Här är länken: http://www.article19.org/join-the-debate.php/111/view/
//Erik
From Sakharov to Snowden: Why Edward Snowden should receive the 2013
Sakharov Prize
BarboraBukovska
26 Sep 2013
<http://www.article19.org/join-the-debate.php/111/view/#debateComments>
*Next week (30 September) members of the European Parliament will decide
who will be awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought
<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/00f3dd2249/Sakharov-Prize-for-Freedom-of-Thought.html>.
The winner will be chosen by members of three committees (AFET, DEVE and
DROI) and announced by Conference of Presidents on 10 October 2013. The
Prize has honoured the efforts of individuals and organisations who
defend human rights and freedom of expression annually since 1988. *
*Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor
and whistleblower, is among the nominees for the Prize. *
While all of this year's nominees are deserving of global recognition
for their admirable and courageous action to highlight and defend human
rights, it is Snowden's exposure of a massive and unaccountable state
sponsored surveillance programme that most closely captures the enduring
legacy of the man that the prize is named after. The 1975 Nobel Peace
Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.
Sakharov was a Russian physicist who rejected the USSR's nuclear
programme; he shunned his own work in a secret research laboratory to
become an outspoken opponent and critic of the oppressive reach of the
Kremlin. Even in exile, Sakharov continued to raise his voice,
denouncing social injustice and advocating the benefits of democracy.
It is fair to say that Sakharov was a security state insider, working on
the powerful weapons that could affect all humanity. Snowden too was a
security state insider, working on powerful weapons enabling the
interception of the electronic communications. Through his revelations,
Snowden voiced objection to the vast scale of secret state surveillance
of millions of people around the world, including foreign presidents
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/world/americas/brazil-angered-over-report-nsa-spied-on-president.html?_r=1&;>
and companies
<http://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2013/09/petrobras-foi-espionada-pelos-eua-apontam-documentos-da-nsa.html>.
The revelations revealed how democratically elected U.S. senators
<http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-clapper-snowden-disclosures-20130912,0,7438979.story>
had lied. These revelations have released information that is on of
strong public concern, including previously classified judgments from
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court articulating alarm about
governmental conduct
<http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/785205-pub-march-2-2009-order-from-fisc.html>.
Over thirty years on from Sakharov's exile, Snowden's actions reflect
that he is the true inheritor of the Sakharov legacy. Like Sakharov,
Snowden decided to defect and stand for the values of society at large
against the secretive interests of state machinery. Like Sakharov,
Snowden finds himself an outcast, living in asylum and hounded as a result.
In divulging classified information, Snowden has greatly jeopardised
both his professional and personal livelihood. Beyond displaying great
courage, Snowden instigated and much needed and long overdue discussion
and debate about the preservation of democratic ideals and the limits of
permissible government interference with human rights in a world where
national security has been used increasingly to justify the erosion of
fundamental freedoms.
Snowden's action has showed that blanket mass-surveillance practices are
not limited to 'communist states' and 'dictators.'
Many members of the European Parliament who grew up within a communist
state will surely remember the effect such surveillance -- the purpose
of which was nothing more than to control behaviour and dictate the
conduct of everyday life. One study of the EU Data Retention Directive
poignantly observed that "under pervasive surveillance, individuals are
inclined to make choices that conform to mainstream expectations."
The Members of the European Parliament must make sure that human rights
violations exposed by Snowden are addressed; surveillance must be
constrained to cases when justified under international law. They also
must make sure that governments remain accountable and transparent in an
age where unprecedented technological advances allow for increased
ability for subterfuge.
By the same token, Members of the European Parliament should also
recognise the individual who has exposed these violations; a man who has
fought for human rights protection and for the traditions and liberties
that the Prize embodies.
*Edward Snowden must be the recipient of the 2013 Sakharov Prize.*
