Caitlin Johnstone

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Be Prepared To Shake The Earth If Julian Assange Is Arrested

Today British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt repeated the tired old canard that WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange “is free to walk out of the doors of the Ecuadorean embassy any time he wishes,” despite the fact that the US government has been increasingly open about its desire to arrest Assange, and that the UK government has…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Today British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt repeated the tired old canard that WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange “is free to walk out of the doors of the Ecuadorean embassy any time he wishes,” despite the fact that the US government has been increasingly open about its desire to arrest Assange, and that the UK government has for six years refused to say whether it has received a US extradition request from the government which tortured Chelsea Manning. He’s as free to leave as a man with a gun pointed at his head after being told “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”

“Serious charges have been laid against him and we want him to face justice for those charges but we are a country of due process,” Hunt said of Assange. “At any time he wants to he is free to walk out onto the street of Knightsbride and the British police will have a warm welcome for him.”

Hunt didn’t specify what those “serious charges” are, which is weird, because as far as the public record goes, there are none. Assange was never charged in the notorious Swedish sexual assault investigation, and that investigation was dropped months ago. The closest thing to a charge on the record is a warrant for an alleged bail violation which was absurdly filed a full 12 days after he applied for asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, and any charge arising therefrom would not be “serious” by any stretch of the imagination.

So we have a UK official publicly stating that there is an agenda to arrest Assange on mysterious “serious charges” right before a visit to the UK by Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, who recently met with US Vice President Mike Pence and reportedly discussed Assange. This follows almost four months of Assange being completely silenced and cut off from the world by the Ecuadorian government for tweeting political commentary. And, according to the editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan, there are in fact plans to turn Assange over to British authorities “in the coming weeks or even days.”

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1020377217078095873

“The above report that UK and Ecuador are preparing to turn Assange over to UK appears to be true,” commented journalist Glenn Greenwald on Simonyan’s statement. “Big question is whether the US will indict him and seek his extradition, the way Sessions and Pompeo vowed they would. Can’t wait to see how many fake press freedom defenders support that.”

How many indeed? For all the viral, click-friendly wailing and rending of garments about Donald Trump’s “war on the press” because he says “fake news” and picks on Jim Acosta, does anyone expect the so-called free press to rush to the defense of a journalist who is being actively and aggressively persecuted with the full might of the western empire for publishing authentic documents about that very same empire?

We are about to find out if this is the part of the movie where the empire rips off the mask of freedom and democracy and reveals its true tyranny. Assange is a soft target, a controversial figure who has been on the receiving end of wildly successful smear campaigns marketed to every major political faction across the western world. He is the logical place to begin a crackdown on press freedoms and make a public example of what happens to those who shine the light of truth upon Big Brother.

If we allow them to imprison Julian Assange for practicing journalism, that’s it. It’s over. We might as well all stop caring what happens to the world and sit on our hands while the oligarchs drive us to ecological disaster, nuclear annihilation or Orwellian dystopia. If we, the many, don’t have the spine to stand up against the few and say “No, we get to find out facts about you bastards and use it to inform our worldview, you don’t get to criminalize that,” then we certainly don’t have the spine it will take to wrest control of this world away from the hands of sociopathic plutocrats and take our fate into our own hands.

The arrest of Julian Assange would be the fork in the road. It would be where we collectively decide as a species whether we want to survive into the future, and if we deserve to.

They do seem to be gearing up for something. Russia hysteria is at its most shrill and hysterical peak ever right now, and it just happens to be coming at a time when one of the key players in the establishment Russia narrative has been completely cut off from the world, unable to defend himself.

So be ready to shake the earth if they decide that this is a good time to sink their talons into him. If they touch one silver hair on that man’s head, we must unleash relentless worldwide outrage the likes of which they have never before seen. Because we’re not just fighting for Assange, we’re fighting for our very survival.

Jeremy Corbyn has spoken out in defense of WikiLeaks and Assange in the past. His moral character combined with his continual rise toward the leadership of the British government may partly explain the rush to arrest Assange as quickly as possible. In what was in my opinion one of the most exciting occurrences in politics last year, Corbyn read an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “The Masque of Anarchy” before an audience of thousands at the 2017 Glastonbury festival.

Corbyn roared:

“Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!”

If Assange is arrested, that will be our cue to rise like lions from our slumber, which has gone on far too long at far too great a cost. We cannot permit them to use, exploit and oppress us like this anymore. We are the many. They are the few. Be ready to rise.

Click here for information about emergency action plans in the event of Assange’s eviction from the Ecuadorian embassy.

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23 responses to “Be Prepared To Shake The Earth If Julian Assange Is Arrested”

  1. Steven Jobe Avatar
    Steven Jobe

    I want to support Julian. But if I follow the link provided above, I am connected with some socialist group. Seriously? I have no doubt they will do what they say as to facilitating demonstrations on JA’s behalf. But I can’t ally myself with a socialist group. Any alternatives?

