Category Archives: Julian Assange
Canberra rally for Assange demands he be returned to Australia
by Alison Ryan
Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, joined supporters of Julian Assange to speak at the Converge on Canberra for Assange rally on the lawns of Parliament House on 28 July, 2022.
Mr Wilkie called again for common sense and media freedom to prevail, urging for the extradition of Mr Assange to the United States to be dropped and for him to be allowed to return to Australia.
“Julian Assange faces the very real prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars in a US supermax prison for revealing hard evidence of US war crimes and other misconduct. If the extradition is successful, it would be a direct attack on press freedom and set the frightening precedent for all Australians, particularly for journalists, that they are at risk of extradition to any country that they offend.”
“Journalism is not a crime and Mr Assange shouldn’t be persecuted for doing his job. He is a hero and should be held up as a symbol of media freedom.”
“This is a case of the US wanting revenge against a lone man who did nothing more than publish information which was undeniably in the public interest. It has always been a political matter and the Australian Government can’t keep kowtowing to the whims of Washington.”
“I have no doubt Mr Albanese has enough influence and good relationships to pick up the phone and end this madness. It’s beyond time for the Government to say enough is enough and to bring Julian home.”
Source: https://andrewwilkie.org/assange-rots-while-australian-government-does-who-knows-what/
Other speakers at Converge on Canberra for Assange included MC Mary Kostakidis, Peter Whish-Wilson Greens MP, Bridget Archer Liberal MP, Monique Ryan Independent MP, David Shoebridge Greens MP, Jordan Steele-John Greens MP, Julian Hill Labor MP, Christin Lambang- Foyne of Amnesty International, Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton by pre-recorded message, Sue Wareham of Doctors for Assange – there are over 300 of them now internationally raising awareness of the great cost to Julian’s health and personal life – and James Ricketson.
House of Representatives, Member for Bass, Bridget Archer stated,
“This is a question of mercy and compassion for an Australian citizen who has endured inhumane conditions and has suffered significant mental and physical challenges as a result of his ongoing incarceration due to this protracted battle. He has not been convicted of a crime but has already served a lengthy sentence.”
The young Senator from Western Australia, Jordan Steele-John told the Rally,
“President Joe Biden admitted that the persecution and prosecution of Julian Assange was basically because he had embarrassed the United States. “
“Julian’s life is at stake let us make no mistake and democracy itself is at stake. The question before the Australian government now is will it prioritize finally after all this time the liberty and human rights of an Australian citizen and in so doing send a clear message that Australia is a nation which will champion the freedom of the press, which will champion human rights, which will push back on the United States of America, and call them out when they commit human rights abuses, or will they once again remain silent and hide behind diplomatic protocols. That is the decision before the new parliament and the new government today.”
Julian’s brother and film producer, Gabriel Shipton, stated by pre-recorded message to the Rally that,
“He and Julian’s father, John Shipton, toured the USA where they met with civil society groups who have been calling on the Biden administration to drop the charges against Julian because of the threat they pose to press freedom. They met with Congress people both Republican and Democrat who see the threat that Julian’s prosecution means to their first amendment and their democratic rights.”
He continued, “In Germany we met with a cross cross-party group that includes parliamentarians from every major German political party. Over 90 German parliamentarians are now calling for Julian Assange
to be released. We even met with the German foreign ministry. We met with the state minister there
who’s the second in charge after the foreign minister. So, Germany is very concerned. Even the German government are very concerned about the threat Julian Assange’s prosecution means to their journalists in the UK.”
“We have travelled all around the country with Stellar Assange, Julian’s wife, as we did a screening
with the film Ithaka, https://ithaka.movie/, that’s about John and Stella’s fight to free Julian. We screened the film and spoke to people in Norwich, in Liverpool, in Manchester, in Glasgow, in Edinburgh, in Exeter, all over the UK. We spoke to thousands of people all concerned about what’s going on and the persecution of Julian Assange.”
“There is a global wave of support for Julian that just keeps growing and growing and growing
and everyone here today is part of that wave.”
