What is a Manifesto?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a manifesto is "a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2003). A manifesto can be written by either a political party, an individual or a group of people in order to get their message across. The main goal of writing a manifesto - no matter who the writer is - is to promote and strive for change. Manifestos - throughout history- have been mostly used by politicians, as it can be seen as a contract between said politician and their audience. As it is no surprise, politician's have the tendency to abuse their power as well as the power of manifestos and have managed to reshape its importance over the years. Given the technology and platforms (such as twitter) available to us in the year 2017, the importance and relevance of manifestos has slightly shifted. As perviously mentioned, a manifesto can be written merely by an individual who is stating their intentions and hoping for change; not just politicians or those in the public eye. As well, manifestos can simply be a form of expressing how one is feeling at that time. A perfect example of this is John Lennon's "Imagine", which is a beautifully poetic manifesto.
Edward Snowden, A former CIA employee and former contractor for the United States government, is a well known whistleblower. Given the incredible journey that he is still going through, he has written two manifestos thus far regarding his situation and his thoughts on how being a whistleblower does not mean that he is a traitor; on the contrary, it reveals his patriotism.
