Sarah Harrison Lên Tiếng!

Nhân Chủ đã viết một bài trân trọng về người phụ nữ thông minh quả cảm tuyệt vời và âm thầm lặng lẽ làm việc của Wikileaks. Hôm mùng 6-11-2013 cô đã phải lên tiếng. Không phải lên tiếng cho bản thân mình, mà lên tiếng vì đồng nghiệp, vì công lý, và vì tất cả chúng ta: quần chúng nhân dân khắp nơi. Sarah Harrison đã viết một tuyên bố ngắn nhưng đầy nhiệt huyết đến nỗi khiến giáo sư Michael Ratner (chủ tịch Trung Tâm Quyền Hiến Định - Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York và Chủ tịch của Trung Tâm Nhân Quyền và Hiến Quyền Âu Châu tại Berlin Chair of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin) phải bật khóc khi đọc những giòng chữ này.

"Khi những Công dân tố cáo bước ra  công khai, chúng ta cần phải đấu tranh cho họ, để những người khác được khích lệ. Khi họ bị bịt miệng, chúng ta phải là tiếng nói của họ. Khi họ bị săn đuổi, chúng ta phải là lá chắn che chở họ. Khi họ bị nhốt biệt tăm, chúng ta phải giải cứu họ. Thông báo Sự Thật đến cho chúng ta không phải là một tội phạm. Đấy là những dữ liệu của chúng ta, thông tin của chúng ta, lịch sử của chúng ta. Chúng ta phải đấu tranh để làm chủ nó.

Sarah Harrison, Lòng Can Đảm Lan Truyền

When whistleblowers come forward we need to fight for them, so others will be encouraged. When they are gagged, we must be their voice. When they are hunted, we must be their shield. When they are locked away, we must free them. Giving us the truth is not a crime. This is our data, our information, our history. We must fight to own it."
"Sarah Harrison
Courage is contagious."

Sau 4 tháng sát cánh lặng lẽ trợ lực và cố vấn cho Edward Snowden từ HongKong đến Moscows và hoàn thành bước tị nạn tạm thời tại Nga, khéo léo quật ngã sức ép và đòn thù của Âu Mỹ đè nặng Snowden. Sau khi Edward Snowden tạm ổn định an toàn và gặp lại Bố trái với lời cố vấn của chuyên gia pháp luật và an ninh của nhóm hỗ trợ, Sarah Harrison đã rời Nga đến Berlin Đức sinh hoạt.

Cô không thể trở về Anh quốc vì hiện nay bọn an ninh nhà nước Anh, cũng như Mỹ, Úc, Canada đã vứt bỏ mọi nguyên lý dân quyền nhân quyền sẵn sàng hành hung bắt bớ bất cứ ai phanh phui lật tẩy tội phạm chính phủ, hay dám phanh phui tên chủ Mỹ của chúng như trường hợp Julian Assange và Habib.. Sự  kiện an ninh Anh quốc đã buộc tờ báo The Guardian phải tự nghiền nát máy móc chứa hồ sơ của Greenwald và Snowden để thị uy và dằn mặt đã chứng minh cho Sarah Harrison sự hiểm nguy chực chờ cô nếu cô trở về "tổ cò" Anh quốc.

Cũng như các nhà vận động chính trị đối kháng khác hiện nay đều sinh hoạt tại Berlin, Đức quốc vì không thể trở về "tổ cò" với nanh vuốt chính phủ đang chực chờ như Laura Poitras và Jacob Appelbaum của Mỹ (thành viên của nhóm TOR Browser) đều đang tị nạn bán chính thức tại Đức.

