The refusal by Australia’s foreign ministry to honor the UN’s declaration that Julian Assange is the victim of “arbitrary detention” is a shameful breach of the letter and spirit of international law, says John Pilger.
By John Pilger
in Sydney, Australia
Whenever I visit Julian Assange, we meet in a room he knows too well. There is a bare table and pictures of Ecuador on the walls. There is a bookcase where the books never change. The curtains are always drawn and there is no natural light. The air is still and fetid.
This is Room 101.
Before I enter Room 101, I must surrender my passport and phone. My pockets and possessions are examined. The food I bring is inspected.
The man who guards Room 101 sits in what looks like an old-fashioned telephone box. He watches a screen, watching Julian. There are others unseen, agents of the state, watching and listening.
Cameras are everywhere in Room 101. To avoid them, Julian maneuvers us both into a corner, side by side, flat up against the wall. This is how we catch up: whispering and writing to each other on a notepad, which he shields from the cameras. Sometimes we laugh.
I have my designated time slot. When that expires, the door in Room 101 bursts open and the guard says, “Time is up!” On New Year’s Eve, I was allowed an extra 30 minutes and the man in the phone box wished me a happy new year, but not Julian.
Of course, Room 101 is the room in George Orwell’s prophetic novel,1984, where the thought police watched and tormented their prisoners, and worse, until people surrendered their humanity and principles and obeyed Big Brother Julian Assange will never obey Big Brother. His resilience and courage are astonishing, even though his physical health struggles to keep up.
Pilger: Vichy journalism is censorship by omission. (Cathy Vogan)
Julian is a distinguished Australian, who has changed the way many people think about duplicitous governments. For this, he is a political refugee subjected to what the United Nations calls “arbitrary detention”.
The UN says he has the right of free passage to freedom, but this is denied. He has the right to medical treatment without fear of arrest, but this is denied. He has the right to compensation, but this is denied.
As founder and editor of WikiLeaks, his crime has been to make sense of dark times. WikiLeaks has an impeccable record of accuracy and authenticity which no newspaper, no TV channel, no radio station, no BBC, no New York Times, no Washington Post, no Guardiancan equal. Indeed, it shames them.
That explains why he is being punished.
Last week, the International Court of Justice ruled that the British Government had no legal powers over the Chagos Islanders, who in the 1960s and 70s, were expelled in secret from their homeland on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and sent into exile and poverty. Countless children died, many of them, from sadness. It was an epic crime few knew about.
For almost 50 years, the British have denied the islanders’ the right to return to their homeland, which they had given to the Americans for a major military base.
In 2009, the British Foreign Office concocted a “marine reserve” around the Chagos archipelago.
Chagos Archipelago. (Wikipedia)
This touching concern for the environment was exposed as a fraud when WikiLeaks published a secret cable from the British Government reassuring the Americans that “the former inhabitants would find it difficult, if not possible, to pursue their claim for resettlement on the islands if the entire Chagos Archipelago were a marine reserve.”
The truth of the conspiracy clearly influenced the momentous decision of the International Court of Justice.
WikiLeaks has also revealed how the United States spies on its allies; how the CIA can watch you through your Iphone; how Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took vast sums of money from Wall Street for secret speeches that reassured the bankers that if she was elected, she would be their friend.
In 2016, WikiLeaks revealed a direct connection between Clinton and organized jihadism in the Middle East: terrorists, in other words. One email disclosed that when Clinton was US Secretary of State, she knew that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding Islamic State, yet she accepted huge donations for her foundation from both governments.
She then approved the world’s biggest ever arms sale to her Saudi benefactors: arms that are currently being used against the stricken people of Yemen.
That explains why he is being punished.
WikiLeaks has also published more than 800,000 secret files from Russia, including the Kremlin, telling us more about the machinations of power in that country than the specious hysterics of the Russia-gate pantomime in Washington.
This is real journalism — journalism of a kind now considered exotic: the antithesis of Vichy journalism, which speaks for the enemy of the people and takes its sobriquet from the Vichy government that occupied France on behalf of the Nazis.
Vichy journalism is censorship by omission, such as the untold scandal of the collusion between Australian governments and the United States to deny Julian Assange his rights as an Australian citizen and to silence him.
In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard went as far as ordering the Australian Federal Police to investigate and hopefully prosecute Assange and WikiLeaks — until she was informed by the AFP that no crime had been committed.
Last weekend, the Sydney Morning Herald published a lavish supplement promoting a celebration of “Me Too” at the Sydney Opera House on 10 March. Among the leading participants is the recently retired Minister of Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop.
