Tag Archives: Wikileaks

NO US EXTRADITION! FREE ASSANGE NOW !

What a start of the year.

After weeks and two rounds of hearing extradition, on monday 4th 2020, district judge Vanessa Baraister rendered the verdict that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the USA… while setting a disastrous precedent endangering press freedom worldwide!

The reason invoked not to extradite Assange is that it would be unjust and oppressive to extradite him by reason of his medical condition, especially his mental condition, with a high risk of suicide should he be sent to the hell of US detention system and their Special Administrative Measures aka SAM…

Theses reasons are similar to the ones invoked in Lauri Love‘s case, which saved him from being extradited to the USA and probably saved his life too. In the case of USA vs Assange, the medical reasons were among other reasons to reject the requested extradition advanced by his defence team. Indeed, there are other very valid reasons not to extradite Assange, such as the political offence exception, blatant abuses of process in his case… as one will recall reading the defence closing submissions.

Yet Vanessa Baraister shockingly chose to dismiss them all, thus basically endorsing all of US Government toxic narratives, their preposterous and dangerous accusations against Julian Assange, his work as a journalist and WikiLeaks. This verdict is a bit as if she were saying: “I would have extradited Mr Assange to the USA so he could be prosecuted there for espionage – an unprecedented attack on journalism but hey, no problem – but unfortunately he is too weak and your prisons are actually way worse than ours, so he stays here, sorry”

Does this mean that any other journalist revealing US war crimes now or in the future, in the UK, who is healthy, not completely destroyed by years of arbitrary detention and torture, would be a good candidate for extradition and prosecution in the USA? Is that what this means? UK, you must resist harder.

So whilst we celebrate this important first step towards freedom for Assange because it is a move in the right direction, one that can save his life, we insist that he has yet to be freed, from jail, and hope that bail will be granted wednesday, and from then on freed from all prosecution. The USA must drop the charges! Sadly for now, the US prosecution intends to appeal… so, much remains to be done.

Indeed we see that this verdict has yet to transform into a victory for the freedom of the press, because at present the door is still wide open to the utter destruction of our rights to know, to speak, to choose a future. The precedent about censoring press freedom, and further disclosure of confidential information of public interest seems set already… Come on people, come on UK, put an end to this abomination!

Last but not least, we are immensely grateful to all who have been working relentlessly for years for justice, for our rights, for Assange’s life and his freedom. Every step, every stand, every shout counted. This is not over so let’s keep on keeping on, although to eat, drink and be merry is certainly a bit in order now too so we all refill our hopes and courage 🙂

To UN rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer, to the witnesses who gave their statements in court, to Sondra Crosby and all doctors who have been caring for Assange, who documented the abuse, who consistently rang the alarm and helped build the last barrier that may very well save his life, to all supporters worldwide: THANK YOU <3

Julian Assange is not the only one in jail, persecuted or killed for telling truth to power, today in the so called west and across the world.

This fight is a fight for all.

May 2021 be the year where justice prevails and persecuted, threatened, imprisoned truth-tellers, whistleblowers, journalists, activists, political prisoners, are freed.

For more information visit

>> Julian Assange extradition hearing: Disctrict Court Ruling, by Don’t Extradite Assange

>> https://challengepower.info/

>> https://defend.wikileaks.org/2021/01/05/judge-blocks-julian-assanges-extradition-on-medical-grounds/

RADIO FREE ASSANGE !

Radio Free Assange is a 24/7 radio program dedicated to ending the political persecution of Julian Assange.

Radio Free Assange is an algorithmically curated collage of sound bits found online: songs and remixes, podcasts, documentaries, speeches, protests, interviews…

It bursts with surprising soundscapes, spanning from joy to anger, in defense of uncompromising journalistic activities worldwide.

Radio Free Assange invites all people, musicians, artists, to give a voice, a song or some noise, shedding light on Assange’s situation, and contribute to ongoing efforts aiming towards his liberation.

send suggestions (including links) to this email radiofreeassange[@]protonmail.com

Tune in and take action!

[ PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT WAR CRIMES ]

Freedom for Julian Assange !

Journalism is not a crime !

Also on Soundcloud Radio Free Assange!

TAKE CARE & free ASSANGE

Hacking with Care Bootsequence

Six years ago in 2014 we created a self-care routine video we called the Bootsequence. It shows a sequence of soft simple movements to wake up, warm up, unlock, stretch, strengthen the body from head to toes. It is recommended in the morning, before physical activity (including long hours of computer work), or as an interlude, to restore some flow in the body after prolonged stillness.

We dedicated this self-care routine video to Julian Assange, journalist founder of WikiLeaks, in a gesture of care and to raise awareness about his situation, and that of other imprisoned journalists, hacktivists and whistleblowers. Indeed at the time of shooting the video, Julian Assange was a political refugee inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, living in a situation similar to arbitrary detention (as ruled by UN working group on arbitrary detention). That abuse kept intensifying over the years, seriously damaging Assange’s physical and psychological health, as assessed and documented by doctors and by UN rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer. It culminated with Assange’s arrest by UK authorities in April 2019, his imprisonment at Belmarsh, and the US charging him with espionage act offenses and requesting his extradition. In the US, Julian Assange risks more torture and 175 years in prison – for doing great journalism.

