[Reader-list] WikiLeaks, Open Source of Truth in the Global Matrix

[nilankur]

http://truthseekers.cultureunplugged.com/truth_seekers/2010/08/wikileaks-open-source-of-truth-in-the-global-matrix.html

  WikiLeaks, Open Source of Truth in the Global Matrix

Nozomi Hayase  |  12.Aug.10

Like many others, when I was young I looked up to larger than life  
heroes depicted in animation and films. The world of these super- 
heroes was made up of both the villains and those that take on evil  
forces of greed and power to fight for ordinary people. I remember a  
close friend in college once said "I wish I was independently wealthy,  
so that I wouldn't have to worry about making money and could become a  
superman to help humanity." His voice occasionally arises in me when I  
face the many injustices and social problems in the world.

The release of an explosive 2007 video by a shadowy organization  
called WikiLeaks titled 'Collateral Murder' recently shook the world.  
Opening with a quote from Orwell’s 1984, it depicted from the point of  
view of Americans in an Apache helicopter the gunning down of Iraqi  
civilians in a Baghdad street. The news of this WikiLeaks group   
taking on powerful government secrecy and corruption of power somehow  
reminded me of my childhood heroes.

In its three years of existence, WikiLeaks has begun to change the way  
governments, media and corporations operate by offering an  
transnational safe haven for whistleblowers from all over the world.  
In the wake of this video release, Julian Assange, the main public  
face of the organization stepped forward into the limelight. He shared  
how the purpose of releasing this footage was to show what the face of  
modern war really looks like (Assange, 2010). The public profile of  
WikiLeaks was heightened considerably by this event and as the  
controversy boiled over, it raised questions for many about government  
secrecy and importance of transparency as well as legal and moral  
accountability of powerful institutions.

When videos and documentation such as this are leaked that give a  
glimpse of the vast world of secrets routinely hidden from the public  
by those in power, one may wonder what else about our world and  
government is being hidden from us? This uncomfortable question makes  
the film The Matrix even more real to those that really think about  
it. “The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this  
very room …It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to  
blind you from the truth!” said Morpheus to Neo (Wachowski &  
Wachowski, 1999). I began to question why so much of the truth has  
been systematically being kept from us. What was behind the all  
pervasive efforts to keep the masses blind to so many important events?




The word matrix means a framework from which something grows. In the  
film it is portrayed as a system that enslaves and “grows” humanity  
for its own purposes. What is this Matrix that surrounds us today and  
that we are so blind to?  We believe that we live in a democracy,  
where the rule of law exists to protect all victims of deceit and  
crime. Yet we see an ever increasing gap between the poor and rich,  
perpetual wars and spiraling levels of corruption, which governments  
and corporations are often party to. How has it come to this?


The rapid industrialization of Western civilization and now  
materialism in the form of consumerism have been shaping every aspect  
of our lives. Information itself has become a commodity to be  
manipulated for private gain. Journalists around the world, especially  
those who try to expose the root of conflicts in the Middle East are  
increasingly met with severe censorship. Freedom of expression in  
Western societies is also becoming somewhat of an illusion in this  
time of government and corporate secrecy. Assange and others like him  
began to see how thoroughly the national-security state was embedded  
in all aspects of life. Leading up to the founding of WikiLeaks,  
Assange became aware that this institutionalized system intrinsically  
pushes against altruistic human virtues. “He saw human struggle not as  
left versus right, or faith versus reason, but as individual versus  
institution.” and that “truth, creativity, love and compassion are  
corrupted by institutional hierarchies, and by ‘patronage  
networks’” (Khatchadourian, 2010). I began to see this interlocking  
system that Assange referred to as similar to what is portrayed in the  
Matrix films: a system that depends on keeping the mass of humanity  
unaware of its true nature, all the while farming their life energy.

"Anyone who hasn’t unplugged is potentially an agent. Inside the  
Matrix, they are everyone and they are no one ….  They are the  
gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the  
keys” (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999). We are part of this system that  
holds few options for its members beyond what serves it. It leaves  
little room to even question the existence of the system itself. After  
graduation, my college friend struggled with society's expectations of  
a man's obligation within that narrow prescription. I have now begun  
to see myself in that same struggle. The system seems to slowly rip  
off the wings of our humanity, the farther we move into adulthood. He,  
like many others, became numbed to his pain as he became busy pursuing  
a career path, preparing to accept what the world handed down to him,  
and eventually to perform unknowingly as an agent of the system.

In the Matrix film, the protagonist Neo was allegedly the chosen One,  
whose destiny was to attain freedom from the system and dismantle it,  
There have been real life heroes in history trying to change its  
course. Dr. King, Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy revealed that their  
destinies were to fight against an unjust system. They were heroes  
that showed a way to imagine a new future. Yet one by one they  
disappeared from sight. I saw apathy and cynicism spreading in people.  
I saw the armored shell of fear that many so often put around  
themselves. It became harder to strive for something higher, as if the  
death of heroes killed something in them. I realized how important it  
is to do something.


"We all only live once. So we are obligated to make good use of the  
time that we have and to do something that is meaningful and  
satisfying. This [WikiLeaks] is something that I find meaningful and  
satisfying. That is my temperament. I enjoy creating systems on a  
grand scale, and I enjoy helping people who are vulnerable. And I  
enjoy crushing bastards".