Bishop has been on show in the local media lately, lauded as a loss to politics: an “icon”, someone called her, to be admired.
The elevation to celebrity feminism of one so politically primitive as Bishop tells us how much so-called identity politics have subverted an essential, objective truth: that what matters, above all, is not your gender but the class you serve.
Before she entered politics, Julie Bishop was a lawyer who served the notorious asbestos miner James Hardie which fought claims by men and their families dying horribly from asbestos.
Lawyer Peter Gordon recalls Bishop “rhetorically asking the court why workers should be entitled to jump court queues just because they were dying.”
Bishop says she “acted on instructions … professionally and ethically.”
Perhaps she was merely “acting on instructions” when she flew to London and Washington last year with her ministerial chief of staff, who had indicated that the Australian Foreign Minister would raise Julian’s case and hopefully begin the diplomatic process of bringing him home.
Pilger with Prof. Stuart Rees at Sydney rally. (Cathy Vogan)
Julian’s father had written a moving letter to the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, asking the government to intervene diplomatically to free his son. He told Turnbull that he was worried Julian might not leave the embassy alive.
Julie Bishop had every opportunity in the UK and the U.S. to present a diplomatic solution that would bring Julian home. But this required the courage of one proud to represent a sovereign, independent state, not a vassal.
Instead, she made no attempt to contradict the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, when he said outrageously that Julian “faced serious charges”. What charges? There were no charges.
Australia’s Foreign Minister abandoned her duty to speak up for an Australian citizen, prosecuted with nothing, charged with nothing, guilty of nothing.
Will those feminists who fawn over this false icon at the Opera House next Sunday be reminded of her role in colluding with foreign forces to punish an Australian journalist, one whose work has revealed that rapacious militarism has smashed the lives of millions of ordinary women in many countries: in Iraq alone, the US-led invasion of that country, in which Australia participated, left 700,000 widows.
So what can be done? An Australian government that was prepared to act in response to a public campaign to rescue the refugee football player, Hakeem al-Araibi, from torture and persecution in Bahrain, is capable of bringing Julian Assange home.
The refusal by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra to honor the United Nations’ declaration that Julian is the victim of “arbitrary detention” and has a fundamental right to his freedom, is a shameful breach of the letter and spirit of international law.
Why has the Australian government made no serious attempt to free Assange? Why did Julie Bishop bow to the wishes of two foreign powers? Why is this democracy traduced by its servile relationships, and integrated with lawless foreign power?
The persecution of Julian Assange is the conquest of us all: of our independence, our self respect, our intellect, our compassion, our politics, our culture.
So stop scrolling. Organize. Occupy. Insist. Persist. Make a noise. Take direct action. Be brave and stay brave. Defy the thought police.
War is not peace, freedom is not slavery, ignorance is not strength. If Julian can stand up to Big Brother , so can you: so can all of us.
John Pilger gave this speech at a rally for Julian Assange in Sydney on March 3, organized by the Socialist Equality Party. You can watch it here:
Video by Cathy Vogan
John Pilger is an Australian-British journalist and filmmaker based in London. Pilger’s Web site is: www.johnpilger.com. In 2017, the British Library announced a John Pilger Archive of all his written and filmed work. The British Film Institute includes his 1979 film, “Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia,” among the 10 most important documentaries of the 20thcentury. Some of his previous contributions to Consortium News can be found here.
Thank you John Pilger for his powerful address, Consortium News for publishing both transcript and video, Kathy Vogan for filming, and the many millions of men and women around the Earth demanding an end to the vicious, upside-down, “Lawfare” victimization of the world’s most important publisher – and the rightful freedom of true hero Julian Assange. The same sentiment applies for the equally precarious situation of (now – multiple) “Lawfare” target for victimization: Chelsea Manning.
Many people have an absolute appreciation of the profoundest wisdom contained in the universally-recognized phrase: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Unfortunately, some stubbornly refuse to recognize, acknowledge, or otherwise advocate in support of the accurate interpretation of the wildly popular message, – which with undeniable clarity equates truth with freedom. In relation to the ongoing, repugnant, truth-and-freedom-destroying situations of Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange, among the top names of malevolent “Lawfare Persecutors” practicing on Earth today: Trump, May, Moreno, Bishop, Morrison…
#FreeAssange. #FreeManning. Peace.
Julian is a hero for justice and our saviour for truth and Liberty . He deserves to be treated with deep gratitude and respect. Very few people in our lifetime will show this amount of integrity and courage.
Australia’s best known distorter of truth, JohnPilger. Never let the truth get in the way of a regressive left agenda. Thats our John!
Of course you won’t deign to enlighten us with any evidence.
