Assange is a meta case, not just for freedom of the press, but for freedom of opinion, expression, assembly and all activism combined.
Saturday 8th of Oct is the International Day of Action for Julian Assange. To mark this date, a human chain was formed in London in an attempt to surround the UK parliament. Smaller protests were also held in cities in Australia, Germany, the United States and other countries.
It’s been over 3.5 years since Assange was stripped of his political asylum and thrown into the notorious Belmarsh prison. It’s a category-A maximum security prison similar to the American Supermaxes. In doing so, the UK government removed whatever thinly-veiled pretence of legitimacy was left. Since then, Assange has been held in Belmarsh on remand, first apparently for bail skipping and once the maximum allowed 50-week period had passed, without any additional reason, simply as a remand prisoner. In Belmarsh he’s being held indefinitely and in the worst, harshest, most punitive conditions available to UK courts. Cells are solitary. Inmates consist of the most dangerous serial criminals, such as the “Grindr Killer” or “Night Stalker”. Everyone is permanently handcuffed and locked up for 23 hours a day. Degrading strip searches are customary. It’s a peculiar place to put Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and an award-winning journalist.
Obviously the court chose Belmarsh not because Assange is an extremely violent criminal who needs to be locked in handcuffs inside a solitary cell like a comic book villain. As Lauri Love (who himself had to fight extradition to the US) suggests, it’s a punitive measure that many journalists and whistle-blowers will look at and take notes on. Love coined the term punishment-by-trial to describe this coercive mechanism and claims this has already had a chilling effect on press freedoms and those who speak truth to power.
Greeters hand out flyers
There are people from other British cities, from Scotland, from other countries, and even from as far as the US (for example American comedian Graham Elwood). I’m quickly humbled by this level of commitment.
Protesters wearing ‘Scotland Must Resist’ stickers
It was as recently as 2017 that Assange still had his own opinion column in the Washington Post condemning Mike Pompeo's war on whistle-blowers. At the time, his opponents focused mostly on character attacks, trying to portray him as an unlikable person with ulterior motives, such as fame or conceit rather than transparency or truth. Some of these attacks backfired because they were so farcical (for example, a New York Times article that claimed Assange didn’t flush was so grotesque it had to be scrubbed by the outlet). Later, it was revealed that Trump’s administration and CIA officials plotted to literally assassinate or otherwise extrajudicially kidnap Assange.
Now that Assange is in Belmarsh, silenced and isolated, it’s easier for the American Department of Justice to go after not just his character but his entire legacy in an attempt to rewrite history. To question whether Assange was ever a writer or a publisher. To minimise his works and journalistic scoops, of which there have been many.
The most famous disclosure involved the now infamous “Collateral Murder” video showing American troops as they open fire on mostly unarmed civilians from an Apache helicopter, killing several civilians and two Reuters journalists. This video was a major scoop back in 2007, creating a huge media discussion, showing a clear breach of international war conventions and what was pretty much a war crime caught on camera. Nothing happened to the perpetrators. The military and the DOJ went after not the criminals and murderers, but those who exposed the crimes. In this case, whistle-blower Chelsea Manning and publisher Julian Assange.
Vault 7 leaks were another big story. They revealed the nearly limitless powers the CIA has when it comes to electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. Given the lack of any transparent accountability, these capabilities immediately raised red flags. Vault 7 also proved how entire privacy discussions (for example, how Apple refused to unlock its iPhones and how much of a hindrance that was to the security state) were in fact so moot that they verged on being disingenuous. Moreover, it was reported that this arsenal circulated among contractors and government hackers in an unauthorised manner before making its way to Wikileaks. Following the release, Samsung, Google and Apple immediately started patching their software to make their products safer.
And that’s just two of many, many publications. Wikileaks and Julian Assange can be credited for revealing the corruption of the president of Tunisia’s family, sparking what came to be known as the “Arab Spring”. There are too many to list, but it’s obvious that these are some of the most consequential releases of our time. For the Justice Department to come out and say with a straight face that Assange hasn’t published anything or hasn’t written anything is more proof of how far American power centres are willing to go if the stakes are high enough, including erosion of existing democratic pillars like an independent press, independent judicial system or human rights (Amnesty International repeatedly called for the release of Assange).