    1. geoffreyskoll Avatar
      geoffreyskoll

      It is because of your kind of sentiment that anything even remotely resembling democracy in the United States is dead and buried. Joining in a protest facilitated by some group does not entail alliance with the group. I am a communist. I would join with conservatives, fascists, even (god forbid and the last one on the list) a liberal group. I think, from your comments, you are more like an obstructionist.

    2. Caitlin Johnstone Avatar
      Caitlin Johnstone

      I am a socialist. I’ve been smeared for over a year by my fellow socialists for saying I’d work with conservatives to advance agendas of mutual interest. I have no respect for your position. Collaborating with other ideologies to advance mutual agendas is what adults do; anyone who’s ever worked in a normal job knows this. If you can’t get past your weird issue, though, unity4J.com is a good nonpartisan resource.

    3. Robyn Avatar
      Robyn

      Some issues are bigger than whatever ‘ism’ you do or do not like.

      This article is about Julian Assange and the freedoms (press, speech, democracy) he represents.

  2. Sea Clearly Avatar
    Sea Clearly

    ‘Profound’ Threat to Press Freedom Looms as Ecuador Prepares to Hand Assange Over to UK
    https://commons.commondreams.org/t/profound-dangers-to-press-freedoms-loom-as-ecuador-prepares-to-hand-assange-over-to-uk/53647/7

    What’s going to happen to Assange if Ecuador betrays him?

    Stress positions – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Sleep deprivation – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Sound deprivation combined with other Sound Torture techniques (extreme loud music, banging on walls, etc.) – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Diet manipulation – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Drug manipulation – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Confinement to coffin-like boxes or actual coffins – for hours, weeks, months, or on and off for years? 16 hour “Interrogation” meetings (after all the latter and former) – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Total isolation (after all the latter and former) – for weeks, months, or on and off for years? Waterboarding for weeks, months, or on and off for years – combined with all the latter and former, even after all the latter and former resulted in desired False Confessions? Fake Execution setups – combined with all the latter and former, intermittently, for 25 years?

    Those are questions. Where did they come from? Why would they still exist (in 2018)?

  3. Michael Major\\ Avatar
    Michael Major\\

    I am very certain the people who want democracy conflated with, if not subsumed entirely within identity politics, such that democracies can no longer achieve consensus adequate to interfere with resource, environment, economic, public and global corporate policy and governance at all scales, are identical with those people who are ensuring that democracy can not inform itself other than through the intercession of neoliberal approved global corporate media; nor act in outreach, demonstration or protest at all scales without the tutelage and direction of NGO’s which are themselves bound by funding to transnational corporate foundations. By these structures citizenship, activism and democracy are caged and the possibility of progress is essentially rendered as a faith-based illusion managed and achieved even emblematically only with consent from a hierarchy of betters. This is the extensible model of the neoliberal deepstate and western empire. This is the reality in which most of us live. It should be subject to our informed and democratic deliberation but that would expose it and its promoters and beneficiaries to criticism, derision, counter action and amendment. It is for this reason that broadly supportable symbolic actions of global significance which cannot be obscured by media, such as for example liberating Julian Assange from captivity, become of enormous historic importance. Acts of this scale expose the deepstate for the rapacious inhumane tribal terrorism at its core and inspire humane civilized rebellion. michael major\\

  4. AriusArmenian Avatar
    AriusArmenian

    The supremacist elites in the US and its Anglosphere and EU vassals have engineered a Cold War v2 but this time round the US is playing the role of the USSR and NATO is the Warsaw Pact.

    The heavy hammer of tyranny in the West is on the back of Julian Assange like the tyranny of the USSR that drove József Mindszenty to seek refuge in the US embassy in Hungary that lasted fifteen years.

    That is why I have turned my hope to the coalescing multifarious East, to Russia and China along with Syria and Iran. All I am seeing in the West is manipulations to plow and plunder and bring suffering to the rest of the world. The West stands on its high horse while aiding and abetting the jihadi liver eating Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria and elsewhere. It is the nations of the East that are destroying the Western backed jihadi vermin and that will rebuild Syria. Officials in the West are lying vermin.

    The vermin elites in the West will likely bring endless suffering to Julian Assange but the US Empire of Insanity like empires before it will end. History will remember the heroic resistance of Julian Assange like it remembers József Mindszenty.

  5. Kathy Heyne Avatar
    Kathy Heyne

    Re: “The closest thing to a charge on the record is a warrant for an alleged bail violation which was absurdly filed a full 12 days after he applied for asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, ”

    Thanks for this info, Cait. I was unaware of it.

