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Why whistleblowers are crucial for democracy: Linden MacIntyre

Technology has simplified and amplified the role

By Linden MacIntyre, CBC News Posted: Oct 31, 2013 5:01 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 31, 2013 9:53 AM ET

Edward Snowden, left, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, right, are among the world's best-known contemporary whistleblowers. (Guardian/AP, Anthony Devlin/AP, Patrick Semansky/AP)

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About The Author

Linden MacIntyre
the fifth estate

Linden MacIntyre has been a co-host of CBC Television's the fifth estate since 1990.

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The conscientious public servant, having agreed verbally with the reporter that the conflict of interest in his department is egregious, has privately explained how it works - and has now nervously consented to make available a document that will authenticate the story. There is a brief encounter in a busy public square. An envelope appears out of one briefcase, disappears into another. A silent whistle has been blown.

That was an actual transaction that occurred on an overcast autumn day in 1977. A crooked mayor lost his job because of it.

the fifth estate

This week on the fifth estate: "The Strange World of JulianAssange." The controversialWikiLeaks founder gets the Hollywood treatment in the new movie 'The Fifth Estate'. Watch CBC Television's the fifth estate this Friday, Nov. 1, for the inside story of JulianAssange in his own words. 

It's a scenario that has played out many times. A provincial cabinet minister once handed me a devastating analysis of a hugely expensive public project. I had it for a weekend, it was about 150 pages long. Trusted friends and I laboriously copied the entire document on a typewriter before I gave it back - and started to report its contents.

Another leak: an associate in Ottawa drove to a residential address where, by arrangement, an envelope was recovered from a private mailbox. The document retrieved from that mailbox was instrumental in derailing a secret process to licence an agricultural drug of dubious value and demonstrated peril.

That’s the way the whistle blew in “the old days.” Now the revolution in technology has simplified the process and amplified the whistle to a degree that would have been unimaginable even 20 years ago.

'Even the agencies of espionage are now publicly accountable for their tactics - all because a young civilian named Edward Snowden found some of their activities abusive and corrupt.'

The secret diplomatic pouch is now potentially transparent, as demonstrated by an outraged U.S. army private, Bradley/Chelsea Manning, who co-operated with Julian Assange and Wikileaks to blow the whistle on a global scale. And even the agencies of espionage are now publicly accountable for their tactics - all because a young civilian named Edward Snowden found some of their activities abusive and corrupt.

The names Assange, Manning and Snowden are associated with a transformation in the vulnerability of institutions in both the public and private realms.

Institutions gather, store and analyze vast amounts of information about individuals and other institutions. The process, even when intentions are benign, is nonetheless invasive. 

The purpose of the information gathering is, in one rendering, to protect us from each other and ourselves. But it is also for the purpose of manipulation, to influence how we vote and spend and think. And so, people of a certain moral profile who have access to the information will be offended and some will risk liberty and life to let us in on what the institutions know about us.

That’s the way the world has worked since people first discovered the utility of information and the power of secrecy. In a memorable scene from the movie The Fifth Estate, a journalist opines that speeches in the British House of Commons were once so secret that people caught leaking them to the public were hanged for it. Not exactly true - but the Commons debates were conducted secretly, and people went to prison for reporting them in pamphlets. Public outrage, fired by whistleblowing, eventually put a stop to secrecy in parliament.

The modern pamphlet is a blog or tweet, the brown envelope is now a tiny thumb-drive with the information-carrying capacity of a truckload of paper documents. And from the opposing perspective, technology has also enabled institutions to delve deeply into private lives for law enforcement, commerce and the vague new project known as “public safety”.

'The human tendency to be offended by abuse - torture in a secret prison, a lie told under oath to fool the public, squandering of public treasure - remains a vital force in conscientious people.'

Technology has changed, but human nature hasn’t and that’s a good thing. The human tendency to be offended by abuse - torture in a secret prison, a lie told under oath to fool the public, squandering of public treasure - remains a vital force in conscientious people. 

And we witness their responses with sufficient frequency to remind the advocates and practitioners of secrecy that they are vulnerable, too. They're at the mercy of basic human instincts (be they narcissistic or humanitarian), and the technology that makes their secrets more accessible and portable than at any other time in human history.

The furious response to Manning and Wikileaks and Snowden underscores the impact of the message in their actions just as it obscures a fundamental question: Why did they do what they did and for whose benefit?

There was no possibility of personal gain and almost certainly they faced the prospect of severe punishment. They have been accused of recklessness and treachery. Extremists have called for their deaths. Manning will spend decades in prison. Both Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are fugitives from a prosecution that would be familiar to a Guantanamo detainee.

