In September I was invited over to California to give two talks about intelligence, whistleblowing, and 9/11 and its impact on the world. I focused on the erosion of our traditional freedoms and basic civil liberties
Two meetings were organised for me in Marin, San Fransisco, and Davis by the Californian 9/11 movement. They were great meetings - packed out - and the response was brilliant. It's heartening that so many people care about these issues, and the adverse impact the "war on terror" is having, not just on the lives of people in the Middle East wars, but also on our way of life in the West.
Two men in black, apparently carrying handcuffs, turned up at the meeting in Marin, sat at the back and spent much of the time muttering into their mobiles during the talk. At the end, while everyone was clapping, they sat with their arms crossed, glowering at me, and for one mad moment I thought they were going to haul me off for talking in public about dangerous notions such as democracy, civil rights and peace.
Anyway, thank you to all who made this possible, particularly Gabriel, Kevin, and Byron. And thanks also to Ken, Hummux and the team for filming the talk in Marin. DVDs of the talk can be obtained here.
Here's the talk in Marin:
