The era of the cold war has passed; the war on terror is currently nearing its end. Apparently, the newest aspect of world politics is controlling the information superhighway.
We are currently observing the plight of Edward Snowden for revealing the US mass surveillance programme called PRISM - which was built to monitor people communicating through the internet.
The world is currently watching how the American government is chasing the whistleblower Snowden (the US government claims that he’s neither a whistleblower nor a human rights activist), despite his claims of being a patriot, and that he has no intentions of harming his own country.
His fate at the moment is uncertain, being holed up in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport since June 23, though he has declared his intentions of applying for and accepting asylum in Russia, since he is unable to travel to South America where a handful of countries, namely Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, have offered him asylum.
On July 12, Snowden had a meeting with representatives from the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Kremlin, and requested them to help him travel to South America while asking for permission to take asylum in Russia until his ability to travel was restored.
It is yet to be seen whether he would ever be able to travel to South America and whether any of the few countries would be able to protect him from the possible harm his own country’s government can do to him.
The issue has become a source of a grave diplomatic row between the US and their rivals.
The American government has gone so far in their hunt for the whistleblower that they had the airplane of the President of Bolivia, en route to Caracas from Moscow, grounded under the suspicion that Snowden was on board. The US is asking everyone concerned to hand Snowden over to them for his acts of espionage, theft of government property, and leaking of classified documents, according to them.
People around the world are keeping their eyes and ears open about the event with the utmost interest, mostly with a sense of sympathy towards, as I perceive, the man who has risked his life to try and create a more just society.
Now the question is, should we stand for the actions of Edward Snowden and other such individuals like Julian Assange and Bradley Manning? Do the steps taken by them help protect human rights and dignity? These questions are not really that hard to answer.
If that is the case, why are other governments not extending their hands to protect this gentleman? Is it because they are afraid of the superpower? Or are they corrupt also?
It seems that a war on information has been waged. Do you think that the people’s rights will prevail or will the hegemonic governments remain at the helm of everything?
The victims of such intrusive surveillance programmes are the common people. While the governments of the world are playing politics to try and win over their competing parties; who exactly, is supposed to look after the interests of the people while protecting their privacy and rights?
Who would be brave enough like Snowden, Assange or Manning? Would it be possible for a small group of unarmed activists to win the battle against the hegemonic mammoths?
At the moment the information superhighway and the internet is controlled mostly by the US. Would it be possible for other countries or rivals to turn the tide? There is a long way to go. Even if its rivals succeed would they be able to uphold people’s rights and privacy the way the US hasn’t?
The answers to such questions are important to ponder on, for the sake of the world’s populace.