“John and I will be in Canberra and we will be asking the government to really step up their calls for Julian Assange to be released and for the Biden administration to drop the charges.”
Source: Consortium News
Converge on Canberra for Assange on Thursday
by Alison Ryan
Join the chorus of voices telling Anthony Albanese to demand our UK-US allies free Julian Assange.
Every Australian who can, should join the “Converge on Canberra for Assange” rally at Parliament House, 12 Noon Thursday 28 July.
Send a message to Anthony Albanese: Follow through on your previous statements and demand our UK and US allies free Julian Assange from Belmarsh Prison so he can come home.
In December 2021, then-Opposition Leader Albanese said: “I’ve said for some time that enough is enough … He has paid a big price for the publication of that information already and I do not see what purpose is served by the ongoing pursuit of Mr Assange.”
But when asked about Assange after winning the May 2022 election, the new PM said: “My position is that not all foreign affairs is best done with the loudhailer.”
In other words, “Trust me, I’m a politician.”
Sorry Prime Minister, not good enough.
Australians can have no confidence that that’s not a spin doctor’s answer to duck the issue.
Especially when, by contrast, Albanese has had no trouble using a loudhailer against our biggest and most important trading partner China, repeating his predecessor Scott Morrison’s rhetoric, even though Australia’s exporters are desperate for that relationship to improve.
Australians should be angry that Albanese is willing to say something in Opposition that he won’t back up when he’s in government.
It raises the question: was Albanese just using the Assange issue as a cheap electoral ploy, to indicate a point of difference with Scott Morrison to harvest votes but with no intention to follow through?
The truth about Assange
The official narrative about Assange is a tissue of lies. Assange’s only crime was exposing that our “side” commits war crimes and covers them up. For two decades the USA and UK, with Australia always in tow, have weaponised “human rights” to conduct permanent warfare in the guise of “interventions”, fueled by a never-ending stream of accusations of crimes against humanity by so-called “authoritarian regimes”. WikiLeaks exposed that the real crimes against humanity were the resulting endless wars, and it exposed the inner workings of the intelligence-diplomatic-military-corporate machinery that orchestrated these wars. It also exposed the cover-ups of horrific war crimes committed by our side, which gave the lie to the Anglo-American sanctimony over human rights. If WikiLeaks had not released the “Collateral Murder” video of US helicopter gunships cooly but murderously gunning down two Reuters journalists and their companions in Iraq, it would likely still be covered up to this day.
The US charges against Julian Assange are false:
He did not “hack” classified documents, in breach of the US Espionage Act; he published documents leaked to him by Chelsea Manning, who served time for her “crime” until US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017. Essentially, except for being the first to publish, what Assange did was no different to many major media outlets all over the world which published the same documents, sourced from WikiLeaks. In June 2021, the only witness supporting the US charge of espionage, convicted serial paedophile and financial fraudster Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, admitted in an interview with Icelandic newspaper Stundin that his “evidence” is a lie.
He did not put lives at risk; rather, he carefully vetted the documents and even called the US State Department in 2011 to forewarn them when WikiLeaks lost control of some diplomatic cables that were about to be published. Australian journalist Mark Davis was present in the WikiLeaks bunker when Assange released the Afghanistan war documents in 2010, and he testifies that Assange took great care to redact the documents so as to remove sensitive identifying information about US agents. This accusation is a hypocritical smokescreen, however, as, in truth, Assange was exposing the lies about the wars that were really to blame for mass death and destruction.
Australia’s treatment of Julian Assange has been deeply shameful. From the beginning, Australian politicians and media marched in lockstep with the USA and denounced Assange for exposing the Anglo-American war machine. In 2010, then-PM Julia Gillard called his publishing of leaked documents “illegal”—an extraordinary claim given that publishing leaked documents has always been a cornerstone of real journalism. To this day high-profile Australian mainstream media journalists snidely insist that Assange is not a journalist, simply because he exposed the war lies that they had faithfully regurgitated and never questioned. Successive Australian governments have gone through the motions of providing Assange with the bare minimum of consular assistance, while effectively sacrificing this Australian citizen to their subservient strategic relationship to the United States.