Sometime after 1 P.M., we’re asked to start forming the chain. I’m given Free Assange barrier tape that I wrap around myself as well as Free Assange wristbands. Yellow ribbons are widely used as a symbol for political prisoners.
Protesters start to assemble a human chain
I first join somewhere near the beginning, but as things get crowded, we are asked to move and help spread the chain out. This allows me to walk along the chain and see all the banners, signs and posters that people have made.
Again, I feel humbled seeing how much creativity and effort some people had put into those. Many participants wear topicical clothes. With all this creativity, it feels like a demonstration that’s also an event.
Julian Assange’s case has received so much attention because it’s the first of its kind. Even though Obama went after whistleblowers aggressively, he decided he could not charge Wikileaks or Assange as this would set a dangerous precedent, eroding press freedom guarantees of the First Amendment, leading to a slippery slope where any newspaper could be prosecuted, from The New York Times to The Sun. Things changed in 2018 with Mike Pompeo and Jeff Sessions calling Wikileaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” and then prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act.
There’s a lot of absurdities and illegalities here. The court argues the US is perfectly neutral and guarantees a fair trial, when at the same time, this very country tries to assassinate Assange extrajudicially. The court argues that this isn’t a political or free speech issue, but all the charges relate to the 2010 publication of the “Collateral Murder” video, which is both political and won press awards. A witness in Assange’s case testified in early 2021 that he fabricated his evidence and lied in exchange for a promise of immunity from prosecution. It also turns out that Assage was spied on and surveilled during the seven years he spent in the Ecuadorian embassy. This means, among other things, that his attorney-client privilege was violated by having privileged conversations spied on. Any one of those things should immediately shoot the entire case down, and at the very minimum ensure a mistrial. That would be the outcome in any other case, including those of other Belmarsh inmates. Even the “Grindr Killer” would be given more rights than Julian.
Around 2 P.M., we’re asked to raise our hands in solidarity and create a human chain.
On the other side of the chain, Assange’s wife — Stella Morris took the state. Short speeches were also given by British comedian Russel Brand, MP Jeremy Corbyn and a couple of other prominent figures.
Stella Assange, Russell Brand form a chain (Source: Daily Mail)
After the main part was over, I decide to walk back to Parliament Square. There I spot Kristinn Hrafnsson, the current editor-in-chief of Wikileaks.
On 17th July, Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition order. Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders immediately raised alarm, urging the U.S. government yet again to drop charges against Assange. The British court system acts in a way that’s heavily instrumentalised, and with a case that’s so high profile, safeguards are not working. Separation of power, checks and balances, all these hallmarks of democracy are disregarded in the name of what John Bolton called “national interest”. Assange is not American, he’s Australian, another contentious element in the extradition process. Assange supporters might mention, for example, how happy Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman would have been if he could charge journalists with the Saudi version of the espionage act and then have, for example, Jamal Khashoggi extradited to Saudi Arabia to give him a “fair” trial. Or If China could force other countries to extradite journalists to Beijing.
America's status means it can get away with what other countries can't. But internally, things aren't looking much better. Pulitzer prize winner Chris Hedges cautions that Assange's case brings us closer and closer to inverted totalitarianism, a situation where outward symbols, institutions, iconography and the rhetoric of democracy remain, but internally, the system becomes consolidated and completely surrenders power to centralised interests. And this is what I mean by saying Assange is a meta case. It’s a prism that reveals a whole spectrum of dysfunctions that erode democratic systems. It threatens not just freedom of the press or freedom of speech, but other freedoms, especially activism-related freedoms like freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, peaceful association, information and more.
One last look at Parliament Square... After the rally, we are encouraged to gather in the neighbouring pubs and cafes and to use yellow “Free Assange” wristbands to identify each other. I, however, head back to the airport, as I have to leave from Stansted early morning.
Major news outlets like Reuters reported hundreds of protesters. The number was definitely higher than that. Just to form the chain there had to be around 5,000 people. Organisers mentioned around 10 - 12 thousand, which is also within the realm of possibility. Stella Morris mentioned her husband feeling energised and “profoundly moved” by the Saturday protests. Personally, this was one of the biggest Assange rallies I’ve been to, which is a promising trajectory.