Editorial comment
The Pen has received considerable feedback over the article concerning Julian Assange’s new found access to a voice on the Internet. It was published on 25 April 2018 and titled, Julian Assange is back on the Internet after attempt to have him silenced.
Most of the response by far, has shown anger against against the injustice and support for Assange. There is not enough space but to publish a few on this site.
Another important matter raised by readers, is whether Assange has personally been re-connected with the Internet. The simple answer is that as far as we know, this is not the case, and the international campaign by supporters to have this reversed remains as important as ever.
The article said that that he has regained a voice, through an arrangement set by supporters. In this respect, he has not been silenced.
Although we are obviously not aware how this arrangement has been set up, it remains that it is still not good enough. Julian Assange needs more direct access, in order to communicate with and hear from the outside world.
The effort to achieve this goal is as vitally important as ever, because Assange and WikiLeaks are at the forefront of uncovering the truth that we need to know, and allow them to be silenced , is to allow us all to be silenced.
It is worth repeating that Assange was cut off through the pressure applied to Ecuador, the country of in embassy of which he is in, by the Spanish government. This government was unhappy about Assange backing the rights of Catalans fighting for their independence and referring to the increasing shift of the Spanish state to use force on its citizens.
But it was not only been Spain that has been putting on the pressure. The presence of Assange is an embarrassment to the United Kingdom, which has so far failed to acknowledge that the reason for the warrant for his arrest is no longer there. The United States still wants him extradited there to face charges for treason over leaked documents, although he is not an American citizen.
This is not about justice, but about silencing an inconvenient voice.
In addition, an orchestrated misinformartion campaign to discredit Assange is being waged around the world, which seeks to paint him as less than honest and a puppet of the Russians. This too is part of the campaign to silence him and WikiLeaks.
If we value the truth and our right to know, especially when those with power are acting corruptly and fleecing everyone else, we have a duty to defend Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
It’s disgusting how the Australian government has disowned one of the world’s greatest freedom fighters and without doubt Australia’s greatest living hero. We should nominate him for world peace prizes everywhere except the Nobel Peace which has disgraced itself by be just another USA puppet organisation after nominating Obama and considering nominating Trump.
Across the world the voice of reason and fair play is being limited, then silences by the general movement of most Western governments toward fascism. This is a natural and to be expected trend as the crices of capitalism increase and deepen as th system steadily disintegrates. We can expect to see much more of the ‘dumping on workers’ syndrome as the capitalist crices increase and worsen.