The late John Pilger joined Roger Waters on Consortium News‘ CN Live! the day after a British judge denied Julian Assange bail even though two days earlier she had “discharged” him.
Pilger & Waters on Assange: Freedom Denied
Two days after District Judge Vanessa Baraitser had on Jan. 4, 2021 ordered imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange “discharged,” she sided with a U.S. appeal and ordered he remain incarcerated at London’s harsh Belmarsh Prison while the U.S. challenged her decision to the High Court. Assange remains in Belmarsh to this day.
The day after Baraitser kept him locked up and away from his family, Consortium News‘ CN Live! webcast invited the great journalist John Pilger, who passed away on Saturday, and his friend, the rock legend Roger Waters, both Assange friends, to discuss the latest developments in the case. They were also joined by political and legal analyst Alexander Mercouris, editor of The Duran. The hosts are Elizabeth Vos and Joe Lauria. Producer; Cathy Vogan. (1 hr., 1 min.)
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Profound. Excellent. Roger nails the essence with “she’s a foot soldier!” midway in the discussion. A key understanding is brought on, initiated by John Pilger, that those running this fiasco (and it absolutely is a fiasco, Assange has committed no crime whatsoever) are not functioning as the “choir” or the people (the growing number thereof) are–that is, with empathy and principle. That is why they are terrified, that this truth may become known–exposure. Who got to Baraitser with a sheet of reminders in the two days between the contradictory “decisions”? Basically, these reminders would have said, “You are a foot soldier and you know what your job is and who you serve. And that Establishment is War and Money. Now, get with the program!”
Mercouris said he expected the appeal to be heard by the summer – of ’23 …
It still hasn’t been heard …. what does that say …
It’s all about the politics …. it is not about “law”, “justice” or “truth” –
Baraitser was read the riot act … and followed the script … will the “High Court” do the same …
I do think that the Brits are willing to keep him there until he dies …. lets the US off the hook …
Otoh – one wonders if Biden might consider that he needs to make some brownie points to counteract his image as “genocide Joe” – freeing Assange would gain him those …. but he wouldn’t do it until he felt he had to —- so, going along with the “value of public opinion” maybe that is one thing the public should “suggest” to him as a way to get their support …
I’d be interested to watch this if it weren’t on YouTube, owned by Google. They seem to be flexing their monopoly power to squelch AdBlock. Apparently you can’t just ‘whitelist’ YouTube in AdBlock… you have to uninstall it to use YT. This is devastating for the small software developers we rely on for creativity and diversity.
Can you put your videos on other platforms? Vimeo is one.