The following statement was issued by Elizabeth Vos, the editor-in-chief of Disobedient Media. Vos is the author of insightful exposures that discredit the attempt by US intelligence agencies to link WikiLeaks with purported “Russian interference” in the 2016 presidential election, and other articles defending Assange, Edward Snowden and freedom of speech. Her work can be viewed here.

Elizabeth Vos has also been one of the most prominent figures in the Unity4J online vigils that have taken place in support of Julian Assange for close to a year. We urge WSWS readers to distribute her statement as widely as possible.

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The world is ruled by narrative, as Caitlin Johnstone says, and it has been WikiLeaks and Assange who have allowed us to take hold of the global story in the face of truth and evidence. In so-doing, Assange has enacted the best kind of disobedience with regards to the ruling class, and for that courage, he has been unimaginably punished.

My own support stems from my role as an independent journalist. Without WikiLeaks, the stories we report on outside of—and in spite of—the corporate media echo chamber would be inestimably diminished, if not downright non-existent. The age of the internet has fostered the growth of alternative and independent news sources, but without WikiLeaks, this flourishing independent press would never have had the primary source evidence with which to debunk and overturn one establishment narrative after the next.

Assange will soon have been detained for seven years in a tiny embassy, a cell that Chris Hedges described as a “little shop of horrors.” This situation does not exist in a vacuum: all independent media and those who value it must realize that Assange has essentially sacrificed his life so that we can learn and report on the truth—so that the public might have substantive self-determination based on knowledge rather than propaganda.

As Assange said: “Our civilization can only be as good as our knowledge of what our civilization is. We can’t possibly hope to reform that which we do not understand.”

The documents published by WikiLeaks have inspired mass-movements and have sparked historic change across the world. They have been cited by over 45,000 academic papers and court filings. In short: Assange represents and brings people the truth about the operation of their governments.

As beneficiaries of this hard-won truth, we are collectively obligated to protect the “rebel library of Alexandria” that Assange and others have built, and to raise our voices to call for the torture of Assange to end.

I call on all Australians and those around the world who value truth and integrity to raise their voices on behalf of Assange, who has been unable to defend himself for almost a year.

Everyone has a stake in this fight, and the outcome of this battle will affect us all. If it is possible for you to participate in the Socialist Equality Party rallies in March, I implore you to do so. Demonstrations will be taking place on March 3 in Sydney and March 10 in Melbourne.

Elizabeth Vos
February 22, 2019