  6. Steve Kinney Avatar
    Steve Kinney

    To date Assange has done a tremendous job of exposing the dirty laundry of State secrets to a global audience. Have you noticed how the world changed as a result of the unprecedented series of exposures facilitated by Wikileaks? I have not.

    The Collateral Murder video briefly re-ignited public outrage over the criminal invasion of Iraq – among /only/ those who already expressed the same outrage during those events. The Cablegate files forced the U.S. diplomatic corps to work overtime for months patching things up with allies who found offensive materials there – all back to normal now. The Clinton e-mail archive exposed multiple Federal felonies committed by Herself, which had no discernible impact on the late Presidential election, and no legal repercussions for Herself. War Diaries has proven to be of interest only to military historians, and families trying to find out what happened to their loved ones.

    In short, those who believed the Light of Truth could sanitize political affairs and public policy for our protection stand proven wrong: The Wikileaks adventure demonstrates that no such impact follows exposure of crimes – even mass murder – by State actors. In the sciences, a negative result has no less value than a positive one, and Assange has advanced our knowledge of how the world works – IF we care to learn from our proven mistakes. For that, we owe him a large debt of thanks.

    Sustaining the outrage of those who find the excesses of their rulers outrageous may have its uses, but those willing to DO something with that emotional energy remain a tiny minority. Ms. Johnstone calls for us to “shake the Earth” by producing large crowds chanting slogans and waving signs. Have we not yet learned that this does not work? The largest single protest rally in U.S. history called for an end to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and it accomplished exactly nothing toward that end.

    Lesson learned: In the absence of organized, persistent nonviolent direct action costing our actual rulers serious amounts of money, “protest” presents as an act of ritual submission, reaffirming that the participants remain too timid to actually DO anything to inconvenience their rulers.

    At best, such events present opportunities for effective radical factions to advertise their presence and agenda. In the absence of any such organized resistance, “protest rallies” only enable comfortable, protected Liberals and their ilk to later say, “God knows, we tried! But the situation is hopeless, nothing can be done.” They walk away with a clean conscience, and continue to personally benefit from the abusive system of public policy and commercial practice that keeps their upwardly mobile Middle Class families’ financial future stable and secure – for now.

    I would be remiss in criticizing our honestly well intentioned Middle Class Liberals, without offering them alternatives that they have been systematically denied through no fault of their own.

    For a start, I must tell them that in a political context “radical” does not mean extreme or violent, it means addressing the actual causes of an objectionable situation. The word “radical” is from the Latin “radix”, meaning “root.” A radical political position is one addressing the real driving forces in political affairs by acting directly on those factors: Typically this comes down to economics.

    As an example, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States forced its adversaries to the bargaining table by bringing commerce to a halt in targeted U.S. cities.

    The Civil Rights movement also gained substantial support from disinterested 3rd parties (white people with no existing commitments to organized racism) through civil disobedience: Deliberately violating racist laws while assuring that the public at large saw the violent consequences of those actions.

    Economic warfare and civil disobedience enabled the Civil Rights movement to get real world results, including very significant advances in the real civil rights of Black people in the United States. The murder of their movement’s principal public spokesman – authorized as soon as his public presentation expanded to include an anti-war agenda – was part of the price paid for that success.

    If anyone reading this finds the ideas presented here interesting, lots of luck finding out more. My experience indicates it takes a decade or more to find enough relevant information to really understand direct action politics. But speaking of luck, you happen to be reading this right now, so here’s a curriculum on populist a.k.a. real world politics that took me about a decade to assemble: Yours free for the taking.

    http://pilobilus.net/strategic_conflict_docs_intro.html

    1. Kathy Heyne Avatar
      Kathy Heyne

      I get your disenchantment, Steve, but bear in mind Wikileaks was heavily discredited by Western governments immediately after it released the Collateral Murder video- and we won’t even mention the Swedish allegations.

      Historically, whistleblowers aren’t recognised and revered for their actions until decades after the fact. Assange/Wikileaks won’t be an exception, if they are ever recognised at all- it’s possible all independent journalism will be so long dead and all dissent so thoroughly silenced that Assange/Wikileaks’ contributions will never be recognised at all.

  7. Sea Clearly Avatar
    Sea Clearly

    “If we allow them . . . , that’s it. It’s over.” Yes, but “It’s [already been] over” for a long time: since even before the (first) “New Pearl Harbor” – as planned. And, there is no road back (in the present circumstances), also as planned. They are so emboldened now because their tentacles encompass a worldwide stretch of associated collusion that will not be broken until after all the created and desired hell has fully broken loose; until then, the course will only continue to exponentially extend. There are a few left who dare to speak and reveal Truth to Power. Yet, at this point, those who have become so brazenly in-your-face with their overt Lies as blanketing Narratives for global Regime Changes, regardless of any level of being exposed, Do Not Care. Why? This is “their time” – this was “their goal.” If you watch the video within, you will see a summary: Protest Music: War (In The Name of God) https://seaclearly.com/2017/08/26/protest-music-war-in-the-name-of-god/

  8. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Absolutely agree. We can’t let Assange be taken, it is injustice on an insane level. Naive thinking perhaps but couldn’t we gather a protest group of thousands to go to London and just smuggle him out? Surely a show of physical solidarity is the only thing that can win this battle?

