President Obama in Senegal, after telling a
reporter who asked
about the massive NSA
surveillance program, 'everyone does it.'
Phrase 'Yankees, Go Home!' Back in Fashion (O Globo,
Brazil)
"This genuine invasion of privacy not only undermines our
authorities, but Brazilian citizens in general, because this is an attack on
the individuality of each and every one of us. ... In the times of demonstrations
and posters, it isn't surprising that an outmoded slogan has been resurrected and
is back in fashion: 'Yankees, go home.'"
In Europe and Latin America, thanks to the exposure of the scale of the NSA's global surveillance, President Obama is being pilloried, lampooned and generally torn to shreds George W. Bush style. Above, a Berlin demonstrator wears an Obama mask, complete with a pair of Google Glass glasses.
Will
Barack Obama maintain his silence in the face of the outrage felt by DilmaRousseff, who is
threatening to go to the U.N. Security Council over the "interference"
of the U.S. National Security Agency - the NSA? Will he,
a man that is so politically correct, do nothing about the "violation of
our sovereignty and human rights"? As professor of constitutional law
Pedro Serrano has said, "this is an act of aggression."
This
genuine invasion of privacy not only undermines our authorities, but Brazilian
citizens in general, because this is an attack on the individuality of each and
every one of us. Incidentally, I asked Jose Casado -
who had access to the leaked documents, and along with Roberto Kaz and Glen Greenwald, landed this extraordinary
scoop - to search through the millions of Brazilian phone calls and e-mails
spied on by the U.S. which began with the letter "Z." I wondered
about those bureaucrats who had been digging around in my private life.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Of
course, this is partly a delusion of grandeur; a legacy of our paranoid military
dictatorship, during which wiretapping of politicians, journalists, artists and
intellectuals in general was widespread (the writer ZiraldoAlves Pinto and myself were detained for months after
a conversation we had was recorded and considered dangerously subversive). Until
recently, I was surprised when a caller at the other end of the phone
interrupted, saying "better that we talk in person - it is dangerous by
telephone."
But
that was the era of generals and censorship here, and Nixon and the Vietnam War
there. Today, however, isn't it worse? At the very least the methods are more
sophisticated, especially with the advent of globalization, the Internet, and
the information technology revolution. In the past, the process of eavesdropping
was a cumbersome one: installing the microphone, making the recording, and
transcribing the tape. Nowadays the volume of information monitored is gigantic.
"During the month of January alone," the report details, "the NSA monitored 2.3 billion transfers of data in the United
States." Brazil wasn't far behind, as the most spied upon country in Latin
America, and not on the basis of terrorism, but corruption.
In
these times of demonstrations and placards, it isn't surprising that an outmoded
slogan has been resurrected and is back in fashion: "Yankees, go
home."
The
medal of honor goes to this young Don Quixote, a real hero in a virtual world: former
NSA analyst Edward Snowden, living in transit at the
Moscow airport, fleeing from the United States like a criminal for having
revealed this diabolical electronic spying network.