Anh, Mỹ , Úc đã thành những xã hội an ninh trị được khoác chiếc áo nhung dân chủ. Những nhà nước của xã hội loại này, miệng nói dân chủ tự do, nhưng sẵn sàng dùng "luật bạo ngược" triệt hạ bất cứ ai đối kháng phơi bày tội phạm của chính phủ. Loại nhà nước này nguy hiểm hơn Trung Cộng, Việt Nam, Bắc Hàn... Vì với những bọn như Trung quốc, Việt Nam, Bắc Hàn, người ta biết rõ 100% nó là độc tài bạo ngược và biết rõ kẻ thù của Nhân quyền, Dân quyền là ai. Nhưng ở những xã hội như Anh, Mỹ, Úc v.v nó khoác áo "dân chủ gián tiếp" khiến người dân bị siết cổ cướp tự do nhân phẩm, nhưng không thể nhìn rõ được kẻ thù tội phạm.

Giáo sư Michael Ratner đã nhắn gửi mọi người hãy ghi lời kêu gọi của Sarah Harrison vào tâm khảm. Riêng Nhân Chủ, qua những kinh nghiệm bằng chứng cụ thể này, xin nhắn gửi đến những ai có can đảm đấu tranh nhưng còn hoang tưởng rằng Nhà Nước Chính Phủ là tận thiện, rằng cần "chính phủ Âu Mỹ ủng hộ" và rằng cần đấu tranh trong "sự thượng tôn pháp luật", hãy nhìn tấm gương đấu tranh của những người đi trước như Rosa Park, Martin Luther King, và hôm nay William Binney, Thomas Brake, Chelsea Manning, Jullian Assange, Edward Snowden để thấy rõ DÂN TRÍ là SỨC MẠNH và chính NGƯỜI DÂN mới là nơi nương tựa và bảo vệ những người đấu tranh hữu hiệu và chân chính nhất!

nkptc
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Statement by Sarah Harrison

Wednesday 6 November 2013, 18:30 CET

Translations
[fr] Déclaration de la journaliste de Wikileaks Sarah Harisson au sujet d’Edward Snowden

As a journalist I have spent the last four months with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and arrived in Germany over the weekend. I worked in Hong Kong as part of the WikiLeaks team that brokered a number of asylum offers for Snowden and negotiated his safe exit from Hong Kong to take up his legal right to seek asylum. I was travelling with him on our way to Latin America when the United States revoked his passport, stranding him in Russia. For the next 39 days I remained with him in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where I assisted in his legal application to 21 countries for asylum, including Germany, successfully securing his asylum in Russia despite substantial pressure by the United States. I then remained with him until our team was confident that he had established himself and was free from the interference of any government.
Whilst Edward Snowden is safe and protected until his asylum visa is due to be renewed in nine months’ time, there is still much work to be done. The battle Snowden joined against state surveillance and for government transparency is one that WikiLeaks – and many others – have been fighting, and will continue to fight.
WikiLeaks’ battles are many: we fight against unaccountable power and government secrecy, publishing analysis and documents for all affected and to forever provide the public with the history that is theirs. For this, we are fighting legal cases in many jurisdictions and face an unprecedented Grand Jury investigation in the United States. WikiLeaks continues to fight for the protection of sources. We have won the battle for Snowden’s immediate future, but the broader war continues.
Already, in the few days I have spent in Germany, it is heartening to see the people joining together and calling for their government to do what must be done – to investigate NSA spying revelations, and to offer Edward Snowden asylum. The United States should no longer be able to continue spying on every person around the globe, or persecuting those that speak the truth.
Snowden is currently safe in Russia, but there are whistleblowers and sources to whom this does not apply. Chelsea Manning has been subject to abusive treatment by the United States government and is currently serving a 35-year sentence for exposing the true nature of war. Jeremy Hammond is facing a decade in a New York jail for allegedly providing journalists with documents that exposed corporate surveillance. I hope I have shown a counter example: with the right assistance whistleblowers can speak the truth and keep their liberty.
Aggressive tactics are being used against journalists, publishers and experts who work so courageously to bring truth to the world. Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jacob Appelbaum are all in effective exile. Barrett Brown is indicted for reporting on unethical surveillance practices. My editor Julian Assange has asylum over US threats, but the United Kingdom refuses to allow him to fully exercise this right, violating the law. The UK government also detained David Miranda under the UK Terrorism Act for collaborating with Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald.
The UK Terrorism Act defines terrorism as the action or threat of action "designed to influence" any government "for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause". It prescribes actions that interfere with the functioning of an "electronic system" (i.e. the NSA’s bulk spying program) or which the government alleges create a "risk" to a section of the public. It should be fanciful to suggest that national security journalism which has the purpose of producing honest government or enforcing basic privacy rights should be called "terrorism", but that is how the UK is choosing to interpret this law. Almost every story published on the GCHQ and NSA bulk spying programs falls under the UK government’s interpretation of the word "terrorism". In response, our lawyers have advised me that it is not safe to return home.
The job of the press is to speak truth to power. And yet for doing our job we are persecuted. I say that these aggressive and illegal tactics to silence us – inventing arbitrary legal interpretations, over-zealous charges and disproportionate sentences – must not be permitted to succeed. I stand in solidarity with all those intimidated and persecuted for bringing the truth to the public.
In these times of secrecy and abuse of power there is only one solution – transparency. If our governments are so compromised that they will not tell us the truth, then we must step forward to grasp it. Provided with the unequivocal proof of primary source documents people can fight back. If our governments will not give this information to us, then we must take it for ourselves.
When whistleblowers come forward we need to fight for them, so others will be encouraged. When they are gagged, we must be their voice. When they are hunted, we must be their shield. When they are locked away, we must free them. Giving us the truth is not a crime. This is our data, our information, our history. We must fight to own it.
Courage is contagious.
Sarah Harrison, Wednesday 6 November 2013, Berlin
Michael Ratner is President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York and Chair of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. He is currently a legal adviser to Wikileaks and Julian Assange. He and CCR brought the first case challenging the Guantanamo detentions and continue in their efforts to close Guantanamo. He taught at Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School, and was President of the National Lawyers Guild. His current books include "Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in the Twenty-First Century America," and “ Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away With Murder.” NOTE: Mr. Ratner speaks on his own behalf and not for any organization with which he is affiliated.

