The arrest of Julian Assange

[Deleted]

I found this very clear statement of what Assange's arrest represents:

"The arrest Thursday of Julian Assange eviscerates all pretense of the rule of law and the rights of a free press. The illegalities, embraced by the Ecuadorian, British and U.S. governments, in the seizure of Assange are ominous. They presage a world where the internal workings, abuses, corruption, lies and crimes, especially war crimes, carried out by corporate states and the global ruling elite will be masked from the public. They presage a world where those with the courage and integrity to expose the misuse of power will be hunted down, tortured, subjected to sham trials and given lifetime prison terms in solitary confinement. They presage an Orwellian dystopia where news is replaced with propaganda, trivia and entertainment. The arrest of Assange, I fear, marks the official beginning of the corporate totalitarianism that will define our lives. "

consortiumnews.com/2019/04/14/chris-hedges-the-martyrdom-of-julian-assange/


This is a must read too:
consortiumnews.com/2019/04/12/assange-arrest-a-warning-from-history/

[Ava]

Thanks @astrokeen ,

I was watching this yesterday:
www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/04/12/greenwald_every_journalist_in_the_world_should_speak_out_against_arrest_of_julian_assange.html

Glenn Greenwald:

"Even if it were true that Assange collaborated with Manning — and, again, the Justice Department of President Obama looked everywhere and found no evidence of that — it would still be a grave threat to press freedoms, because journalists all the time work with their sources in order to obtain classified information so that they can report on it. It’s the criminalization of journalism by the Trump Justice Department and the gravest threat to press freedom, by far, under the Trump presidency, infinitely worse than having Donald Trump tweet mean things about various reporters at CNN or NBC. And every journalist in the world should be raising their voice as loudly as possible to protest and denounce this."

Speaking for myself the whole media already feels like an echo chamber or house of mirrors, there is so much duplication. To me the news organizations have all been bought off and are simply propaganda outlets for the corporations. People are being trained to not doubt the corporations, especially the media corporations. I mean "alternative news" is considered no news at all. People are stigmatized and oppressed for even trying to see outside the matrix.

Social media is censoring on behalf of the corporate agenda as well.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.
Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.
Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism."

- Mussolini

Moreso, the 21st century

What keeps it going is every individual's overoptimism and blindness about it, this blithe assumption that totalitarian control by corporations could never happen to us. 

[Deleted]

Ava, Democracy Now is one of my favourite sites. Good to see you use it too.

Let's add a sticky to this forum with leading 'truth' sites. I'll start and we could add as you go along. Perhaps categorise sites with best low downs on rapacious corporations or Palestine etc.

[anela]

He was accused of rape, spread lies about Hillary Clinton and other Democrats in 2016, and isn't a journalist, as far as I know. Isn't he a hacker? Someone who gleefully brought us Trump. I don't like to see anyone in trouble, but I am not feeling much empathy or sympathy for him right now. Sorry.

[Ava]

Apr 30, 2019 21:58:30 GMT anela said:

Someone who gleefully brought us Trump. 

?

Assange is pro-Trump?

[Ava]

Well I have zero affection for Hillary Clinton. But I like you, anela, so I won't go there.

I thought Assange was accused not of rape but removing the condom, still quite a perverse act if true, and not respectable whatsoever.

Yet I know many heroes who have done awful, terrible things. Martin Luther King Jr supposedly was a serial cheater. Gandhi allegedly struggled with temptation...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/01/gandhi-celibacy-test-naked-women

It's not for me to forgive anything or pass off a verdict but I admire courageous acts that shed a light on evil and oppression.

Assange was trying to end that awful US invasion by removing US support. "Collateral Murder" needed to be seen. I don't know who in their right mind could enlist in the military, knowing the full truth about why we invaded and what would be required of soldiers (nightmares like Fallujah for instance.) The media is complicit in a cover-up of the atrocities.

I can't quite forgive Obama for bombing Pakistani civilians with drones, and I think Obamacare/socialized medicine in its current state is an abomination, because it fails to eradicate systemic corruption, but funds and increases the corruption instead.

But I can say he was a decent President. At least he tried to close Gitmo.

[justjuni]

Sheesh, i didnt know this sub forum was hiding in here.
I have much reading to catch up on.

Thank you contributers!!

[anela]

I read something about this yesterday. I hate logging into boards on my phone, but I'll try later, or email it to myself from my phone. 

[anela]

May 1, 2019 2:04:50 GMT Ava said:

Apr 30, 2019 21:58:30 GMT anela said:

Someone who gleefully brought us Trump. 

?

Assange is pro-Trump?

Yes, and people made up crazy things from what he posted to wikileaks. I still can't believe what they came up with. It's one thing to hate a person, it's another to make up "spirit dinners" satanic worship, and child sex abuse. 

[Deleted]

anela , Assange is not pro Trump at all. Quite the opposite. He was, however, virulently against Hilary Clinton - perhaps that may have caused some confusion as to whom he supported. Assange had initially said that since Trump was not a DC insider, there were opportunities for change should he win, but that was as far as he would go. When asked whom would he support, he responded, '“You’re asking me, do I prefer cholera or gonorrhea?”

In one recent interview, Assange said that the problem with secretly collecting documents about Donald Trump is that nothing he can publish is more outrageous than what Trump himself says daily (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3760002/WikiLeaks-founder-says-problem-leaking-material-Trump-compare-comes-Donald-Trump-s-mouth.html).

[Deleted]

Here's a report on the conditions Assange is experiencing in a high-security UK prison. High security for the alleged offense of skipping bail itself is unjust - it serves the purpose of preventing Assange from working on his defense against US threat of extradition.

www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/25/assa-m25.html

[Ava]

Thanks @astrokeen.

It goes to show how corrupt the US government is, that they need to keep their secrets completely secure, and would even kill Assange to make a lesson of him, lest anyone else try and expose the truth.

If this were a moral country it wouldn't have such a hysterical-paranoid need for secrecy. If people were sharper, they wouldn't tolerate the lies and parrot them so easily. 

But I think the US is basically nothing but secrets, covert operations, lies, manipulations....its agenda is sick. All this country is about is profiteering. Keeping the stock market healthy. Absolutely nothing else is sacred. Nothing...not human life, not the planet, not the future.

Corporations don't have souls, but they are controlling the world. 

[Deleted]

Ava , well said: you've distilled the essence very clearly.

Edit: Ava, it would be interesting to examine charts of change makers, namely people who speak out against injustices/weird politics despite the fact it could jeopardise careers or their selves. Actors, such as Robert de Niro and Alec Baldwin do it in a small way, while Michael Moore has made it his life's work. Perhaps in Basic Astrology?