{"id":98450,"date":"2013-08-03T18:03:17","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T12:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=98450"},"modified":"2013-08-07T21:14:56","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T15:44:56","slug":"the-state-fears-its-own-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-state-fears-its-own-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The State Fears Its Own People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chomsky on terror, Snowden, and why “security” is usually an excuse for government repression.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a recent media appearance Noam Chomsky<\/a><\/span> said that whistleblower Edward Snowden<\/a><\/span>, who remains in Russia after releasing a trove of documents about secret NSA surveillance, should be honored.<\/p>\n

“He was doing what every citizen ought to do,” Chomsky says in the video below. “He was telling Americans what the government is doing.”<\/p>\n

Chomsky goes on to explain that governments always claim security as their justification for civil liberties abuses, but that overwhelmingly the security in question is that of the state … from its own population. To smatterings of applause, Chomsky goes on to explain how America’s drone campaign abroad is a far bigger threat to our security than leaked information about surveillance.<\/p>\n

Watch Chomsky discuss the relationship between the state, the people, and “security” below. Courtesy Alter Net<\/p>\n