On “Free Julian Assange! Hands off WikiLeaks!”
Bravo.
As always, with depth, reasoned and connecting history to the present. I was expecting to be and am gratified to read your analysis.
If these malignant forces ‘render extraordinarily’ Julian Assange, others will take his place, a wave, so that the government’s current operatives know their machinations will be exposed for what they are, in spite of the propaganda to justify it.
This very act of character assassination, state action and vested business interests has all the trappings of what Julian is making public, and if so, all the more damning of the perpetrators.
And in thinking about this, the analysis WSWS provides is more than equally valuable because it puts together the disparate pieces which makes understandable what is being done by the forces which want to do away with such a public exposition as Julian Assange has made of their doings.
In the future, if not already, they will be mocked and vilified.
Michael S
8 December 2010
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I woke up this morning and wondered whether I was in China when I went on the internet and could not get on WikiLeaks. The US and other major powers under its pressure are censoring websites without any legal basis.
Not only can I not go on WikiLeaks, I can’t donate money to it or otherwise lend it support because the US has forced the giant credit card and pay processing companies to cut WikiLeaks off.
Even worse, since US government officials and politicos are calling WikiLeaks “terrorist,” under a Supreme Court decision earlier this year if I do support them financially or communicate with them I can be prosecuted for aiding terrorists.
A terrorist used to be someone who kills civilians for political ends, something the US government routinely permits in pursuit of its wars abroad. In truly Orwellian fashion a terrorist is now anyone who exposes or even opposes US government policy and its criminal wars.
Can you imagine anyone talking this way when the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, or threatening its publisher Mr. Sulzberger with criminal prosecution and assassination, let alone cutting off the paper’s bank accounts, etc.?
Yesterday a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit challenging the right of the government to kill US citizens abroad claimed to be terrorists without prior judicial review. Not only can I be killed overseas without prior judicial authorization, I can’t bring a challenge in court if the government targets me for assassination.
The more unpopular the policy and the more nakedly it benefits the ruling oligarchy at the expense of the rest of the population the more it is carried out by secret and repressive means.
Don K
8 December 2010
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How ironic is it that the governments of so-called democratic countries, i.e., elected by us the people, acting on our behalf, are trying to give us no right to know exactly what they are doing at any given time! What is democratic about that? Why the hell shouldn’t we have the right to know what they are doing with our money—it’s our taxpaying dollars which help fund governments. Why shouldn’t we know what they decide on behalf of us, the people who elected them / didn't have any choice if we didn’t want to elect them?
Jenny
8 December 2010
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I am amazed. Why no bail? The US rules England? I hope Julian releases everything now.
This takes me back to the assassination of Reuben Salazar in 1969. All was controlled and no one could do anything from East Los Angeles to all of California. No press. No TV/Radio. Nothing but silence. I marched with La Raza for him.
I was unaware that the US Government ordered the Assange sites to be destroyed. I complained to Amazon and Paypal but they are apparently helpless. Where is the media? Fawning, as usual.
Perry L
Virginia, USA
8 December 2010
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Freedom of information and free speech is the right of the people.
Any attempt to those basic rights will have a consequence. A dictatorship in the name of democracy. More is needed about the interference of the USA in Australia. Julia Gilliard dishonestly got the job.
This man is Australian, a man with principles. To say the truth is not a criminal act, to the contrary.
Hugh
Darwin, Australia
8 December 2010
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The USA attack on Assange seems to me to be very much like what the USA tried to do to weapons inspector Scott Ritter, when they accused him of being a pedophile, because he dared to speak truth to power.
What has happened to Scott Ritter and Julian Assange is characteristic of what lengths the ‘power in charge’ in the USA will go to stop anyone from revealing how evil they are.
If the citizens of the USA wake up and have a good look at their government, they will be like Pogo Possum, and say, “I have seen the enemy and it is us”.
Sadly, with the election of right-wing Conservative Stephen Harper, Canada is trying to follow the footsteps of the right-wing Conservatives in the USA.
The people who are clamoring for Julian Assange to be assassinated should be charged with inciting murder!
Raymond C
New Brunswick, Canada
8 December 2010
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He is a hero, we need to help him. Keep on writing in this way and maybe the public opinion will change their mind on who to believe. Let the public open their eyes.
Maurizio P
8 December 2010
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All this is unbelievably disgusting. However, it does serve to demonstrate to what extremes of stupidity some can go. Not only are they making a hero—which he certainly is—and a martyr of Julian Assange, but they are equally clearly stating that he is voicing a truth most unpalatable to them, and that’s why they are trembling with fear and shame.
