Julian Assange participated in an on-line interview that I found gripping. I don’t mean to lionize the man, but he has become the face of Wikileaks, which is the work of over a hundred thousand people*, many of whom are risking their lives, fortunes and our sacred honor.
The organization offers hope that democratic governance can reassert itself due to the Internet. Obviously the U.S. government wants to shut it down and murder Assange, but he seems to have anticipated this, and more encouragingly, says that the organization will go on without him should be be imprisoned or killed.
Read and judge for yourself, of course. Here are a few snippets that gave me that surge of warmth in my belly as I read:
tburgi: Western governments lay claim to moral authority in part from having legal guarantees for a free press. Threats of legal sanction against Wikileaks and yourself seem to weaken this claim. (What press needs to be protected except that which is unpopular to the State? If being state-sanctioned is the test for being a media organization, and therefore able to claim rights to press freedom, the situation appears to be the same in authoritarian regimes and the west.) Do you agree that western governments risk losing moral authority by attacking Wikileaks? Do you believe western governments have any moral authority to begin with? Thanks, Tim Burgi Vancouver, Canada.
Julian Assange: The west has fiscalised its basic power relationships through a web of contracts, loans, shareholdings, bank holdings and so on. In such an environment it is easy for speech to be “free” because a change in political will rarely leads to any change in these basic instruments. Western speech, as something that rarely has any effect on power, is, like badgers and birds, free. In states like China, there is pervasive censorship, because speech still has power and power is scared of it. We should always look at censorship as an economic signal that reveals the potential power of speech in that jurisdiction. The attacks against us by the US point to a great hope, speech powerful enough to break the fiscal blockade.
When speech matters, power tries to suppress it. Wikileaks matters, and accordingly, the U.S. government wants it shut down.
rszopa: Annoying as it may be, the DDoS seems to be good publicity (if anything, it adds to your credibility). So is getting kicked out of AWS. Do you agree with this statement? Were you planning for it? Thank you for doing what you are doing.
Julian Assange: Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit in order to separate rhetoric from reality. Amazon was one of these cases.
See how it works? Amazon.com kicked Wikileaks off its servers at the behest of the U.S. government. The company seems to exist in a free speech environment, but when some meaningful free speech actually broke out, Amazon.com shitcanned it.
Finally, this:
distrot: The State Dept is mulling over the issue of whether you are a journalist or not. Are you a journalist? As far as delivering information that someone [anyone] does not want seen is concerned, does it matter if you are a ‘journalist’ or not?
Julian Assange: I coauthored my first nonfiction book by the time I was 25. I have been involved in nonfiction documentaries, newspapers, TV and internet since that time. However, it is not necessary to debate whether I am a journalist, or how our people mysteriously are alleged to cease to be journalists when they start writing for our organisaiton. Although I still write, research and investigate my role is primarily that of a publisher and editor-in-chief who organises and directs other journalists.
This is perhaps the most exemplary Orwellian exchange I have read in all of the days since I first learned how to use the word “Orwellian.”
Assange is 28 years old. How does a man become so world-wise at such a young age? I wonder, if Alexis de Tocqueville were to re-visit America in 2010, what he might call his book.
_____________
*Various cables heretofore unreleased are in the hands of this many people, and will be released if the bodies of people like Assange or others turn up in a gutter one morning. It’s an insurance policy, but the U.S. is very powerful, so it is at best weak protection.
PS: Amazon.com is now joined by PayPal in cooperating with the U.S. Government in shutting down Wikileaks. I don’t do business with the former, and just canceled by PayPal account. I’m nobody, but principles matter.
Piece of Mindful 
Mark
worldly wise
It is easy to learn when you are running for your life.
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What baloney. This is not about “speech.” This is about “theft.”
Anyway, Trotsky, I am happy you have dumped Al Gore and have found a new sex pervert to admire
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…and murder Assange
You fret a lot about corpses and political killing. I suspect below the surface dwells the demon that most leftists harbor, one given full expression by Castro, Chavez, Mao, Stalin…
…gave me that surge of warmth in my belly
Please. Wikileaks amounts to an irresponsible college sophomore prank from people of equivalent moral maturity, and Assange is smart enough to say the things to make your panties wet.
we should look to states like Ecuador, Turkey, or Venezuela for our modern-day examples of free speech and voting actually impacting the behavior of governments.
Mythology.
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There is far too much ignorant presumption behind your comments to deal with succinctly. I’ll just cite Russell one more time – “Those who are not reasoned in cannot be reasoned out.”
I’ll give you something that ought to create some cognitive problems: Haiti is in crisis, and badly in need of help. Historically, the country has been abused by France and the United States, and even to this day we won’t let them have a meaningful election.
The US has pledged major relief, but has not delivered. Two countries, perhaps the only two, doing meaningful relief work are … Cuba and Venezuela. While we are busy financing their state police and undermining their elections, those two countries walk the walk.
