Rally for Assange planned for March 16

BY MILLY CAFFREY

As the US continues to pursue WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange for the crime of exposing US war crimes, a demonstration is planned in support of his right to expose the truth, on Wednesday March 16.

The personality cult of Julian Assange has featured more prominently in newspapers than the explosive cables unleashed by WikiLeaks. The press have speculated whether Assange is power hungry, calculating and even an abuser of cats.

As veteran journalist John Pilger lamented, the mainstream Australian media conformed amicably to this long tradition of trash over truth. “It will bridle at personalities and policies, and assorted scandals, but it almost never questions a system that ensures there is no genuine political and public debate about critical matters,” Mr Pilger said.

“Night after night we watch politicians performing, or as a colleague once described it, ‘shovelling fog into a bucket’. These performances are presented as interviews; they are nothing of the kind. They are part of a consensual game in which a bit of tele-genic bluster is considered a highpoint. They are certainly not journalism. That’s why the truth-telling of WikiLeaks seems so threatening.”

The website’s founder will be extradited to Sweden to face trial for rape, but human rights advocate and barrister Julian Burnside has said that the judge’s decision should not unduly affect WikiLeaks.

“However, there is a real concern that the United States will try and extradite Assange from Sweden to America,” said Mr Burnside.  “If that happens, there is a real risk that he will be treated in the same way that US soldier Bradley Manning has been treated:  thrown into solitary confinement for months without charge.  Given the conduct of the Swedish Prosecutor, I suspect that that is the true objective of the Swedish extradition application. “

“In particular, if the US at any time tries to extradite Assange from Sweden (or anywhere else) it will be the duty of the Australian Government to assist him in every way possible.”

Mr Burnside will appear alongside Andrew Wilkie MP and John Pilger to speak at a public forum dedicated to WikiLeaks on Wednesday March 16 at Sydney Town Hall.