The only politician who has consistently advocated for Assange has been former Australian intelligence official and Tasmanian Independent MP Andrew Wilkie. In recent years, however, Wilkie has been joined by a growing band of MPs in the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group to pressure the Australian government to act for Assange. Not only was Anthony Albanese a member of the Group, but under his leadership the Labor Party adopted a position in its 2021 national policy platform that “it is now time for this long drawn-out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end”.
Demand freedom
Anthony Albanese must not be allowed to duck this issue now that he’s in a position to do something about it. Australia is the most faithful ally of both the UK and USA, as evidenced by our participation in all their wars. He should demonstrate foreign policy independence by using a 120-decibel loudhailer to demand Assange’s freedom.
Qld Extension of Expiring Provisions bill passes – 82 votes to 5 reassuring voters the Liberals and ALP want to keep killing you with vaxx mandates
by Stephen Andrew MP for Mirani
The Bill extending the ongoing use of emergency powers passed earlier today.
It did so amidst the deafening roars of Queensland’s furious citizenry, outraged at the state’s ongoing slide into tyranny.
The second reading vote (the one that counts) was held at 5.22pm. The final result of the second reading was 82 votes in favour and 5 against. The five ‘NOs’ were myself, all three members of the Katter Australia Party, and the Independent Member for Noosa, Mrs Sandy Bolton.
When push came to shove, however, not a single member of the LNP found it within themselves to oppose the Bill until the 3rd reading when a division was called and the opposition changed their vote to end up 48 Ayes to 36 Noes.
Despite many admitting in their speeches, that they had been flooded by people begging them to vote against it, it wasn’t until the 11th hour.
A few even acknowledged that the vast majority in their electorates were opposed to it.
The debate had earlier been ‘guillotined’ by Labor, denying many members, including myself, from getting a chance to speak on the Bill.
I will post a copy of it later, so anyone interested can read what I planned to say.
It was a gut-wrenching end to a grueling week in Parliament.
Never was the Government’s hubris and arrogance more on display than it was today.
Studiously ignoring the stormy protests outside, one after another stood up and proceeded to gaslight the hell out of Queenslanders opposed to the Bill.
Instead of acknowledging people’s concerns, frustration and anger, or recognising what many have gone through the last 2 years, one Member said haughtily:
“I am sure all members of Parliament have been hammered by the anti-vaxxers who have gone down a rabbit hole with Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine”.
I can only imagine how all those Queenslanders who fought so long and hard to stop this Bill, must be feeling tonight.
On a positive note, I want to thank my fellow cross-bench members, Sandy Bolton, Robbie Katter, Shane Knuth and Nick Dametto. All four were absolute stand-outs this week. Their electorates are lucky to have them.
All day, today, the chamber was filled with the ‘sound and fury’ of the people of this great state.
By the time the vote was taken, MPs were struggling to be heard above the din.
I am willing to bet that nothing remotely like it has ever been seen before in Qld.
Oh I know, we have had riots and protests before, but not like this.
This phenomenon of ordinary Queensland citizens taking to the streets in ‘numbers too big to ignore’ is completely unprecedented.
Everyday Mums and Dads, small business owners, tradies, truckers, emergency workers, nurses, teachers, sole traders, defence force staff, firefighters and pilots – these are the people who have drawn a line and said enough!
People who were once regarded as the ‘backbone of this nation’.
Described as “a minority group” by the Health Minister today.
I salute them all!
Assange says we are better off without ‘rotten and corrupt media’
Julian Paul Assange ; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. These leaks included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video (April 2010), the Afghanistan war logs (July 2010), the Iraq war logs (October 2010), and Cablegate (November 2010). After the 2010 leaks, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks. He is being held in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison awaiting an appeal against his extradition to America.
Australian Government done nothing to assist Julian Assange
Letter to the Editor
The Australian governments subservience to higher authority (not God) in the Julian Assange case applies equally to the Covid scam/crime perpetrated on the Australian people.
The Australian government, also in deference to Washington, has done nothing to help Assange. Australia, like every other vassal state, puts Washington’s interest ahead of both law and the interest of citizens.
