Let's Take Better Care of the Whistle-Blowers

In the beginning of this 21st century, real modern heroes are emerging: Men who are taking sometimes all the risks and seem to favor the general interest rather than their personal interest. They are the new great disobedient of our era, those whose capacity for insurrection perpetuates the boldness of Martin Luther King for the emancipation of the black minorities in the U.S. and of Gandhi and the Indian people against the colonial power. Other kinds of emancipations are on the march today.

Of course, there are slight differences in the journey these men take but they share one particular trait: These whistle-blowers favor the defense of the common interest, even if it means breaking from their roles as law-abiding citizens. This quality makes them into new types of citizens, sort of hypercitizens.

They have a similar destiny as Paul Watson, who was under two international arrest warrants after having launched an effective campaign aimed at defending whales from the Japanese militarized whaleboat army.

Also similar is Hervé Falciani, who was disgusted by the methods of HSBC Geneva, his employer, and decided to steal and transmit to the French Justice Department millions of encoded files. The information from these files identified thousands of tax evaders and brought 1 billion euros back to France. It could be considered a drop in the ocean when we come to think of the potential that might result from the complete examination of these files, which, once printed, might “fill a whole freight train,” according to D.A. Eric de Montgolfier.

And more recently, Edward Snowden — who has been on the run since divulging information about the PRISM spying scandal — brought privacy threats back to the center of the public world debate by revealing a scary, sly, insidious collection of our personal data, which had been mined by using the technological prowess of the American government.

One defends biodiversity. The second defends the idea of making finance an ally of the real economy and of the citizens’ well-being rather than a secret black hole. The last one defends one of the human rights of the 20th century, the protection of private life. To this list can be added Private Bradley Manning, who might be sentenced to perpetuity and was brutalized in the American prisons where he was imprisoned for having handed out hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website that disclosed, among other things, the abuses committed by the American army in Iraq.

Behind them, a cortege of anonymous people is starting to follow everywhere in the world. These people are the ones who are shaking the “kleptocrats” and rattling private and public crimes. They are all protagonists of what Vaclav Havel called the “existential revolution.”

France must be at the avant-garde of the whistle-blowers’ protection, in the public and private fields. The French Parliament withdrew the article that used to protect whistle-blowers from the transparency law. It would be indecent to think that their protection would not be inscribed in the law; it is the first type of European law that needs to be imposed.

The Vichy Specter

The specter of Vichy has already been raised to disqualify those who are much more efficient at the exchange of fiscal and banking information which we are so proud of today. Indeed, we know that a part of the banking system is already a step ahead by obfuscating the source of some accounts while making others untraceable. When in good faith, the banking system is willing to cooperate efficiently, but when in bad faith, it leaves the more decisive information, made possible by information technology, in its bottomless drawers.

Of course, due to disgust and aversion triggered by the venomous anonymous denunciation, some measures must be taken. What French lawmakers must provide is on one hand an institution that could filter the quality of revealed information and on the other a law that could severely repress whistle-blowers who seek to damage private interests. It will require imagination and dexterity, but let’s bet that French lawmakers will have these skills.

There is obviously a gap between the defenders of ethical finance and biodiversity, and Snowden and Manning. The former are widely celebrated but also persecuted by the ones who they targeted, while the later are harshly criminalized. The same European countries that were indignant about Snowden’s revelations are now coming to terms of agreement with the Americans using their air space as a tool of their muffled connivance.

This is not acceptable because paradoxically, Mr. Snowden and Mr. Manning are not traitors, but men willing to reveal the dark side of many countries, especially the United States.

Regarding security issues, all conceivable manipulations are possible. Cyberterrorism played a great role in aiding those who are toiling to organize tighter control over the life of citizens.

The questions raised are infinitely complicated. It remains clear to the world today, however, that civil society expresses its anger over the immensity of cynicism that defaces good consciences and the empty speeches of the private and public decision-makers.

Our planet is plagued by all the Egyptian plagues. Secrecy is the alpha and omega of all the people who are getting rich. To defend their interests, they also try to muzzle their citizens. In front of this sinister farce, these new disobedient people are standing up to help us not pass on a tattered humanity to future generations.

The law must be their ally and protect them.