Sooriamoorthy
Mauritius
8 December 2010
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Dear Sir,
Thanks to your courage to continue voice for freedom from American government terrorism, who changed definition of terrorist and terrorism. According to US and European governments, if a resident of a certain country fights for freedom of his nation, occupied by US and European governments, he is a terrorist, insurgent, exteremist, etc., and they kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani people without any reason—they are champions of world democracy, human rights and freedom for women. But, behind these slogans, they have one and one reason only: to capture resources of weak nations, especially Muslim countries.
I salute you.
Regards,
Noor M
Pakistan
9 December 2010
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I expect the US won’t be satisfied until they have incarcerated, tortured, gagged, imprisoned, removed all human rights and pronounced a total defamation of Julian Assange. After all this is a long-held pattern of behaviour for the US regime...we must support Assange and WikiLeaks because without this freedom and right to knowledge, we are all at risk of being treated...well, like ‘terrorists’. In essence we are being told that a person who ‘speaks’ ...equals ‘terrorist’ to the US government.
Jo
Victoria, Australia
9 December 2010
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Damned right!
‘Women against rape’, a British feminist organisation has said that the so-called rape charge against Julian Assange is clearly a put-up job, and the authorities here and elsewhere would do better to direct resources towards the rapes that actually do happen, and which all too often are left unprosecuted. I can’t see any reason to disagree.
Boris C
9 December 2010
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I am very concerned about the imperialistic ambitions of our government controlled by corrupt and greedy big business interests and corporations. What happened to the principles of democracy and freedom advocated by the patriots of 1776 who defied British imperialism? US: OUT OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN!
John D
California, USA
9 December 2010
On “German media responds to WikiLeaks revelations with nostalgia for the authoritarian state”
This is a typical response. I read an opinion piece in the Vancouver Province today that echoed it. Revealing the machinations of the power elite is equated with our supposed collective loss of any sense of privacy. The author in the Province piece goes on about how “The Greatest Generation” (those who fought in WWll) knew how to keep “quiet”. In my work I have met many members of that generation who were only too glad for the gradual opening up of society that occurred during their lifetime. I’ve also met many who suffered from the silence they felt obliged to endure regarding their traumas. Often, self-medication through alcohol abuse seemed the only help available. Now we are expected to accept the mass drugging of the corporate media to prevent us from experiencing the real trauma of our times.
KV
British Columbia, Canada
9 December 2010
On “Australia: WikiLeaks cables reveal secret ties between Rudd coup plotters and US embassy”
This was an extremely telling article and this part on Gillard really sums it up perfectly:
“Although warm and engaging in her dealings with American diplomats, it’s unclear whether this change in attitude reflects a mellowing of her views or an understanding of what she needs to do to become leader of the ALP.”
Clearly imperialist relations cannot remain the same any longer. Maybe Wikileaks will prove itself to be the needed slap in the face of the international working class and electrify and animate us for joint struggle against the dark ages that are reemerging. One thing is sure, we are entering a highly turbulent period with plenty of revolutionary potential.
Lux
Japan
9 December 2010
On “WikiLeaks cable exposes NATO war plan against Russia”
For Europe it is the leaks that suggest NATO has been deceiving Russia on missile defense that could easily prove terminal. NATO leaders apparently made knowingly bogus promises to Russia that it would be substantially involved in Missile Defense.
Now Russian leaders have made public statements that reduce to this. If the promises do in fact prove bogus, thousands of short-range nuclear weapons will be deployed by Russia along its border with Europe. It seems that the leaders that brought Europe the Afghanistan and Iraq imperial adventures now wish to employ the same imperial tactics in Europe. But adding this time a large nuclear component. And the political basis of this whole shabby strategy is to keep Europe as a de facto American protectorate.
This requires Russia to appear on the European stage as an external threat for eternity. A large-scale political crisis in Europe now appears to be on schedule for arrival early in 2011.
Chris
Ireland
9 December 2010
On “US escalates threats and attacks on WikiLeaks”
There is another point worthwhile mentioning. Someone within the political apparatus delivered WikiLeaks the documents. And this is a permanent danger for political circles. They must avoid each “leak” in the political apparatus for the future. The extreme proceeding against Assange is aimed to scare people away from delivering any documents.
Köppe
Germany
7 December 2010
On “WikiLeaks founder jailed in London on bogus charges”
This is an appalling act of injustice however you look at it. This article (and today’s editorial) really says it all. It is pure hypocrisy to suggest that the WikiLeaks founder will be safer in jail than outside. Will we soon read a report mentioning that he has “accidentally” suffered from a fatal stabbing or slipped on soap while taking a shower? The gloves are now off and soon an offensive may begin against online sites such as wsws.org, Information Clearing House, and Counterpunch as well as a possible round-up on readers accused of subversive activities. Were Daniel Ellsberg doing the same thing today, he would probably now be in one of the CIA’s notorious torture chambers still in business thanks to Obama, or “sanctioned” according to the desires of figures such as Mike Huckabee.
Tony W
8 December 2010