Supernerds (English Edition) E-Book

Angela Richter

• Herausgeber: Alexander
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 183

Beschreibung

'It's a type of reorganization or infection of humanity's thought system, the way humanity talks to itself, the way a society thinks. It's like everyone simultaneously is taking LSD.' Julian Assange 'No one is more hopelessly enslaved than those who think they're free.' Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Ever since Edward Snowden's NSA disclosures, the might of the secret services and the helplessness of everyday citizens are there all around us for everyone to see. But who is taking up the fight against global surveillance and the erosion of democracy? Theater director Angela Richter has conducted in-depth interviews with a number of well-known whistleblowers and internet activists - the 'Supernerds'. Conversations with Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg, Jesselyn Radack, William Binney, Jeremy Hammond and Thomas Drake, an Essay by Barrett Brown and drawings by Daniel Richter.

Leseprobe

Supernerds

Conversations with Heroes

Edited by Angela Richter

In collaboration with Julian Pörksen

With drawings by Daniel Richter

Kindly supported by Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur.

This book was made during the production of Supernerds – Ein Überwachungsabend by Schauspiel Köln, gebrueder beetz filmproduktion and WDR.

© by Alexander Verlag Berlin 2015

Alexander Wewerka, Fredericiastr. 8, 14050 Berlin

www.alexander-verlag.com, [e-mail]

All rights reserved.

Editors: Julian Pörksen, Rainer Lindheim

Proofreading: Harriet Curtis

Layout: Antje Wewerka

Cover Design: Daniel Richter

ISBN 978-3-89581-388-7 (eBook)

Angela Richter, born in 1970, has been house director at the Schauspiel Köln theater since the 2013/14 season. Her work combines the areas of theater, performance and journalistic research. In 2006 she founded the Fleet Street theater in Hamburg, which she ran until 2010. Artistically she has been dealing with the phenomenon of internet activists for quite some time. She lives in Berlin and Cologne.

Daniel Richter, born in 1962, is one of the most famous contemporary German painters. Since 2006 he has been lecturing at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and now lives in Berlin.

For David

“World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.”

Marshall McLuhan

“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”

Henry David Thoreau

“There’s no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.”

Gilles Deleuze

Contents

You cannot arrest an idea

Introduction by Angela Richter

You and I, Cassandra

Daniel Ellsberg

The National Security Religion

Julian Assange

Sunshine is the best disinfectant

Jesselyn Radack

A modern day Bastille Day

Jeremy Hammond

Just do it

Thomas Drake

We can kick all those idiots out of Washington

William Binney

The day irony died

Barrett Brown

The lesson of 9-11 is NOT to be afraid of terrorists

Edward Snowden

Glossary

List of names

Acknowledgments

You cannot arrest an idea

@atopiary

Ah, I’m sick to death of hearing things

From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites

All I want is the truth

Just gimme some truth

I’ve had enough of reading things

By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians

All I want is the truth

Just gimme some truth

John Lennon

I met Julian Assange at the beginning of July 2011, at a dinner with Slavoj Žižek, which I had bought on Ebay. I used the occasion to tell Assange about my plan to do a piece on WikiLeaks, based on interviews with him. I didn’t expect that Assange would go along with it, God knows he had enough problems at the time. He was under house arrest and was being monitored by an electronic tag attached to his ankle. His WikiLeaks publications had angered world power USA, and thoroughly disgraced them too. As we now know from the Stratfor-Leak, a secret grand jury was in meeting at the time preparing a sealed indictment against him. As well as that, he was being threatened with extradition to Sweden. He was to be questioned about allegations of the abuse and rape of two women with whom he had slept. The issue in this ongoing case is mainly about the use of condoms. Despite all that was going on, we still somewhat surprisingly managed to have our initial meeting at Soho House, London in March 2012. It lasted several hours, during which time it was Assange who mainly asked the questions. I was nervous at the time, and I’m sure I wasn’t making a great impression. As we were saying our goodbyes he casually said that I had convinced him, and gave me the nod. His staff member Joseph Farrell subsequently advised me that I should be ready, as the next meeting would take place very soon.