Today is Gandhi’s birthday 2 October.

I understand the importance of civil disobedience when power seeks to oppress and control people. Power can be government, business, organisations, groups, family, partners or anyone who seeks power over another. Bullying has many masks and names.  It becomes visible when challenged as it sees threats and enemies.  If it is not fearful or an adherent to the principles of real democracy and freedoms there would be no threat there.  The negative powers do not trust democracy, they feel it is a barrier to its freedom to do what it wants to reach its goals. It is unable to feel the pain of the other, it is detached, emotions suppressed.  I speak in the ‘it’ as I am speaking of a negative ideology that people believe and forms a barrier to human realisation.  It sees itself as pragmatic and that the world is one of ‘tooth and claw’ (dangerous) as the philosopher Thomas Hobbes described.  This becomes the salient justification to continue secrecy, to continue mass surveillance, to continue suppression, violence and violations calling it preserving freedom or security. It has to make its actions relevant and important in order to not question the truth of what is really being done. Yet what is not understood is that you cannot repress freedoms, democracy and the rule of law into order to maintain it. You cannot create security from a basis of insecurity. Fear is always behind violence, control and repression.  Suppressing human rights, civil liberties and ignoring the collective rights moves civil society towards the governance of tyranny or dictatorship.

This is the direction we are currently moving in with technology and an increasingly compliant population. We see subtle training even on the net where you have to tick ‘yes’ to agreeing to Terms and Conditions in order to access.  If you say ‘no’ you don’t get access. So yes is access no is not access.  So like Pavlov’s dog we do as we are rewarded by saying yes.  Moreover, programs and advertisements are forced on internet users. You have not agreed to the advertisement but it forces its way in front of you. This is the foundation of a compliance or compliant society that many young people only know. They do not realise what democracy means that they actually have the right to say no and have that respected, in the cyber world it is not respected, there is no negotiation or sharing of power.  That is the beginning of disempowerment and legal compliance.  In the IT world there is little democracy. So the cyber commons is a free for all and data remains, like the transfer of energy, it never dissipates and others can cherry pick it without privacy or permission. So whatever is said remains out there and can be used against you if the tide turns.  I wonder at children saying all sorts of things to find years later it comes back to them in a form of demonisation. Mistakes they made are evident on the net.  For me I believe in openness and honesty and I have nothing to hide but I know in a cyber world fact can become fiction and fiction can become fact with graphic design programs and editing film to look real. We can easily be fooled and then believe a story without evidence. That is where dark elements can have fun in cyber space. They can create any holographic reality and you will believe it. It goes feral and whallah. Bit like the magician who can use illusion to fool you.  So be mindful.  The way to determine if it is positive or negative, truthful or false is to note is it causing division or unity.  Is it verifiable by good sources such as credible journals, newspapers, citizen journalists, human rights advocates etc.  You have to be mindful always.

The movie about Snowden makes the point of the cyber world being the new battleground.  So info wars become the way to control people and target those perceived as an enemy. Yet in truth there is no enemy only an unquestioned belief.  I bring up Byron Katie (www.thework.com). She speaks of an unquestioned story. The Work seeks to question the negative belief and then turn it around. This works on the premise that we are projecting our negativity onto the world. When questioned we see it us not them. That is the beginning of the awakening. Only love is real.  This is the reality slowly dawning. Yet we are still playing out war games believing war brings peace. It never can and never will.  Peace is love.

Gandhi’s words come to me in the feeling of untruth always falls…

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”

― Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth

Edward Snowden’s rationale for his decision is based on the world he wishes to live in, in essence ‘to be the change he wishes to see’, thus speak the truth and stand for the world that is desired, one where life is not recorded, as follows:

“I don’t want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded…”   Edward Snowden

To look into the surveillance mentality it is worthwhile looking into the Nixon case of Watergate and John Dean’s book ‘Worse than Watergate the Secret Presidency of George W. Bush’.  I interviewed John Dean realising how corruption manifests in secrecy.

