Swiss whistle-blower: Society needs whistle-blowers in a media-manipulated world

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/foreign_affairs/Society_needs_whistle-blowers.html?cid=28934346

Dec 2, 2010 - 14:24

“Society needs whistle-blowers”

by Alexander Thoele, swissinfo.ch


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Rudolf Elmer, a Swiss whistle-blower, talks to swissinfo.ch about Wikileaks and the role of such organisations “in a media-manipulated world”.

Elmer, 55, ran the Caribbean operations of Swiss private bank Julius Bär for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002. He then moved to Mauritius and began sending global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer.

Wikileaks eventually published documents exposing allegedly illegal activities by Julius Bär clients in the Cayman Islands (see box).

Julius Bär did not want to comment. snip

The abuse was protected by every authority and I realised that this was a massive social problem: “Earning money through capitalism justifies criminal deeds.” For that reason I looked for a way to make it public and found Wikileaks.

Swiss newspapers and also Swiss television portrayed me as a mentally ill data thief bent on revenge and didn’t address my arguments or evidence. “Wilful blindness” is what they’d say in English. But Wikileaks took up my cause and published my first whistle-blower letter.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Move along. Nothing to see here." - RepubliCorp Media Borg, Inc.

"Rest assured, you pathetic smelly proles, that RepubliCorp Corrections, Inc., British Division, has the offending Truth Teller in custody. RepubliTorture, Inc. has been contracted to interrogate him. Rest assured, we will STOMP THE BEJABBERS out of the truth and the truth tellers. Now STFU and sit down."

- RepubliCorp Media Borg, Inc.

[KharmaTrain]

2. The Cult Of Personality

What's in a name? Be it Wikileaks or Fred's Secret Dump.com...there is a need for sites that can counter the spin and laziness of the media. But it also has to be a site that values its credibility and is careful to only put out legitimate documents and aren't coopted for false flag operations. To date Wikileaks has proven to be such a source and its a credit to those who have provided the information. Unfortunately the focus is on Assange rather than the operation that he represents. The good (or if you're a government or corporate...the bad) of the internet is how nebulous it is and how a determined individual can find ways to get their word out. Again, the focus has to be on the content and credibility, not the personalities. There always needs to be an open conduit for whistleblowers to release pertainent information without the media circuses and risk of being exposed and harassed.

Cheers...