Hi from Moscow! I am Suzie Dawson; journalist, exile and Leader of the Internet Party of New Zealand

in #introduceyourself6 years ago (edited)

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I'm also a Streetfighter-style video game character. No, really. You can play as me: https://www.battletothebeehive.co.nz

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2017 was a strange but wonderful year.

My application for temporary asylum in Moscow, Russia went public: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/meet-suzie-dawson-the-nz-journalist-seeking-asylum_us_58ae200de4b0d0d07e7c6713

I was appointed Leader of the Internet Party of New Zealand, a new paradigm political party founded by the legendary Kim Dotcom:

I fronted a massive series of online roundtable events called the #AntiSpyBill; an initiative to draft anti-spying legislation live online. The series featured Kim, whistleblowers and activists like John Kiriakou, Cian Westmoreland, Lauri Love, Lee Camp, Cynthia McKinney and many others:

I co-hosted the new web series Kiwi in Moscow, to show people what Russia is really like in 2017:

And I currently, along with my colleague Elizabeth Lea Vos from Disobedient Media, host 'Decipher You' twice a week - a You Tube series that analyses raw Snowden documents live online, discovers things in them the mainstream media didn't and deciphers them for the public:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPf90W3gtZzt2HN0pIJapViLYqgdb6NAG

Some super cool friends of mine have been nagging me for a long time to join Steemit. I finally listened.

My journalism tends to be really, really, reeeeally long, in-depth investigative pieces. Because of this, I write infrequently. It can take me months to produce a single article. Therefore, I will start by reposting some of my historical work, so that you can get to know the background to my situation and how it is that I ended up where I am today.

The topics of my writing are whistleblowers, intelligence agencies, new media, technology, war and politics. I write pieces that are both in a New Zealand context (my homeland), and also which have a more global focus.

I've heard a lot of great things about this community so hope that you'll follow along and help others to become aware of my work and that they can now find it here.

Thanks for reading and having me as a part of Steemit.

Love,
Suzie

P.S. yes, this really is me! Proof:

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Highly rEsteemed!

Thank you! Not sure what that means but it sounds really positive :))) Lol...

In short, it means I re-posted your article for my followers and I hold your work to high esteem. I'm also following your work from henceforth ; )
You're a Video game character and I'm an Intellectually Active Social Networking Meme...

SteemON my friend!

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@suzi3d YOU ARE DOING AWESOME

hi @earthnation
I just joined steemit and post for the first time
please look and upvoted :)

welcome to steemit!!!

Thank you so much :) I'd really appreciate tips as I'm a total noob here, but very willing to learn :)

A lot of us are, lol! But it doesn't take too long to grasp. I am sure you are bringing in a large following, which will be incredibly rewarding. I will be following you and supporting you and your cause.

My you get the results you are fighting so hard to get.

Thank you! If Steemit works for me, I definitely intend to bring many others to the platform in the medium to long term. We'll see how it goes. Looks promising so far!

We are here to explore, let's do this! :)

It's a really fascinating concept for sure and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works. Thank you for visiting!

yeaay welcome to steemit

Welcome to Steemit Suzie,

I recently became aware of your work with Elizabeth Vos (Disobedient Media)- Deciphering You.
Looking forward to following you here!

That is so awesome! I never know how far my work travels until I get feedback from people about it. Really cool that you are across #DecipherYou... it is definitely one of the most significant projects I have ever undertaken and the discoveries we have made in it have totally reshaped the way I see the world and how it works...

@v4vapid you got interesting name ..i like it

Very good friend of mine have known her since Occupy and we worked together at @WeAreChange I am one of the people who has been begging her to come to @Steemit. ^_o

hey, glad to see you on Steemit! Make sure to connect with @an0nkn0wledge. Good to see another kindof "ex" co-worker :)

For sure - AK is one of the people who brought me here. He is a wonderful person and a very brave researcher. Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to Steemit! Good luck!

Welcome!

Thank you!! Trying to make inroads at building a cool archive of work here, first post complete: https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

wow. one of the best introduction posts ive read in a while. u go girl.

