Attacks on Wikileaks’ Assange and Free Press
The First Amendment & You!
Support Free Speech & A Free Press
First they came for the journalists…. We don’t know what happened after that.
Free Speech and a Free press go together. If you’re worried about Trump’s assault on the press, recent news of a secret indictment against Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, is a real chilling story. It appears the US Justice Dept. is putting intense pressure to have Julian Assange evicted, arrested, and extradited to the US from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been sequestered, and increasingly isolated, since 2012. Recent reports say that even Assange’s lawyers have been blocked from visiting him.
Assange is an Australian citizen who has published via Wikileaks evidence of US war crimes in Iraq through leaks of classified material. Wikileaks also published classified State Department diplomatic cables, CIA hacking into citizen privacy, and emails from the Democratic Party that showed tipping of the party scales unfairly toward Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary election in 2016.
What happens to Assange will be a test case in press freedoms. It will effect all journalists and their ability to disclose things governments want kept hidden, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican it doesn’t matter. At issue is not whether you like or dislike Assange and what he exposed. At issue is the media’s right to publish and the citizen’s right to know the truth.
If Julian Assange is arrested and prosecuted in the US, it will have profound consequences for Press freedoms and free speech around the world. Clearly the US is trying to silence Assange. If the government crosses the line and prosecutes media and journalists for publishing leaked material as part of a criminal conspiracy, it will be the death spiral of a free press and the right of free speech won’t be far behind. The two go together.
Speak Up Now! Do Not be Silent!
- Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org
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Dec. 7, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet — 898th week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
