scheuerman on snowden & civil disobedience
TRANSCRIPT
SCHEUERMAN ON SNOWDEN & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCEPHIL 102, SPRING 2017CHRISTINA HENDRICKSUNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0
EDWARD SNOWDEN• Formerly worked for
Central Intelligence Agency in the U.S.
• Former contractor for U.S. gov’t
• Leaked classified info from National Security Agency in U.S. in 2013
• U.S. charges with violating Espionage act; currently asylum in Russia
Edward Snowden, by Laura Poitras/Praxis films, Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 3.0
WHAT WAS LEAKED?Among many other things...• NSA collects call data from many
phone companies in U.S.; intercepts all phone calls in Bahamas & Afghanistan
• Xkeyscore: “You could read anyone’s email in the world” –Snowden
• U.S spies on other countries’ embassies & leaders
• NSA collects contact lists from email & IM
AFTERMATH OF LEAKS, FOR SNOWDEN
• Went to Hong Kong to make revelations• Charged with:o Theft of gov’t propertyo Violating 1917 Espionage Act
• Flew to Russia, tried to go to Latin Americao Passport revoked by U.S.o U.S. pressures countries on route to
Latin America not to let plane lando Still in Russia on temporary permit
SCHEUERMAN’S ARGUMENTComponents of civil disobedience (611, 617)
Public, communicative
Aim to change law
Non-violent
Conscientious
Protest signs icon public domain on thenounproject.com; Woman thinking icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com, licensed CC BY 3.0
Last resort
Accept punishment
?
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Don’t leak classified intelligence documents
4th & 5th Amendments
US Constitution
Article 12, Universal Decl. Human Rights
Nuremberg trial ruling
Selflessly, self-sacrifice
Fundamental rights & freedoms
GROUPS• Why might some argue that accepting
punishment should be required for legitimate civil disobedience?
• What does Scheuerman argue in response?
• What do you think?
https://is.gd/phil102civildisobedience
ACCEPT PUNISHMENT?
Why might this be important for CD?• Respect for law: e.g., MLK Jr. in “Letter” (p.
4)o Don’t treat differently than other criminals
• Gives evidence of “unselfishness and public-mindedness, their moral seriousness ...” (Sheuerman p. 618)
• Deterrence (618)
SCHEUERMAN’S ARGUMENTS RE: ACCEPTING PUNISHMENT
Moral seriousness, unselfishnessDeterrenceRespect for lawDon’t treat differently than other criminals
Snowden’s sacrifices,even if not officialpunishment
Only if possibility of basic “rule-of-law virtues” (619)
But civil disobedients are different
A LARGER POINTShould one be required to submit to punishment for breaking the law of a state when one believes that state is not itself following international laws or human rights?
“...we need to build a stronger global legal and especially human rights system ...” (622)