Amid the new coronavirus epidemic and with Assange still not free, we thought we’d share this self-care video again. To stay balanced and fit through the epidemic, and, with some people confined, to remember to keep moving and find structure in a routine. All the while remembering to keep fighting for Julian Assange’s freedom and safety, because his life is more than ever at risk.

Julian Assange at risk of coronavirus infection in Belmarsh prison

Still not free, weakened by a multipartite political persecution which doesn’t seem to ever end, Julian Assange is detained at Belmarsh prison in London, awaiting the second part of the extradition trial, set in May.

Meanwhile the new coronavirus infection epidemic progresses everywhere, overwhelming healthcare systems, costing lives, disrupting activities, revealing social divides, showing the damages done by human greed gone global. Many people across countries now practice social distancing and live confined to their homes to try and contain the epidemic – necessary vital precautions of course, and also, it could be argued, a compensation for their governments lack of preparedness, cynical neglect, years of dismantling of the welfare state, and self-interest of big private capital. Many people are toiling hard still, insufficiently protected.

Concerns are growing about the health and safety of the most vulnerable people including prisoners, often living in overcrowded unsanitary conditions, in the UK too.

Julian Assange is not imprisoned for any crime. His health is poorly and he even developed a chronic lung condition over the past years of his arbitrary detention. Doctors have documented this, they have warned, over and over again, that his situation is most unfair and that his life is at risk in Belmarsh prison. More than ever now that he is at risk of contracting a coronavirus infection inside these walls and die from it. Like all prisoners who pose no risk to the public he should be RELEASED NOW

Yet Judge Vanessa Baraister has refused to grant bail to Julian Assange. We join other fellow campaigners in denouncing this as an appalling, dangerous, cruel if not criminal decision.

FREE ASSANGE !

Take care and keep fighting

<3

More info + What one can do to help :

Defend WikiLeaks

Don’t extradite Assange

Challengepower.info

Sign the petition to release Assange from Belmarsh before covid-19 spreads

WikiLeaks & Assange films & videos

The UK Don’t Extradite Assange campaign has put together a list of films on WikiLeaks, Whistleblowing, Free speech + all episodes of Julian Assange Show The World Tomorrow + a selection of Julian Assange talks, categorized by topics like Media / Power / Hope.

Instructive and valuable then, instructive and valuable now.

<3

“The WikiLeaks official Don’t Extradite Assange campaign announces an online film festival – The WikiLeaks Lockdown List. Our contribution to those who are following medical advice and self-isolating due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The WikiLeaks Lockdown List contains free films and talks you can watch to learn more about WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, whistleblowing, activism and seeking justice. Share this list and support our campaign to free Julian Assange. Please take care of yourself and those around you during this time.”

> WikiLeaks lockdown list

+

NO one should die in prison, not during an epidemic, not ever

Current circumstances are very worrying

> Sign petition to release Julian Assange from Belmarsh before Covid-19 spreads

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STOP THE ABUSE. PROTECTION & CARE FOR ASSANGE

 Many facts about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were distorted, omitted, made up, or amounted to smearing, during the organization’s numerous releases campaigns, and in the legal cases their founder was involved in over the years. 
Recently, various outlets published private photographic and video materials from inside the embassy, sneaky peaks at Assange’s life inside which ought to be denounced as cruel voyeurism, not news.         
        
Indeed, M.D. Sondra S. Crosby, the doctor who examined Assange several times during his political asylum in the embassy stated, in a letter to  the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, that «the synergestic and cumulative severity of the pain and suffering inflicted on Mr. Assange—both physical and psychological—is in violation of the 1984 Convention Against Torture, Article 1 and Article 16. ». She believes « the psychological, physical, and social sequelae will be long lasting and severe ». Doctor Sean Love, who also examined Assange, concurs. He wrote last year that « Assange’s detention continues to cause a precipitous deterioration in his overall condition and amounts to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment». The First in-depth assessments of the psychological and physical effects that the severely restrictive conditions of confinement within the Embassy have had on Assange date back from 2015. So yes, watching pale prisoner Assange skateboard after hours, trying to stay fit inside the walls of his arbitrary detention is cruel voyeurism, it is not newsworthy at all. Worse even, it comes in the context of a criminal extortion scheme, where possessors of the materials tried to extort millions from Assange. This was revealed in a press conference by WikiLeaks and is the subject of a police investigation in Spain.         
        
Not only did Julian Assange suffer greatly from confinement and intense stress during his political asylum, his privacy inside the embassy was not respected. His alone time, as well as visits and interviews with friends, family, and even lawyers and doctors, were spied upon and recorded.         
        
This privacy breach – and following that breach, the publication of private materials by media – appears to be the continuation by other means of the abuse of an already vulnerable and weakened person, a political refugee what’s more, and a serious matter. Not only a matter of privacy, also a matter of « attorney-client confidentiality, a matter of journalistic freedom and protection of sources », as noted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy, who is investigating the case and visited Assange in Belmarsh prison.
        
As for the « arbitrary detention » of Julian Assange, it is also a matter that was investigated by the UN, may we recall once more, it is not a figure of speech. It is the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Julian Assange’s years inside the embassy were indeed years of arbitrary detention, as they carefully deliberated in 2015-16 : 
        
«The Working Group considered that Mr. Assange has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth prison which was followed by house arrest and his confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy. Having concluded that there was a continuous deprivation of liberty, the Working Group also found that the detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange. The Working Group found that this detention is in violation of Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 7, 9(1), 9(3), 9(4), 10 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and falls within category III as defined in its Methods of Work. »7
        
In passing, we note that the observed «Lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange» has not been much reported on since Julian Assange exerted his right to political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy. One could argue such “lack of diligence” did not serve well any of the parties involved, neither the women nor Assange, but the states involved, who cared more about neutralizing Assange than they did about justice. For clarification and reflection about the alleged rape and molestation case involving Assange and two women in Sweden in 2010, there are good reads, such as the works of Stefania Maurizi, John Pilger, and more recently Jim Kavanagh
        
Now Julian Assange’s fear of a sealed indictment in the USA and of an extradition request from the US has been confirmed, in the hours after he was handed over by Lenin Moreno’s Ecuador to the UK Metropolitan Police that gloomy morning of April 2019. He faces years in a maximum security jail, unfair trial, further cruel treatments, or death. 
It is urgent to fight for his rights, his life, and with him and WikiLeaks for the freedom of the press. Ultimately, for the rights of everyone to live in a hospitable world, where compassion, altruism, courage are key, knowledge circulates in the hands of the people, powers are held in check, and history is no more a story written only by the “winners”.
Because that is what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks stand for, what their work has done, enabled, inspired, what we should be grateful for and fight to protect.
UK and everyone must resist !
NO US EXTRADITION FOR ASSANGE, EVER, FROM ANYWHERE
JULIAN ASSANGE MUST BE PROTECTED AND GET THE CARE HE NEEDS         
    
Much strength and continued courage to Julian Assange
Stay strong !
We are standing with you
freeAnoUSxtrad

PROTECT ASSANGE !

JULIAN

Julian Assange was arrested today by UK police inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he had a been a political refugee since 2012.

He did not “walk out”. In fact, he was carried out by Police.

Ecuador terminated his asylum right in violation of international law.

Let’s fight for Julian Assange’s rights, his life, and with him and Wikileaks for the freedom of the press, and ultimately, for the rights of everyone to live in a hospitable world, where compassion, altruism, courage are key, knowledge circulates in the hands of the people, powers are held in check, and history is no more a story written only by the “winners”.

Because that is what Julian Assange and Wikileaks stand for, what their work has done/enabled/inspired, what we should be grateful for and fight to protect.

UK and everyone must resist !

NO US EXTRADITION FOR ASSANGE, a political refugee, journalist primed with dozens of awards, nominated for the Nobel prize every year since 2010.

https://defend.wikileaks.org/

PS to everyone who has until then showed reserve in supporting Julian Assange an Wikileaks :

Do not fall and do not let anyone around you fall anymore for the vicious lies and smears that have been going on for years now, looking to delegitimize Assange and WL, and to divert attention from the numerous engineered failures of Justice/ lack of due process in the multiple cases (or absence of thereof) he has been entangled in. Do not get confused: There is the discussion you might want to have about Assange and Wikileaks (the vision, the “motives”, the politics, the style of journalism etc.) and there is the ACTUAL POSSIBILITY of you and others everywhere around the globe even HAVING these conversations, that is, a world where we can be informed, think, have divergent views, write and publish etc. Also, for those of you who do feel concerned about the world but can’t quite get what that “white dude Assange is about”,  bear in mind that social justice fights are not mutually exclusive, that WL even has what could be understood as a meta approach to social justice, empowering many, and that for the causes and people which you do fight for and whom you do care about there is probably a way somehow somewhere WL helped or inspired (have a look here https://wikileaks.org/10years/)

FREE CHELSEA and DROP IT ALREADY

h7-manning

chelseaagain

USA  2019 : Chelsea Manning was jailed again after refusing to testify over her 2010 disclosures to a secret grand jury investigating Wikileaks. She is to remain in jail until she agrees to testify—or until the grand jury wraps up its work… How about they DROP IT already ?! USA 2019, where  a whistleblower / alleged source is being coerced to testify against journalists, who are being criminalized for speaking truth to power. Disgusting yes, and dangerous.

Chelsea has a strong spine but she will need support, we can contribute to her legal funds to help her resist this secret grand jury abomination. And may her courage, and her type of Contempt, be contagious.

THANK YOU CHELSEA

LOVE & SUPPORT

<3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3

Fight For the Future call for immediate release

Chelsea Manning Twitter (run by friends and volunteers until Chelsea is released from jail)

About how and where to write to Chelsea in jail, see this thread

Background on + Support for, Wikileaks : https://defend.wikileaks.org/

A breath of fresh Justice for Assange !

To-The-Indicter-article-5-Feb-2016-Assange-UNWAD-AFP

“The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that Julian Assange is being arbitrarily and unlawfully detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom; and that he must be immediately released and compensated. More”

>> Justice for Assange

>> Freeing Julian Assange: The last chapter, by John Pilger (+ em Portugues : O preso politico que expoe o Imperio)

>> Julian Assange: What happens to your body when you are indoors for three years ? Kashmira Gander

From AI WEIWEI with LOVE

ai

Today AI WEIWEI shuts down his exhibition in Copenhagen in protest at a new law that allows authorities to steal asylum seekers’ valuables as they enter Denmark. Meanwhile, those who couldn’t make it to his great exhibition in the Royal Academy of arts in London can now enjoy a full 360 visit of the show online – Julian Assange, for example, fellow political dissident and refugee still trapped inside the Ecuadorian embassy not far after years of a really stinky legal deadlock, is grateful and has a little foreword to share (check how he says hello).

The Wikileaks Files

wikileaksfiles

The Wikileaks Files, The World according to US Empire (Verso books) is out !! Julian Assange’s Introduction HERE. 

“The WikiLeaks Files presents expert analysis on the most important cables and outlines their historical importance. In a series of chapters dedicated to the various regions of the world, the book explores the machinations of the United States as it imposes its agenda on other nations: a new form of imperialism founded on varied tactics from torture to military action, to trade deals and “soft power,” in the perpetual pursuit of expanding influence. It illustrates the close relationship between government and big business in promoting US trade.”

Wikileaks release: TPP Transparency Chapter Healthcare Annex + Expert analysis

Capture d’écran 2015-06-10 à 21.24.30

 

“Today, Wednesday 10 June 2015, WikiLeaks publishes the Healthcare Annex to the secret draft “Transparency” Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), along with each country’s negotiating position. The Healthcare Annex seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.

Expert policy analysis, published by WikiLeaks today, shows that the Annex appears to be designed to cripple New Zealand’s strong public healthcare programme and to inhibit the adoption of similar programmes in developing countries. The Annex will also tie the hands of the US Congress in its ability to pursue reforms of the Medicare programme.

>> WIKILEAKS FULL PRESS RELEASE with expert analysis

See also

>> Public Citizen Statement and Public Citizen Analysis

 

COURAGE for Matt DeHart

“Matt DeHart is a 30-year-old former US Air National Guard drone team member and alleged WikiLeaks courier, who worked with the hacktivist group Anonymous. After becoming the subject of a national security investigation — and allegations relating to a teenage pornography case which he vehemently denies — he fled from the United States to Canada with his family to seek political asylum and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. In what represents a moral victory for the DeHart family, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board judge found that the teenage pornography case against Matt lacked credibility. However, because the IRB considered that the United States still had a functioning democracy, they denied his claim, and on 1 March, 2015 Matt DeHart was handed over into US federal custody.”

>> Information and support for Matt DeHart with COURAGE foundation, who named him their third beneficiary yesterday

Swedish Doctors For Human Rights

“Our aim is to contribute to the international Human Rights movement based on our research and professional experience in the health sciences. Health concerns are an important area in the HR-international mission that has, unfortunately, been neglected as primary focus by most of established HR NGOs. We have chosen to undertake this endeavour from an independent platform, as a new established organization independent from government or partisan-politic interests. We act upon the basis of the UN chart of human rights and the ethical norms of the World Medical Association. We seek no sponsoring from any institution. We are totally independent from government, and we will not receive any financial support from governmental or corporative entities.”

SWEDISH DOCTORS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 

Sobre o papel histórico de Wikileaks

Julian Assange em entrevista com ZH 

“Nossas publicações de 2010 se tornaram a base para numerosas ações judiciais por vítimas de crimes e abusos de guerra pelos Estados Unidos, do Tribunal Europeu de Direitos Humanos aos tribunais britânicos, ao Tribunal Internacional Criminal para a ex-Iugoslávia e ao Tribunal Penal Internacional. Só isso é “mudança” – mudança muito real para pessoas reais, que eram incapazes de levar seus casos à justiça e fazer sua defesa, e agora o são. E há o grande número de grupos de direitos humanos e organizações da sociedade civil para os quais nossas publicações fizeram uma grande diferença. Grupos como Iraq Body Count (Contagem de Corpos no Iraque), que pôde usar nossos War Logs para calcular o verdadeiro número de mortos na Guerra do Iraque, ou Public Interest Lawyers, que foi capaz de usar os documentos como fonte para seus clientes em casos de prisão e tortura. Redes de ativistas de direitos autorais como La Quadrature du Net, que usou nossos despachos para investigar a utilização de lobbies corporativos secretos para introduzir restrições ao comércio e impor leis favoráveis aos Estados Unidos. Jornalistas investigativos como o Bureau de Jornalismo Investigativo, que usou nossos materiais para reconstruir a narrativa de sérios abusos contra os direitos humanos.”