Maybe they were delusional. But the information inherent in the act of whistleblowing is perhaps more useful than the sordid details in the documents they leaked.

What we know shapes what we think. What we think determines our behaviour. There will always be clandestine efforts to manage what we think and thus control how we behave as consumers and as citizens. But there is also a fundamental human impulse to resist manipulation and, because secrecy is essential to manipulation and control, there will always be individuals who will rebel against it.

The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham put it strongly - but his words have been embraced in principle and often quoted by politicians and jurists while making and interpreting our laws: “In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape have full swing.”

In another essay more than 200 years ago, Bentham said, “Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government”.

Those are words that whistleblowers live by, which makes them auditors of governance and guarantors of our democracy.

[This week on the fifth estate: "The Strange World of Julian Assange." The controversial WikiLeaks founder gets the Hollywood treatment in the new movie 'The Fifth Estate.' Watch CBC Television's the fifth estate this Friday, Nov. 1, for the inside story of Julian Assange in his own words.]

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persecution in the name of religion.
"It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science." [Darwin]

"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities." [Voltaire]

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism." [Einstein]

"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life – our desire to go on living … our dread of coming to an end." [Edison]

"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma." [Lincoln]

"Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?" [Arthur C. Clarke]

"Religions are all alike – founded upon fables and mythologies." [Thomas Jefferson]

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile." [Kurt Vonnegut]

"Religion is based . . . mainly on fear . . . fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. . . . My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race." [Bertrand Russell]

Top atrocities committed in the name of religion

Submitted by milvas on December 30th, 2012 – Flag this news as inappropriate
Category: Misc

1. Massacre Hindus

The Mohammedan conquest of India was described by W.Durant history as the bloodiest episode in history. In some parts of Europe and of Asia, conquered nations opted for conversion to Islam rather than death who expect reliable. In India things were not as they would have wanted Muslim conquerors because of Hindu religion that takes its place in human life and in culture more than 4,000 years ago. Faced with an unusual strength, Muslim conquerors did not hesitate to burn down entire cities and massacring their entire population. Each such campaign increased the number of victims with thousands of souls and all the many were thrown into the clutches of slavery. Each invader they literally build a hill of skulls Hindu followers. Conquest of Afghanistan in the year 1000 resulted anihiliarea entire Hindu population of this territory. Bahmani sultans in central India had made a rule to kill 100,000 Hindus per year. In 1399, Teimur killed 100 000 people in a single day and many more on other occasions. Koenraad Elst teacher calculates the number of Hindu population decreased from year 1000 to 80 million in 1525.

2. Inquisition

First Inquisition movements were caused by the attitude of the masses to Christianity, particularly of the Cathars and valdensienilor. The torture began to be used after the year 1252. Who authorized the use of torture was Pope Innocent IV, in a papal edict known as Ad exstirpanda. But the decree forbade bloodshed, mutilation or death. One of the methods commonly used was "strappado", which involved linking the accused hands back and its suspension in the air to arm fracture. Method known "improvements" in some cases add weight to the feet, leading thus to their deployment. But things did not stop there. In 1568, the Spanish Inquisition Tribunal ordered extermination of 3 million people in the present territory of the Netherlands, the Spanish area, on charges of rebellion. Another example of religious fervor is famous Spanish Inquisition Torquemada, who have the consciousness at least 10,220 souls.

3. Aztec sacrifices

The Aztecs began developing theocracy in the 1300s, marking the golden era of human sacrifice. Approximately 20,000 people were sacrificed gods, especially the sun god, who must ensure daily ration of blood. In the ritual, the heart was removed victims and their bodies were eaten. Other victims were drowned, beheaded, burned or thrown from above. In a ritual dedicated to god of rain, children used to cry often were killed because their tears slowly bring rain. To please her corn goddess, a virgin had to dance for 24 hours, after which he was killed, and her skin was skinned. A note states that the coronation of King Ahuitzotl, 80,000 prisoners were slaughtered in order to satisfy the gods.

4. Islamic Jihad

Meaning "holy war" were born during the time a lot of controversy. Some Muslims understand jihad by using all resources to follow Islamic doctrine and to please Allah. It is an ongoing process through which they learn to control their desires and fight evil thoughts. For them, jihad is inside and is being materialized by bringing justice and remove evil from society. These precepts were known shortly extension, which materialized against unbelievers.
But a passage from the Koran, Sura 25, verse 52 bore many debates in the Islamic world. Many have used in the past and currently use it as an excuse to commit crimes hidden behind a religious doctrine: "Do not succumb to unbelievers, but fight vigorously against them."
Holy war, mentioned in the Qur'an, made many victims for 12 centuries. It seems that throughout history, the number of victims killed in the name of Islam has approximately 200 million. In the early years, Muslim armies spread rapidly: from eastern India to western Morocco. Shortly various religious factions and brought mutual accusations, saying jihad against each other: Kharijis fought with Sunni, said death Azariqis all sinners and their families. In 1850 a Sudanese mystic, al-Hajj Umar, initiated a jihad in order to convert pagan African tribes.

