Assange: congratulations and food for thought

A few quick thoughts

Here are a few immediate thoughts I have on Assange.

• Torturing any human being is wrong for obvious reasons, and regardless of who Assange is in earnest, I am extremely happy that he was released. I am happy about it in human terms. It is amazing that this human being is free after years of being subjected to crap.

• There are some gray areas about Assange. I don’t know if his torture was a case of persecuting a hero journalist or a case of the mob throwing one of their own under the bus for something that is hidden from us. I don’t know, I can’t pretend that I know, and it is honest to say so.

• The fact that it is legally possible to torture either a real hero journalist or even a person who is playing one’s role is obviously troubling for all. Troubling but not shocking as we do live under a mob.

I liked what Johhny Vedmore had to say about Assange.

There are plenty of things in relation to Julian Assange which are worth pointing out

Firstly, no one is simply a hero or a villain, and none of this is black or white. At the same time Assange revealed that the CIA created ISIS, he also claimed conspiracy theories concerning 9/11 were fake and not worth investigating. At the same time Assange is meant to represent freedom, Wikileaks sold branded face masks during the pandemic. We desire to worship heroes, and we are often quick to paint people who are persecuted as heroes, simply because they’re being persecuted. Just like with Aung San Suu Kyi. Remember how we were all up in arms about her house arrest, remember her being lauded as a Nobel Peace Laureate, remember celebrating her release, remember celebrating her election to office? Were you still celebrating when she helped target the Rohingya Muslims in an evil genocide? What happened to her after all the lauding ceased abruptly? Do you even know that she went back to prison and is still under house arrest again? I bet you don’t? We put these people on a pedestal, we hero worship them, and we are almost always left disappointed when we see their true faces. Did Julian Assange fight for freedom for journalists worldwide? Or did he accept a plea deal? And what precedent does that set for journalists? Nothing is clear cut when it comes to cases such as those of Suu Kyi or Assange. They surround themselves with members of the Establishment and deep state actors, and that is not normal. We can celebrate the freedom of a journalist, we can pretend that it’s a victory for freedom of the press, but taking a plea deal does not make the press any freer, it just leaves the option of sustained and targeted persecution on the table. It also means that he cannot continue exposing secrets without running off and hiding in the East to do so. He could be targeted and prosecuted again if he continued his previous mission. So what did he achieve? The only positives are that he will get to know his children, he’ll get to be with his family, he will get to taste freedom to some degree, but not to the fullest degree, because he submitted to the will of those in power. I probably would have done the same. After almost 15 years without freedom, I’m sure that most of us would have accepted defeat. But don’t be fooled, this result is: DEFEAT. The release of Julian Assange now benefits the Democrats, and the only reason this is happening now is because it’s an election year. No doubt they did the math and realised that Trump could promise to free Assange if he took office, and so the plea deal was put on the table. The only win for press freedom, would have been of Assange stood his ground and fought for a full pardon. So, now we’re back at square one. Loads of people will celebrate Assange being freed as a victory, but it is only a personal victory for his friends and family. For independent journalists such as myself, the precedent has been set, and will continue to be recognised in law. We are not allowed to do what Assange and Wikileaks did. It is still illegal to reveal information which proves that the CIA created ISIS, or that they targeted and murdered journalists in a war zone, and journalists are still not allowed to reveal information which is in the public interest. All of Assange’s protests, persecution, and loss of freedom has ended in a deep state victory. Yes he was persecuted, yes that’s bad, but now, after all that effort, nothing has been gained. Loads of people are automatically celebrating his freedom, and, this may be limited freedom for one person, but it is still a continuation of repression for everyone else. All my best regards to Julian Assange and his family, congratulations to you. But my real thoughts go to the thousands of journalists in the future who will continue to be targeted and persecuted for reporting the truth. My message to them: don’t give up at the final hurdle.

Also, thanks to Johnny’s tweet, I read this Substack by Francis O’Neill, and it has some interesting thoughts. It’s worth checking out!

On my end, it is honest to say that I have not spent the time trying to understand Assange in depth. I am agnostic about his actual goals—but in any case, I am very happy that he was released because he is a human being.

It’s impossible to know everything about everything at every point in time. We are under pressure to claim expertise on every topic of the day—but I refuse to follow the trend. It is much better to be honest, ask questions, and have an open mind.

As far as I am concerned, torture is wrong. It is wrong to torture heroes, it is wrong to torture villains, it is just wrong. So, congratulations to Assange and his family. May they heal.

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