Qual foi o impacto histórico do WikiLeaks até agora? 
Nossas publicações também mudaram a forma como o jornalismo é feito. Antes do WikiLeaks, não havia precedente real para trabalho em larga escala com bases de dados. Desde que começamos a fazer isso, outros nos copiaram. Não havia precedente de amplas colaborações jornalísticas de interesse público entre jornais comerciais concorrentes. Demos início a isso, e outros estão fazendo o mesmo agora. Antes do WikiLeaks, ninguém dava importância a informações de segurança para jornalistas, ninguém pensava em usar criptografia para facilitar grandes vazamentos de fontes públicas. Agora essa é a única opção disponível. Mostramos o caminho para se fazer isso, e agora, como consequência também das revelações de Edward Snowden, que se apoiam nos avanços que possibilitamos, jornalistas estão levando isso a sério. Isso é um mar de mudança na cultura do jornalismo. Colocando um grande corpo de correspondência diplomática em domínio público, o Despachogate e suas sequelas elevaram o nível de alfabetização política para nossa geração. Nos últimos quatro anos, jornais de todo o mundo têm usado diariamente nossos materiais para apoiar suas apurações e noticiar suas consequências, em vez de correr para os analistas oficialistas. Essa é uma grande mudança em como nossa civilização entende suas circunstâncias históricas, e pode-se esperar que produza mudanças em cascata no futuro. Há também a imensurável, mas previsível consequência de nossas publicações, que é o fato de, depois das publicações, funcionários do governo americano saberem agora que cada palavra que escrevem pode um dia se tornar pública. Esse é um forte desestímulo contra os tipos de abusos sobre os quais podemos ler em seus despachos. Eles agora sabem que o segredo não vai proteger quem age de forma indevida. Essa é uma grande mudança, porque funciona como uma checagem da conduta dos burocratas do poder americano. E essas são apenas algumas das grandes mudanças. Mas há também aquelas mais particulares. Muitas pessoas argumentaram que nosso trabalho produziu mudanças muito concretas no mundo. Por exemplo, a Anistia Internacional e a BBC disseram que nosso trabalho contribuiu para o início da Primavera Árabe, porque nossas publicações foram uma causa das manifestações no final de dezembro de 2010 na Tunísia, quando a revolução começou. Os detalhes completos disso são dados no meu livro, mas muitos na revolução tunisiana, e mesmo um ex-ministro no governo de Ben Ali, disseram que nossas publicações “quebraram a espinha do sistema de Ben Ali”. Esses acontecimentos contribuíram para grandes mudanças históricas, nas quais outras forças intervieram, e desde então houve mudanças em cascata em todo o mundo. Nem toda mudança foi boa, mas uma parte foi boa. Isso é mudança?”

Julian Assange 1527 days detention without charges

Screenshot from 2015-02-11 22:05:21

At a recent press conference in Geneva, lawyer Melinda Taylor – sitting together with Baltasar Garzon, head of Assange’s defense team, journalists Sarah Harrison and Kristinn Hrafnsson of Wikileaks – explained how Julian Assange is, in view of the law, effectively detained inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and not a free man willingly imposing himself a detention to avoid questioning on alleged sex offences in Sweden. The threats, very real, are with the US… Sweden and the UK play significant roles in immobilizing Assange… What choice has a man surrounded by a moat with crocodiles, but to stay longer in the castle where he was granted asylum until this right is no longer obstructed and he can fully enjoy it ?

Screenshot from 2015-02-08 12:15:29

Julian Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador two and a half years ago, not to escape Swedish justice but as protection against political persecution and threats to his life emanating from the US. The US are building an “espionage case” against him and the organization, and public figures there have openly called for Assange’s assassination. Unjust, cruel treatments would be most likely, as we can imagine from Manning’s case and from US practices.

The investigation into him and Wikileaks was confirmed again recently with the revelations that Google has had to hand over to the FBI personal emails and metadata of 3 staffers (see Wikileaks editorial).

Julian Assange, Wikileaks staff and Wikileaks supporters, “the Wikileaks human network”, have indeed long been the targets of an arsenal of strategies essentially devised by the US and its allies to prevent them, and the likes of them now and to come, from publishing troves of truths shedding light on obscure wrongdoings worldwide. Snowden documents have proved this for a fact.

In the same time of the probe into Wikileaks, the alleged sex offences case brought against Assange in Sweden has had him deprived of liberties for over four years, despite still being at a preliminary investigation stage, with Assange not charged with any crime, certainly not rape which he is not even accused of (except by calumniators), nothing, and not trying to escape Swedish justice, contrary to what bad medias have been spinning.

Obviously, Assange’s past 967 dark days stuck inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, and still counting, are the second wave consequence of the multi parties legal struggle  evolved into a deadlock, where Sweden plays the lead stalling role and the UK the watchdogs, and where Assange’s right to asylum granted by Ecuador is obstructed.

