“Citizenfour” is a prime example of a pictorial depiction of a counter state movement. The documentary chronicles Edward Snowden’s process, incentive, and aftermath to releasing classified NSA surveillance on the American people. Edward Snowden is a name that lives in infamy in the United States because he conspired against the American Government after learning the degree to which intelligence officers invaded the privacy of American civilians to spy on them for the sake of national security.
As a documentary, “Citizenfour” represents counter-establishment because its a subversion of the government to reveal the truth. Snowden started a movement where the public sought greater transparency and liability within the branches of government. Snowden managed to make a state vulnerable by exposing its clandestine operations–– his goal was to exploit the paradox of government surveillance of its people in a liberal democracy.
How does the state respond when it feels threatened? How does the state regain control over its populace when its broken their trust? Although the Snowden case is a contentious issue in the United States due to the national security circumstances at the time, I would argue that Snowden’s actions were revolutionary because of the instability it created with the Government and its people. In some respects, his actions can be seen as a reformist type of revolution because he wasn’t trying to dismantle the governmental system but to expose it. It catalyzed a period of awareness and hyper-sensitivity among the American people which has since changed the way the Government navigates its tactical surveillance in the name of national security. Snowden makes me think about the applicability of Gramsci’s organic intellectual. He conjures up the narrative of a modern organic intellectual because he is both a participant in elite American politics and government as well as living his life as an American citizen. He understands the desires and necessities for the Government to respect the privacy of Americans because he fit the demographic of who the Government was surveilling. Yet he was also an agent of the American government therefore understanding the knowledge and premise of what the NSA was trying to accomplish. His awareness of how the State was surveilling the American people and understanding the American civilian psyche helped him make an informed decision about how to effect change from within the system.
I think this is a really interesting example you have here. I’ve never thought of Snowden as an organic intellectual but I think you may be right in qualifying him as such. I think one of the most important things you did in your post was qualify Snowden’s goals from revolution to reform; if he was a revolutionary, he would, in many ways, still be using the “common sense” structures of free speech and whistle blowing to get his demands. In making confidential actions public knowledge through sharing actual documents, Snowden’s actions created themselves a level of transparency that he himself desired.