//Erik
From Sakharov to Snowden: Why Edward Snowden should receive the 2013 Sakharov Prize
Next week (30 September) members of the European
Parliament will decide who will be awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
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 and companies. The revelations revealed how
democratically elected U.S. senators 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.
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.