Welcome to Steemit Suzie! It will be awesome to read your posts and looking forward to them! :D

Hey you!!!!!! How are you? You know you're 1/2 the reason I'm here!!! The first post is up right here: https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

hey suzie.. remember me from WRC before cass went crazy? just wanted to let you know we (@antimedia) joined steemit today. i like your last update about 'Suzie's Steemit Club' and would like to discuss more. :)

Hey! I just posted the link on AntiMedia's introduction post. You're more than welcome to join :)

Welcome to the community..

Welcome to Steemit and thank you for your activism. Blessings

Thank you for caring and for saying so!! Really appreciate it!

Welcome! Your story sounds amazing and I can't wait to see more posts from you! Following!

Thank you so much. It's been a hell of a journey - sometimes scary, sometimes lonely, but the most incredible things have happened to me and I've had many wonderful experiences. I'm really lucky to be here and able to share them with you all :)

I'm new to steemit too. Interesting information. Sounds like you've had an interesting life. I would have dismissed the Snowden stuff as a little radical only a month ago, but reading about cryptocurrency has adjusted my receptive lense. I had no idea New Zealand dealt with similar issues of privacy and spying on citizens. Glad you're finding Russia to be so positive. I have a friend who lives there and he seems to like it as well. Good luck with your journalistic efforts. I'll have to delve more deeply into what you've put on the internet already. Thanks for posting.

You sound like a spook.

Actually, spooks get held up by mainstream media and massive networks of other spooks, whereas my work has been suppressed for YEARS. The NZ government went to great lengths to prevent anyone from knowing who I was or what I was doing. This is evidenced by the fact that I went public about my asylum in October 2016 but it wasn't until 8 months later that the New Zealand media finally were forced to acknowledge it.

If you do the reading and the research you will find out very easily for yourself who is legit and who is not, and people like me whose work is hidden from the mainstream at all costs, are the ones who are legit!

I would also point out that when the NZ media finally acknowledged my asylum application - they wrongly described me as being in "self-imposed exile" - which is the exact same term they used to undermine both Assange and Snowden (seriously, web search 'self-imposed exile Assange' and 'self-imposed exile Snowden' and 'self-imposed exile Dawson' - they use the same methods to discredit each of us)

he follow and upvote I follow and upvote back

I would if I knew how. Haven't worked that bit out yet!! Did manage to post my first article though: https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

Hello,@suzi3d

Warmly welcome to the steemit world. You'll be enjoyed here, feel like as a family. Stay blessed

It's a breath of fresh air already! Looking forward to seeing where this goes. Thank you for your message :)

You're Welcome.

Welcome!! Добро пожаловать :)

Thank you so much! Sorry my Russian sucks pretty badly, which you'll know if you watch 'Kiwi In Moscow', but I am trying to learn!

Mine's not great either :P Just keep practicing! It takes a while.

In my dreams I attract some amazing Russian fan who translates all my work into русский язык!!! Starting with this: https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

I wish I was good enough to help :( I'm still learning too! I've gotten a bit rusty :P

You have no idea how happy I am to find you! Welcome. I resteemed, but didn't see it in the feed.

Welcome to steemit family... feel free to follow me @greatman4eva

Здравствуйте

A Kiwi seeking exile in Russia. Who woulda thunk.

Hope the Ruskies don't shut you down! Not that I think they would. I'm sure they will be most gracious hosts.

Keep up the good work!

Hello, Suzie. Hello form Russia :)

здрасвуйце!

Well, I think the community will benefit most from having you here, Suzie. I didn't know about your activism but I think you're going at it where it matters.

The webseries you co-hosted is something I wish I could do in my own country, to show the world the truth behind what the media showcases, the gritty details of daily life under an authoritarian regime.

Nothing like first hand experience to help people really understand what's going on.

I'll be following your work from now on.

Welcome to steemit. You are very interesting, free and outgoing. Nice to have you

Thank you, happy you think so. Have you read my first piece yet? Second one going up later tonight: https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

Definitely, following. Your content is going to be right up my alley.

Thank you! My first article is already up on my blog and my second will follow shortly :)

Say hi to the Russian people for me. My dad commanded 5 tanks thru France and into Germany and he learned later that the Russians had really won the war - losing 10 million people to break the back of Hitler's juggernaut. How dare the globalist sociopaths try to paint Russia as an enemy. They should be our closest ally.