Indeed, Sweden is still not giving guarantees that Assange would not be extradited to the US should he travel to Sweden for the investigation, and the prosecution is still unwilling to opt for alternative modes of questioning, like coming to the Embassy themselves. Severely criticized by human rights organizations and the UN, Sweden has recently, by word of a representative, stated that it sees no issues in indefinite detention without charges, confirming that it has, in the words of Assange, “imported Guantanamo’s most shameful legal practice “(see Wikileaks editorial).

Meanwhile the UK, who in the past, has threatened Ecuador to raid their embassy to grab Assange, still refuses him safe-passage to his host country. The Met Police has spent over 10 million tax payers pounds, admittedly sucking their resources, to have their “crocodiles” in place at all times guarding the building in London, ready to arrest and extradite Assange should he set foot outside. The siege has been described by John Pilger as a farce, no less.

An affront to human rights, their seekers and their defenders, and a disgrace to British legendary sense of humour – to say the least – the BBC produced and now airs, a TV “comedy” show called Asylum, in which “a whistleblower and an internet pirate find themselves trapped together under the threat of extradition in the London embassy of a fictional Latin American country.” Seriously ? It should be noted that a writer of this show has called for Assange assassination by the Met Police on Twitter. PUKE, to say the least.

As Assange spends more time deprived from liberties and sunshine, cut from his family, we worry about his health.

Right now despite the tremendous pressures, Assange is well alive and so is Wikileaks, operational, as proven by their continuing publications and brave actions, notably orchestrating NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s rescue from Hong Kong, in which journalist Sarah Harrison certainly didn’t lack Courage.

We should not be discouraged either and show support by our means as Wikileaks, Assange and his team stand among those at the avant-posts of the freedom of the press, which they firmly and innovatively defend. Their fate, the outcome of their struggles, is determinant for the fate of investigative journalism, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, knowledge of the world we live in, the fate of people.

heart1_hourglass1-01

 

 

 

Boot Sequence

Here is a video tutorial for day-to-day self-care: a “boot sequence” of movements to wake up, warm up, unlock, stretch, strengthen. Recommended in the morning, before physical activity, or to restore some flow after prolonged stillness.
Dedicated to the many courageous people striving for a good fair world.
May this help you take care and stay strong <3
Special dedication to Julian Assange of Wikileaks.

—————————————————

Julian Assange is the founder and editor in chief of Wikileaks.

The publication by Wikileaks of US diplomatic cables and the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs in 2010, exposing US wrong doings and crimes to the public, has brought considerable heat on him and the organization.

In 2012 Assange entered the embassy of Ecuador in London asking for asylum, which he was granted in protection against the political persecution and threats to his life coming from the USA. Indeed in the USA, a secret grand jury is investigating him and Wikileaks, and public figures have called for his assassination, meaning exceptional (illegal?) law and bad treatments most probably await him there (see how Manning was treated).

Contrary to what medias are spinning, Assange is not trying to escape justice in Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning (and not charged) in relation to alleged sexual offenses. Only Sweden is not giving guarantees he would not be extradited to the USA should he travel there for the investigation, nor is the Swedish prosecution accepting alternatives proposed by Assange’s legal team – among other dubious bizarreries in this case.

Meanwhile, the UK keeps the Ecuadorian embassy under constant police watch, refuses Assange safe-passage to his host country, ready to arrest and extradite him to Sweden should he set foot outside.

Consequently Assange has not been able to leave the building and see daylight in over two years, a situation effectively equivalent to pre-charge detention and a violation of his rights denounced by 59 international organizations.

More info and support : 

“The siege of Julian Assange is a farce”, John Pilger

“We are Women Against Rape but we do not want Assange extradited”, Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff

This day in Wikileaks 

Free Assange Now 

justice4assange

 

 

 

Para Além do Big Brother @Lisbon & Estoril Film Fest. 14-16 Nov.

VIVA ! Este fim-de-semana, o simpósio a não perder do festival de Estoril : Três dias de discussões e projecções sobre a vigilância de massas (incluído a projecção do CITIZENFOUR de Laura Poitras em sua presença) e participantes como o advogado Baltasar Garzòn, Jacob Appelbaum (TOR), Julian Assange (Wikileaks), fundadores de La Quadrature du Net Jeremie Zimmerman, Philippe Aigrain, entre outros. FORÇA !

The Patent Pathology (TPP)

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Wikileaks renders public health a vital service and releases UPDATED SECRET TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPP) – IP CHAPTER (2nd Publication), an economic agreement secretly in the making which would have terrible implications on access to medicine if adopted. 

“Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators’ meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October.