So what then, is the ‘truth’ of the ‘progressive right’ ?
I am curious . . .
John, thank you for your continued work informing as many people as possible of the horrendous conditions Julian faces in the Equador Embassy. I wish we could do more.
This may be a naive question, but after you spoke of the rulings from the UN I wondered whether it would be possible for the UN to send in its peace keeping force and make their presence known around room #101, and be a force in the face of the Brits. If the International Court of Justice, along with the UN itself has made these rulings, why can they not send in a blue helmet force to get Julian out of the Embassy? I haven’t thought of this before, and the UK/US would be super POd, but so what? Has the UN lost all its authority? They are still in the Golan and this Embassy fiasco is of equal concern for many.
I’m just wondering.
For K Lee, the introduction of 5G is a bureaucratic nightmare with cities and locals having their own rules on many occasions and want a piece of the pie of course. The corp USA, with their worries about the status quo and their quarterly statements (and how it effects their private jet fuel) seem to have been caught with their pants down, so the easy answer is to block Huawei instead of compete. But people should be warned about the increased radiation produced by these transmitters and repeaters. There is a good article signed by over 100 scientists articulating this very thing. According to them, 4G traveles at the surface of human skin whereas 5G is penetrating radiation, which is a huge difference. Increased cancer anyone? I’m sure people will stick their heads in the sand and think speed is better no matter what the radiation levels are. But this isn’t true.
Since I’m wondering here, I think of the F-35 debacle with 8 million lines of code that still doesn’t work properly. I wonder if the 35s will have to be reprogrammed, or “tweaked” for another trillion to match up to the 5G.
There are so many leaks and hacks now from hospitals, and even Equifax etc I can’t imagine most companies. having the manpower to bring their systems up to snuff and make them secure, since they can’t even do that now. It seems less exciting when I think of those nightmares. If they can’t provide security now, how wonderful will it be when the speeds are 100>1,000 times faster than they are now with 4G?
Again, please carry on John with your work as it is desperately needed more than ever.
Thank you.
‘Curious’:
From an electronics background, my perspective is one forecasting chaos (at the very least) in the U.K. with 5G.
We cannot even maintain an adequate Grid structure. We cannot even maintain our own power stations adequately, let alone build new ones. We cannot even maintain our major road networks in a fit state. The (it is not ‘ours’) NHS is in a state of part-privatisation collapse. We have a Parliament of illiterates so far as science and technology is concerned. With the party ‘whipping’ process there is absolutely no ‘democracy’ in any meaningful sense – just a ghastly mixture of Banking/Establishment/E.U./ ‘Imperium’ diktat.
As nearly all U.K. and European-sourced electricals and electronics derive from the PRC (including the vast majority of individual components), I look forward to ‘Interesting Times’. (Be it noted that much of the domestic infrastructure power supply wiring has been recently renewed (by a German company I think) and in a fashion that seems almost purposely designed to facilitate high vulnerability to weather ‘events’, electronic warfare, sabotage – you name it . . . (The old Soviet ‘Woodpecker’ would be having real fun and games with the current mess).
U.K. (PLC) is not capable of organising the proverbial in a (technological) brewery – so it will be interesting to see who our ‘Lords & Masters’ will choose to implement 5G for us – certainly not Huawey with the ‘Imperium’ throwing tantrums! But then again . . .
PS Thank you John Pilger – I just wish there were more (are there any?) younger versions of you around!
Free Julian Assange. This war on journalists and open secrets is why we are close to becoming a fascist world. Please Australia, be the one country that stands up for their own. He’s a good man and a hero to many. He’s committed no crime except tell the truth.
Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise”
Thank you John Pilger and to Julian Assange for their continuing courage. I’m forwarding this.
What do you expect John, fron Australia & its crooked Political establishment? Australia is a complete joke & if you want to have a good laugh, tune into any of their news channels & they have a inflated sense of self worth to their importance & they would have you believe that they are the centre of the World with endless debates about their Politicians (the most boring, tedious bunch of misfits ever) & stupid domestic politics no one cares about? They are America’s lapdog vassals of the South Pacific? Australia has a shared history with America of Indigenous genocide & treats the aboriginal peoples like dirt, just like their American counterparts treat Native indians or people of colour! Julian Assange will get no sympathy or support from his Countrymen or its Australian Govt!
