{"id":245607,"date":"2023-10-09T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=245607"},"modified":"2023-10-06T04:50:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T03:50:23","slug":"journalism-itself-is-locked-up-in-belmarsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/10\/journalism-itself-is-locked-up-in-belmarsh\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism Itself Is Locked Up in Belmarsh"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This week (4 Oct) marks 17 years since Julian Assange launched WikiLeaks; Its mission: To bring truth to the public<\/p>\n<p>For his publishing work which revealed war crimes, corruption and abuses, its founder now battles against a 175 year sentence if extradited to the US <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FreeAssange?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#FreeAssange<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BLxH0DdzvK\" >pic.twitter.com\/BLxH0DdzvK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/1708814090196467793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >October 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>To accept the persecution of Julian Assange is to accept the idea that all media everywhere must function as propaganda organs of the US government. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>5 Oct 2023<\/em> &#8211; As the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/1708814090196467793\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">17th anniversary<\/a> of the creation of WikiLeaks passes us by, it\u2019s probably worth taking a moment to reflect on Julian Assange and what his persecution means for us and our society.<\/p>\n<p>Because in a very real sense, it\u2019s not just a man locked up in Belmarsh Prison for the crime of good journalism\u200a\u2014\u200ait\u2019s journalism itself. It\u2019s the idea that anyone should be permitted to expose the criminality of the world\u2019s most powerful and tyrannical people. It\u2019s the idea that the public should be allowed to know what abuses the US empire is committing around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Julian Assange is the world\u2019s greatest journalist. By revolutionizing source protection for the digital age with the creation of WikiLeaks 17 years ago and then going on to break some of the biggest stories of the 21st century, Assange set himself head and shoulders above any other living reporter anywhere on earth. And by showing the world that they can lock up the world\u2019s greatest journalist for revealing inconvenient truths, they are showing the world that they can lock up anyone.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what this case has always been about. It\u2019s not about whether Assange crossed some arbitrary procedural line when working with Chelsea Manning to expose US war crimes. It\u2019s not about the US protecting its national security. It\u2019s not about any of the other justifications people have put forward to excuse their sycophantic support for the persecution of a journalist for doing journalism. It\u2019s about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caitlinjohnst.one\/p\/the-assange-case-explained-simply\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">setting a legal precedent<\/a> that will allow the US empire to extradite anyone anywhere in the world who reveals inconvenient facts about it. It\u2019s about showing all journalists everywhere that if they can do it to the greatest among them, they can do it to any of them. And, like so much else in the world today, it\u2019s about narrative control.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-245609\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange-1024x836.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange-1024x836.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange-300x245.png 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange-768x627.png 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/assange.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To accept the persecution of Julian Assange is to accept the idea that all media everywhere must function as propaganda organs of the US government. It\u2019s to take it as a given that any journalist anywhere in the world who decides to do real journalism and expose inconvenient facts about the powerful in the public interest should be jailed until they can be extradited to the United States for a show trial, and then left to rot in one of the most draconian prison systems on the planet. It\u2019s to accept that we will never live in a truth-based society guided by facts and information, and must forever resign ourselves to living in a society dominated by the whims of the powerful.<\/p>\n<p>Your position on the Assange case is therefore your position on what kind of society we should hope to live in, and what kind of future we should hope to have. In a very real way, it\u2019s your position on humanity itself.<\/p>\n<p>Should humanity try to create a better world, or should we keep plunging into dystopia until we are driven into nuclear war or environmental catastrophe by rulers we are forbidden to question? Do we want to move into the light, or into the darkness? Your position on Assange shows your answer to these questions, and shows which course you want us to take.<\/p>\n<p>________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-236973\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"56\" height=\"56\" \/><\/a> <em>Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly\u00a0<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" ><em>at <\/em><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >Medium<\/a>. <em>Contact: <\/em><a href=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/TRANSCEND\/T%20M%20S\/TO%20POST\/A%20BYLINES\/admin@caitlinjohnstone.com\">admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com.au\/2023\/10\/05\/journalism-itself-is-locked-up-in-belmarsh\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the 17th anniversary of the creation of WikiLeaks on 4 October, it\u2019s probably worth taking a moment to reflect on Julian Assange and what his persecution means for us and our society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":245609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[918,2732,1899,1126,1050,1678,378,651,112,911,639,95,70,921,113],"class_list":["post-245607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whistleblowing-surveillance","tag-assange","tag-belmarsh-prison","tag-colateral-murder","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-investigative-journalism","tag-journalism","tag-justice","tag-pentagon","tag-surveillance","tag-uk","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-whistleblowing","tag-wikileaks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245611,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245607\/revisions\/245611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}