2011-11-01 Join the Wikicitizens' protest against wars for the 1% on Nov 17

Sydney Stop the War Coalition is organizing a bus trip to Canberra on Thursday November 17 when US President Barack Obama will address the Australian Parliament.

The visit – his first to Australia as President – marks the 60th anniversary of the Australian-US war alliance. Bipartisan Australian governmental support for this war alliance has meant that Australia has been the US' “deputy sheriff” in the Asia-Pacific region, and beyond.

This has entrenched a bipartisan sycophancy which has included sending Australian troops to join wars for oil - Iraq - and other natural resources and political leverage –Afghanistan.

Australian governments are therefore not only complicit in the deaths of Australian soldiers, but of countless civilians. This bipartisanship has also led to complicity in the rendition of Australian citizens.Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other president, with Australia
compliance.

In the case of Bradley Manning, the US Army is preparing a pretrial hearing which will disclose the details of the government case against him. This case has been unfairly prejudiced by Obama’s public statement that “he broke the law”. As this case accelerates, Obama’s visit provides an opportune time to call for Bradley Manning to be released.

Julian Assange will face judgement on November 2. Should the outcome not be
favourable, he is in danger of eventual extradition to the United States, due to a legal device known as Temporary Surrender. In the event of a good outcome, Assange's visa is about to expire and, due to the US government’s financial block, Wikileaks is in jeopardy. In deference to the United States, the Australian government has given scant protection to one of its citizens.

Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and Wikileaks need the support of the Wikicitizens – especially while Obama, an alleged supporter of free speech and the internet, is speaking in Canberra.

Stop the War Coalition will be joining StandFast (veterans and former service people against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan), Wikileaks and Bradley Manning supporters among others on the lawns of Parliament House from 10.30am till 1.30pm.

To get a seat on the protest bus from Sydney to Canberra ring Christine Keavney on 0423 161 846 or email christine.keavney@yahoo.com to confirm your seat (approx $33 return) by Friday, November 5.

2011-11-01 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.

The judgement on the extradition of Julian Assange to Sweden will be delivered tomorrow at the Royal Courts of Justice (London), at approximately 9:45 am GMT time.
A manifestation of support will take place outside the Court - starting at 9:00 am (more details here). Feel free to drop by: your presence there is important as a public affirmation of support toward Julian and WikiLeaks. So be there, and help raise awareness!

Remember, WikiLeaks needs you.

Following a press conference at the Frontline Club on the 24th October – where it was announced WikiLeaks was to temporarily suspend publishing activities to concentrate efforts on beating, through a major fundraising campaign in addition to legal action, the banking blockade that has deprived the publicly funded organization of 95% of its income - it is now much easier to donate to WikiLeaks, via SMS for instance, and you can also learn how to contribute with your skills as an internet user.

In order to ensure our future survival, WikiLeaks is now forced to temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents. We have commenced pre-litigation action against the blockade in Iceland, Denmark, the UK, Brussels, the United States and Australia. (…) Our battles will be costly. We need your support. A handful of US finance companies cannot be allowed to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket., an official WikiLeaks statement on the banking blockade reads.

Another very significant announcement was made during the course of the 24th October WikiLeaks press conferente: the launch of a new WikiLeaks online submission system on the 28th November (the one year anniversary of Cablegate).

(The full press conference mentioned above can be viewed on the Frontline Club’s ustream page.)

WikiLeaks was recently credited with being at the origin of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and while its crucial influence on the global Occupy movement is also undisputable, there is much more yet to be accomplished with your help.

Recently, @wikileaks also made an appeal for skilled volunteers to work on the mysterious Project Anneal, described only as a new idea for mass movements.

2011-11-04 Overlooked evidence in the Assange trial

Authored by Bella Magnani

Since the 100-page Swedish police protocol file leaked onto the internet in February 2011, it has been widely known that the SKL (Sweden's national forensic laboratory) failed to find any chromosomal DNA -- either male or female -- on the torn, used condom that Complainant AA gave to police 12 days after the event as evidence of her allegations. For anyone who doubts this fact, it's on page 77 of the police protocol (FUP), attached below [pdf].

Now, at that point -- 25 October, 2010 -- one would hope that a competent and impartial investigations team would turn toward investigating how this forensic finding came about. Sweden takes very seriously the issue of making false claims or presenting false evidence in sex crime cases, which is punishable with a 2-year prison sentence. In this particular case, however, the lead investigation officer, Mats Gehlin, simply asked the SKL to run the test again (page 81 of the FUP). In fairness, the first result does mention a tiny speck that might be "something," which a second test later found to be a very small sample of mitochondrial DNA.

