We are here for the seventy-ninth Julian Assange Sydney Town Hall Gathering to express our solidarity with Julian Assange and his journalistic principles. In 2006, Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks the multi-national media organisation that has since published ten million documents in the public interest. In 2015, Julian told Der Spiegel, “WikiLeaks is a giant library of the world’s most persecuted documents. We give asylum to these documents, we analyse them, we promote them and we obtain more.” The journalism of Julian Assange is cheered from all over the world for revealing evidence of crimes against humanity and corruption! Julian’s ability to publish public-interest information is annoying for powerful interests which prosper through grossly undemocratic and unethical activities. For his trouble, Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained in the UK since 2010. In 2012 he became confined at the Ecuadorian embassy where he was granted political asylum to protect him from US persecution. A change of the Ecuadorian president saw Julian arrested from within the embassy by UK police, and for the last two years, he has been held, largely in solitary confinement, in her majesty’s prison Belmarsh, a high-security prison known as the UK’s Guantanamo Bay.
Julian’s health is compromised through many years of arbitrary confinement and medical neglect and he’s known to be suffering from the effects of psychological torture, initially caused through systematic judicial persecution, oppressive isolation, and surveillance inside the Ecuadorian embassy coupled with mainstream media vindictiveness and later compounded through solitary confinement in Belmarsh.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has repeatedly called for Julian’s immediate release but, to date, UK authorities are persisting with their unlawful cruelty. Julian was born in Australia and he is an Australian citizen. The Australian government should be acting on Julian’s behalf; however, we see no such action even though our political leaders are clearly aware of Julian’s situation.
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom and safety of everyone are tied up with the ongoing political persecution of Julian Assange. We must all be real. This is NOT a game. Julian’s free speech is our free speech! If the only information we are permitted to base our decisions on is government approved information, we will have no freedom or democracy! We must realise our democracy and freedom depend on free speech and a free press! If we wish to live in a free country, we must all stand up for Julian Assange!
Some of our politicians are standing up for Julian but there aren’t enough yet. We need the Australian people to understand the seriousness of the situation so that the majority of our politicians are compelled to realise their political futures are dependent on standing up for him. This will occur when enough Australian people understand the truth of Julian’s political persecution and call on our government to act diplomatically on his behalf.
We are fortunate to live in a world in which decent people are prepared to stand up and reveal the truth about atrocities and corruption. We need to ensure brave journalists and whistle blowers are able to act on our behalf without being subjected to judicial persecution and untrue mass media smearing. We must show solidarity with decent people, like Julian Assange, if we wish to defeat corruption.
Julian Assange is being tortured in the United Kingdom! His torture is permitted because it is so unbelievably evil that many don’t want to accept that our government and the mainstream media would be a party to it. We must look at the evidence. We must stay with the truth! Julian Assange is completely innocent! We must realise that human rights become inconvenient to those who wish to engage in inhumane treatment of others.
We must free Julian Assange immediately because we need his voice now more than ever. Please join the fight. Julian is a strong proponent of free speech and a free press. Our mainstream media have proved their inadequacy in the case of Julian Assange. Corruption is a fact and it is also a fact that those with the power to do something about it are preferring to turn a blind eye and are complicit with this illegal persecution!
Whenever a lack of government or corporate transparency can be identified, Julian Assange becomes relevant! Julian Assange has shown us the way forward! We must stand in solidarity to free him!
Free Julian Assange!
Free Julian Assange!
Free Julian Assange!