Birgitta Jonsdottir, fighter for peace and transparency meets Edward Snowden

Long time anti war and anti nuclear stalwart Birgitta Jonsdottir wrote this today;

“There’s been growing support for Snowden in the States,” she says, “but for some reason, not by the administration, and particularly Obama. We don’t yet know what Trump’s position will be. But really, why not just guarantee him a fair trial? It’s not an unreasonable request. He’s not a war criminal, he’s a whistleblower. There’s no proof, even after all this time, that what he did put anyone in harm’s way. There was a very professional vetting of the documents that were published. And he completely transformed the public awareness of privacy—or the absolute lack of it.” Birgitta Jonsdottir Dec 2016

Pirate Party MP Meets Edward Snowden In Moscow

Published December 21, 2016

Birgitta Jónsdóttir has been back on Icelandic soil for less than twelve hours when we meet. During the previous three days, the Pirate Party MP, privacy activist and former Wikileaks volunteer quietly travelled to Moscow, where she took part in a documentary with Dr. Lawrence Lessig, and the world’s most famous whistleblower: Edward Snowden. The three were brought together by French journalist and documentarian Flore Vasseur, who has previously interviewed Birgitta and Lessig for the French media in her ongoing coverage of the current troubled state of democracy.

“I’m still processing the experience,” says the tired but upbeat Birgitta, flashing her trademark mischievous smile. “Lessig has been very busy trying to inspire the electoral college to act in the US. Then, there’s Edward Snowden. People get caught up in the soap opera around Snowden, but everything he does is driven by his belief in democratic process. So it was amazing to sit and brainstorm with these two guys, and ask: “What can we do?” Because we’re at a critical juncture in saving democracy right now.”

Mosquito drones

It was Birgitta’s first time in Russia, but as a former Wikileaks volunteer who helped bring the “Collateral Murder” film to the public, she’s long been a person of interest to the NSA, making for some nerve-wracking experiences of international travel.

“Beforehand, you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” she explains. “I don’t let myself get paranoid, but of course you have to be careful. People who are much more tech-savvy than me say that it’s possible for hard drives to be compromised coming through airport security. I use an iPhone and MacBook, which I shouldn’t if I want to be very careful. I use Signal, which I highly recommend. But of course, for real security, you should meet in person, and leave your phone behind.”

But even in-person meetings aren’t safe from being monitored. “There are now ‘mosquito drones’, similar to the size of a fly,” says Birgitta, “and listening devices can be directed at houses. The idea of privacy has been thrown away, as if it’s not a human right. Snowden helped to bring forward the idea that legislators are way too slow to protect citizens from these rapid advances in technology.”

Russian agents

After attaining a three-day visa, Birgitta entered Russia without incident, and was met at the airport by Lessig and the film crew. “I wasn’t worried about any trouble getting in,” she says. “I was more worried when I visited America. They didn’t have scanners and fingerprint technology in Moscow—they just stamped my passport. I was just careful to not make it public in advance, and I took some steps like leaving my laptop behind, and letting people know I’d only be communicating through secure email.”

The meeting took place in a central Moscow hotel. Organising it was a big operation. “There were lots and lots of FSB agents around the hotel,” says Birgitta, “and there were a lot of manoeuvres—the location was changed at the last minute, and there was a lot of security from the hotel side. The film crew were operating on a tight budget, and did amazing work.”

When Birgitta went in to meet Snowden “He was sitting doing a Rubik’s cube,” she says. “I sort of feel like I know him, because we’ve been communicating for a while. So when I finally met him, it was like meeting an old friend. It was a very good feeling. He seemed healthy and, you know—okay. That was the most important thing to witness. He was really calm and composed.”

An academic, a poet and a geek

Follow link for the rest of the meeting;

https://grapevine.is/news/2016/12/21/exclusive-pirate-party-mp-meets-edward-snowden-in-moscow/https://grapevine.is/news/2016/12/21/exclusive-pirate-party-mp-meets-edward-snowden-in-moscow/

December 22, 2016 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized