Let's Be Absolutely Clear What's At Stake In The Assange Case

The struggle for our species, which is really the struggle for our very survival, is therefore between the many who desire truth and the few who desire confusion. We've got numbers and truth on our side, but they have power, wealth, and a remarkable knack for psychological manipulation.

We see this struggle playing out in many ways in our world right now. Between propaganda and those trying to learn and share the truth. Between the push for internet censorship and the fight against it. Between government secrecy and freedom of information. Between the campaign to imprison WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for exposing US war crimes, and the campaign to free him.

On Monday January 4th a UK judge will be ruling on whether or not to allow the process of Assange's extradition to the United States to move forward. It's important for opponents of this extradition to be aware that the fight will not end at this time; there's still a gruelling appeals process to go through which could take 18 to 24 months or longer in the likely event that the incredibly biased judge overseeing the case rules against Assange.

Barring a pardon, the extradition process concerning Julian Assange, will likely drag on no matter how Baraitser rules Monday.
Appeals could take 18-24 months with possible challenges going to the UK Supreme Court and even European Court of #HumanRights.https://t.co/IkSMvm3cAO

— Anonymous Scandinavia Assange #NoExtradition (@AnonScan) December 31, 2020

So as we prepare for the next stage in this fight, it's important for us to be perfectly clear what's at stake here.

It is absolutely true that this case will have far-reaching implications for press freedoms around the world. The imperial narrative managers have been toiling for years to frame the persecution of Julian Assange as something other than what it is, but in reality this case is about whether the most powerful government in the world is allowed to extradite journalists anywhere on earth who expose its malfeasance. Whether or not the United States should be allowed to imprison journalists for exposing its war crimes.

If the US succeeds in normalizing the legality of extraditing any journalist anywhere in the world who exposes its wrongdoing, there will be a worldwide cooling effect on national security journalism which will greatly impede humanity's ability to form a lucid and unobstructed understanding of what's going on in the world. The largest power structure on earth will have succeeded in not just turning the lights off in the room, but in uninstalling the light switch.

There is no legal case in the world right now where the struggle for lucid and unobstructed seeing has so much on the line. For this reason, this isn’t just about journalism: we really are collectively deciding the fate of our species with our response to the prospect of Assange's extradition.

Are we going to allow the most powerful government on the planet to set a legal precedent which allows it to obstruct truth around the entire world? Or are we going to oppose this tooth and claw?

Are we going to allow power to remain corrupt and unaccountable? Or are we going to insist on our right to know what's going on?

Are we going to let them keep the lights off? Or are we going to turn them on?

Are we going to let the bastards lock us into an omnicidal, ecocidal status quo while they drive us at a rapidly accelerating pace toward extinction and dystopia? Or are we going to move toward the kind of lucid and unobstructed perception of our situation which will allow us to progress into a healthy world?

These are the questions that we are in the process of answering together. I hope we can get everyone to very seriously consider what they want their own answer to be.

Consortium News is going to cover it live if anyone is interested in watching the trial of our lives. Link to home page.

Consortium News, and its webcast CN Live! have received praise for its extensive and detailed coverage of the Media Trial of the Century–the attempt by the United States to bring imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to Alexandria, Virginia to stand trial for possessing and publishing classified information.

After the daily and nightly coverage during the September hearing at Old Bailey in London, Consortium News will again have direct video access to the courtroom to watch as Judge Vanessa Baraitser delivers her judgement on whether Assange will be sent to the United States to face espionage and computer intrusion charges, or whether he will provisionally be a free man.

Bonus reading by Caitlin.

How to defeat the empire