Evolution of Consciousness

Glenn Greenwald tells the remarkable story of a little website called WikiLeaks.org. Here’s their mission statement:

Our publisher, The Sunshine Press, is an international non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists, lawyers and the general public. Since 2007 we have exposed thousands of military, political and corporate abuses — fighting off over 100 legal attacks to do so. No WikiLeaks’ source been ever exposed and the organization has yet to lose a legal case. Our disclosures have triggered many reforms, including the removal of two corrupt national governments. We have found that knowledge is suppressed because of its power to change and that only new knowledge brings meaningful change. Ultimately, the quality of every political, economic and personal decision depends on understanding the world and how it came to be that way. By revealing the true state of our world, through millions of pages of suppressed information, we are creating the primary ingredient for a better civilization. Although our work has won many awards, it is your strong support that preserves our continued independence and strength.

Greenwald’s story focuses on a few of their more recent releases. One is a CIA document acknowledging that even though the majority of French and German citizens are against the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan, apathy prevails and their governments remain involved in the aggression. In order to perpetuate this highly un-democratic arrangement (while also anticipating an upcoming “bloody summer” in Afghanistan) the report recommends ways to manipulate public opinion and perpetuate citizen apathy in these countries. It’s a remarkable read, and a glimpse into the depth of political “marketing” that American tax dollars fund these days. A second document comes from the Pentagon, discussing WikiLeaks at length, and suggesting ways to damage or destroy the fledging effort.

I recommend reading Greenwald’s article first, for some good overview and context, and then diving into the pertinent documents…

1. “The War on WikiLeaks and Why It Matters” (Greenwald article)
2. “Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission—Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough” (CIA document)
3. “Wikileaks.org – An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, Or Terrorist Groups?” (Pentagon document)

After delving into this material, I could not help but think of the Star Wars series, pitting the ragtag Rebel Alliance against the all-powerful Empire. Here’s how the editor of WikiLeaks explains himself:

This information has reform potential. And the information which is concealed or suppressed is concealed or suppressed because the people who know it best understand that it has the ability to reform. So they engage in work to prevent that reform . . . .

There are reasons I do it that have to do with wanting to reform civilization, and selectively targeting information will do that — understanding that quality information is what every decision is based on, and all the decisions taken together is what “civilization” is, so if you want to improve civilization, you have to remove some of the basic constraints, which is the quality of information that civilization has at its disposal to make decisions. Of course, there’s a personal psychology to it, that I enjoy crushing bastards, I like a good challenge, so do a lot of the other people involved in WikiLeaks. We like the challenge.