Transcript

JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jaisal Noor in Baltimore. And welcome to this latest edition of The Ratner Report. Now joining us is Michael Ratner. He's the president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, chair of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. He's also a board member for The Real News Network. Thank you so much for joining us, Michael.MICHAEL RATNER, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: Jaisal Noor, it's good to be with you and The Real News again.NOOR: So, Michael, what do you have for us this week?RATNER: Well, this week is in large part encompassed by my work with WikiLeaks at what's going on with revelations, Snowden, coming up sentencing of Jeremy Hammond. Two events that really coming together for me that I think are very important: one was--and we recording this on November 7--but yesterday there was an open public letter, November 6, from a woman named Sarah Harrison, someone who perhaps most of the people listening to this may not be aware of or don't know. Sarah Harrison is the WikiLeaks person who accompanied Edward Snowden from Hong Kong to Moscow. She's been with Ed Snowden for four months. She and WikiLeaks are the organization and person who deserve credit for helping negotiate his asylum and helping him get a legal way out of Hong Kong to Moscow and should be given a lot of credit for that. She's a hero. She introduced a very powerful letter yesterday that I want to talk about. And now, after four months, the letter has come out, and she is now in Berlin. She is no longer with Edward Snowden in Moscow--not that there was any break, but that she did what she had to do, and now Edward Snowden is doing, I presume, quite well in Moscow. The other related event is the upcoming sentence of Jeremy Hammond. Jeremy Hammond is, like Sarah Harrison and WikiLeaks, is a transparency activist like Edward Snowden. On November 15 of next week, Jeremy Hammond will be sentenced in New York City in federal court for an act of civil disobedience, the hacking of Stratfor, a strategic intelligence company, which has opened up the world of private intelligence spying. That's what Jeremy Hammond did. It was incredibly important. He's facing up to ten years in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and abuse act. There is a major campaign now, hundreds of letters have been submitted on his behalf to try and get him time served, which is about 15 months in jail so far. Both of these people, Sarah Harrison and Jeremy Hammond, are heroes to me, and they have in common this: they have a deep belief in people knowing what their government and corporations are doing. They have a deep belief in transparency and in truth and an understanding that if truth is withheld from us, the people have a right to take it. And Sarah wrote in this letter something that almost brought me to tears, it's so moving. What she said was:

"In these times of secrecy and abuse of power there is only one solution – transparency. If our governments are so compromised that they will not tell us the truth, then we must step forward to grasp it. . . . If our governments will not give this information to us, then we must take it for ourselves.