5. Crusades

Defined as military conflicts of a religious character, medieval Crusades were fought against both external enemies and those interns. Not only Muslim or pagan Slavs were targeted, and Greek Orthodox Christians, Cathars, Hussites or anyone interest "status" enemy of the Popes. Initial purpose of the Crusades was to recover the Holy Land from Muslims and prevent Turkish expansion. The Crusades were fought against pagans, heretics or those who were excommunicated for religious, economic or political. But soon they began to serve other purposes, especially political. Organize a crusade mean huge mobilization of military forces and struggles implies a extraordinary violence, resulting in a large number of victims. The idea of ​​a religious war that serves a noble cause horny minds of the laity, so it is that in the late eleventh century, some of the people engaged in these battles, becoming after swearing 'church soldiers. " It seems that by 1291, the number of victims reached 20 million, but this is only an approximate figure, in the absence of accurate records. It is likely that figure to be much higher, augmented by numerous crusades happened over a long period of time.

6. Roman persecutions

 One of the first persecution against Christians occurred in 64 AD., By order of the Emperor Nero. This is the same year that Rome was seized by one of the largest fires in history. Because many rumors it on himself indicted Nero disaster, he ordered all Christians to be arrested and killed under the accusation of being caused devastating fire. Many have been torn by beasts during the bloody Roman spectacles or were burned alive. In the following years, actions against Christians continued, reaching its peak during what was called the "great persecution". It began with a series of four edicts banning Christian religious practices and went to mass execution of practitioners. Persecution ceased with the enthronement of Emperor Constantine I in 306, who was to legalize Christianity seven years later, in 313.


7. Thugee sect killings

In order to appease the goddess Kali nemiloasei blood, sect Thugee practitioners in India have developed since 1500 a religious practice that people were jertifi on its altar. Most victims were killed by strangulation during rituals. It approximates that 2 million people have fallen victim over time. Only in 1800 were claimed nearly 20,000 lives, until the intervention of the British authorities put an end to these practices. The number of victims has decreased, although in 1840 a member Thugee was tried for the murder of 931 people. Today, some Hindu priests still practice this ritual, but people place on the altar of sacrifice was taken from goats.

8. Witch Hunt

With their arrival in Massachusetts, around 1600, the Puritans created a religious police who prosecuted and punished any deviation doctrine. "Sinners" were whipped, put in the pillory, hanged, they were cutting ears or holes are languages ​​with a hot iron. On the other side were Quaker religious faction followers, some of the greatest enemies of the Puritans, whose religion was considered a blasphemy. Quaker practitioners caught were hanged. In 1690, fear of magic and its effects has led Puritans to condemn to death 20 witches and imprisoned another 150 people suspected of witchcraft. Throughout the period of persecution, which lasted from 1484 until 1750, thousands of people were burned at the stake or hanged. According to official statistics, 80% of victims were women.

9. Mountain Meadows Massacre

With the onset of war in Utah, Mormons from all over gathered in a short time to fight U.S. military, who suspect that aims to eradicate Mormon population. Amid these tensions, rumors appeared in Fancher-Baker train, carrying emigrants from Arkansas to California were enemies who participated in the persecution of many Mormons. Episode, remained in history as "the Mountain Meadows Massacre" ended with the execution of a large number of immigrants, on September 11, 1857. Mormons train attacked by Indians Paiute tribe. Two of those who had important roles in local military organization, Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee had orchestrated the attack, masquerading as humans that look like a Native American attack. After the siege, the Mormons were able to convince immigrants to surrender. Unwilling to let witnessed their involvement in the attack, 120 people, men, women and children were executed. Of the latter, only 17 were spared. Only 20 years later, on March 23, 1877, one of the two leaders, John D.Lee, would be convicted and even executed at the massacre.

10. Buddhists in Burma

In 1850, Buddhists monks in Burma still practiced ritual human sacrifices in which performing it. Along with moving the capital to Mandalay, 56 people considered to be "blameless" were killed and buried under the city walls to become patrons of the new settlement. Soon, two of the graves were found empty, which has led royal astrologers give a verdict radical: 500 people have killed and buried under the walls, otherwise capital will be discharged. By the intervention of British Governors sacrifices ended, 100 people had been killed already.