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“Those who are not reasoned in cannot be reasoned out.”
I don’t find you particularly reasonable, what with your hard ideology, fretting about psychopaths, and conspiracy theories.
Haiti is in crisis, and badly in need of help.
I don’t know the details here, but it seems that America sends a lot of help overseas in general, maybe too much, in the sense that it degrades self sufficiency.
I’ve spent significant time in Naples, FL. A lot of Haitians have immigrated to that area. A lot. Entire schools are full of Haitians in Collier County. Nice people. How many have immigrated to Cuba? I’d wager not many.
I’ve heard through my personal grapevine that the aid Cuba offers isn’t so hot. They say that Cuban doctors are a joke: they are no more than college graduates sent out with the appellation “doctor”. Cuba will send bodies, but the supporting infrastructure (transport, food distribution, organizational expertise, housing) is supplied by first world countries.
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I should have stopped at “I don’t know the details here.” Very succinct.
Your anecdote about Cuban doctors is interesting, given that the U.S. sends no doctors. Do you realize how ludicrous that is – that even though Cuba is trying to do the right thing, they are going about it all wrong… while at the same time, we are doing nothing, but that’s enough for you?
The immigration of Haitians to the U.S. is well known and tightly regulated. Any who land here undocumented are sent back. Since the U.S. installed their government, they cannot say they are political refugees.
Cubans, on the other hand, if they land one foot on our beaches, are given a full year to work things out, and are not sent back.
Ah shit – it’s just another are where you need to bone up. You are not reasoned in. Have a nice day.
Testy today, as you can tell.
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given that the U.S. sends no doctors.
Our charitable groups do.
Your assessments are, as usual, slanted. The U.S. is not perfect, but I’m not too anxious to replace it with the Cuban model you seem so fond of.
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This gets very tiresome. You know nothing of my opinions about the “Cuban model”, just as you know nothing of Cuban history, 1958 to present. It’s complicated, good and bad to be had from Castro. It’s not all black and white.
This either/or kind of thinking is getting me down today. Must be time for a road trip.
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Testy today, as you can tell.
That’a okay. I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt me to throw a “thank you” out there once in a while to encourage the enterprise.
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rightsiaid,
Please explain why it is “irresponsible”?
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Max,
It is about speech because -at least in theory- the government is acting in your name.
How can the People steal from themselves?
But if you are correct – and it is theft – then the theory of government by the People is not correct.
Which one do you hold to?
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It’s about money BF.
If it wasn’t Wikileaks would be a non-profit.
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How very ignorant of you! Please offer up some evidence off people getting rich of Wikileaks. A shred will do.
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Ingemar,
Ah…. Wikileaks IS a not-profit.
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Wikileaks IS a “non-profit”
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You’re right-live by the sword and die by it.
I was reading another blog and got caught by some thinly disguised sarcasm.
A trip to Wiki would have saved me.
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Ingemar,
As long as it is not fatal, small mistakes do not matter.
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“How can the People steal from themselves?”
Oh, sure. I suppose you think the “People” have the right to steal a tank or an aircraft carrier if they want.
And this pinhead was an Australian, anyway. Duh.
Stop playing with words.
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Max,
I am not playing with words.
How can I steal information?
Theft exists when I take from you, and you do no longer can use it.
Information – I get info from you, but you still have it too. (or do you forget?).
These yahoo’s are acting on your behalf (so says the theory) – it is your right to know what they are doing – even if they try to keep it from you.
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“Theft exists when I take from you, and you do (sic) no longer can use it.”
I thought you were clueless.
Try sleeping in someone’s motel room and not paying for it. (Oh, gee, they can still use the room!)
Try publishing someone’s manuscript and not paying for it. (Oh, gee, they can still use the manuscript!)
Try stealing someone’s idea and not paying for it. (Oh, gee, they can still use the idea!)
Tangibility is not a necessary element in a charge of theft.
And the right to know is always secondary to the need to know.
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Max
Not one bit.
I am sure you will suddenly stumble on yourself shortly…..
Stumble One;
No they can’t. If you are in it, someone else is not in it.
Unlike information, what is in your mind can be in mine with ZERO loss to your mind.
Stumble Two;
As above, this is NOT theft – though you believe it is, no doubt.
What publish creates my books.
What publish creates your books.
I am not stealing the books you publish by printing my books
Stumble Three:
This is not theft either.
The idea in your head is still in your head when it is in my head at the same time.
…unless you claim you own my head….
In fact, it is.
Just because you make bizarre claims about theft does not make it “theft”.
The evil of theft is taking what is not yours and thus denying its use to its rightful owner
Using the idea in my head does not change it in your head.
Using the concept of theft to enforce some idea that ideas are property is bizarre – and worse, evil.
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Max,
The concepts of theft derive from the concepts of property.
Property concepts derive from the human requirement that only one of us can use a specific good at one time. Exclusive use of things is necessary for you to live.