You are spot on. No one paid a higher price in WWII than Russia. If you check out the second episode of Kiwi In Moscow I actually covered Victory Day (May 9) here in Moscow which is the biggest celebration/holiday day of the Russian calendar. It's beyond awesome.

Also, have you got to read my first article here on Steemit yet? https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

Welcome to Steemit. We will wait for your interesting posts here @suzi3d
Regards :)

Welcome to Steemit Suzie, hope you will enjoy your time here. Your introduction is awesome, seems that you are never bored :-)))
Hope to hear your stories soon!

Literally superwoman! Great read and i'll be in Russia for the world cup so great to know some info before I arrive!!

Hey! My co-host in Kiwi In Moscow runs a tour company here in Moscow and she is (quite obviously) a freaking awesome tour guide! You can look up "Moscow Me" on Twitter and Instagram if you want to hire her to show you around while you're here. Moscow is awesome, I hope you have a great time!

Awesome I will check her out, will be around june july I think :)

nice post

vote up my post

Thanks for posting this video, it was lovely seeing you and your friend walking around Moscow. I spent some time there on a couple of occasions in the 90s on a work trip and it's one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. I was surprised at the US businesses then too and also there was an upmarket Irish supermarket. It was over 20 years ago and hostilities with the West were more recent. It's great to see how vibrant and cosmopolitan Moscow has become. We originally stayed at the Cosmos hotel which was pretty barren and there was nothing around that area then we moved to the SwissHotel near the GUM and it was just like being in the centre of London, even at that time, vibrant with fashion, shopping, the GUM, restaurants, the Arbat etc. There was even a McDonalds around the corner. We were doing a project with MosFilm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosfilm) and I spent a day at their studios in this huge "casting" room that had literally hundreds of filing cabinets with Russian actors going back to the early 20's. We weren't allowed to take copies of any files and I thought none of them would turn up as extras and that most of them would be dead but a few from the 1950s were still kicking around and turned up on the production.

Russian people are beautiful. They're genuine and warm-hearted. It's such a shame the US spends so much time vilifying them because it's one of the oldest and richest cultures in Europe. I remember this book market that a friend took me to in Moscow where they were selling Russian art books and they were all beautifully printed and very cheap. I still have a couple. I can't remember what it was called, maybe it still exists and you could film that for one of your episodes.

It's ironic that Russia has now become a sanctuary for journalists from the West. I hope you do a lot more films, just walking around showing people the truth about what an amazing city Moscow is and how smart the people are. That's more effective in a lot of ways than the political chat.

Hi - thank you so much for this! Yes in my experience Russia is the polar opposite of what the West claims about it. They say it is dangerous but it is far safer than the average Western city. They say the women are desperate to leave/portray them as virtual prostitutes, but the women here are wholesome and lovely and very happy and proud to be Russian. I have come to view Russia as what the West was like pre-globalism, before "trade" deals destroyed our local manufacturing and flooded our countries with crap petrochemical products, and before corporations ruled our lives. I think this is why the West targets Russia so badly - because they don't own it yet!!!

I will definitely be making more Kiwi in Moscow episodes, the only thing slowing us down is that Ksenia has been travelling - she speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese and has been travelling around South and Latin America. Once she returns to Moscow we will continue the series. Glad you liked it :)

The series is awesome Suzi, I loved it. you and Ksenia are winning formula - I look forward to seeing more. Maybe you could do a series of interviews of cool younger people who are starting businesses (music, arts, food, software, fashion). You're in a great position to do that.

It's ironic isn't it that women are happy and carefree and proud in Russia yet in the West they are portrayed as the opposite and are vilified by our media in the nastiest possible way.

The whole of the last century has been a con game by the banks. Before 1914 the US had no central Banks for 40 years and it was the most prosperous time, then J P Morgan orchestrated a market panic in 1907 and it led to the formation of the Fed in at the end of 1913, which in turn led to two world wars and a consolidation of Banker power and Russia being set up as the "enemy" of the US even though before 1913 Russia was probably the US's greatest Ally.

The anti Russia hysteria in the media is failing, it's gotten so over the top and so stupid that people don't believe any of it any more.

Glad to have you on Steemit. I think you will like it here.

thank you so much, I really am so far :))

welcome to the site, resteemed and added to following, you should make life more interesting on here that is for sure.