This video below highlights a talk by Edward Snowden entitled ‘Who Really Rules The United States’.  He is raising important questions about rights, responsibility and accountability. He is revealing the breakdown in the separation of powers in government and secrecy.  He exposes parts of government that are unaccountable and unelected. It is like there is no line in the sand where values would stop an activity, that is no longer happening.  Those who have tried to raise issues were turned into the enemy.  This is the war mentality.

He sees it as his duty to speak out and he is giving the public the responsibility to take action, perhaps the upcoming election is a time for United States citizens to decide who they are.  I see that as the appropriate order of things. The public tend to sit back as observers watching television until it happens to them personally.  I can understand that sense of remoteness in people. Technology give all of us a distance from each other.  It somehow doesn’t feel real as it is 2 dimensional.  However, the reality is 3 dimensional and real people do get hurt.   I’ve heard people say if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about.  People get set up, people get demonised in the media, innocent people are killed.  So I don’t think that argument holds any credence. This is the head in the sand argument for doing nothing, what it masks is fear of taking action.  The truth is people feel vulnerable when it comes to government, they are afraid of police and they choose to ignore uncomfortable truths as that means they have to take responsibility.  That is, to actually live the democracy they say they are in.  This takes courage.  Can we be bothered to get up off the couch even if we think of the future of our children? Such is the depth of apathy and disempowerment. The latter is the silent repression that many don’t realise they are under. Disempowerment says ‘I have no power’.  Empowerment says ‘I can do something’, this is responsibility.  In truth the best way is through creative approaches that do not demonise, you can take back power through positive engagement, collective actions but it is important to ensure it is nonviolent.  Gandhi is a great example of how to remove tyranny (dictatorship) without violence. To be strong enough to stand up and be visible ‘to be the change you wish to see in the world’. This is living by example.  You cannot stop tyranny with your own form of control. You have to love the enemy. Yes I know most balk at the word ‘love’. However, love is the greatest power in the universe and it can move mountains, without doubt. Gandhi called it a force more powerful than any nuclear bomb. Just think of a parent’s love for a child and their desire to save that child. That is the single pointed focus on love.  It will sacrifice its life for love and strength appears. So it is a discipline to look through the tyrant as there is goodness there as well, to have the strength to focus on the issue without causing division. To help the other to see your truth without force, it is to touch something within them that truly knows.  So truth can’t be faked, you have to genuinely seek for it to reveal it.  What you focus on expands is the point.

Mass surveillance, thought control and secrecy reminds me of George Orwell 1984 and the future of total repression through economic and social control. I remember Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and how the schools can feed into this conformity. Anyone different is isolated and demonised. It is very sad as life is about diversity within unity.  Both haunting images of how authority can get out of control or indeed into control.  So the only levy or counter-balance is civil society across the world. Each get to choose the world they want.  Law of attraction will bring you want you want.  So for me it is to focus on a society that is open, free, inclusive, empathetic, democratic and has checks and balances so we all get to live to our full potential and experience true happiness.

Speaking truth to power is a duty of the citizens.  If everyone believes truth is the cornerstone of good governance and democracy then the duty falls at the feet of citizens.   We are all in this together.  Not only in the United States but in other countries witnessing and experiencing abuses of governments and business.  Why is it important?  Love of the tyrant is to stop the tyrant.  It is not to encourage the bully to keep bullying but to say no to this and as a society envisage the society you want. You may have to violate an unjust law to adhere to a higher law, truth. I can see Gandhi smiling at this last sentence. Truth has a habit of enduring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLjuVyIIrshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp1q2kv8zQw

This interview with Oliver Stone is conducted on the US O’Reilly Factor, the interviewer is known as a conservative commentator.  So it is interesting to observe the interview and how Oliver Stone, the producer of the film about Edward Snowden, responds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IIdh5MvRg

Another interesting interview with Oliver Stone discussing the movie ‘Snowden’ at the Harvard Institute of Politics. This film was published 16 September 2016.  It is important for people to hear the message.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rC0qpLGciU