Washington’s Western vassal states prove just how far outside the boundaries of law, order and due process they can operate at America’s behest in both this case and that of self-proclaimed “President” Greedo in Venezuela. With Assange they blatantly ignore the rulings and directives of the United Nations stating that Assange should be free to come and go unharassed by the American goon squad which stands ready around his safe harbor in the Ecuadorian embassy to kidnap and render him to a supermax facility in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. In Venezuela, all the European ambassadors to that country from the NATO bloc physically interpose their bodies around Greedo as he gets off a commercial jet flight in Caracas to prevent Venezuelan justice from being applied to the leader of a coup and a seditious traitor to his fatherland. Not only should Greedo be apprehended in the service of law, order and justice, but so should all those slithering criminal so-called ambassadors for aiding and abetting a coup! There is not the slightest pretense that the entire “Western bloc” under the total control of an American dictatorship has the least intention to uphold international laws, norms or civilised behavior. This is, simply put, an attempted imposition of planet-wide rule by a small clique of megalomaniacs in Washington.
BTW, has anyone else noticed how much Greedo resembles Obomber in his facial features? Are we sure the two of them aren’t clones that were created for specific roles in the ongoing take-over of world governments by the Neocon-led American Deep State? I think that has a higher probability than this is all being done for the sake of “freedom and democracy.”
“The elevation to celebrity feminism of one so politically primitive as Bishop tells us how much so-called identity politics have subverted an essential, objective truth: that what matters, above all, is not your gender but the class you serve.”
This is something that’s been grinding my gears for some time now. As long as the vessel has a vag ina, that vessel seemingly can advocate for all sorts of reactionary bloodbaths and it tends to get a respectful hearing. See Powers, Nuland, Killary, Rice, Thatcher, etc.
Than you John.
This all goes back to the British who for hundreds of years ran their country for the benefit of the rich. Not only in England but countries around the world. Now the same thing is happening in countries that are run by their descendants. The US, Canada, Aus and others are run by these people who try to make sure that their elites have far more than their share. This requires all sorts of deceptions which they implement with everything from propaganda to murder. The truth is their enemy and truth tellers pay a high price.
Support truth tellers whenever you can and strive to stay truthfully informed.
Thank you John and Julian for speaking truth to power. In the US we have two very sacred cows. The MIC and the too big to fail banks. Both underpin the American Empire. Both are wreaking havoc at home and abroad. The petro dollar backed by the pentagon has become a weapon of mass destruction. That Julian Assange has exposed the connection between our political class and the sacred cows, explains why a grand jury has been busy trumping up charges against him. I must praise CN, wikileaks, and other alternative media sites for their courageous journalism. I am grateful that we are offered a forum to comment and that we can share articles and comments with family and friends. Knowledge is power that may one day crush the propaganda narrative of the MSM. Stay thirsty brothers and sisters.
Thank you for this report. I will share it.
5G is 1984.
Why does Trump and AOC’s GND promote 5G “smart grid” deployment, a disastrous swap of fossil fuel pollution for cancerous electrosmog and it would enable the most intrusive invasion of our privacy, all without a national discussion first?
“The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.” ~ Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, Between Two Ages, 1970
BETWEEN TWO AGES – Democracy to Technocracy
5G is designed to usher in Technocracy, which would enable a social credit system similar to China’s. Data is the new oil. Surveillance capitalism is what we call it in the US, but it’s oppressive communism/totalitarianism by any name. Maybe that’s why Bill Clinton loved that word “communitarianism”.
The Technocracy agenda, which began in the 1930’s, is now trying to piggy back onto a very good idea, to boost the public sector with a strong fiscal policy investment. But green energy solutions should be decoupled from social services so that we can move forward quickly on addressing our healthcare and education crisis while considering a TOTAL BAN ON 5G TECHNOLOGY, not only because of the over-surveillance capabilities, but also the health risks involved.
“The greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.” – Robert O. Becker
Pay no attention to the hundreds of birds that fell from the sky recently in the Netherlands due to 5G radiation, insect population decline or the mini cell towers already popping up in 50 US cities WITHOUT OUR CONSENT, many close to school playgrounds. Sterility concerns??
Connecting EVERYTHING to one source leaves us very vulnerable. Marc Ellsberg’s novel, Blackout, is about how easy it would be to create a global electrical grid shutdown. Or it could affect us personally. Late on a payment? Engage in protest? No more energy (heat, electricity, car, etc.) for you until next month’s energy credit load.