This is significant for two reasons: first, mitochondrial DNA is not uniquely identifying in the same way as chromosomal DNA; and, more importantly, a sample which contains mitochondrial DNA but no chromosomal DNA can only come from hair and nails. And, of course, a used condom should be awash with chromosomal DNA from both participants -- but this one has none.

Its second significance -- and far more important to Julian Assange's battle against extradition to Sweden -- is that Marianne Ny, the Swedish prosecutor, was in possession of these forensic facts (which could bring into question the credibility of AA's testimony and, perhaps, by extension the testimony of Complainant SW, given that it was AA's close personal friend and political colleague Irmeli Krans who wrote SW's witness statement) for some time before she issued the Interpol Red Notice and the European Arrest Warrant seeking Assange's surrender. Yet here is how Ny describes allegation 2, the "deliberately torn" condom incident, on the face of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW):

2. Sexual molestation - On 13-14 August 2010, in the home of the injured party [AA] in Stockholm, Assange deliberately molested the injured party by acting in a manner designed to violate her sexual integrity. Assange, who was aware that it was the expressed wish of the injured party and a prerequisite of sexual intercourse that a condom be used, consummated unprotected sexual intercourse with her without her knowledge.

In view of the forensic evidence, this could be construed as deliberate misrepresentation on someone's part, and one might ask whether Marianne Ny ought herself to be the subject of some sort of investigation into abuse of legal process. But who is asking that question? Not the Swedish authorities, nor the British courts (this is an EAW case, so they are not allowed to), and not a single UK mainstream newspaper or journalist -- supposedly the people holding power to account on our behalf -- has even mentioned this lack of DNA evidence or its implications for the case. Honourable exception: The Telegraph, once, back in February; since then, nothing.

So what's going on? The case being heard by the British courts is solely about the legal technicalities of the extradition request. The UK judges are prevented by the EAW system from even considering the evidence behind an EAW, except in wholly exceptional circumstances (and Assange's case, we are told, isn't exceptional); all of that is to be left for the courts of the requesting Member State to deal with. Surely, then, there's no question of contempt of court if the UK media discuss the facts of a case which may or may not be brought to trial in a foreign jurisdiction at some point in the future?

Isn't that what journalists are meant to do -- investigate and present the truth to their readers? When was it decided that the restrictions placed upon our judges by the EAW system should also extend to our press? This matters because, even when UK courts do give the underlying evidence behind an extradition request some cursory scrutiny, there's an overwhelming imperative towards mutual recognition of disparate judicial systems built into the Framework Directive. The full High Court judgment [pdf] handed down this week states that: "The evidence in the file showed that the condom was examined by the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science. The conclusion of the expert was that there was nothing to indicate that a tool had been used, but that the damage to the condom was created by the wear and tear of the condom" (para 94), but this gets lost in the middle of a long and complex explanation of various legal authorities regarding "deception" in rape cases and how the conduct described on the face of the EAW therefore meets the requirement of dual criminality (paras 79-96). If judges' hands are tied so that they can only examine the legal niceties of the warrant procedure in this way, who then is to provide the scrutiny a Europe-wide fast-track extradition system needs, if not the press?

And such scrutiny is now doubly urgent. Given the other conclusions reached by this High Court judgment, does it set a dangerous precedent making it much more likely that EAWs will be used purely on the say-so of the police or an investigating prosecutor from now on?

And yet the omerta that has descended over the forensic findings of the Assange extradition case is total -- almost global; try Googling for any news story anywhere that mentions the lack of DNA on the torn, used condom with which Assange is alleged to have sexually molested AA. Honourable exception No. 2: Guy Rundle in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Reading through the full High Court ruling makes one thing crystal-clear: the EAW system is designed to place mutual recognition and trust in the ability of other Member states' justice systems to reach a fair result -- above any consideration of the facts in individual cases. Is this what we are all meant to do from now on: simply trust that those who administer the law as it is enshrined in our bright, shiny new EU Framework Directive are always right, and therefore beyond question and scrutiny?

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2011-11-05 Defend our basic human rights on World Human Rights Day, Saturday, December 10, 2011

Photo credit Fatima.

The world has seen a year of global struggle for real democracy, transparency and individual human rights. Essential to this struggle is respect for human life and living conditions, including environments. These are basic rights which have been denied by a global mafia with the power to control the legal and government systems.

Innocent and untried individuals are tortured and killed by autonomous machines in the name of the greater good. Families are deprived of their food, shelter and basic medical needs. In every country, people are being unjustly imprisoned for their beliefs and for attempting to defend the rights we were promised. Many others are unjustly imprisoned as a result of the corruption of our legal system, which acts, not to defend society but to defend the interests of the powerful. Once imprisoned, these people are subjected to treatment such as torture, slavery and medical experimentation. No one is safe now from the spectre of unjust imprisonment and far too many of our brightest leaders and most important speakers have been silenced this way. We need to stand in solidarity with them and demand their release before we join them.

