Edward Snowden Releases "A Manifesto For The Truth"

[Lucille]

Edward Snowden Releases "A Manifesto For The Truth"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-03/edward-snowden-releases-manifesto-truth


While Edward Snowden may be reviled at the top echelons of Western developed nations and is wanted in his native US on espionage charges for peeling back the curtain on how the gargantuan government machine truly works when it is not only engaged in chronic spying on anyone abroad, but worse, on its own people, the reality is that his whistleblowing revelations have done more to shift the narrative to the topic of dwindling individual liberties abused pervasively in the US and elsewhere, than anything else in recent years. And alongside that, have led to the first reform momentum of a system that is deeply broken. Which also happens to be the topic of a five-paragraph opinion piece he released today in German weekly Der Spiegel titled "A Manifesto For The Truth" in which he writes that his revelations have been useful and society will benefit from them and that he was therefore justified in revealing the methods and targets of the US secret service...

In related news:

White House, lawmakers: no clemency for Snowden
http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-lawmakers-no-clemency-snowden-192110234--politics.html

It's disheartening to read so many commenters calling for his head on so many different articles. They defend the govt that shows them nothing but contempt. It's like battered wives syndrome...

[69360]

Does anyone have a link to it in english? My german is not that great and I only understand about 1/3 of it.

[Lucille]

Does anyone have a link to it in english? My german is not that great and I only understand about 1/3 of it.

I read it here: http://meriksson.net/snowden-a-manifesto-for-the-truth


In a very short time, the world has learned much about unaccountable secret agencies and about sometimes illegal surveillance programs. Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance of high officials or the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders - this is what the currently available documents suggest - we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.

Such programs are not only a threat to privacy, they also threaten freedom of speech and open societies. The existence of spy technology should not determine policy. We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit monitoring programs and protect human rights.

Society can only understand and control these problems through an open, respectful and informed debate. At first, some governments feeling embarrassed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented campaign of persecution to suppress this debate. They intimidated journalists and criminalized publishing the truth. At this point, the public was not yet able to evaluate the benefits of the revelations. They relied on their governments to decide correctly.

Today we know that this was a mistake and that such action does not serve the public interest. The debate which they wanted to prevent will now take place in countries around the world. And instead of doing harm, the societal benefits of this new public knowledge is now clear, since reforms are now proposed in the form of increased oversight and new legislation.

Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance. To tell the truth is not a crime.

This text was written by Edward Snowden on November 1, 2013 in Moscow. It was sent to SPIEGEL staff over an encrypted channel.

[69360]

Thanks!

[2young2vote]

I have to agree about the commenters. They are blind patriots. They believe government represents good, and therefore anyone who reveals unlawful and immoral government actions hates good and should be punished. This kind of sentiment has existed towards government and dissenters for thousands of years. It really makes you realize how little most humans have evolved since "society" even became a thing, and how advanced the concept of freedom is.

The one thing that always struck me when reading Atlas Shrugged was the way some characters purposely disregarded reality and reason. They would come up with their own insane explanation for how the world should work while completely ignoring the truth.

My first college economics professor demonstrated how a nation without a government can function by simply point out what happened on the first day of class. People walked in, found their own seats, and sat down for the day. We didn't need an overbearing entity to tell us where to sit, and who to sit next to.

I have a (probably bad) analogous story that likens the Edward Snowden situation to a class room with a strict seating policy designed by a secretive professor. One day a student reads through the teacher's journal and finds out that the professor was actually putting the girls who wear skirts into the front of the class room so he could try to get a look-see. When that student reveals this information to his classmates they at first act surprised, but after hearing an explanation by the professor that it is actually in their own best interest that the girls who wear skirts be forced to sit in the front, the student's classmates decide to be outraged at the student and call for his head.

They would snarl, "You have put our grades in danger! How dare you believe that you are the moral authority of this classroom when we have this professor who gives us good grades?" One of the girls sitting in the front, who the professor fancied quite a bit after learning she never put on panties, then gave her own opinion: "I think it is okay if he looks up my skirt because it will protect our grades! I have nothing to hide!"

The professor laid back in his chair, satisfied with the sentiment of the majority of the class. This was a great success, he thought Although...there was that one girl who didn't speak up against the student who revealed my secrets. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on her skirt.

The student went to another classroom, revealing the professor's secrets to others around the school. Many were upset because they had attended class sessions with that same vile professor. They demanded answers, and even went so far as to talk to the school board to see what could be done. The student did this for days, and weeks. Throughout his time traveling, he began to notice some peculiar similarities - the girls with skirts were sitting in the front of every classroom, not just the one with the vile professor. This frightened him. He ran from classroom to classroom, observing the same thing over and over again. There was outrage in every room, people and professors demanding answers, demanding that the professor change his policy. Yet, no matter which part of the school he was in, the girls with the skirts always sat in front. How could this be, he thought, why would people knowingly let this happen when they don't have to? The end.

[ClydeCoulter]

Crooks don't care about laws. Just make your new policies and laws and the world will go on as it has. Laws are not made to hold crooks accountable, they are to make the innocent feel better and will be used against the innocent...waiting to see how this plays out.

The foxes will be making new policy and rules for the themselves, that should work. /sarc

[Thor]

Thank you Snowden!

[Tod]

It's disheartening to read so many commenters calling for his head on so many different articles. They defend the govt that shows them nothing but contempt. It's like battered wives syndrome...

These are the people who will turn you in for having a gun when they ban them, who will turn you in for having a cache of food when it is labelled "illegal hoarding", who will sell their souls for a mere pittance, if not outright give it away in the name of patriotism.

[Tinnuhana]

Here, I can have a bumper sticker and/or a sign on my house. Maybe I should get a sign on the roof that says, "Snowden 2016" Then again, I have a mortgage to pay...
But I'll print this out and maybe someone can translate it into the local language to get the word out.

2075

[Occam's Banana]

http://clearingthefogradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Snowden-hero.png

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

I dislike the word "manifesto" just like freud's nephew disliked the word "propaganda."

This is my second post in a row, quickly pointing out shitty marketing... or purposeful attachment to previously mucked up words. :(

[Thor]

I dislike the word "manifesto" just like freud's nephew disliked the word "propaganda."

This is my second post in a row, quickly pointing out shitty marketing... or purposeful attachment to previously mucked up words. :(

Yes, "A Communist Manifesto" is a bad image -- however:
A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus and/or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto)

[Thor]

These are the people who will turn you in for having a gun when they ban them, who will turn you in for having a cache of food when it is labelled "illegal hoarding", who will sell their souls for a mere pittance, if not outright give it away in the name of patriotism.

You sir, are correct. Bootlickers. But when a bootlicker is down, licking a boot, makes it real easy to pop a ......

[enhanced_deficit]

Cool.