Statement by Antony Loewenstein in support of Canberra Candlelight Vigil for #Assange

The fol­low­ing state­ment by me was read out last night in front of par­lia­ment house in Can­berra to sup­port Ju­lian As­sange and Wik­ileaks:

In an age of gov­ern­ment and cor­po­rate media spin, Wik­iLeaks stands tall as a unique voice of in­de­pen­dence that de­mands sup­port.

The last 10 years of the so-called “war on ter­ror” has given the world crim­i­nal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, state-sanc­tioned tor­ture and killing, Guan­tanamo Bay, se­cret pris­ons run by the US and sup­ported by Britain, Aus­tralia and oth­ers and covert bat­tles in Pak­istan, Yemen, So­ma­lia and be­yond.

Doc­u­ments re­leased by Wik­iLeaks, in­clud­ing the most re­cent De­tainee Poli­cies, un­cover the re­al­ity of this moral and legal morass. The pub­lic has the right to know what is being done in our name. As a jour­nal­ist, I com­mend Ju­lian As­sange and Wik­iLeaks for be­liev­ing that in­for­ma­tion is the key to en­light­en­ment and the main­stream media have failed us con­sis­tently in the last years. It’s no won­der so many peo­ple trust lit­tle that is pub­lished by them.

As­sange him­self re­quires strong Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tion. He faces the se­ri­ous risk of ren­di­tion to Amer­ica, a long jail-term and tor­ture. This is not be­cause he’s com­mit­ted a crime but an­other, more in­con­ve­nient fact; he’s deeply em­bar­rassed the world’s only su­per-power.
The vast ma­jor­ity of the Aus­tralian pub­lic back As­sange and be­lieve he’s en­ti­tled to be treated justly by any court of law or state.

Antony Loewen­stein is an in­de­pen­dent jour­nal­ist and au­thor: 

Antony Loewenstein