[Peace-discuss] whistleblowing as a tactic

["E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森"]

blogger danah boyd writes:

https://medium.com/surveillance-state/9a53415933a9

People growing up with the internet understand that information is 
power. Those who’ve watched protests in recent years know that 
traditional physical civil disobedience doesn’t create the iconic 
narratives and images that it once did. And so, not surprisingly, what 
it means to protest is changing. This is further complicated by an 
increased obsession with secrecy — secret courts, secret laws, secret 
practices — that make using the rule of law to serve as a check to power 
ineffective. Thus, questioning authority by leaking information that 
shows that power is being abused becomes a more valuable and notable 
form of civil disobedience. As with all forms of civil disobedience, 
there are significant consequences. But when secrecy is what’s being 
challenged, the biggest risk is not being beaten by a police officer for 
staging an event, but being disappeared or silenced by the institutions 
being challenged or embarrassed. Therefore, as much as I hate to accept 
it, becoming a diplomatic incident is extraordinarily powerful not just 
for self-protection, but also as a way to make sure that the media 
doesn’t lose interest in the issues at play.

I want to live in a society that is willing to critically interrogate 
how power is operationalized and how institutions and the rule of law 
function as a check to power. To me, this is an essential aspect of 
democracy. Unchecked power is how dictatorships emerge. If the rule of 
law is undermined and secrecy becomes the status quo, it becomes 
necessary for new civil disobedience tactics to emerge. And, more than 
the content of the leaks, this is what I think that we’re watching unfold.