Wellcome to Steemit @suzi3d
Hope you enjoy your time here.

Thanks, I already am! Now to work out how to make my long form posts as popular as my introduction post!! https://steemit.com/life/@suzi3d/glenn-greenwald-and-the-irrelevance-of-electoral-politics-by-suzie-dawson

You seem like a cool person! Can't wait for your posts. Welcome to Steemit from a fellow newbie!

Hi - I'm new here as well, and still working it out.

I read through the replies, and nobody asked the obvious, so I will: why are you head of a political party in NZ but located in Russia? What's that about?

I hope Steemit works for you. I'm a complete newbie myself, so who knows! Good luck

Hey there... thanks for your question! A ton more info about my journey will appear on this blog in the coming weeks/months and there's plenty out there about me on the net but the short answer for you is, these days people who hold certain ideals and don't back down when threatened seem to find themselves either in jail, or dead, or exiled/stateless. I am one of them and fortunately for me, the latter.

Internet Party I guess chose me because my journalism and activism align with their areas of interest and they knew I could take the inevitable heat that would come my way. What will happen in the future? Who knows. Let's see.

There's a pretty telling interview of me that Radio New Zealand did - just web search 'Wallace Chapman Suzie Dawson' that might fill in a lot of blanks for you. Hope that helps :)

Welcome to Steemit! Happy to have a journalistic + freedom powerhouse like yourself spreading truth on this platform.

Thank you so much!!! My first article is already up on my blog here and my second will be soon. Thanks for your interest!

Wow this is awesome!!! Welcome @suzi3d, so cool to have you here. I'm a kiwi. Have you heard about golos? the Russian verson of Steemit. Nga mihi & welcome again

Great coincidence! Nice to see you on here Suzie. I am an American ex-pat living in Piter for 5 years now. I'm very interested in your research and projects. I hope to see your YouTube stuff copied over to Dtube as well. Best wishes for the new year.

@suzi3d Your Story is Very Interesting Highly Upvote and Comment

wow!first day first show.welcome on steemit board.You have recieved a good response on your first post.congrats.You are very beautiful.happy new year.at last waiting to read more post from your side.So i m waiting.

Welcome to the Steem World!
I have recently made an orientation video that will help you in your journey here - and will hopefully answer all the questions that took me months to figure out.


https://steemit.com/dtube/@maneki-neko/tuswb0ao
I wish you all the best here on Steem!
Don't beat me up in the video game!

Hey thank you - I watched your orientation video and learned a bit from it! You say I should reinvest SBD into Steem Power - noob question - how precisely do I do that? Thanks for your tips and for helping look after newcomers! I'd also love more information on how to post to Dtube?

Hey! Well its a little more complicated, search for a tutorial if you get confused - but basically you want to click next to SBD in your wallet, then go to market - this is the internal market where you can buy STEEM with your sbd and that is exactly what you want to do. Its a little complicated to explain in so many words but like I said I am sure there is a tutorial if you search :steem sbd internal market. Then once you buy steem, go back to your wallet and next to steem hit power up... LMK how it goes! :)

Welcome to SteemIt!

Welcome to Steemit! Looking forward to seeing more from you. Thank you for the insight into what Russia is really like. :) I hope to visit Russia one day. All the best.

Thank you! Russia is truly gorgeous. I had no idea what to expect when I came here, fearing the worst, but soon found that everything the West tells us about Russia is total propaganda! It is an incredibly well developed, cultured, stunningly beautiful place and the people and the food are AMAZING!!!

I've got some backpacking friends there so I hope to visit one day sooner rather than later. NO GMO'S is my favorite part!! A country that isn't poisoning its people? How logical! :) In the USA I've got to carefully screen every food item I pick up to see if it's healthy or not. Make some awesome food videos too! I'd love to see that.

Totally agree. Food has been a pretty major feature of 'Kiwi In Moscow' so far and I'm sure will continue to be :)

bienvenue a steemit

welcome to steemit , i wish you a splendorous time on this platform, you gonna love it

Thank you! I feel a bit like a toddler, unsure of my surroundings, but I'm sure I will acclimatise quickly and who knows, maybe one day I'll be helping explain to others how to do this!

Yeah of course its just matter of time

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