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. They called for all signing nations to strive by teaching and education to promote wide knowledge of and respect for these rights and freedoms. The original assembly agreed that a common understanding of these rights and freedoms was of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, and to ensure that the atrocities experienced in the Second World War would never recur.

Although the UDHR now forms the basis of many of our constitutions and much international law, the principles have been largely lost and laws have been created in direct opposition to these fundamental principles. Now 63 years later, we call on all people to promote wide knowledge of the rights we were promised and to demand adherence to these principles by all of our governing bodies. As human rights were the basic principle behind everything we have demanded so far in this historic year, there is no better culmination for 2011 than a global day of action to defend our basic human rights. We also demand the release of those unjustly imprisoned around the world and the repeal of any laws passed in violation of these basic principles.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the culmination of two years of general assembly meetings in response to a worldwide humanitarian crises 63 years ago. We continue where they left off.

We demand what the people agreed to:

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

2011-11-05 The Global Square: an online platform for our movement

A proposal on how to perpetuate the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform them into lasting forms of social organization.

This is a proposal made by a group of concerned global citizens who also act as volunteers for Take the Square, United for Global Change, 15october.net, European Revolution, WL Central and Reflections on a Revolution (ROAR). We do not pretend to represent or speak on behalf of anyone but ourselves.

The Global Square: Towards an Online Platform for the Occupy Movement

In its most recent tactical briefing for the Occupy movement, Adbusters correctly pointed out that, “of the many questions swirling around #OCCUPY, the most challenging is how to gel into a global movement without sacrificing the decentralized, leaderless model.” In the wake of the global day of action on October 15, the question now arises how our movement can evolve new organizational structures that will allow the assemblies — and their highly innovative participatory model of decision-making — to survive beyond the occupations and become a permanent fixture of our emerging global society.

How, in other words, can we perpetuate the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform them into lasting forms of social organization — at the global as well as the local level?

Currently, the organization of the occupations and the collaboration between them rests in part upon the innovative use of social media. However, as a group of volunteers who were directly involved in the coordination of the worldwide protests of October 15, we have found the existing social media to be increasingly restrictive in their functionality. While Facebook and Twitter have been very helpful for disseminating basic information and aiding mass mobilization, they do not provide us with the tools for extending our participatory model of decision-making beyond the direct reach of the assemblies and up to the global level.

What we need, at this point, is a platform that allows us to radically democratize our global organizational efforts. In addition to the local squares, we now need a global square where people of all nations can come together as equals to participate in the coordination of collective actions and the formulation of common goals and aspirations. For this reason, we call upon the revolutionary wizkids of the world to unite and assist in the development of a new online platform – The Global Square – that combines the communicative functions of the existing social networks with the political functions of the assemblies to provide crucial new tools for the development of our global movement.

The aim of the platform, in this respect, should not be to replace the physical assemblies but rather to empower them by providing the online tools for (trans)national organization and collaboration. The ideal would be both to foster individual participation and to structure collective action. The Global Square could be our own virtual Zuccotti Park, serving as a public space where different groups can come together to organize their local assemblies — and where different assemblies can join hands to coordinate their collective projects. In a way, The Global Square could be a groundbreaking experiment in building a global participatory decision-making system from the grassroots up.

To be more precise, the specific tools provided by this online platform could include the following (note that this list is far from exhaustive and will grow organically to include many other functionalities):

An interactive map that lists all ongoing assemblies around the world;
A search option allowing users to find squares, events, working-groups, etc.;
An aggregated news feed that lists the most relevant ‘status updates’ shared by the various assemblies (à la Facebook);
Individual ‘pages’ for each local square/assembly where participants can organize collectively, including the following functionalities:
– A calendar with upcoming events/actions;
– A forum for public debate, with the ability to open different threads;
– A list of all relevant documents/minutes uploaded by the assembly;
– The ability to create and edit new documents collaboratively;
– The ability to vote on specific decisions;
– The ability to submit new proposals.
A public and private messaging system that allows all individual users and assemblies to communicate and exchange information, reinforcing solidarity and mutual collaboration;
The ability to ‘scale-up’ local decisions, actions, and initiatives to the global level through a ‘sharing’ system that allows local assemblies to pose ideas, votes, and proposals to other assemblies in a horizontal, non-hierarchical fashion (i.e., straight from the local to the global level).

Furthermore, The Global Square should be 100% multilingual and open-source, so a community of developers can continue to add languages as well as functions.

Facebook and the other social networks have until now only offered the possibility to share and promote content. The Global Square, by contrast, should encourage the active participation of citizens, the consolidation of online working groups, the collaborative scheduling of events, the establishment of consensus, the process of participatory budgeting, and the exchange of needs, proposals and ideas – in a local and a global context – between individuals and assemblies. Furthermore, to promote the widespread uptake of the platform, the creation of a minimalist, user-friendly and aesthetically-pleasing design is of the utmost importance.

