By Reginald Johnson
An
international campaign is underway to defend the rights of the great
whistleblower Julian Assange and stop authorities in the UK and the United States
from putting him in prison.
Assange, the
founder and editor of WikiLeaks --- which over the past 15 years has
published secret files exposing US war crimes in the Middle East, US political
corruption, frightening new cyber warfare systems used by US intelligence and
the inner workings of the notorious Guantanamo
Bay prison ---- has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for
six years after being granted political asylum by Ecuador.
Though isolated and
cut off from the outside world, Assange
was protected from arrest by UK and US authorities who want him for various
alleged crimes, most importantly the illegal release of classified
information. But Assange’s safety is now
in doubt. The left-leaning government in Ecuador of Rafael Correa , which granted
Assange asylum, has been replaced by a more conservative government led by Lenin
Moreno, which seeks closer relations
with the United States. Officials of Moreno’s administration have indicated
that Assange may be forced to leave the embassy in London.
If Assange has to leave the embassy, he will be immediately picked up by UK officials who said that they will turn
him over to the United States. Atty.
Gen. Jeff Sessions said he considers arresting Assange “a priority,” and his office has reportedly drawn up
espionage charges.
If he is tried and convicted,
Assange could face life in prison or even the death penalty.
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| Julian Assange speaking from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2014 | (AP Photo) |
Activists from around the world are holding rallies and protests to spotlight the danger that the WikiLeaks publisher now faces and are demanding that UK and US officials drop any plans for prosecuting Assange. Demonstrations have taken place in Britain, Australia and Washington, D.C. Smaller protests also took place in New York and L.A.
Supporters of
Assange, who is Australian, say that if governments in Britain and the US can
put the WikiLeaks founder behind bars it will be a severe blow to freedom of
speech --- undermining the right to publish information critical of those in
power.
At a rally last
weekend in Sydney, Australia, organizer Linda Tenenbaum said the event was set
up to start building “a defense campaign in Australia, New Zealand and
internationally that will bring together all those committed to democratic
rights --- the right of journalists to inform the population, their right to
freedom of speech, and the right of everyone to be informed of the truth.”
Tenenbaum, a leader
of the Socialist Equality Party, added, “These are issues of the most
fundamental character, the suppression of truth, of WikiLeaks and Julian
Assange and they go hand-in-hand with the destruction of democratic rights.”
Advocates for
Assange are demanding that the government of Australia step in and exercise its
diplomatic power to protect the whistleblower from threats made by the British
and American governments. They are asking that the WikiLeaks leader be allowed
to return to Australia and that the Australian government reject any demands
from the US for his extradition.
The famed
journalist John Pilger also addressed the Sydney rally, which was attended by
several hundred people, according to a story in the World Socialist Website.
“No investigative
journalism in my lifetime can equal the importance of what WikiLeaks has done
in calling rapacious power to account,” said Pilger.
“It is as if a one-way moral screen has been pushed back to expose the
imperialism of liberal democracies: the commitment to endless warfare and the
division and degradation of ‘unworthy’ lives: from Grenfell Tower to Gaza.”
Pilger said that
the American government hatched a secret plan in 2008 to “destroy” both WikiLeaks and Assange. Pilger said a top-secret document from the
Cyber Counterintelligence Assessments branch of the US Defense Department “described
in detail how important it was to destroy the ‘feeling of trust’ that is
WikiLeaks’ ‘center of gravity.’”
“This would be
achieved, they wrote, with threats of exposure and criminal prosecution and an
unrelenting assault on reputation. The aim was to silence and criminalize
WikiLeaks and its editor and publisher. It was as if they plan the war on a
single human being and on the very principle of freedom of speech,” Pilger
said.
He continued, “Their main weapon would be personal smear.
Their shock troops would be enlisted in the media --- those who are meant to
keep the record straight and tell us the truth. The irony is that no one told
these journalists what to do. I call them Vichy journalists --- after the Vichy
government that served and enabled the German occupation of wartime France.”
Pilger had previously
criticized the left in both Britain and the United States by not standing in
support of the Assange. In a statement
delivered by Dennis Bernstein to the Left Forum in New York in early June at a
panel entitled “Russia-gate and WikiLeaks,” Pilger decried the silence of many
on the left.
“There is a
silence among many who call themselves left.
The silence is Julian Assange. As
every false accusation has fallen away, every bogus smear shown to be the work
of political enemies, Julian stands vindicated as one who has exposed a system
that threatens humanity,” said Pilger, who was born in Australia and lives in
Britain.
After noting the
many dramatic revelations that WikiLeaks has made, including the famous
“Collateral Damage” video, which showed a US helicopter gunship gunning down 12
to 18 civilians in a Baghdad square in 2007, Pilger said, “The fakery of Russia-gate,
the collusion of a corrupt media and the shame of the legal system that pursues
truth-tellers have not been able to hold back the raw truth of WikiLeaks
revelations. They have not won, not yet, and they have not destroyed the man,
only the silence of good people will allow them to win. Julian Assange has
never been more isolated. He needs your support and your voice. Now more than
ever is the time to demand justice and free speech for Julian.”
In addition to many
in the government who have criticized Assange for endangering US military
personnel by releasing classified military documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars, some on the left have taken issue with Assange in the last two years due
to WikiLeaks’ perceived role in influencing the 2016 election and helping
Donald Trump win. WikiLeaks was able to
secure and then publish emails from the Democratic National Committee in 2016
which showed how the DNC was favoring Hillary Clinton and trying to undermine
the insurgent candidacy of Bernie Sanders.
Trump was able to
use the WikiLeaks revelations to successfully attack Clinton when he campaigned
for the presidency against the former Secretary of State. US intelligence officials and others have
maintained, without solid proof, that the DNC emails were hacked by Russian
operatives and then given to WikiLeaks, since Russia stood to gain by a Trump
victory. Assange has insisted that a “state
actor” was not responsible for providing the emails. He said that
another party, not named, provided the material.
It is believed by
many that the email material was actually made available by a disgruntled DNC
staffer who backed Sanders and wanted to expose how the nomination process was
stacked in favor of Clinton.
In recent months, Assange
has picked up support from a diverse group of writers, lawyers, former intelligence
officials and people in arts and entertainment. Among those backing him are
Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author, John Kiriakou, a former
CIA official who went to prison for exposing illegal torture practices, former FBI agent Colleen Rowley, Ken Loach, a film
director, singer Lady Gaga and actress Pamela Anderson.
