Recently, I was interviewed by MK Lords, a manager at Roberts & Roberts Brokerage and correspondent for Bitcoin Not Bombs, of which Antiwar.com is a proud member. The transcript can be found here. Ms. Lords asks me all the major questions about antiwar activism, crypto currency for a peace economy and the ACLU’s lawsuit on behalf of our founder Eric Garris and editorial director Justin Raimondo.
MK: So, there’s been all this targeting by this administration and I think a lot of people [supporters] weren’t really expecting the Obama administration to be so gung-ho about spying and punishing whistleblowers. But do you think having a strong presence on the web is a form of protection from detainment or are you kind of fearful that it makes government spying easier?
AK: It’s hard to course it out because what we’re doing isn’t really normal so it’s hard for me to compare it to anything. Barack Obama, on his order, had Yemeni journalists detained in Yemen for reporting things like drone strikes, which of course should be reported on as a journalist, too. In terms of detention, Barack Obama’s war on whistleblowers and journalism is the ongoing project of the security state and empire. This is what having endless war does, your civil liberties keep being reduced and you thank people today for their service and what you’re thanking them for is fewer and fewer rights and less and less dignity. So that’s why today is sort of a bitter and obnoxious day, people are being self-congratulatory for racist and genocidal wars, occupation and colonialism [in countries] for which they have no right to be in. This is sticking people who were drafted or conscripted into slavery in the US military. We have Vietnam vets who discuss this pretty frankly. What do I think? Do I think we’re in any danger; that the staff is necessarily in any danger of detainment? I don’t think so currently, but I’ve been surprised. What will be curious is if Greenwald’s ever allowed back in the US. I’d like to see how that plays out. People have already learned the hard way from the Chelsea Manning case; people know of course that is does not pay to be a whistleblower; you need to take that material and run. Whistleblowing just opens the door for you to be tortured and certainly imprisoned for the rest of your life.