We are aware of the existence of social platforms like n-1.cc, used by the Spanish movement, yet we feel that these have a number of shortcomings. They are not very user-friendly and not universally accessible for citizens from different national backgrounds. Also, resulting from a lack of funds and time, these platforms have not been able to develop the level of complexity required to provide all the functionalities listed above. We realize that the project we are proposing is a very ambitious one. But we hope that our movement can seize this opportunity to prove once and for all that creativity, innovation and dynamism can flourish in a collaborative, non-profit framework — and that it is possible to ensure a form of participatory democracy beyond the nation state.

We believe The Global Square could make a significant contribution to the consolidation of the assemblies and the development of our global movement. It is important to note, however, that the project will require significant funding, as well as a team of full-time professional developers. As we know that Occupy Wall Street plays an exemplary role within the movement, we are turning specifically to you for help in further refining this idea and initiating the search for funds and developers for a beta-version of the platform. We would be very interested to hear your ideas, suggestions and criticisms of this proposal. We can be reached at info@theglobalsquare.org.

Finally, we have registered a domain (theglobalsquare.org — not active yet) that we would happily share with the movement (other suggestions are, of course, very welcome too). We are looking forward to a public conversation with all of you on how to make this idea work in a way that involves and benefits all. From the local village square to the global village square — it is time for us to unite!

In solidarity,

The volunteers at:

Take the Square
WLCentral.org
United for Global Change
15october.net
European Revolution
Reflections on a Revolution

2011-11-06 Commentary on Jennifer Robinson & Julian Assange's article: Bolt & free speech

I have the greatest respect both for Jennifer Robinson and Julian Assange, both stalwarts in the field of human rights, the former in her capacity of legal representation and advocacy, and the latter as arguably the greatest whistleblower on abuses of human rights, of all times.

Their joint recent article at the Sydney Morning Herald I found to be well argued but I am not yet wholly convinced that the law is wrong on the issue of free speech, (the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 - "RDA" - being the subject of contention here) which they both oppose in law and disagree with the particular decision in Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103, (Federal Court of Australia.)

It's not that I necessarily oppose the abolition of the RDA, simply I advance the proposition that minorities still need some kind of protection from personal vilification and personal defamation, and that the debate needs more people to become politically involved. On the other hand that cannot or should not extend to the creation of a special category of 'religious defamation' that Islamic nations have recently tried to get up at the UN.

The first point I make is a minor quibble caused no doubt by the restrictions of an op-ed:

But the real question is whether we want judges in charge of the parameters of public debate - what we can and cannot say - at all.

As to judges in charge of the parameters of public debate it is obvious but I mention in passing that judges apply the law, and while in the case of Bolt the judgement may have set some species of precedent, it could be overturned on appeal either to the three judge/full bench of the Federal Court or even to the High Court. (I hope they run the constitutional defence as below, if the matter is appealed.)

Suffice it to say, not many would oppose judges being in charge of open defamation hearings rather than say, politicians or the village idiot (I think I'd pick the latter in preference though).

The question of whether the defamation law is valid or not however is the analogous question that Robinson and Assange put in relation to the RDA. To whatever extent they agree with defamation law (UK terrible, Australia not as bad?) and its strictures on free speech, necessarily, a judge has to be the decider of law and fact, (the latter in the absence of a jury.)

The juxtaposition of racial hatred and defamation.

In the case of major free speech arguments and law relatively recently, defamation (in the arena of public debate) the case of Theophaneous v Herald and Weekly Times springs readily to mind, along with Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The case of Theophanous reaffirmed an earlier case in which there was held to be an implied right of political communication - a shield rather than a sword - which removed the application of state defamation law under narrowly defined circumstances. The principles of that case are interesting precisely because firstly, they created a defence for a publisher, and secondly it examined principles of journalistic responsibility which have some direct parallels to the RDA and its application to Bolt's case.

Sally Walker, Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne has an explanatory paper online, written in 1998 explaining the "constitutionalisation of defamation law" that the case of Lange represented.

In Theophanous, Mason CJ, Toohey and Gaudron JJ concluded that the common law of defamation was balanced too far against freedom of communication.[14] The implied freedom of political communication outlined above did not, however, demand or need protection in the form of an absolute immunity. They held that there was nothing in the concept that required protection in relation to the publication of statements that were knowingly false, or which were published with reckless disregard for the truth or untruth of the material, or for statements made irresponsibly.[15]...

