Speech read by Tony, 26-Mar-2021

Today is the seventieth Sydney Town Hall Gathering to truthfully inform people about Julian Assange and put increased pressure on our political leaders to act on his behalf and call for his immediate freedom.

Julian Assange is completely innocent. There is no evidence for why he should be detained unless you share a viewpoint that aligns with an empire that seeks to maintain power through secrecy, lies and propaganda.

Today marks almost three years since the 28th of March 2018, when Lenin Moreno, the newly elected president of Ecuador ordered the silencing of Julian’s voice by blocking his access to the internet at Ecuador’s embassy in London. Simultaneously, his phone calls were blocked and he was denied visits other than from his lawyers.

Under the previous government of Rafael Correa, Julian was granted political asylum to protect him from political persecution from the US government and protect his right to free speech. The US had been openly hostile towards Julian because he had published documents revealing war crimes, torture and high-level corruption, extremely embarrassing for the US. The new president of Ecuador had very different ideas to his predecessor.

Julian had been exercising his right to free speech by using his Twitter account to help people from around the world to be more politically aware and empowered. This was, apparently, NOT appreciated by Ecuador’s new leader. Those close to Julian reported that Julian’s support of the Catalonian people was a reason Ecuador decided to block Julian’s internet. On the 26th of March 2018, two days before losing his internet contact with the outside world, Julian tweeted, “In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited”. This particularly powerful Assange tweet was retweeted 17 thousand times and may well have contributed to Puigdemont’s release, on bail, ten days later.

After the removal of Julian’s voice from the internet, he had no way to defend himself over the denial of his human rights or the scurrilous claims smearing him, which all helped to pave the way for his ultimate illegal arrest from the Ecuadorean embassy the following year.

We must never underestimate the importance of free speech for a free society!

Free speech helps us determine what’s important for us know! The silencing of Julian Assange, three years ago, reveals that criminals hold power & that censorship and propaganda are used to camouflage the crimes of the powerful. For our own good we must all be vividly aware of the truth.

A culture of truth renders propaganda useless! A culture of truth makes democracy work. A culture of truth puts power in the hands of the people! The silencing and persecution of a journalist, like Julian Assange, for revealing the truth, demonstrates just how much the forces of corruption depend on secrecy and lies.

Julian Assange is illegally detained, he is immorally detained, and he is obsessively detained, by criminals who wish to control the minds of ignorant people with narratives that render democracy impotent.

Julian is innocent! All of the truthful information we have about Julian Assange shows us he is a man of absolute integrity and that the smears used to undermine his character fit the definition of evil.

Corruption is difficult to maintain without secrecy and propaganda but we have all of these things! Our media keep us from knowing the truth, our democracy is a farce and our rights are under attack!  We are continually being prepared for conditions that are NOT in the public interest.

Julian’s persecution makes it abundantly clear we all need to move to a culture of truth! Julian has revealed much truth about war, torture and corruption. We must stay with the truth. We must free Julian Assange.

Free Julian Assange!

Free Julian Assange!

Free Julian Assange!

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