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"We are launching this campaign to reflect the sentiment of so many people in the US and around the world who recognize that Edward Snowden at great personal risk took actions as a conscientious whistleblower who recognize that the NSA and the government of the US is conducting mass unconstitutional illegal spying operation on the people of the US and the people of the world," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of Partnership for Civil Justice Fund on Snowden campaign, told The Voice of Russia.

- What is the purpose of this campaign?

- We are launching this campaign to reflect the sentiment of so many people in the US and around the world who recognize that Edward Snowden at great personal risk took actions as a conscientious whistleblower who recognize that the NSA and the government of the US is conducting mass unconstitutional illegal spying operation on the people of the US and the people of the world. Having done so we want to stand up on his behalf and thank him for his actions. And also, this is part of a larger campaign that the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has - working and organizing across the US with those expressing of our position to the implementation of the surveillance state. So, there are thousands of people who have participated with us in writing their Congressional representatives and others, and calling for an end to this mass surveillance program.

- Well, I have to say, I congratulate you on all the hard work, this is something that I would definitely stand for as well. Did you face any obstacles while preparing the campaign?

- We have certainly heard from occasional people that, you know, are going with the line from the Congressional representatives that have come out and tried to call him a traitor or tried to say that what he has done is wrong. But it is actually been very few. The vast sentiment that we are hearing, and we are hearing from thousands of people across the US is that they stand with Edward Snowden and they recognize what he has done. So, we feel that this is a really important opportunity to have that sentiment expressed. When you have Congressional representatives and Senators, and they are coming out and attacking Edward Snowden and trying to demonize him, I think they really have to look what their own actions have been because many of these elected officials who were sworn to uphold the Constitution, have plainly been authorizing these programs that would appear to be unconstitutional. Honestly, if any of them had turned to their constituency and told the truth about the programs they were authorizing and then asked them to vote for them - their constituency wouldn’t have voted for them. So, Edward Snowden has really taken the mask off what's been happening here and revealed to all of us these operations. And once people know about government activity and know about illegal activities, then they have the capacity to organize and end it.

- Mara, very well said! I also read recently that close to 50% of Americans were actually saying that Edward Snowden did pose a threat to national security of the US.

- Well, we have to recognize that people are being bombarded day in and day out by the official statements coming from both the administration and Congressional representatives, and the US government. And this is also getting played out often in the mass media. So there is an intense demonization campaign coming from these national security officials many of whom talk off the record, but they all want to come out and put in the media that he's posed some threat. But there has been no threat revealed.

And I think we all can be sure, that if they could find any real basis to claim that what Edward Snowden has done is actually dangerous, they would be letting us know that. But in fact, the danger posed is that he's shifted the political climate, both in the US and around the world. He's ignited a debate that has to happen. And at any point in time in US history when the Government has gone so far afield in this kind of direction, as they did with COINTELPRO operations in the past, we had the Church Committee hearings, we had a change in the US society, but the people of the US have to know what’s happening in order for them to be able to demand government transparency and accountability.

- Very well said! I also think that people have to remember that people don’t throw your bags out of window because of lies, they throw them out because of truth. And last quick question, Mara, as we are running out of time, how long will this bus campaign last?

Well, this is just a start of a larger campaign. So, while this bus ad campaign is launching in DC so that those in Congress and in the White House, and elsewhere will be able to see this very clearly, we expect to extend it and expand it, both here in Washington and nationwide. You know, the support is really significant and I think that people want to see this.