Thus, by a 4:3 majority, the High Court established a defence, derived from the Constitution, which was to apply where a defamatory publication was a matter of political discussion. To obtain the protection of this defence, the defendant had to establish: that it was unaware of the falsity of the material; that it did not publish the material recklessly, that is, not caring whether the material was true or false; and that the publication was reasonable in the circumstances.[18] This defence will be referred to as "the Theophanous defence".

The RDA s18C says this is an offence:
Offensive behaviour because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin
(1) It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if:
(a) the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and
(b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group.

The statutory defence relied upon by Andrew Bolt:

[18D]Section 18C does not render unlawful anything said or done reasonably and in good faith:
(a) in the performance, exhibition or distribution of an artistic work; or
(b) in the course of any statement, publication, discussion or debate made or held for any genuine academic, artistic or scientific purpose or any other genuine purpose in the public interest; or
(c) in making or publishing:
(i) a fair and accurate report of any event or matter of public interest; or
(ii) a fair comment on any event or matter of public interest if the comment is an expression of a genuine belief held by the person making the comment.

Judge Bromberg said of this section:

It is a provision which, broadly speaking, seeks to balance the objectives of section 18C with the need to protect justifiable freedom of expression.

Remember those words, fair and accurate - fair comment - genuine belief - public interest.

And generally in Bromberg's summary:

22. In reaching those conclusions, I have observed that in seeking to promote tolerance and protect against intolerance in a multicultural society, the Racial Discrimination Act must be taken to include in its objectives tolerance for and acceptance of racial and ethnic diversity. At the core of multiculturalism is the idea that people may identify with and express their racial or ethnic heritage free from pressure not to do so. People should be free to fully identify with their race without fear of public disdain or loss of esteem for so identifying. Disparagement directed at the legitimacy of the racial identification of a group of people is likely to be destructive of racial tolerance, just as disparagement directed at the real or imagined practices or traits of those people is also destructive of racial tolerance.

23. I have not been satisfied that the offensive conduct that I have found occurred, is exempted from unlawfulness by section 18D. The reasons for that conclusion have to do with the manner in which the articles were written, including that they contained errors of fact, distortions of the truth and inflammatory and provocative language.

24. In coming to that view, I have taken into account the possible degree of harm that I regard the conduct involved may have caused. Beyond the hurt and insult involved, I have also found that the conduct was reasonably likely to have an intimidatory effect on some fair-skinned Aboriginal people and in particular young Aboriginal persons or others with vulnerability in relation to their identity.

25. I have taken into account that the articles may have been read by some people susceptible to racial stereotyping and the formation of racially prejudicial views and that, as a result, racially prejudiced views have been reinforced, encouraged or emboldened. In the balancing process, I have also taken into account the silencing consequences upon freedom of expression involved in the Court making a finding of contravention.

26. I have concluded that the conduct of Mr Bolt and the Herald & Weekly Times is not exempted by section 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act from being unlawful because:
(i) it was not done reasonably and in good faith in the making or publishing of a fair comment, within the requirements of section 18D(c)(ii) of the Racial Discrimination Act; or
(ii) done reasonably and in good faith in the course of any statement, publication or discussion, made or held for a genuine purpose in the public interest, within the requirements of section 18D(b) of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Note some identical wording above from the 'Theophanous defence' and terminology familiar to lawyers in defamation, including the qualified privileges (defences) of publishers.

(Theophanous)...the defendant had to establish: that it was unaware of the falsity of the material; that it did not publish the material recklessly, that is, not caring whether the material was true or false; and that the publication was reasonable in the circumstances.

...as against the findings of Bromberg regarding reasonableness, falsity and recklessness.

The question arises from this, should publishers, significant ones like News Corporation with wide penetration in mass media (all over the world); with deep enough pockets to defend any defamation case: be given the right to peddle false statements recklessly, not in the public interest, which in substance defame people who cannot seek redress in a civil court due to the cost?

That leads to another question on redress, did Bolt and the Herald Sun give any of the plaintiffs a right of reply in the newspaper? I think not, but stand to be corrected on that.

Jennifer and Julian cite Fredrick Siebert: The true and sound will survive. The false and unsound will be vanquished. That is a normal expectation and with a level playing field more so. But for potential plaintiffs in a hypothetical defamation case against Bolt and News Ltd, with limited resources against the might of a propagandistic inclined giant like News Ltd, the repetition of lies becomes truth (for the easily hoodwinked/inclined to racist views), and is a reality that makes such a venture daunting to say the least.

Climate change? Wikileaks being financially embargoed (because it's allegedly a terrorist organisation and Julian Assange should be summarily executed?) The worrying attacks on evolution and abortion by fundamentalist creationists leading to the occasional bombing of abortion clinics by some deranged fundamentalist followers? The'Birthers' against Obama? Why are these palpable falsities still running?

