Can We Stop This Nonsense About "Assange the Martyr"?


Julian Assange has won a reprieve from efforts to extradite him to face charges in the United States.

For many on the left, Assange is a great martyr, a defender of free speech and a champion of press freedom. I think that's a load of crap.

I could give you my clumsy take on Julian Assange but I'll defer to Marcy Wheeler, a.k.a. "Emptywheel."


Comments

  1. TrailblazerJanuary 4, 2021 at 6:59 PM

    We have to decide if or not Assange added to the political debate.
    Assange only did what many publications before had done in that the suppliers of his information exposed certain unpalatable facts or fiction.
    Assange was not a spy! why treat him s such?
    The theatrics around Assanges and self imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy led to his near inanity.
    FFS, we here in the West cannot even tolerate a medical lock down with Covid without crying out mental hardships!
    Give the guy a break.
    He deserves no less.

    TB


    ReplyDelete
  2. Northern PoVJanuary 5, 2021 at 7:38 AM

    Assange. Snowden and Manning

    Three different cases but all deserving of our respect, praise ... and help.

    Or .. just throw the owners & editors of the NYT & WAPO & Guardian in jail, for consistency.

    Do you respect Dan Ellsberg or Noam Chomsky?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWYIygghkok&feature=emb_logo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibJanuary 5, 2021 at 8:18 AM

      I'm not going to debate this, NPoV, but I don't consider Assange in the same company as Snowden or Manning much less Daniel Ellsberg. As I said to TB, you're entitled to your opinion. I don't share it.

      Delete
    2. Northern PoVJanuary 5, 2021 at 8:53 AM

      I am comfortable here beside TB, Noam and Dan. ;-)

      Delete
  3. lungtaJanuary 5, 2021 at 9:47 AM

    Being a heretic usually puts you in some pretty good company.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bill MalcolmJanuary 5, 2021 at 3:05 PM

    What you mean to say presumably is that you personally are fed up with the Assange case, and haven't been bothered to keep up. Ergo, we should all agree with you. Forget the principles, it's boring old news. I cannot think of any other reason why you'd be so dismissive.

    Count me out of your enervated mindset. The link you posted is a complete load of cobblers, by the way, a champion way to be misinformed.

    Those who couldn't be assed to follow the British extradition court case, follow the specious US arguments and more than reasonable rebuttals by learned UK defence barristers, didn't watch Assange stuck in a glass cage like Adolf Eichmann and unable to hear much of what was said, lolling in bad health, on "trial" in what can only be described as a kangaroo court showing off the plutocracy's disdain for dirty little whistleblower journalists clogging up the courts, with the aberrant conduct of a judge herself well-placed in the establishment along with her hubby, well, join the dope who is the chief editor at the Grauniad, one Jonathan Freedland. He couldn't be assed to send a journo to cover the case either, and has been biting Assange's ass off for no reason for eight years now. I have no respect for him whatsoever.

    The Guradian first published the Wikileaks dump which Assange is effectively on trial for (even though this was an extradition hearing) as a scoop without his permission, for which Freedland took credit. He had already chased off in previous years the journalists like Jonathan Cook and those now publishing Off-Guardian. No progressive journos allowed, thanks very much. And oh by the way, innocuous Corbyn is a vicious anti-Semite, so there, postulates the mighty Freedland. The Guardian of yore has fallen to the demands of the aristos, and shows only occasional flashes of its former self. Monbiot self-censors on Assange and won't respond to questions on the matter.

    So yeah, if you're bored and don't give a fig about Assage, hell, why pay any attention? It's all such a big yawn.

    I don't care that you don't agree, you're hardly the definitive word on the matter, and apparently unfamiliar with the details. So just another uninformed opinion from a commentator I normally regard as reasonably well-read. I derived no insight whatsoever from this blogpost. Quite disappointing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. TrailblazerJanuary 5, 2021 at 4:58 PM

    I remember a certain whistle blower by the name of Saddam Hussein who's trial was held in secret lest he expose his dealing with the USA!
    He was found guilty and hung until his head separated from is body!

    TB

    ReplyDelete
  6. Northern PoVJanuary 6, 2021 at 6:37 AM

    Thank you Bill Malcolm for having the patience I lack.

    ReplyDelete

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