    Also on a sidenote, I think you would be sadly mistaken as to the ‘moral’ character of Jeremy Corbyn. This is a man who has backtracked on so many core positions since getting a sniff of power. Corbyn will be no help to Assange.

    1. geoffreyskoll Avatar
      geoffreyskoll

      I do not know the capabilities of London authorities, but with enough people, say 100,000, I can’t imagine them able to extract Assange from such a crowd, at least without killing thousands.

  9. jon jost Avatar
    jon jost

    I fear the propaganda campaign has been more than successful and few will rise up. Far more likely many will simply not know or care about it, and of those who inform themselves many will duck for their own private cover. Like they do about Israel and Yemen and Afghanistan and and and…. America (and its mostly white brethren in Europe & Australia and a few other outposts of white imperialism) do not want to know or think about reality. American reality: 4.4% of the world’s population occupying 7% of the landmass consumes 25% of the globes resources through economic extortion and blackmail, and the failing by having the world’s largest by far military to enforce its will. Americans – nice good liberal ones too – do not want to know this or admit what it means. Americans want more, not less. That is the brutal and ugly reality.

  10. John Avatar
    John

    Well said, Caitlin! Like anything that matters, this is not a Left/Right thing…

    I see Assange much as I saw Ron Paul, pre 2012 ‘Election’: In my nearly 60 years, never have I seen a candidate more beloved (across ALL demographics!). He had more grass roots support than all other candidates combined (including the anointed one), but MSM on ‘both sides of the aisle’ blacked him out, thereby eliminating him from the rigged race.

    I wonder how many people truly understand how important Julian Assange is to our future and our ability to even have a chance at informing and expressing ourselves?!!…

    HE DESERVES REAL WORLDWIDE SUPPORT!!

  11. rodney w ruger Avatar
    rodney w ruger

    You expect brainwashed Americans to step up for Assange!? We are sycophants of Big Brother…dull, uninformed, afraid, and armchair patriots. Though your comments are smart and on point, only a few thousand read and care. I post comments of similar ilk and receive, mostly, ad hominem replies often replete with profanity. “If you want to make enemies, challenge people to think.”

  12. Charles Mangerian Avatar
    Charles Mangerian

    We are definitely at a turning point in the West. All the brave freedom warriors of old seem to have joined the New World Religion…

  13. John Hawk Avatar
    John Hawk

    ..I think we need to invoke Divine Intervention (Deus ex machina), and have this version of the human experiment deleted. Period. The monsters in control won’t know what hit them!

  14. David Avatar
    David

    To me, the west has become what the Soviet Union was pre-1989. What has happened to Julian is the final proof alongside the so called “Russiagate” fiasco. Regardless of his fate, the west cannot escape the historical judgement of how this case has been handled, and that the governments and mass media of the west are fully corrupt in the light of day. It has gone too far for them to take back what they have done. Every move they make now mires the west’s leaders deeper in the unmasking of who they really are and what they stand for.

  15. Harry S Nydick Avatar
    Harry S Nydick

    Quite simply, I’m weeping at the thought. Not for me in my seniority, but for my grandchildren and theirs….and yours. I look around me and feel that we are marching, inexorably, backwards to 1984.

  16. Guillermo Calvo Mahé Avatar
    Guillermo Calvo Mahé

    How utterly depressing that impunity and corruption reign, seemingly everywhere. Lies are blatant and pervasive and Diogenese weeps with Orwell.

  17. Kevin Hester Avatar
    Kevin Hester

    Like the people of Palestine, Syria and Yemen we all stand and fall together.
    Fighting for the rights of Julian Assange and the other people I have mentioned is literally about fighting for the survival of all complex life on the planet.
    #Standupfightback, pay forward.
    https://kevinhester.live/2018/07/10/activism-is-the-rent-i-pay-for-occupying-space-in-the-most-beautiful-and-complex-biosphere-we-know-of/

  18. Robyn Avatar
    Robyn

    Much better to ‘rise’ now, BEFORE Julian is taken to rot in a US facility for the rest of his days.

    I emailed my (Australian) MP about Julian’s plight when his communications were cut off but the MP didn’t even send a standard letter of acknowledgement. I emailed him again last night – futile, I know, but what else can we do?

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