I’m with Peter Tatchell in supporting WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, who are exposing the U.S. government’s lies and its support for human rights abuses. Tatchell wants Brits to protest the U.S.-led attacks on WikiLeaks and argues that the charges against Assange have to be pursued in the court of law. Where I disagree is in estimating the probability of a frameup, and I think comparison with Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers supports my case.
Glenn Greenwald’s updates about the anti-Assange and WikiLeaks frenzy being fed by liberal media outlets, like the NY Times and NPR, expose the government-media collusion in doing away with WikiLeaks – and Assange. Greenwald’s posts show why comparison between treatment of Daniel Ellsberg and Assange has to take into account a terrifying change in the political climate. After Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers, the US government launched a media campaign to portray him as mentally unstable and thereby discredit him and the information he made public. The liberal media defended Ellsberg. Timidly, reluctantly, to be sure, but nonetheless the NY Times stood up to the government’s bashing of Ellsberg and the argument that he was a murderous traitor.
Greenwald’s email exchange with Todd Gitlin exposes the political rape, a gangbang of the media and government, liberals and conservatives alike… against WikiLeaks. Confronted with the falseness of their charge that WikiLeaks has endangered people, contemporary liberals, like Gitlin, rise to their full moral stature as pygmies* and press for pursuing the war against WikiLeaks.
I concur with Tatchell that the rape charges against Assange have to be pursued to provide legal redress for the women who have charged Assange with this crime. But I think we should assume that Assange is being framed and contribute to his personal defense fund. An imperial mindset gives whomever resides in the White House (regardless of whether it’s a Democrat or Republican) the “responsibility” to do what’s necessary to safeguard what are cast as our nation’s interests. In fact, what is being protected is U.S. capitalism’s global hegemony.
Bravo to Glenn Greenwald, Operation Payback and the Anonymous hacktivists, for their non-violent resistance to U.S.government-led censorship!. There’s a political rape occurring – a gangbang of the media and government, liberals and conservatives alike… against WikiLeaks. I signed the online petition in support of WikiLeaks and Assange and have contributed financially. I encourage NP readers to do likewise.
* Wasn’t “moral pygmies” Pauline Kael’s apt phrase to describe pornographers battling censorship of “Last Tango in Paris”?
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