Thursday, December 23, 2010

Julian Assange Interview With Cenk Uygur.



From all the recent Assange interviews I’ve seen, I would recommend this one with Cenk Uygur- essential viewing.

Here is the transcript of the interview.

Portion of Transcript:

"CENK: Well Julian I want to get to as much as possible here so I want to give you a chance to respond one by one to your critics, first to Mitch McConnell who is of course the leader of the Republicans in the Senate and to Joe Biden who both said that called you a high tech terrorist how do you respond to Joe Biden the Vice President of the United States saying that to you?

JULIAN: Well let's look at the definition of terrorism, the definition of terrorism is a group that uses violence or the threat of violence for political ends now no one in our four year publishing covering over 120 countries has ever been physically harmed as a result of what we've done. Now that's not just us saying that, that's the Pentagon saying that, that's NATO and Kabal saying that. No one, not a shred of evidence. Now believe me if they could find or even easily manufacture a shred of evidence they would be doing that immediately so it's clear that whoever the terrorists are here it's not us. But we see constant threats from people, Republicans in the Senate trying to make a name for themselves, to people like Sarah Palin to Shock Jocks on Fox and unfortunately some members also of the Democratic party calling for my assassination calling for the illegal kidnapping of my staff and just a few days ago on Fox that was the phrase that was used "illegal, he should be illegally murdered if necessary, assassinated by the law if possible if not illegally" what start of message does that send about the rule of law in the United States? That is conducting violence in order to achieve a political end the elimination of this organization or the threat of violence to achieve a political end the elimination of a publisher and that is the definition of terrorism.

CENK: Now I want to give you a chance to respond personally though because here Mike Huckabee is making it very personal you saw that quote we had up, he says "I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty for you" Sarah Palin saying that you are like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and that you should be pursued with the same urgency so how would you respond to Mike Huckabee who is a top Republican leader, likely to run for President again. How would you respond to Sarah Palin, top Republican leader who might run for President again?

JULIAN: Oh it's just another idiot trying to make a name for himself, but it's a serious business I mean if we are to have a civil society we cannot have senior people making calls on national TV to go around the Judiciary and illegally murder people that is incitement to commit murder that is an offense you cannot have senior people on national TV asking people to commit an offense. That is not a country that obeys the rule of law. Does the United States obey the rule of law, because Europeans are starting to wonder whether it is still obeying the rule of law and it needs to be very careful is it going to descend into an anarchy where we don't have due process where those great Bill of Rights traditions about due processes thrown to the wind whenever some shock jock politician just thinks that they can use it to make a name for themselves? Or do we take things according to laws expressly made by the people and their representatives that is the way things should be done and when people call for illegal deliberate assassination and kidnapping of others they should be held to account they should be charged for incitement to commit murder."

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Speeches in Support of Wikileaks.

Here is a series of speeches in support of Wikileaks, from rallies held at Sydney Town Hall on the 10th and 14th of December, 2010.



Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon, Sydney on Friday 10 December.



This speech is by Keith Dodd, an American IT worker. Again, 10th of December.



Green Left Weekly's Simon Butler, 10th of December.




Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, addresses a crowd in Sydney for the second rally in support of Wikileaks and Julian Assange held on Tuesday 14th of December.




I Found this speech particuarly interesting. Director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism Professor Wendy Bacon addresses a crowd in Sydney for the second rally in support of Wikileaks and Julian Assange held on Tuesday 14th of December.

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More can be found here. And here.

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Remember:
Next Rally for Wikileaks in Sydney, 15th of January, 1pm at Town Hall
.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Michael Moore on Wikileaks.

Wikileaks Rally, Sydney.



This clip is of a protest in support of Wikileaks in the Australian city of Sydney, on the 14th of December 2010. I was present at the march. You can see quite clearly that the police started to attack the protestors after blocking their path off the road. There is another protest in support of Wikileaks planned for Sydney on the 15th of January, at Town Hall at 1p.m. This is an extremely important issue. Whatever reservations one might have over specific wikileaks releases, this case will be a defining moment for freedom of information and freedom of press in the information age. Wikileaks did not steal or solicit classified documentation; it merely published the material in collaboration with mainstream media outlets. It is a media organization and should be protected from persecution.

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Sign this online petition against any extra-judicial campaign against Wikileaks and to support due process and the rule of law.

The Australian group 'Get Up!' has organized a campaign to buy advertisement in the New York Times in support of Wikileaks and condemnation of those who have called for violence against, Australian citizen and Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. You can sign a petition in support and donate: here.