rather of activists spreading the word with videos and pictures of their furry friends – has got its claws into online restrictions in Turkey.

The group organized a special piano recital against Internet censorship with a keyboard specially designed to play tunes at frequencies that only cats can hear. The repertoire of the recital was made up of the national anthems of countries notorious for banning websites.

After banning Twitter and YouTube for several weeks earlier this year, Turkey entered the elite list of “cyber-censors” along with China, Iran, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

"The Pussycat Riot's" work can be listened to on Soundcloud and Spotify, while recordings of the national anthems in both human and cat frequencies is set to be made available online.



Cian McKenna-Charley, spokesperson for campaign, explains that the “cat is a symbol of freedom, and of a fair and neutral Internet.”

“This keyboard for cats is as much homage to the original Internet cat as it is a political statement against Internet censorship. It’s one we hope people will want to talk about, share with their friends and use to spread the word that online censorship needs to end now,” he said.

The group had previously designed cat litter boxes with the portraits of the leaders of countries banning online websites, including one with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.