“Who is demanding a hundred devices in his home that spy on him and record his actions? With 5G, the ultimate goal is: every device in every home that uses energy will be “its own computer,” and the planetary grid will connect ALL these devices to a monitoring and regulating Energy Authority.” ~ Jon Rappoport
“The Internet of Things (IoT) will destroy not only the Internet… but all of mankind. I can prove it. In only 20 minutes.” ~ Bryan Lunduke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=304Lcn0nU3c
5G Health Hazards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEEwOk4ENQ
More on Technocracy with Patrick Wood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6myDdZBB90
“They define wireless radiation as a pollutant when it comes to protecting themselves in terms of liability, but when they want to force it into our communities and blanket our communities, supposedly it’s safe.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljLynbr5iPc&feature=share
Surveillance capitalism:
https://theintercept.com/2019/03/01/surveillance-capitalism-book-shoshana-zuboff-naomi-klein/
Green New Deal proposal for “smart grid” installation, pg. 7. Sec. (D):
https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html
5G Smart Grid: Great Summary Of The World We Are Rapidly Heading Into
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3ZV3Jw4Uo&t=18s
Blackout scenario:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuM5iCn_iKI&t=610s
Thank you K Lee for such reasoned, informed and easily-referenced comments.
Here in the U.K. there is an indifference to this subject (5G) that beggars belief. It seems almost as if folk are ‘programmed’ to dismiss the subject out-of-hand. So long as they can have their celebrity, porn, royals and sport, the world can wind its merry way to hell.
Facts are of no account – only a ‘diddums’ obsession with so-called ‘convenience’ and lots of shiny new electronic toys to fuss with in the play-pen.
We really are up against the wall in our society. Education in any meaningful sense was dismantled decades ago by Crossman, Williams & Co. There is no longer any ‘Politic’ but only diktat from The Establishment to which the sheep ‘baaa’ and the cows ‘mooo’ . . .
As for the appalling injustice and wretchedness of Julian Assange’s situation, the average bloke or Blokette gives not a fig.
I no longer understand what being ‘British’ means unless it be a subset of the U.S.A.s Imperium. I do however understand what being ‘English’ once was (though I am a West-Country Celt) and in truth I am truly ashamed of my country. But then, it is not ‘mine’ or ‘ours’ – for are we not all ‘Subjects’ in Blighty . . ?
I posted on MSNBC leveling full-frontal attacks on Hosts ignoring innocent WikiLeaks.
It’s incredibly refreshing to come to CN and find true, brave Journalism. If one views the Eighteenth Vigil To Julian Assange and then reads this excellent piece by John Pilger it is possible to get a broad sense of the coordinated international corruption going on yet here we see the slightest hint of reporting by experienced and devoted Professionals. Most Impressive.
Too, there is a new aggregated news site reporting this article with some photographs.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/from-room-101-the-prisoner-says-no-to-big-brother/255825/
As shown in this article, Washington and the Deep State both have a long history of trying to shutter Julian Assange and WikiLeaks:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-history-of-prosecuting-and.html
Knowledge is power and if Washington’s insiders can keep the proletariat ignorant, it can control the narrative.
Sally,
The thing that bothers me, is should the proletariat become informed, would it really care one jot? And if so – do what?
Vote?
Methinks we (in the U.K. at least) have appropriated Nietzsche’s ‘Ultimate Man’ who has his ‘Miserable Ease’ . . . And Blinks . . .
We are told: ‘You have your fud and your pretty toys – diddums!’ (And the latest celebrity or footers is so much more interesting) ‘gurgle-hic-burp’ . . . ‘dank you da-da’ . . .
What John Pilger describes is the steel weld between the few who hold political and financial power and the few that provide us or do not provide us with the news and our entertainment. It describes the lemming like behavior of what is rightly called the masses, which if this slavish behavior didn’t exist, millions would not have died violently in senseless wars. How we might ask did our fellow human beings line up on sides then advance to their slaughter? We don’t know why but we do know it is the human condition.
Sometimes things pop into your mind for unknown reasons. One that keeps popping into my mind is a song in the musical South Pacific. One line. probably not precise, struck me. You’ve got to be taught to hate, you’ve got to be carefully taught.
It is the world that is and John Pilger is right to call us to resist, to speak out, to act. The avenues open to do this seem to be narrowing as our choices of politicians and statesman are less and less as the vetting process produces cookie cutter political aspirants. There’s Frick on the one side and Frack on the other. When one does arise who expresses independence they fall in line or fall by the wayside.
Thank you, John Pilger.
> is a song in the musical South Pacific.
– Which premiered in 1949, a full seventy years ago.
Here you are:
“You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!”
— At the time, some Georgia (US, not USSR) legislators wanted their state to take action against this musical for promoting the evil ideology of miscegenation.
Three guesses where they claimed the inspiration came from…
Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose!
I had a bit part in that musical in High School. I remember that song very well. A good friend of mine played Bloody Mary.
Thank you, John Pilger.
John Pilger is a heroic voice for truth. Email your friends his video.