Aside from incitement/criminal law, including EU law on corporate monopolies, there is never a guarantee that such falsities will be vanquished. I'm not suggesting for a moment that the varied sort of 'non incitement' opinion in the paragraph above should be censored: merely to illustrate that the dividing line between censorship and free speech is a extraordinarily difficult one in finding the right balance on what should be a utilitarian basis (with Kantian side constraints) ie that does not breach human rights.

The evils of censoring free speech is one thing, but the predilection of organisations like News Ltd peddling outright lies and propaganda on scientific subjects with a political agenda in mind is worrying. Propaganda and the perpetration of ignorance, mainly, appears to sustain the approximate 45% non acceptance of evolution as a scientific fact in the USA. (And for a definition of the word 'theory' in its proper scientific context, think about the theory of 'gravity' at the same time as thinking about the 'theory'of evolution.)

The larger the corporate media organisation, the principle should be that more responsibility applies to truth and not being a usurper of government, nor propagandist agency for government. Sadly we see the opposite in these times. (A good read on Murdoch at the beginning in the UK: "Good Times Bad Times" by Harold Evans, editor for whom editorial independence became a joke.)

Taking into account all the similarities, conceding that the elements of the offence in the RDA are not the same as for defamation (but significant parts of the legal reasoning are common), my examination of the Bolt case leads me to suggest that the RDA is a species of defamation law notwithstanding those differences. It's like a defamation law for those minorities who could never fund a plaintiff's defamation case with it's inherently horrendous legal costs, plus paying the defendant's costs if the case is lost.

Moving back to Jennifer's and Julian's article:

The best policy decisions result from robust and uninhibited debate. For this reason, politicians have a privilege denied to the rest of us, aside from fat pensions. They cannot be prosecuted for what they say in Parliament, including hate speech. Why should we accept free political speech for politicians but not for ourselves?

Interesting point although there is a "Privileges Committee" of most parliaments to redress abuses. (Note Senator Heffernan's disgraceful attacks on the then Justice Kirby of the High Court and the Senate's censure.)

Free speech for parliamentarians serves a useful function that properly used, allows people or corporations to be exposed for wrongdoing (that say, police have turned a blind eye to) that otherwise the defamation laws would prevent. The only way that people would have the same free speech rights as politicians would be if all defamation laws were abolished. Abuses by politicians of that privilege are not common, (Senator Heffernan's allegations were promptly disowned by John Howard once the forgery became known.)

I do not think the analogy of parliamentary privilege is valid. It is an exception to defamation law with long roots in our UK inherited legal systems.

The law sanctions speech only if it incites violence. Rather than flourishing, the Klan and neo-Nazis have been withered by the robust criticism that such protections afford their critics.

Arguably, denying the holocaust is a form of incitement (and I don't press that point) but I do dispute the assertion that neo-nazis have withered in Germany they are thriving and hiding themselves not on the fringes, but within the middle classes it seems:

Investigators estimate that neo-Nazi households are raising several thousand children to be familiar with weapons, violence, raiding private homes, Nazi cult objects, songs of the Hitler Youth and Waffen-SS, and the worshiping of major figures from the Third Reich. They are unwittingly becoming part of a sworn "fighting community" hidden behind a middle-class façade.

I fail to be convinced of the 'withering.'

Note that Germany would likely argue that being the founding nation of Nazism, they have a special interest that it doesn't occur again.

My first conclusion is that to the extent the RDA (and likewise any other national law) encompasses sanctions on indirect incitement to violence and straight up defamation, for the protection of individuals (much more than groups) it is not necessarily bad law.

...if we were serious about banning hate speech then we should have lawyers 'reviewing the scriptures' (the Bible and the Koran are full of religious bigotry and homophobia).

And there Jennifer Robinson and Julian Assange are on strong ground. Could we ever imagine the howls of incandescent rage should any government attempt to censor the scriptures? The dimension of free speech and religion ordinarily attracts constitutional protection, however as long as there is no incitement religion can never be justifiably 'protected' by a 'group' defamation.

It is legitimate if not imperative to critically analyse science - scientists need to know they are not going off the rails of scientific methodology - and in matters affecting the life of human beings especially so.

Religious decisions based on dogma need even greater scrutiny and criticism ie reproductive edicts contrary to safe sex. Faith based beliefs that fly in the face of science will always be part of our free speech controversy.

Hurt feelings of a group are quite distinct from hurt feelings resulting from personal defamation, and attempts to say they are the one and same is disengenuous at best. For consistency, censoring the homophobic hatred and bigotry out of the bible would also lead to censoring all books which promoted hatred of other people ie gays and other ethnic groups.

The argument on strictures for holocaust denial (and it's present example by corollary, Turkey's law making it a crime to say the Armenians were subject to genocide in the past) is a powerful one and shows how a posited and likely justifiable 'exception' for Germany leads to worse law elsewhere.

