{"id":50912,"date":"2013-07-17T06:29:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T05:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/sep-wins-support-for-edward-snowden\/50912\/"},"modified":"2013-07-17T06:29:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-17T05:29:41","slug":"sep-wins-support-for-edward-snowden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/sep-wins-support-for-edward-snowden\/","title":{"rendered":"SEP wins support for Edward Snowden"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

\n By
\n our correspondents
\n
17 July 2013
\n <\/h5>\n

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) has won important support over the past week among young people and workers in defence of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who revealed the US government\u2019s illegal electronic spying operations on millions of American citizens and people around the world.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration has initiated an international witch-hunt against the whistleblower, cancelling his passport, charging him with espionage and pressuring countries to deny him asylum. Snowden remains trapped at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, where he has been for over three weeks.<\/p>\n

As part of the SEP\u2019s federal election intervention, party candidates and supporters campaigned in defence of Snowden at shopping centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and outside cinemas screening We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks<\/em>, a recently released US documentary that amounts to a political hatchet job against Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblower organisation.<\/p>\n

Despite Snowden\u2019s revelations and persecution receiving little coverage in the Australia media, the workers and students who spoke with the SEP were alarmed by the US spying and its implications for basic democratic rights.<\/p>\n

Jack Okeby<\/strong>, a 15-year-old high school student in Sydney, said the US surveillance operation was \u201cdisgusting.\u201d While the US claimed to stand for democratic rights, he said, \u201cthe way that it\u2019s treating Snowden, like he\u2019s some kind of criminal, really shows how hypocritical and how fast it has gone back on its own constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

By charging Snowden with \u201cgiving information to the enemy,\u201d the US government implied that \u201cthe public is the enemy in themselves,\u201d Okeby said. \u201cPreviously the government shut down things like communist parties, as they nearly did in Australia, but now, because of the Internet, they can\u2019t just shut down a party and block that idea from reaching the people. And that\u2019s a possible reason why they are attempting to spy on the public on such a massive scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney retail worker Roydon Shaw<\/strong>, 28, denounced the US government attacks on Snowden. He was not surprised that \u201cgovernments are doing illegal acts to keep their eyes on us.\u201d He added: \u201cI think it\u2019s absolute rubbish the way they exaggerate the threat of terrorism and then make everyone guilty by association because we live on the same planet as a potential terrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw commented: \u201cWe should be told that if we want to use certain facilities, they\u2019re going to be bugged. You wouldn\u2019t let someone go through your mail box, so why would you let them search you emails?\u201d He explained: \u201cIt just seems as a people we are tricked into thinking that democracy is freedom, but we don\u2019t have a democratic system. We have a two-choice party. That\u2019s not democracy because you can\u2019t get representation if you don\u2019t follow either of the two agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judy Scott,<\/strong> a Sydney writer, voiced her support for Snowden and WikiLeaks. \u201cThe fact is if Assange and Snowden are to be arrested and jailed, so should the Guardian<\/em> and the New York Times<\/em>. It\u2019s always been illogical and that\u2019s why there are huge numbers of people who support them, they\u2019re seen as heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brisbane, Krishna<\/strong>, a newly-arrived Indian IT worker, said: \u201cI may not be a direct victim of the government, but still it concerns me that there may be other victims who are directly impacted by this surveillance. The purpose is to control the normal citizens, the ordinary people. Governments start little by little, controlling at the smallest level until finally they control at the biggest level and the highest level, against all your rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krishna explained: \u201cIf people were happy and peaceful everywhere, and governments were not going for war, then governments would not feel the need to control people. If all the working class had jobs, money, medical insurance, education, then they would be happy and no government control would be attempted.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Melbourne, June Ryan<\/strong> said: \u201cI\u2019m very concerned about Edward Snowden\u2013absolutely. He and Julian Assange\u2013anyone who blows whistles and stands up like that\u2013are in big danger for what they\u2019ve done\u2026 People in power don\u2019t trust the majority of people. They want to rule the roost\u2026 they represent vested interests and they\u2019re starting to panic, because people are becoming more vocal.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he articles in the media on Assange are all on personalities, not on substance. That is the establishment way of covering up. They want you to stay dumb. They talk about people being apathetic, but they want you apathetic. People I know are waking up to the fact that the real criminals are the ones preferring charges. It is upside down. It\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan Morris<\/strong>, a Melbourne psychology student, said: \u201cI think it is important that young people pay attention to what is being exposed by Snowden. I think it is fantastic. I repost all that he says. I am reading everything he exposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to the grounding by Spain, Portugal, Italy and France of the Bolivian president\u2019s jet at the behest of the US government, Morris said, \u201cI was shocked when America stopped the plane from Moscow going to South America. I thought it was international airspace. What authority does America have to do that to intervene in a country\u2019s national sovereignty? They are head hunting\u2013the US are just bullies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mert Coleman<\/strong>, a retired worker holidaying from Ireland, said Snowden \u201chas done a great service to the country and to the rest of the world by highlighting this. Maybe the Americans don\u2019t agree with that, but we are all concerned about Big Brother prying into our private affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Benn<\/strong>, a former teacher, said Snowden was \u201cshowing how the government is betraying its own people\u2026 What the hell are they doing? They say that other countries are doing the same thing but I just see the size of the US effort and it seems unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benn commented: \u201cI\u2019m surprised that Obama is the president at the time this is occurring. I\u2019m surprised at their use of drones. I\u2019m surprised that Guantanamo Bay is still in use, that torture still seems to be going on. It just seems to be the use of repression. It is also repression against other countries. It\u2019s clear that other governments won\u2019t help Snowden because they fear America\u2026 These tactics leave me completely gob smacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron<\/strong>, a WSWS reader from Western Australia, emailed to express his support for Snowden. \u201cI believe any arguments indicating that spying on this level is necessary to counter terrorism and protect the general public are absolutely phony. The government does not need to\u2013and should not\u2013collect information on its population. Anyone with any interest or concern about Snowden and the information he has revealed should learn as much as possible about what is really happening and read the articles on wsws.org. This is a very serious situation which needs to be followed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorised by Nick Beams, 113\/55 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne VIC 3051<\/em><\/p>\n


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Republished with permission from: World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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