Consortium News broadcast the 12th Unity4J online vigil for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange on Friday, hosted by Consortium News Editor Joe Lauria.
Julian Assange is a wanted man because he published classified information that revealed the crimes and corruption of government officials around the world, not just in the United States.
But it is the U.S., the supposed beacon of freedom and democracy (and press freedom) around the world that has indicted him and wants him extradited to the United States for the crime of publishing.
That’s why Julian Assange has been a refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past six years. He knows that the second he steps back onto British territory he will be arrested and sent to the U.S. where he is unlikely to receive a fair trial and would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Discussing the following headlines from the past week were former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel from Monterrey, California; journalist Cassandra Fairbanks in Washington; Greg Barns, a member of Assange’s legal team speaking from Cape Town, South Africa and former Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Andrew Fowler from Sydney:
1. Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire on Monday nominated JA for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
2. Former Australian ambassador Tony Kevin has reiterated his support for Julian Assange. He tweeted on Dec. 31: “I have always called for #Assange‘s release and his safely escorted return home to Australia in RAAF aircraft. This innocent man is being treated so badly by Ecuador, UK and US govts.”We hope to have Amb. Kevin join us later in the program.
3. Cassandra Fairbanks, a frequent guest on these vigils, visited Julian Assange last Monday and reports that his Living Conditions are More Akin to a Dissident in Stasi-Era Germany Than an Award-Winning Publisher With Asylum
4. On Wednesday, WikiLeaks issued official denial of Trump election contacts, saying that the organization never provided election information to Donald Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone or to Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and conspiracy advocate.
5. Yanis Varoufakis’ DiEM25 on Jan 4 launched a petition calling on governments of Ecuador and the UK to prevent the extradition of Julian Assange to the US.It has more than 8,000 signatures.
6. Greg Barnes a member of the JA’s Australian legal team spoke to the Unity4J vigil yesterday in a pre-recorded interview that was aired at the start of the program.
You can watch the recorded broadcast here. There is a musical break from 00.38 minute mark to 1:12, when the discussion resumes with an interview of Australian journalist Andrew Fowler about the state of the media and its impact on Assange.
How do I tune into the Friday Vigil’s?
Tevin, you can watch it here live on Consortium News. Watch for the notice on Friday morning.
Assange is one of the greatest heroes of our time. There is not even an illusion of Freedom of the Press while he is a prisoner.
Yes, he has earned the Peace Prize and a lot more.
He’s not a hero. He’s just a (somewhat egotistical) journalist who was doing his job. Meanwhile it’s ironic that Bradley Manning is free.
When Hillary said “Can’t we just drone this guy?” Julian Assange’s fate was sealed. Since he published bad things about her from DNC e-mails (the truth is immaterial), the Resistance is against him, the MSM is against him and all of the DC Establishment is against him. Assange is screwed.
Andrew Fowler was very weak, I wonder whether he is really on Julian’s side. No need to explain again people’s falling out with Julian which is irrelevant to freedom for Julian now, Fowler was very weak on Luke Harding the serial plagiarist and composer of fake news for the Guardian, and he took the chance to rubbish Donald Trump which suggests he thinks Hillary would have treated Julian differently LOL.
I hope there is some technical assistance for the next transmission (if there have to be more) – this one was very amateurish and, although really appreciated, it wasn’t easy to watch.
May 22, 2017 Julian Assange – We need a revolution
There’s a million reasons why. This is just “and one”.
https://youtu.be/wRJqv5fVbjU
Let’s see if this comment is removed as well.
Re White House petition. Joe Lauria should ask to support the White House petition. Infowars is a huge supporter of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Jones garnered 10,000 signatures on a Free Asssange petition. One week later, Infowars was de-platformed from Youtube.
guess this must be austrailian, but:
Phillip Adams‘s petition, “Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late.
https://bit.ly/2AK4RyG
and this link goes to cassandra fairbanks’ touching report: (sorry, no time to grab a bitly)
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/julian-assanges-living-conditions-are-more-akin-to-a-dissident-in-stasi-era-germany-than-an-award-winning-publisher-with-asylum/
Always great to see your comments here, Wendy!