This week there were protests in Australia in support of Assange. However, Western governments are now so far removed from citizens who are today little more than subjects that it is unlikely that anything short of revolution can restore accountability to governments in the West.
“Western democracy” has become an oxymoron. This article by Mike Head shows the disdain that the Western elites have for free speech, freedom of the press, truth, and the rights of citizens:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49687.htm
from Kev Crisscross, Brisbane
Wikileaks just dumped all their files online…..read on
Wikileaks just dumped all of their files online. Everything from Hillary Clinton’s emails, McCain’s being guilty, Vegas shooting done by an FBI sniper, Steve Jobs HIV letter, PedoPodesta, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Bilderberg, CIA agents arrested for rape, WHO pandemic. Happy Digging! Here you go, please read and pass it on…..
https://file.wikileaks.org/file/… These are Clinton’s emails: https://file.wikileaks.org/file/clinton-emails/
Index file! https://file.wikileaks.org/file/?fbclid=IwAR2U_Evqah_Qy2wxNY12FMqFC5dAFUcZL5Kl4FIfQuMFMp8ssbM46oHXWMI
-from a reader
Wikileaks will do a huge surprise data dump when Assange is extradited to US
All overseas US bases, including Australia and the FBI should be shut down
by Alex Bruce
Former military intelligence and CIA officer, Robert David Steele joins Dave at the X22 Report to discuss all things coup d’état but I’ve set the inpoint to where he talks about the possibility of a wild card WikiLeaks data dump next February when Julian Assange is expected to be extradited to the US from prison in the UK.
“Imagine a WikiLeaks dump on the 15th of February… everything WikiLeaks has on Hillary Clinton and John Brennan and others. In other words, this is an extrajudicial dump that immediately goes public…
“I personally think that Julian Assange is much more clever than people realize and he has much more information that people realize and even though he is somewhat tainted by reports of Mossad and CIA control and he is alleged to be in very poor condition and MI6 is obviously desperately afraid –
“I mean, it’s now clear that Great Britain and Israel were the two countries that interfered in the 2016 election…I think that England is on notice and there are things that could come out that would cause the American public to become so very angry with Great Britain and so very angry with all political parties, that it could possibly lead to some kind of totally unanticipated Black Swan event…
“From where I sit, the Clintons are merely one of many CIA co-optees. Bill Clinton was created by the CIA and Hillary Clinton was created by the CIA. We now know that Barr worked for the CIA as a law student and we now know that CIA appears to have many, many people who are recruited in their university years and then they’re scattered across the country…
“We need to overhaul the CIA and the FBI in ways that people cannot begin to comprehend…
“Let’s start with blackmailing judges all across the United States of America in order to cover up their profiteering from child trafficking and drug trafficking…
“There are ten different CIAs. There’s the drone-assassination CIA, the safari club-rendition-and-torture CIA, there’s multiple CIAs operating overseas and then there’s at least two, if not three domestic CIA’s – and some of those CIA’s may be rogue CIAs, that Gina Haspell knows nothing about – or chooses not to know anything about.
“In my judgment, we do not have justice in the United States of America. Rogue elements of the US government are doing more harm to Americans than all criminal cartels combined…
“Legal elements of the CIA get a taste of the illegal profits that are possible and then they start using the legal side of CIA under pretext and they start using military transportation and military bases to smuggle guns and gold and cash and small children and drugs and so what you have, here is I think you have a spectrum that runs from legal to grotesquely illegal and I don’t think anyone has mapped this out and that’s what needs to happen.
“If Donald Trump wants to take down the Deep State, he needs to do two things: he needs to close down all US military bases overseas, which are being used as lily pads for illegal activities and he needs to cut the intelligence community by 70 percent, consolidate the remaining pieces at CIA, eradicate all CIA domestic operations.
“I would abolish the FBI and start over. I mean, the FBI was founded by a pedophile that pioneered political blackmail, J Edgar Hoover. That is a legacy I don’t like.”
Something Big Is about to Drop from Wikileaks: Robert David Steele
Cairns News 