John Lewis, the 'conscience of the US Congress', on Snowden's act of 'civil disobedience'
Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2013, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)
Veteran civil rights leader: Snowden acted in tradition of civil disobedience
John Lewis, the man Obama called the 'conscience of the US Congress', said whistleblower could lay claim to 'higher law'
Paul Lewis in Washington
theguardian.com, Wednesday 7 August 2013 17.29 BST
'Since I've been in Congress, I've been arrested four times. Sometimes you have to act by the dictates of your conscience.' Photograph: Reuters
John Lewis, one of America's most revered civil rights leaders, says the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was continuing the tradition of civil disobedience by revealing details of classified US surveillance programs.
Lewis, a 73-year-old congressman and the last surviving lieutenant of Martin Luther King, said Snowden could claim he was appealing to "a higher law" when he disclosed top secret documents showing the extent of NSA surveillance of both Americans and foreigners.
Asked in interview with the Guardian whether Snowden was engaged in an act of civil disobedience, Lewis nodded and replied: "In keeping with the philosophy and the discipline of non-violence, in keeping with the teaching of Henry David Thoreau and people like Gandhi and others, if you believe something that is not right, something is unjust, and you are willing to defy customs, traditions, bad laws, then you have a conscience. You have a right to defy those laws and be willing to pay the price."
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John Lewis (right) and the leaders of the Freedom Riders: Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr, in Montgomery, Alabama, May 1961. Photograph: Corbis
When it was pointed out to Lewis that many in Washington believed that Snowden was simply a criminal, he replied: "Some people say criminality or treason or whatever. He could say he was acting because he was appealing to a higher law. Many of us have some real, real, problems with how the government has been spying on people."
He added: "We had that problem during the height of the civil rights movement. People spied on, and got information on Martin Luther King junior, and tried to use it against him, on the movement, tried to plant people within different organisations – that probably led to the destruction of some of those groups."
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/07/john-lewis-civil-rights-edward-snowden
[hr]
It's a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities use every method to silence dissent
It's a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent. But something is happening, and people are not going to be silenced. The truth must be told, and I say that those who are seeking to make it appear that anyone who opposes ... is a fool or a traitor or an enemy... is a person that has taken a stand against the best in our tradition.
"the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality
" When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism & economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.... don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world "
- Martin Luther King.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Meanwhile, on the other side, we have folks like Dick Cheney and former Bush stooges calling Snowden a traitor.
I know what side I'm on. 