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee is here:
https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/Organization/Nobel-Committee
Difficult to find a specific channel for lobbying it, but a general email address to submit to is:
E-mail: [email protected]
What happened to the piece on Hillary’s contribution to Libya and Syria?
Look up “Did Hillary Clinton Say ‘We Must Destroy Syria for Israel’ in a Leaked E-Mail?” at Snopes. I think that provides the answer.
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328
Go to the 100 percent accuracy source
Who took down Daniel Lazare’s latest article “A Clinton Memo That Killed Half a Million People” from the ConsortiumNews website , and why ?
BTW , you can still find it on Russia Insider and Mint Press News.
Marko,
Mr. Daniel Lazare’s writing in that article is staggeringly and distinctly powerful, packing a devastating truth punch rarely seen in the world of international affairs journalism 2018-2019, and provides people the real genesis and reasoning for the years-long unjust persecution and imprisonment of Julian Assange. Unacceptably, and despite overwhelming legal arguments demanding total freedom for Mr. Assange, the persecution continues, – under the power and direction of United States President Donald Trump, United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May, and Ecuador President Lenin Moreno.
Brief report shows some hopeful signs. Even the language being used expresses confidence in defending Assange. Surprised have not seen a petition to sign in US. Is there one.?
What happened to Lazare article about Clinton. Seems to have vanished.
HUH? EVERY ONE KNOWS THAT INDICTMENT IS A FARCE. Please appeal respectfully to President Trump.Don’t make the whole government the enemy.
Keep in mind Trump has been under tremendous pressure during the whole Mueller HOAX.
Using Assange’ new status as peacemaker can help give justification to Trump’s aid.
Have you considered a White House Petition?
White House petition! Great idea! I started one!
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/free-julian-assange-2
Sign it!!!
Okay, Nick, I signed it. Now there are 4 of us.
It’s a good idea. And a good petition, (although, does anyone know, is that what he wants, to go back to Australia?) After Giuliani’s comment, they might even let Trump see it. But before (or after) you started it, did you plan how you’re going to promote it? Because nothing looks as lame as a petition that only gets a couple dozen signatures.
That takes real effort. Have you shared by all the methods that they suggest, right on the WH site? Tweet, FB, Email … etc., etc., relentlessly, because this isn’t a cute kitty video. Not everyone supports Assange, and even the ones who do must be coaxed past their “reasons” not to sign, mainly –
1.) Those paranoid types who won’t register on a WH (Gov’t.!!!!) site.
2.) Those defeatist types who say even if you got a million signatures it wouldn’t make any difference
3.) The type who think it’s a good idea … and they hope a lot of other people do it.
So I hope you have lots of [woke] friends, and you’re willing to badger everybody, many times!
I shared it in emails and texts. I don’t have any social media because I think that stuff is poisonous. However I did ask others to share it, and I ask all of you to share it as well. I realize it’s probably not going anywhere, but I thought it worth a try. And just because my petition will probably go nowhere, it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t take up the reins and start one that does go somewhere. I’m just trying to do SOMETHING short of going there myself and Dog Day Afternoon-ing him out of the embassy and over to the airport, an idea that often comes to my mind. Thanks for signing it. Hope you shared it as well!
Signed. Still only 13 signatories. Come on folks, Nick has got off his backside to help – surely it’s not too much trouble for you to add a few clicks to your day and send the link to others who might sign.
Signed. Thanks Nick.
Alex Jones had gathered 10,000 signatures on a Pardon Assange petition. Inforwars was deplatformed from YouTube
a week later. Love him or hate him, the Jones ha a huge audience. I used his site during the election because he published WikiLeaks documents. He also strenuously backed the the hacked not leaked history of the DNC e-mails. One word from Alex Jones to his followers and your White House petition would gain some serious momentum. Just a suggestion.
Thanks for signing! Maybe we can make some headway! And I have no social media, so they really can’t deplatform me. The only thing they could do is lock me up, and I’m fine with going to jail for things like this. The revolution must be fearless.
Well, I sent messages containing the link to ConsortiumNews, InfoWars (even logging on to that site was honestly hard for me to do) and Paul Craig Roberts. Anyone else anyone can think of who we might have a chance of getting through to?
Just signed the petition. Hope it will have an effect.
Thank you Fredrike! Hope you shared as well!!