by The ongoing attempt to extradite Julian Assange to the US must be opposed by all socialists and democrats. The horrific and inhuman treatment he has experienced by the hands of the British ‘justice system’ is likely to pale into insignificance in comparison to what the US authorities have in mind for him. Justice is not blind: it serves the powerful and the rich. And there is no question that Assange has upset some very powerful people.
“One of the many peculiarities in this strange case is that… the Pentagon has admitted that it failed to find a single person covertly working for the US who had been killed as a result of the Wikileaks disclosures. This failure was not for lack of trying: The Pentagon had set up a special military task force, deploying 120 counter-intelligence officers, to find at least one death that could be blamed on Assange and his colleagues but had found nothing”, writes the Independent.
Although the evidence is extremely flimsy, Julian Assange is in real danger of being sent to a maximum security prison in the US, facing a sentence of up to 175 years, which he is likely to spend in solitary confinement in a tiny cell. This is not about punishment or justice – this is chiefly about dissuading other potential whistleblowers from following in his footsteps (this comes out very well in the film ‘Official Secrets’, which tells of the state campaign of intimidation against whistleblower Katherine Gun).
The Labour Left Alliance stands in firm solidarity with Julian Assange – we consider his actions in publishing the Wikileaks materials as nothing but heroic and inspirational!
Here is what you can do:
- Print out this LLA poster in solidarity with Assange, take a picture/selfie and email it to info@labourleft.org. You might also consider changing your FB profile picture to raise awareness. We want to publis
- Use #FreeAssange
- A letter criticising in particular the silence of the The Guardian – which has profited nicely from the Wikidpedia leaks – is available here. Please sign and share asap.
- We are currently in the process of putting together a public solidarity meeting on Zoom, watch this space.