So what subjects are off limits? What societal 'goods' are worthy of protection through censorship?

That is the burning question and it needs much more debate.

My final conclusion is that if we are to abolish the RDA, noting that the case of Bolt includes directly or indirectly elements of defamation law, we might consider that the Federal Parliament enact legislation (and provides the money) to fund minority rights (subject to merit as all legal aid commissions apply) into defamation actions at the State level (all unified across Australia by the way, so no 'forum shopping'.)

It possibly would be revenue neutral or better, with the Commonwealth's Human Rights Commission or other bodies not having to investigate these sorts of matters.

Such cases are more fit for the civil courts but the cost of those actions has always been prohibitive.

2011-11-06 Needed now: A News Commons

The privileged position held by the media in most democracies exists for one reason; in order to govern themselves, people need access to accurate and timely information on all topics relevant to their governance.

Once that information has been distributed, it is not sufficient for the citizens to passively absorb it as a means of entertainment, or even education. In order for self governance to occur, that information must be acted upon to correct flaws in governance.

We at WL Central have had a goal throughout this year of media scandal and indifference, where the most reputable mainstream outlets in the world have been shown to fall far short of the justly elevated position of media in a democracy. The WLC slogan is News, Analysis and Action, and the name was meant quite literally, as wiki ... leaks ... central. In other words, we wanted a place for a collaborative effort, but a very dynamic, Twitter speed effort, to handle all important information and news (the news we require in order to govern ourselves). We would then take that information, analyze it against what we already know, match that to relevant law etc., and create action to stop corruption. A combination of a new form of crowdsourced news platform and a new forum for citizen government.

Our dream is far bigger than our reality. A News Commons, owned and operated and answering to the people, serving a global audience, requires mass participation and a structure that would enable that. Our hope for the future is as follows:

News should have world updates in real time so someone could click on a topic and get a current world update on the important news, fact checked and sourced. Alternatively, news could be shown by region. What is needed is a source of heavily referenced and reviewed reliable news from reliable sources, strict guidelines, fact checking by others and editing for bias, no first person and no opinions. Editing and mentoring is required, administrators for different regions and topics.

Analysis needs an interactive method to tie everything together and crosslink stories and information. It should act as a resource to find all relevant information on people, corporations and news stories.

Action needs calendars, maps etc., always updated. We currently support action that supports Transparency, Democracy and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We support no group which acts against these principles. We suggest this as a guideline in the future as well. Action is also a place to bring lawsuits, draft parliamentary bills, etc. It is our hope that readers, once informed by all of the information available, will act to initiate appropriate corrective action for any corruption found. The News Commons will include the relevant legal authorities, the news and the background material to aid in finding areas requiring corrective action, and we will provide a forum for protests, petitions, legal action and more, based on those findings.

Communication forums are necessary for all sections.

What is required:

To create this dream, an Internet Commons of news, would require a huge collaborative effort. We need coders and website designers, editors, fact checkers, people to delete spam and update calendars, photographers, designers, technicians, and much more. We also need many, many more writers and editors from all over the world. This time we also need donations as we don't seem able to get all of this done in addition to our other activism and day jobs and there are not enough volunteers willing to work for free as we have for the last year. This project may have the new name, The People's Intelligence peopleintel.com We would need a new logo for this name.

While website designers and coders are the most urgent need, new writers are welcome to contribute during transition by submitting their articles to admin@wlcentral.org as always. Volunteers to run sections on specific topics or for certain geographical regions are also welcome now. Please contact admin@wlcentral.org or come to the working pad here to discuss further.

2011-11-06 WikiLeaks Emergency Funding Drive

Freedom of speech should be free. It should not have a price tag, but it does in the world we live in, and it is a high one. For the course of its five year history, Wikileaks has been bearing the astronomical legal and adminstrative costs of exercising freedom of expression in the pursuit of justice. Now it needs your help.

Wikileaks' explicit mission is to publish material whose reform-potential is so great that powerful organizations and governments are willing to expend their resources to prevent that material ever entering the public record - to prevent you and I from ever hearing of it.

As a whistleblower organization, Wikileaks' primary function is to facilitate conscientious leaks. The first line of defense for powerful organizations is to cloak their wrongdoing in secrecy. Secrecy is achieved by using coercive means to deter the disclosure of information to the public. Individuals are often compelled to conceal evidence of wrongdoing within powerful factions because the personal consequences of doing so would be dire.

By providing - at cost - a secure and robust mechanism by which conscientious individuals can leak such materials anonymously, Wikileaks ensures that secrecy can never be so complete as to suppress evidence of the misconduct of the powerful. It creates, in effect, a safety-valve for secrecy, so that there will always be a conduit by which people of good conscience can get information to the public, at reduced risk to themselves. To date, no other single organization has performed this function as effectively, or as consistently.

