David Miranda: Open Letter to the Brazilian People

12/22/2013 - 14h36

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DAVID MIRANDA

In the last few months, an important issue has dominated debates the world over: the espionage undertaken by the USA.

This debate is only possible because a man of courage has sacrificed his life, friendships, freedom and work and given up his own country. This man is Edward Snowden, former intelligence agent of the United States government.

Avaaz and the Brazilian David Miranda Start Campaign for Snowden's Asylum

I, David Miranda, have had occasion to feel personally how dangerous it is to involve oneself in the relations between countries, especially in cases relating to the abuse of power.

In August this year I was arbitrarily detained for nine hours in the airport of London, in the UK, and subjected to non-stop interrogation. Now the government of this same country accuses me and the journalists who work with stories about terrorism of being criminals, for supposedly cooperating with terrorism.

Brazil is one of the countries that was most spied on by the NSA (National Security Agency), the American espionage agency. Thanks to the information that Snowden made public when he passed it to my partner, the American journalist Glenn Greenwald, we have been able to understand how the NSA spies on the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and her closest state ministers.

We have also become aware of the surveillance methods applied against Petrobrás and against the Brazilian people, around two billion of whose monthly e-mails and phone calls are tracked by the agency.

For the reasons I have mentioned, I have begun a campaign for my country to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, accused by the American justice system of stealing government property and revealing secret intelligence and national defence information. In his own country, he could be jailed for up to 30 years.

The information brought to light by means of Snowden has benefited Brazil by bringing to light the precarious nature of our communications system. If we now play a significant role in the international debate on the regulation of the Internet, it is due to the knowledge he has enabled us to gain.

In the work I have been doing with my partner, Glenn Greenwald, I have been able to see the Brazilian people's warm reaction of indignation with the treatment given to this man. Paradoxically, I have also spoken to people who say they don't mind being spied upon, because, they say, they "have nothing to hide".

That is not the question here. This is not about the data collection undertaken by the US government and its allies. It is a behaviour we don't yet know how to react to, especially in view of the doubts surrounding the role of the Internet on the world scene. Will the network continue to be a tool for freedom of expression, communication, and creativity, or will it become a powerful government instrument for monitoring and controlling the people?

After World War II came to an end, Brazil and 47 other countries, led by the USA, signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the aim of protecting people's most fundamental rights.

At this moment I request, as a Brazilian citizen, that my country honour this treaty and grant asylum to Edward Snowden. If he is in fact imprisoned, we will never again be able to listen to a word said by this man who has helped us so much and could help us even more. It is our duty to protect his rights.

With this article, I want to ask you, reader, to join all who seek to work towards a future in which privacy and human rights are preserved.

DAVID MIRANDA, 28, is a marketing strategist and coordinator of the campaign for Brazil to grant asylum to Edward Snowden.