‘Moscow would’ve hacked Clinton herself, not Podesta’ – Anonymous activist to RT
Russia has nothing to do with the email leaks of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, as Moscow’s resources allowed it to hack Hillary herself, Anonymous activist Alex Poucher told RT ahead of the Million Mask March staged by the hacktivist group.
“America is very quick to blame Russia for just about anything these days, especially with things going on in Syria right now, with the US really wanting to extradite [NSA whistleblower] Snowden to the US to charge him for trial,” Poucher said.
The activist said he does not believe the claims by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that Julian Assange’s website WikiLeaks has been cooperating with Russia and was handed sensitive data, damaging for her campaign, from Moscow.
“What was Podesta’s password? It was ‘password’ with a zero instead of ‘o.’ Any kid could’ve hacked this email account. I think with the might of the Russian intelligence and the resources that Russia has available to them, if they would’ve hacked anybody – they would’ve hacked Hillary directly and not Podesta,” Poucher said.
“I don’t believe that the Russian government has any ties directly with WikiLeaks,” he said, adding that the group’s whistleblowers, just like Anonymous, “don’t work for any government or organizations” and stand for the people.
READ MORE: ‘No evidence Assange needed Russia to access Clinton emails’ (OP-ED)
“The only link that I could see between Russia and WikiLeaks would be Sarah Harrison having contacts with Snowden,” who has been granted asylum by Moscow, Poucher said.
He expressed confidence that WikiLeaks would continue releasing the Podesta emails, despite opposition from the Clinton camp. However, the activist is skeptical about Clinton suffering any legal consequences because of them.
“I believe Hillary won’t go jail, but the revelations from these emails will eventually force her to make confessions regarding these leaks. And that’s going to be very important for the US people,” Poucher said.
‘Government should fear the people’
Whistleblowers who risk everything to deliver the truth to the people “should be applauded” and not persecuted, Poucher said.
“The more the government hides what’s it doing, the more we need whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden… We should be looking at these whistleblowers as heroes and not making them lie in hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, or in Russia,” he added.
There should be nothing criminal about “the leaks and revelations that are coming out and don’t directly, physically threaten anyone,” the activist said.
“If transparency causes fear, that’s a good indication that the government isn’t working in accordance with the will of the people. The people shouldn’t fear their government. The government should fear the people.”
Poucher said the focal point of this year’s worldwide protest will be the US presidential election on November 8, in which the top two candidates are the Republican nominee Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee Clinton.
“Whenever a nation of 300 million people has Trump and Clinton to choose from, you can tell that the electoral system is either corrupt or fully rigged,” the activist said.
‘Dissent is highest form of patriotism’
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism we have,” Poucher said, adding that this makes the Million Mask March “very relevant.”
The people wearing Guy Fawkes masks, popularized by the graphic novel and movie V for Vendetta, will also be marching to decry mass surveillance, police brutality, racism and government corruption.
“Until we start seeing changes for these causes that we protest against – either on a statistical or legislative level – we’re going to continue protest on November 5 every year,” Poucher said.
The hacking group plans large-scale rallies in Washington, DC, London and Halifax, as well as smaller actions in 120 cities around the globe on Friday.
“All together, every city combined, you can expect 100,000 or more people protesting on this day. Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” the activist said.
Anonymous have set up a special Facebook page for the occasion where the “LiveStream of all the marches, taking place simultaneously around the globe” will be available.