You cannot eat the burger I am eating. Either I eat it or you eat it.
Property rights exist as a means to establish exclusions – that is, I exclude you from my property so I can use for my needs and wants, and you exclude me from your property so you can use to for your needs and wants.
You breathing air is not theft of my air – why? because air is not scarce – you breathing does not interfere with my breathing. As such, no property rights is necessary and as such, it is not theft to have you breath “my air”.
Theft of my burger however is different. I no longer enjoy its nourishment. Your theft does interfere with my needs and wants directly.
Ideas are like air. What you hold as an idea does not detract or diminish what I have as an idea. We can hold the same idea at the same time without diminishing either ideas. In fact, the entire world can hold the same idea – and not one person will suffer diminishment of that idea.
Thus, like air, the concept of property is wholly inappropriate to place upon ideas (and knowledge) – and thus, like air, the concept of theft is irrationally placed here too.
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You are so absurd. You would not last a minute in a copyright or patent infringement case.
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Max,
I am not interested in proving a court case here, as we are not in court.
The concepts of “copyright/patents” is bizarre and contradictory, and as such, manifests completely bizarre things in society – such as “ownership of knowledge”, resulting in people being subject to violence preventing them from using their own minds and knowledge for their own benefit.
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Actually, Assange is 39.
A quick trip to Wikipedia does wonders to clear up some background on him.
And I find it really humorous how people want to apply their pet ideological twist on Assange’s activities. His approach to speaking truth to power is nothing short of earth-shattering to corrupt regimes around the world. And they want to treat him as just another subject of their idiotological ministrations. Hahahahaha
Assange is quickly becoming a hero–if not a martyr–to millions around the world.
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He’s not important, and seems to know it. He’s become the face of a large organization. And 39 is still young.
But have you noticed … nothing they have released impacts “national security.” Most things that are secret are reflexively so, and not for any good reason. It will take years and hours to sort through all of this stuff, but it is a good thing to do.
Real secrets – why awe are in these wars, what they are after, how election campaigns really work, what goes on in board rooms, how we support dictators and why … is still closely guarded.
Perhaps it’s just the idea that regular people can peruse classified information that scares them.
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Yeah, I wasn’t trying to beat you with a wet noodle with the age thing. I just to thinking about your question about how someone his age becomes “world-wise.” I was intrigued to read his history of hacking and early internet subterfuge days, as I spent a lot of time in the same wells of discovery ( I was working on a university project exploring internet technology in the late 80’s early 90’s).
I think that most people, and particularly the media and right wing loud mouths and idiotlogues, have little understanding of how Assange’s background and expertise will serve WikiLeaks and his mission well. He just doesn’t boast when he says he has cryptographic time bombs full of information waiting to be released on his demise. He helped to create some of that technology–he is a technological genius. He also has the network and connections in the internet underworld to assure that his legacy of WikiLeaks lives on without him. Witness the explosion of mirror sites rising up to carry on WikiLeaks’ mission as it goes under attack.
Make no mistake, there is an internet war going on right now. Except it isn’t exactly the way McConnell puts it. The terrorists are the ones trying to silence those that would expose rotten regimes for what they are. And even if they have the equivalent of internet nukes at their disposal, the nature of the internet works to WikiLeaks’ advantage.
So yeah, it no longer is about him–he is becoming the Che Guevara of the internet underworld that began with the notion of how a communication system of enlightened anarchy can change the world. Many will pick up where he leaves off, or assist him if he survives–as you say it no longer really is about Julian Assange. He has just become a symbol.
And regimes will either become so brittle that they will shatter as they attempt to tighten the reigns on leakable classified and other information, or they will begin to loosen up and become more open and transparent. Either way, Assange and WikiLeaks and oppressed peoples win.
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JC,
I agree.
The Elite are trapped. They are stuck in the old paradigm of Main Stream Media.
Australia orders its newspapers not to print Wikileaks releases. They are completely oblivious to the Internet and the power it has. They believe the old gates still block the masses – and do not realize at all the walls have been overrun.
Wikileaks attacks the legitimacy of government. Like termites, it is accumulative until one day – suddenly – it comes down.
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Ok, I was wrong about the non-profit thing but this question still remains.
If he runs a non-profit why would he funnel his profits to a Swiss bank account? And lie on the application?
**By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press – Mon Dec 6, 11:44 am ET
GENEVA – The Swiss postal system stripped WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of a key fundraising tool Monday, accusing him of lying and immediately shutting down one of his bank accounts.
The swift action by Postfinance, the financial arm of Swiss Post, came after it determined the “Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process.”
Assange had told Postfinance he lived in Geneva but could offer no proof that he was a Swiss resident, a requirement of opening such an account.**
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More importantly – why do you reflexively side with government power, you old civil libertarian, you.
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Hey JC.
Maybe Che had a Swiss bank account.
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