Media must speak out on Assange treatment

These are transitional times – some would even say revolutionary times. The energy sources fueling our very ways of life – whether capitalist, socialist or communist – are causing unprecedented climate changes with multiple feedback loops which, according to scientists participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released recently, could create disasters we would not be able to mitigate if not addressed within a ten year time frame.

In times like these, a free and unfettered press is especially crucial. According to Heather Wokusch in Common Dreams, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated, in Pompeo's first public speech as CIA Director in 2017, (that) “WikiLeaks is a "non-state hostile intelligence service" adding that "we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us."

"Use free speech values against us?”

In other times and circumstances Wikileaks has been praised for its dedication to publishing information crucial to informed thought and decisions everywhere.

For too long Julian Assange has been holed up in ambiguous circumstances in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, and has become the whipping boy for various factions. If he is released he faces the threat of extradition to the U.S. where a fair trial – on what charges??- is not assured. He’s not in anyone’s pocket. And that’s why his situation is so dangerous.

I would think every self-respecting news agency and publications would speak out against this travesty of justice that affects them and by extension, all of us.

Jo Hayward-Haines, Ennismore