‘Form of fascism’: Oliver Stone blasts US government for mass surveillance
While at a festival to promote his film based on Edward Snowden ordeal, film director Oliver Stone condemned the US government and major tech companies for instituting a “surveillance state.”
Stone, who is known for directing award-winning films such as ‘Platoon’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’, appeared at the Cannes Lions festival on Wednesday to promote his new movie ‘Snowden’, which tells the story of the whistleblower who revealed warrantless mass surveillance by the NSA.
The Oscar-winner said that he didn’t aim to take sides on the issue in the film, but show the dramatic tale of Edward Snowden’s trials and tribulations from his service in the military until the leaking of NSA secrets that made him famous.
“I try to show the story without being involved and I did the best I could by using the most information I could,” Stone says. “This is a drama, this is a story.”
Stone did, however, take a position on the “surveillance state” in the US. He criticized tech giants like Facebook, Google and Microsoft, saying that they collaborate with federal intelligence agencies to help them spy on US citizens.
“It’s a form of fascism – the sovereignty of the state versus the sovereignty of the individual,” he said. “It’s the reverse of the way this country was founded.”
Stone also said that both Donald Trump and have both failed to properly address the topic during their presidential bids, saying that the subject isn’t even mentioned during the debates, saying that both the candidates support an increase in surveillance and military buildup.
The director was also asked to weigh in on Thursday’s Brexit vote. While Stone said that he didn’t want to share his opinion on the matter, he did express that France and Britain are dominated by the United States.
"To me I look at it in the military way and I see a union bound by your subservience to the United States and that concerns me," he said.
