The Humanist Cafe
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 – 7:00-8:30 pm
James Bay New Horizons 234 Menzies Street, Victoria
Discussion Topic: Three Whistleblowers: Heroes or
Traitors?
Moderator – John Pope
Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning have all
sacrificed their freedom for a cause.
Snowden is in asylum in
Russia, but still active (and influential) on social media.
https://twitter.com/Snowden
Julian Assange lived in exile
at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years, and has
had his internet access jammed and visitors disallowed. He
was finally evicted from the embassy by the newly elected
Ecuadorian government. He was then arrested, and is in jail
in London in apparent bad health waiting for trial for
possible deportation to the U.S..
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-london-police-arrest-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-after-ecuador/
Chelsea Manning was sentenced
to serve 35 years in a maximum security facility, but it was
commuted by Obama. She is back in jail after refusing
to answer questions from the grand jury about
conversations she allegedly had with Assange at the time of
her illegal disclosures. She is now running for the US Senate
in Maryland.
Also, you may remember we
had a similar Cafe in April last year when our City of
Victoria made the international news when Christopher
Wylie, who worked for AggregateIQ in Victoria, blew the
whistle on the company Cambridge Analytica that he claimed had
used mined personal data from Facebook without consent to
influence democracy. He specifically mentioned the Brexit
“Leave” campaign in the UK, and other national and local
elections that may have been affected by these tactics. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/world/canada/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-canadian-liberal-party-canada-letter.html
Contrasting opinions:
Whistleblowers are patriots: “We
need whistleblowers as a form of checks and balances within
our society. We need to look up to these individuals, and
call them patriots of our, so called, free world.” Read
more:https://thepioneeronline.com/35266/opinions/was-2017-a-year-of-whistleblowers-versus-patriotism/
Whistleblowers are traitors: “Stealing
classified information to systematically undermine U.S.
alliances across the world, while aiding U.S. adversaries, is
practically the definition of treason.” Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2013/12/yes-edward-snowden-is-a-traitor/
Canadian Legislation:
Here’s what the revamping of the federal whistleblower law
would look like if implemented (Jun. 2017):http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/whistleblower-report-law-canada-1.4167847
Questions
Is Assange an activist, or a
journalist?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/opinions/julian-assange-activist-not-journalist-ghitis/index.html
How does this matter to the courts?
What justification did the
Ecuadorean government’s President Moreno have to evict Assange
from their embassy in London? “The patience of Ecuador has
reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange.” -Lenin
Moreno Did it have anything to do with the $4.2 billion IMF
loan to Ecuador endorsed by Trump?
https://www.ft.com/content/f6aed944-35e9-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5
Will Julian Assange ever be
free?
[Your question here]
Quotes
“Just as we do not allow police officers to enter every
home to fish around for evidence of undiscovered crimes,
we must not allow spies to rummage through our every
communication for indications of disfavored activities.”
-Edward Snowden
“One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose
injustice.” -Julian
Assange
“I regret if my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United
States. It was never my intent to hurt anyone. When I
chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of
a love for my country and a sense of duty to others.”
-Chelsea Manning
“I used to work for the government.
Now I work for the public.” -Edward Snowden
See you there! Bring a friend or
two.
Open to all. Coffee and tea
provided. Donations gratefully accepted.
www.vsha.ca