Speech read by Tony, 09-Apr-2021

Welcome to the seventy second Julian Assange Sydney Town Hall Gathering! We stand here every Friday to bring people in Sydney greater awareness about Julian Assange, his work and his persecution. What people think about Julian has dire implications for all of us. Contrary to media narratives, it matters greatly what we all believe about him. The smearing of Julian in the mainstream media assists corrupt government officials to hide the truth about wrongdoing which directly affects every one of us.

In just two days’ time, it will be exactly two years since the UK police were instructed to break international law and enter the Ecuadorian embassy, in London, to abduct Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks journalist who had been granted political asylum to protect him from US persecution. Julian was arrested on the basis that he had broken bail conditions, however, under international law, all people have the right to seek political asylum, and as we all now know, Julian needed this protection. He is currently being held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison, normally reserved for the most dangerous of criminals, on behalf the United States. He has experienced solitary confinement for most of his time in Belmarsh and this is recognised by the United Nations as psychological torture.

We are here fighting for justice for Julian Assange because what people believe about him really matters. Julian Assange is continually smeared, psychologically tortured and locked up for his efforts to empower us because he provided us with hard evidence we have been lied to about atrocities done in our name. We can choose to either go along with the propaganda and accept more atrocities or we can make enough noise to free him. We choose to make enough noise to free him. In fact, Julian’s freedom relates to our own freedom. If a famous and entirely ethical journalist can be treated cruelly by our governments, so can we.

It matters that we all know the truth about Julian Assange but our media are hiding this truth from us. If the mainstream media were honest, the news would be continually informing us that Julian Assange is completely innocent, that he is being mercilessly tortured for revealing the terrible crimes of powerful interests and that decent people all around the world hold regular demonstrations, calling for his immediate release. Instead, the best we can hope for is the odd snippet of distorted information telling us that it doesn’t matter what we think about Julian Assange, it doesn’t matter whether we like him or not or it doesn’t matter whether we agree with him or not.

Well, it does matter! Julian Assange represents hope for humanity! We have been living with corrupt governments for far too long. We have been taken to unnecessary war on false pretences for far too long and our civil liberties have been interfered with far too much. It is becoming obvious that the powerful want to break our spirits and want to break our social ties and turn us against each other. The powerful make up rules to isolate us as though we are animals in some great experiment designed to see if they can gain our undivided loyalty and attention. We used to commonly hear that we live in a free country, but it is now very apparent that the powerful hate us having freedom.

Through WikiLeaks, Julian has made it possible for ethically motivated people, who have access to information of public-interest, to anonymously make that information available to the public, without retribution that whistle blowers normally receive should their identities become known.

It matters that we now know it is possible to hold governments to account. It matters that we realise that if we have the truth about government wrongdoing, we have the power to hold corrupt governments to account. Our problem is that many of us are NOT informed well enough. Many of us don’t even know who Julian Assange is or know about his journalistic achievements. This is because powerful interests see a knowledgeable public as an existential threat to their ability to control society for their purposes.

False information in the mainstream media makes us vulnerable to the excesses of corrupt governments and the corporations that hold sway over them. When people unquestioningly believe false media narratives, repeat them, identify with them, act on them or defend them, people power is diminished. If people are demonised for questioning mainstream narratives, we need to realise those narratives deserve questioning. We all need to be more questioning of what we are being told and to look for the truth!

It is important that we are able listen to truly independent voices that are free to challenge accepted norms, and that help empower people with the truth. We cannot allow ourselves to limit our sources of information to self-censored puppets who are paid to present narratives that facilitate our helplessness.

What people think about Julian Assange is extremely important for the US empire. The evidence we have is that the US desperately wants to avoid an informed public. The journalism of Julian Assange allows us to be informed and that is why he is a political prisoner held in the UK on behalf of the US.

All voices count! Everyone’s freedom to speak and hear the truth counts! Free speech is at stake! Democracy is at stake! Our freedom is at stake. It matters that we all know the truth about Julian Assange and we must free Julian Assange!

Free Julian Assange!

Free Julian Assange!

Free Julian Assange!

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