Despite the wide-ranging effects on the global population, the TPP is currently being negotiated in total secrecy by 12 countries. Few people, even within the negotiating countries’ governments, have access to the full text of the draft agreement and the public, who it will affect most, none at all. Large corporations, however, are able to see portions of the text, generating a powerful lobby to effect changes on behalf of these groups and bringing developing country members reduced force, while the public at large gets no say. Read the full press release here. ”

See also Julian Assange and Sarah Harrison’ editorial : 

US and JAPAN LEAD ATTACK ON AFFORDABLE CANCER TREATMENTS 

“Despite claims from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) states that a final agreement would be reached by the start of this year, the publication of the draft IP Chapter led to a backlash – no agreement was realised, country alignments have altered and negotiations continue. However, US negotiators have made a counter-attack. The latest leaked version of the draft text shows the United States pushing for measures that would significantly constrain affordable access to vital generic drugs, such as cancer drugs and treatments for communicable diseases such as Ebola. Continue reading here

And also PUBLIC CITIZEN Analyses of the newly leaked IP chapter

 

 

 

Protein synthesis danced

“Only rarely is there an opportunity to participate in a molecular happening. You’re going to have that opportunity, for this film attempts to portray symbolically yet in a dynamic and joyful way one of nature’s fundamental processes: The linking together of amino acids to form a protein”.

This is Protein synthesis: an epic on the cellular level, from Stanford department of chemistry, 1971.

Watch the Ribosomes, “depicted in the film as tumbling, rolling, clusters of bodies, amorphous by themselves but organized and structured when in the act of translating a message”

This little gift was found reading WHEN GOOGLE MET WIKILEAKS, by Julian Assange.

ONE of the many gems with which his interview with Google’s Eric Schmidt & crew is paved, including the fantastic footnotes. Educational, empowering, curious, challenging, frightening but also invigorating and heart-warming… BRILLIANT, and not only for tech experts.

To paraphrase JA last words in ” The banality of ‘don’t be evil’ : “ WGMW is “essential reading for anyone caught up in the struggle for the future, in view in one simple imperative: KNOW YOUR FRIENDS

Feeling grateful 🙂

“Calibration of feeling”

Julian Assange on emotions as body states, cultivation of character, passion, and purpose. From the archive of his Interesting Question, IQ.org.

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Tue 12 Dec 2006 : Calibration of feeling

Words have no power to change except when there’s a fork in the road with equally attractive paths.

In your position, I’d take a deep book, a backpack of food and a tent and go walking for three months along the.au or .nz coast. You need to recalibrate your emotions through recalibrating your body. Emotions are body states. The mind can not be strong without strength in its relation to the body. ‘Whatever’ is then quickly answered; wake with the sun, take the next step, eat the next bite and behold people and chairs become a delight. It’s hard for you to see this now, since future visions are colored with present emotional responses. But these emotional responses are just another part of your flesh, built from the integration of your neurons and body. It’s material, stuff, like muscle, constructed from last weeks potatoes and environmental stimulus. You can strengthen your will through overcoming physical hardship.

The natural environment provides man with ready motivational gradients, but civilization has filled them in. Hyper-civilized influences, such as computing, artificial lights, drugs, films, instant food supply, telephones and reading decalibrate by disconnecting behavior and reward and failing to provide the sense data that our biological mental and physical structures have evolved to require.

There’s little difference between a mouse exploring a new maze or a scientist realizing the greatest intellectual act of the age. Both are motivated by the same primitive brain regions that control feelings.

‘The point’ comes when feelings demand it. It can only be rationalized from the axioms of primitive emotion. If these axioms are weak due to decalibration by civilization, ‘the point’ eludes us. If they are strong, we pursue our goals with passion and vigor.

Sat 16 Jun 2007 : Everyone and no one wants to save the world

When the world extended to one’s surrounding hills and mountains and over them was only legend, saving the world was approchable and a natural activity to all of independent character.

You do not need to justify the possession of these noble instincts. Such attributes are normally distributed. You have a constellation of these attributes and that makes you who you are. Recognise that the substantial ones are invariant.

You must satisfy your invariant instincts or you will be at odds with your own character. It is only when we are not at odds with our basic makeup that we can find life meaningful.

To exercise your instinct for saving the world, requires saving what you perceive to be the world.

Being modern, educated and wordly, the world you perceive is immense and this is disempowering compared to the valley world of your ancestors where your feelings were forged and where saving 10 people saved 10% of the “world”‘s population.

Here lays the difficulty in actualising your character. Your perception is of a world so vast that that you can not envisage your actions making a meaningful difference.

People try to fool themselves and others into believing that one can “think globally and act locally’, however to anyone with a sense of proportion (not most people, btw) thinking globaly makes acting locally seem to be a marginal activity. It’s not setting the world to rights.

To meaningfully interact with the world, you have to either constrain your perception of what it is back to valley proportions by eschewing all global information (most of us here have engaged on just the opposite course which is what has provoked this discussion), losing your sense of perspective, or start seriously engaging with the modern perception of the world.

That latter path can be hard to find, because it is only satisfied by creating ideas or inventions that have a global impact. Perhaps I have found one, and there’s others out there, but for most people of your character a combination of eschewing knowledge of those parts of the world they can’t change, and robust engagement with the parts they can is probably optimal.

Do not be concerned about when one is to do good, who defines good, etc. Act in the way you do because to do otherwise would to be at odds would to be at odds with yourself. Being on a path true to your character carries with it a state of flow, where the thoughts about your next step come upon waking, unbidden, but welcome.

I support similarly minded people, not because they are moral agents, but because they have common cause with my own feelings and dreams.

