[spectre] ReSource 005: The Medium of Treason - The Bradley Manning Case

[Tatiana Bazzichelli]

ReSource 005: The Medium of Treason
The Bradley Manning Case: Agency or Misconduct in a Digital Society?

An intervention @ Urban Spree Gallery (S/U Warschauer Straße, Revaler 
Straße 99, 10245 Berlin), 5 May 2013, starts at 17, free entry.

with: Birgitta Jónsdóttir (Iceland), Andy Müller Maguhn (Germany), John 
Goetz (USA).
Moderated by Diani Barreto (USA), introduced by Tatiana Bazzichelli (IT/DE).
http://www.transmediale.de/resource-005/the-medium-of-treason

On April 5, 2010, the Internet leak website WikiLeaks, published a video 
titled Collateral Murder, where a United States Apache helicopter fired 
on civilians in New Baghdad in 2007. The video shows American military 
personnel shooting and killing 11 individuals whose cameras were 
ostensibly mistaken for weapons. Two children were also gravely wounded 
on the scene. Two of those people killed were war correspondents for 
Reuters, the 22-year-old Reuters’ photojournalist Namir Noor-Eldeen and 
his driver, 40-year-old Saeed Chmagh.

After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. 
military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance 
with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement". 
Birgitta Jónsdóttir, MP in Iceland, co-produced the video in 2010 with 
encrypted footage that had been leaked to WikiLeaks by an unnamed 
source, now revealed as Pfc. Bradley Manning.

In May 2010, the 22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst Bradley 
Manning was arrested after telling Adrian Lamo, a hacker in the US, that 
he had leaked the airstrike video, along with a video of another 
airstrike and around 260.000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks.

Manning has been held in detention by the US military ever since. He has 
already pleaded guilty on 10 counts that could subject him to 20 years 
under multiple violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 and of "aiding 
the enemy”.

In this highly polarizing case, lawyers, civil rights organizations and 
journalists are insisting that Bradley Manning had disclosed the 
information under the aegis of his 1st Amendment Rights, which protects 
Freedom of Speech. In light of the charges he faces, any leak of 
classified information to any media organization could potentially be 
interpreted as an act of treason.

This event will afford the distinguished guests the opportunity to 
re-visit the making of the Collateral Murder video three years on, to 
discuss the "United States v. Bradley Manning" trial on June 3rd, 2013, 
which has been hailed "the most important National Security trial in the 
history of the US" (NYT Pentagon Papers counsel James C. Goodale) and 
how it has engendered a pattern of intimidation to threaten and silence 
whistleblowers, cyberactivists, journalists and news organizations such 
as Wikileaks, and the implications concerning the future of political 
agency, free speech, freedom of information and the sanctity of the Press.

In this context, the speakers will also discuss the reprisals and 
political ethics in the cases of information disclosure and judicial 
overreach brought against hackers such as Jeremy Hammond, Barrett Brown, 
and the tragic surmise of Aaron Swartz.

The speakers will furthermore evaluate the groundwork of new initiatives 
for civil society platforms intended to monitor, lobby and support 
legislation that strengthen freedom of information as well as providing 
protections for sources and whistleblowers in the rapidly accelerating 
complexities of the information age.

This event is organised by the reSource transmedial culture berlin of 
the transmediale festival in partnership with re:publica.
The event is co-curated with Diani Barreto, and it is one of events that 
will kick off this year's re:publica13.

With the kind support of the www.freebradleymanning.net initiative Berlin

Guests:
Birgitta Jónsdóttir MP, Iceland.
Andy Müller Maguhn (Germany), Board Member of the Wau Holland Stiftung
John Goetz (USA), NDR's investigative editor at ARD-Hauptstadtstudio and 
member of the investigative team of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Moderated by Diani Barreto (USA), Media activist.
Introduced by Tatiana Bazzichelli (IT/DE), curator reSource transmedial 
culture berlin/transmediale.

Location: Urban Spree Gallery (S/U Warschauer Straße, Revaler Straße 99, 
10245 Berlin), 5 May 2013, starts at 17.00, free entry.

reSource 005 will be thematically followed by another event within the 
re:publica programme organised in the framework of the cooperation 
between re:publica and the reSource transmedial culture of transmediale: 
Iceland could have been innovative - Participatory democracy. With 
Birgitta Jónsdóttir, 6 May, 13:30 - 14:00, at Station  (U Gleisdreieck, 
Luckenwalder Straße 4-6, 10963 Berlin).
http://re-publica.de/sessions/iceland-could-have-been-innovative-participatory-democracy

reSource transmedial culture berlin:
http://www.transmediale.de/resource

transmediale festival:
http://www.transmediale.de

re:publica: http://re-publica.de/
-- 
Tatiana Bazzichelli // programme curator
reSource transmedial culture berlin // http://www.transmediale.de/resource
BWPWAP - transmediale 2013
29.01 – 03.02, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin // 
http://www.transmediale.de
http://twitter.com/transmediale

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