"That's Sarah Harrison speaking. Likewise, Jeremy Hammond said, in explaining why he did what he did, hacking into the Stratfor emails, and why he pleaded guilty to one count, why he said he did what he did: "I did work with Anonymous to hack Stratfor, among other websites. Those others included military and police equipment suppliers, private intelligence and information security firms, and law enforcement agencies. I did this because I believe people have a right to know what governments and corporations are doing behind closed doors. I did what I believe is right."Both incredible heroes and believers in transparency and truth. Sarah Harrison is paying a price for their beliefs. She has got to Berlin because she has been advised by her lawyers that it is unsafe for her to return to the United Kingdom, her home. Why is it unsafe? Because in the United Kingdom, national security journalism is treated as terrorism, we notice, after what happened with David Miranda, the partner of Glenn Greenwald, was held at the airport and questioned under the terrorism law. And there's currently an investigation going on in the U.K. around what happened with David Miranda under the terrorism laws. That terrorism investigation has been opened. Sarah Harrison, like others, has felt the wrath of the United States and U.K. She's taken refuge in Berlin where, unfortunately or sadly, Laura Poitras has also had to take an exile. She's the person who cooperated with Glenn Greenwald in both writing articles based on the Snowden revelations, as well as doing a video, and another activist with TOR, a person named Jacob Appelbaum. They too are in Berlin. So Sarah Harrison is paying the price for her beliefs. Likewise, Jeremy Hammond is paying a price for his bringing the truth to us. It's remarkable what he exposed, a private surveillance corporation, one among many. Some 70 percent of the U.S. budget for surveillance is now spent giving that money to private corporations who spy on us, Stratfor, the corporation that Jeremy Hammond revealed, spying on activists, from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to the Yes Men, to those trying to get Dow Chemical to finally settle and apologize for what happened in Bhopal, India. Jeremy Hammond has an incredible amount of support, hundreds of letters asking for time served. Among them are a letter from Daniel Ellsberg, of course, who revealed the Pentagon Papers. He said Jeremy Hammond's actions have to be seen in light of the profound consequences of private intelligence on political activists. Jeremy Hammond was an alleged source for WikiLeaks, which has posted significant number of files from Stratfor. WikiLeaks, along with a dozen other newspapers, submitted a letter to the court pointing out the significance and the importance of the information revealed in the Stratfor hack. An important point about that letter from WikiLeaks, as well as the other media, is that WikiLeaks and these papers did not and do not and will not abandon their sources. This is very much unlike The New York Times, and I think even The Guardian, which, after they get the material from their sources, does nothing, nothing to protect them, and in fact, in the case of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, as well as Chelsea Manning, excoriates them on occasion. Let's hope that Jeremy Hammond gets time served. He is a hero, a hero for all of us. I want to end on this incredibly moving statement at the letter end of the letter that Sarah Harrison wrote. And it's one that we should all take to heart:

"When whistleblowers come forward we need to fight for them, so others will be encouraged. When they are gagged, we must be their voice. When they are hunted, we must be their shield. When they are locked away, we must free them. Giving us the truth is not a crime. This is our data, our information, our history. We must fight to own it."And then it's signed "Sarah Harrison" with the following: "Courage is contagious." 

So let's hope for Sarah Harrison, Jeremy Hammond, and others who have had the courage to reveal the truth.NOOR: Michael Ratner, thank you so much for sharing that.RATNER: Jaisal Noor and Real News, thank you very much for having me again on The Real News.NOOR: You can follow us @therealnews. You can Tweet me questions @jaisalnoor. Thank you so much for being with us.