The Art of Revolt: Snowden, Assange, Manning by Geoffroy de Lagasnerie

Author:Geoffroy de Lagasnerie [de Lagasnerie, Geoffroy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2017-09-25T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

FLIGHT AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING

NEEDLESS TO SAY, what has just been said about the logic of anonymity does not apply to Julian Assange or Edward Snowden. In effect, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks has always been public about the actions his organization undertakes and the doctrine he advocates. Likewise, and in a more interesting way, Snowden did not act in the same manner as Chelsea Manning, nor did he combine his repeated gesture of disclosing information with a desire for anonymity. On the contrary, he wanted to take the stage as the source of leaks. He has consistently sought to reveal his identity and account for his reasons, motivations, and intentions. Thus, in No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald tells how, when he met Snowden with film director Laura Poitras and talked about the information he had to share, his interlocutor consistently affirmed that he wanted to be known as the source so he could explain why he had acted as he did:

He insisted on identifying himself as the source of the documents, and on doing so publicly in the first article we published. “Anyone who does something this significant has the obligation to explain to the public why he did it and what he hopes to achieve,” he said. He also did not want to heighten the climate of fear the US government had fostered by hiding.1

Accordingly, in the video interview that appeared on the Guardian website on 9 June 2013, Snowden explains his course of action to Greenwald and tells the world that he was the one who provided the information that the Guardian and the Washington Post had published a few days prior.

Inasmuch as Assange and Snowden have taken the stage in the public eye, claimed responsibility for their actions, and appeared in the media, one cannot deny that they occupy positions in the traditional and familiar forms of politics. But all the same, alongside this image that conforms to established practice, something is happening that breaks with the established political order. Assange and Snowden also incarnate a mode of subjectification that defies the law and the state, even though the modality at work differs from that of anonymity.

Assange and Snowden appear in the public sphere, to be sure. That said, they do so in a singular fashion, because they have tied their course of action to a practice of flight, of seeking refuge and asylum. The political gestures they perform have been systematically linked to migratory activity. Thus, when Snowden wanted to make himself known, he made a video—but he did so from abroad. He met with Greenwald in Hong Kong: only from there did he claim responsibility for his actions. Moreover, it was only after fleeing the United States and seeking refuge in another country that he even revealed his identity. In other words, a key feature of what Snowden did involved escaping from the United States and assuring that he could never be extradited. Likewise, Assange has constantly changed countries. He has always

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