Tue 18 Jul 2006 : Laughter

Laughter is fear and relief. Fear is all around. Every step is conditioned by the fear of falling. It is the relief from primitive anxiety and alarm responses that give rise to laughter. The release of the breath that wasn’t needed. That sudden surprise rendered harmless by higher perception. Wonder, when accompanied by the expression of laughter is the unknown and fearful transformed. A transformation by subconscious brain functions typically of sub second duration. A transformation that takes the unknown and therefore possibly lethal and yields up the unknown and harmless to observe. Something to be explored, understood and remembered by wide eyed curiosity. Those eyes wide to suck in the world and a memory hungry for its details. A psychological and physiological stance that makes the unknown known. A state of maximal observational learning. 

  

Search Inside Yourself (mind GOOGLE)

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Google has mindfulness meditation courses for its employees (so do/did the military and Monsanto). The program, called Search Inside Yourself, focuses on attention training, self-discovery, self-mastery, and the creation of useful mental habits. The objectives are personal, inter and trans-personal, which include better efficiency, resiliency, innovation, vision, peace & like in the workplace and of course in business, and ultimately… World peace ?

Never-mind if meanwhile outside of Google, San Francisco residents rather suffer from the “growth”, and – while in the Silicon Valley – never-mind the mindfulness, happiness, and well being of the people mining coltan in the DRC, or the people assembling iPhones at the infamous Foxconn sweatshops (in what some call Buddha Abuses).

The head of the program, Chade Meng Tan, portrayed in this Guardian article, has these words : “Also if you treat everybody with kindness, they’ll like you even if they don’t really know why. And if they like you, they want to help you succeed. So it’s good for your soul and it’s good for your career.”

No doubt the skills can come in handy for a variety of individuals and groups with a variety of agendas and understanding of the word “kindness” (does it also sound like some PSYOP art of deception ?).

Chade Meng Tan compiled his teachings in a book, so that the outside world wouldn’t be left out. It is called Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace)

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, says about the book :

“This book and the course it’s based on represent one of the greatest aspects of Google’s culture—that one individual with a great idea can really change the world”

Oh really ?!

In 2011, Eric Schmidt met with Julian Assange, Wikileaks’ founder and editor in chief, to discuss the “New Digital Age”, which would later become a book written by Schmidt (the transcript of their meeting is here). When the book was published, Julian Assange gave his opinion about it in the New York Times in June 2013, in an article very well titled The Banality of “Don’t be Evil”.

Soon, a new book by Julian Assange will be out : When Google met Wikileaks, about the encounter, and in which Assange will expose his understanding of “Google’s culture”and his vision of the future of the Internet. The publisher OR Books says the book will include his proposal for “a radical overhaul of the naming structure of the internet, one which would revolutionise the way information is accessed”

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In the meantime, for an overview / reminder of what else “mindful” Google is up to, check the related timeline on the TerminatorStudies news archive. Nothing to relax about.

 

Journalists Sarah Harrison and Alexa O’Brien @ re:publica 14

SARAH HARRISON, who, on top of her great work with Wikileaks as an investigative journalist and legal researcher, has provided whistleblower Edward Snowden with some ultimate form of care last year, from Hong-Kong to his asylum in Russia,

and ALEXA O’BRIEN, the journalist to whom the world owes an extensive searchable archive of the only available transcripts of WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning’s closed trial,

together put a few facts straight about Wikileaks, Manning and Snowden in their conversation @ re:publica 14.

Watch it HERE.

Big Doctor will care ?! Privacy for the weak !

The possibilities and dangers -closing in on us- of “pseudonymized” health records central databases, with police backdoors, scientists, insurers, and other third parties authorized to mine the “care.data” are exposed in this guardian article “Police will have backdoor access to health records despite opt-out”, by Randeep Ramesh.

This puts into light an architecture of biopower (as conceptualized by french philosopher Michel Foucault) where control over people’s destinies can technically and easily be exerted via the subjugation of their own bodies.

Let’s not forget that today, people’s personal health informations ALREADY are used against them and negatively affect their fundamental freedoms, for example of movement and/or economic interaction, whether it is a matter of crossing a border when you’re HIV+ and/or getting/keeping a job when you’re a smoker.

Overall it is a particularly aching reminder of the importance of protecting the personal data of the weak, in that it concerns the very place where people are the most vulnerable (that’s when we go to a doctor, right?), and a place that is still considered a safety and confidentiality haven – with privacy being a component of good care.

“PRIVACY FOR THE WEAK, TRANSPARENCY FOR THE POWERFUL”

as advocated and enabled by Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange,

really sounds like the right line.

Extract:

Phil Booth of medConfidential, which campaigns on medical privacy, told the Guardian: “This is precisely the danger when you create a giant database of highly sensitive information about people – all sorts of other people want to go rifling through it, including the government.” There’s always another good reason to go digging, but no one thinks of the catastrophic breach of trust this represents.”

“The lack of independent oversight and transparency is what’s most worrying. People trust their GP, but who’s heard of the Health and Social Care Information Centre or the four people who sign off on access to all our medical records?”