“About Bloody Time,” the common Aussie utters to the news that Assange is now free.
They are letting Assange go free, to return to Australia. The condition was that he had to reach a plea deal. Admit he was guilty. A compromise that removes a man from his legal limbo, releases him from the worst of British prisons and allows him to be with his family. What does it mean for the future of journalism? Can a government now pick and choose which authors, podcasters, journalists it likes and seeks to prosecute under its own laws. Let’s not forget that Assange is an Australian citizen, being pursued by the US government using its own laws for a man who was not on their soil when he received the information, he was not even the first to publish it and now he resides in prison in the UK. Is it just American exceptionalism or will it be possible for other nations to do much the same? Can any offended national government pursue anyone in the world ‘legally’ now?
“The end has not arrived”, Australian politician Barnaby Joyce warns over the conditions of the plea deal, “We still need to be cautious.” Assange must plea to the felony charges on US soil. There is still a risk to him. If the US nabs him on their soil. Then what? The Australian government will flip up it’s skirt and present it’s rear again. Memories of 1975 and Whitlam lingering in every Australian PM’s mind, though the current viceroy to the US empire is not Gough Whitlam. He is just another flab in a suit that promises other peoples money, an Australian PM through and through. The rest of the world will do what? Say some words?
With nations like the Ukraine conjuring up enemy lists, executing some of those on it, journalists that it deems as misinformation agents we can see the malicious nature of government in its pursuit over the control of information. Will nations openly act as the Mexican narco-terrorists have and pursue journalists with murderous intent, dare I mention how the Saudi Kingdom brutally murdered Jamal Khashoggi. Not to mention the US assassination of Anwar al-Awklai because of words he wrote and said, they even murdered his teenage son. Both US citizens. In Palestine the IDF has made it a practice of killing journalists who are sharing the reality on the ground in that genocide. It’s all so normal to see another dead journalist along with rows of murdered babies.
It is a dangerous place for those reporting on injustice and war. Those who dare to represent the innocent and speak up against power, those who expose the violence and horrors. This has always been the case, no amount of legalese or civilised back patting has changed any of that. Now, we see a plea deal made between the most famous journalist in history with the same government that he had he helped expose murdering Reuters journalists and civilians in Iraq. Assange’s crime is journalism. A precedent may be set where governments can negotiate and agree to co-operate when it comes to punishing, imprisoning and killing journalists. Information and freedom of speech suffocated all the more.
They say the pen is mightier than the sword. The sword takes life, the pen only reports on it. Those who wield the sword and serve the masters of death and tyranny will eagerly stab any and everything that they are paid to. The people, the billions who feel powerless are mightier than the sword wielders and their masters. History is rife with the common person refusing, standing up and like cowards the armed and trained flee, those who are protected by them cower and hide. The journalists, the reporter, writer and those sharing the truths of savagery are just putting words to paper and on screens. What is done with that information is for the reader, those who are informed and aware. The truth can only inspire rebellion and revolution, the spirit needs to already exist.
The Gordon Gecko communists pretend to hate corporations, yet most seek work inside of them. The anti-fascists are happy to work for the government. Many kid themselves that they care about justice, yet when injustice is before them they shrug. Most claim to know politicians lie and are corrupt yet believe the promises and vote in each election. The curtain between us and the mad wizard is not emerald green but clear plastic, we can see him dancing in the nude. Yet we continue to follow that yellow brick road regardless.
Assange is now free. But are we?
June 2024