Right -WikiLeaks.org founder Julian Assange, discusses why he started  
the WikiLeaks project.
                                                                                                                                                                             Photo 
  Courtesy - commons.wikimedia.org

What can be overwhelming is to realize how so many of our problems  
have become transnational, especially in light of how the interlocking  
world economy is teetering on a precipice. Today with the WTO and  
NAFTA, corporate power has extended its reach beyond borders,  
transforming economies, cultures and nations on their terms. The  
Matrix is global, expanding into and transforming whole cultures,  
consuming local and state economies with debt and monetary control,  
plugging them one by one into a kind of blood-sucking machine.



The question arose, how can people free themselves from this global  
Matrix? How can citizens counteract or create an alternative to this  
system? Sometimes it seems there is little that ordinary people can  
do. In the darkness that hovers over the world, the actions of that  
nonprofit truth haven WikiLeaks, shines a light of possibility for a  
new direction.

This secret group in a way employs a kind of espionage. It is working  
for the common people from a global perspective and differs from  
traditional forms like the CIA, which was developed based on security  
and preservation of the nation state, as against another state. “We’re  
not interested in national security. We’re interested in justice…. We  
are a supranational organization.” said Assange (smh.com.au, 2010).

Another liberating aspect of WikiLeaks is that it works on the basis  
and philosophy of open source principles. The idea of open source is  
best seen in the philosophy behind an operating system known as Linux,  
based on an African philosophy known as Ubuntu, a concept which bishop  
Desmond Tutu defines as a way of being and identity that is formed by  
community (as cited in Battle, 1997). Here, ancient African wisdom  
typically dismissed by those on the Western path of progress advocates  
collaboration and sharing. It now inspires and comes onto the global  
stage as a vehicle to revitalize the impulse for democracy.

In the film, Neo needed a key-maker who could open certain critical  
doors. In a sense, in our world, the whistleblower is the Keymaker,  
the witness opening the doors to the source, weakening the actual  
structure of the powerbrokers and conspiracies. WikiLeaks is a  
sophisticated self-sustaining gate that allows the flow of light in  
and the flow of damning evidence out, which eventually dissolves the  
walls of illegitimate secrecy. When technology is used in this sense  
for sharing ideas, culture, and circulation of critical information  
and services, open source can serve as a spiritual source that hacks  
the Matrix.




First and foremost, the battle for each person must be with  
themselves, freeing their own mind that is programmed by the Matrix.  
In the combat training scene, Morpheus asked Neo “How did I beat you?”  
Neo responded, “You’re too fast.” Morpheus asked again “Do you believe  
that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in  
this place? … What are you waiting for? You’re faster than this”.  
Finally Morpheus reminds Neo of a secret weapon within, “Don’t think  
you are, know you are...” A dehumanizing system teaches us how we are  
inwardly powerless and impotent, degraded into passive consumers and  
always driven by fear. Morpheus teaches Neo to undo the programming of  
the mind and reclaim ones own power to imagine a new future: “You have  
to let it all go, Neo, fear, doubt and disbelief. Free your  
mind” (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999).


In light of US wars, sweatshops in Asia, the Israeli attack on the  
Gaza aid ships and the lack of accountability in the BP Gulf oil  
disaster, the question may arise, are these the actions of a just and  
civil society? And, if we can't trust the systems, where can we find  
hope?

In the Matrix film, the Oracle prophesied the arrival of the One who  
would put an end to war and dismantle the Matrix. The Oracle’s  
prophecy I see being carried out by ordinary citizens. The work of  
WikiLeaks is shared and sustained by many volunteers. Assange, on a  
shoestring budget and with no permanent home works relentlessly,  
spending most of his time at airports moving to the next destination.  
In Iceland, after WikiLeaks exposure of the bankers rip-off of  
ordinary citizens, people stood up for themselves with the aid of a  
newly invigorated fourth estate. They are now working to draft a law  
that will create a safe haven for whistleblowers. It will protect  
anyone that exposes crimes or corruption by people in power all around  
the world (Cohen, 2010). It is not powerful leaders and politicians,  
but everyday people who I see as the heroes. Deeply rooted in local  
community values such as sharing and transparency, people everywhere  
have been pooling their collective efforts, becoming the One that  
arises from the ashes of the unsustainable and crumbling commercial  
globalization, where economic exploitation and national security trump  
human concerns to the detriment of all.

I know you’re out there. I can feel you now. I know that you’re  
afraid. You’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the  
future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I  
came here to tell you how it’s going to begin…. Where we go from here  
is a choice that I leave up to you." (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999)

WikiLeaks, the open source of truth in a Global Matrix, showed me a  
door. On the other side lies a truth about the forgotten heroes  
within. The key to open the door is inside each person and the life of  
this planet depends us awakening the hero who will bring society into  
a new era. WikiLeaks is an icon of our time, reaching for the door to  
tomorrow. It is up to each person to walk through it.



Citations:

Assange, J. (2010, May 16). Unpublished political speech presented at  
the Oslo freedom forum. Norway.

Battle, M. J. (1997). Reconciliation: The Ubuntu theology of Desmond  
Tutu. OH: The Pilgrim Press.

Cohen, N. (2010, February 21). A Vision of Iceland as a Haven for  
Journalist. The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22link.html

Khatchadourian, R. (2010, June 7). No Secrets: Julian Assange’s  
Mission for Total Transparency. The New Yorker. Retrieved June 8, 2010  
from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian?currentPage=all#ixzz0pWdlAepe

Smh.com.au. (2010, May 22). The Secret Life of Wikileaks Founder  
Julian Assange. Retrieved June 8, 2010, from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-secret-life-of-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-20100521-w1um.html

Wachowski, A. (Writer/Director), & Wachowski, L. (Writer/Director).  
(1999). The Matrix. [Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Brothers.





nilankur
'frame voice. find vigor'
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/filmedia/truthSeekers.php