The second line of defense, for powerful organizations, is to attack Wikileaks, and to prevent it from publishing the information it receives. The whistleblower group, therefore, draws upon itself the fire that would otherwise be directed at the whistleblowers whose identity it is sworn to protect. At various times in the past few years, this has taken the form of:

• threats of violence against and the attempted intimidation of the organization and its staff and supporters,
• the assassination of Wikileaks-affiliated individuals,
• attacks on Wikileaks' information and financial infrastructure,
• the attempted marginalization of Wikileaks and its supporters using organized disinformation

and

• costly and lengthy legal battles in, inter alia, defamation, intellectual property and state secrecy law.

Drawing this fire, as it must, it is necessary for Wikileaks to defend against all of these forms of attack, in order to fulfill its mandate. This has proven to be the most egregious operating cost for the organization during its history.

A time-honoured strategy used by the powerful and wealthy to censor the press has been to abuse legal process. Corporations and governments will typically have vastly more resources at their disposal to engage in litigation than publishers and press organizations. It is therefore often a successful strategy to prolong litigation, so that publishers cannot afford to win on the merits of the case. An out-of-court settlement normally ensues in favour of the plaintiff, and urgent information is thereby consigned to the black hole of censorship, permanently excised from the historical record.

Unlike the traditional press, Wikileaks is designed expressly to deal with suppression efforts of this sort, and has successfully resisted all such efforts in the past. This is a costly business, and Wikileaks relies for its funding on the support of private donors: ordinary people like you and I. Because Wikileaks does not rely for funding on large organizations, it has in the past been more difficult for its enemies to exert their influence, as they might on advertisers, who fund the mainstream press.

Unfortunately, Wikileaks has made a lot of powerful enemies. Since December 2010, in the wake of its highest profile publishing efforts thus far, a new and worrying suppression strategy has been in effect. The very financial organizations across whose infrastructure private individuals make their donations have put Wikileaks behind a financial blockade. Bank of America, Western Union, Paypal, Visa and Mastercard have blacklisted Wikileaks, disallowing donations using credit cards or money transfer. It is no longer possible for ordinary people to transfer donations to Wikileaks. The effect has been - as reported in this press conference held recently by Wikileaks - to block over 95% of the donations Wikileaks needs to survive.

In February the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Timothy Geithner, concluded that there were no legal grounds for putting Wikileaks on its SDN blacklist. The actions by the blockading institutions are purely discretionary - having no legal basis - and seems calculated only to fatally marginalize Wikileaks. The blockade amounts to an unlawful use of financial power to silence an institutional actor for political reasons. This is an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression. If our financial institutions successfully manage to eliminate Wikileaks, an extremely worrying precedent is set for all organizations that rely on donations by similar means.

For the past year, Wikileaks has managed to survive on reserve funds, and, although crippled in many of its functions, continue with publishing. On the 10th of October 2011, Wikileaks announced that it had shut down publishing operations as a result of the financial difficulties it has suffered under the blockade.

In order to break the blockade, Wikileaks must mount legal challenges against the decisions of the financial institutions. Along with the Icelandic company Datacell, Wikileaks is pursuing a competition law complaint with the European Commission, which, it is hoped, will give rise to an investigation into monopolistic practices by banking institutions against Wikileaks and associated organizations. It is therefore necessary for Wikileaks to direct its remaining resources towards this end. The consequences of this bid will be wide reaching. If Wikileaks is not successful, we can expect to see other non-government organizations and human rights advocacy groups targeted by similar means when they attempt to stand up to systematic injustice carried out by the powerful.

This places Wikileaks in dire need of funding. It remains possible - although more difficult - to donate money to the organization. Alternative means of getting money to Wikileaks are listed here. A donation to Wikileaks at this time goes beyond support for the organization itself, and amounts to an investment in your own freedom to donate your money to worthwhile causes of your own choosing. It is also a significant investment in freedom of expression globally, at a time when that freedom is crucially in question.

Freedom of speech should be free, but it is not. Wikileaks' very future is now in jeopardy. There has not been a time at which Wikileaks was more in need of your support. Even a small donation will be unusually significant in furthering the cause of justice in the world. As independent supporters of Wikileaks' work, WL Central appeals to all readers to consider giving generously to Wikileaks in the days ahead.

Donate to Wikileaks Here.

2011-11-07 WikiLeaks' Assange must be protected

Authored by William Shaub

Julian Assange has become more than an agent of transparency; he’s our resourceful David in a 21st century fight against thousands of steroid-enhanced Goliaths.

Australia’s The Age is reporting what many of us familiar with the WikiLeaks saga have foreseen:

Kevin Rudd and his foreign affairs department have been accused of all but ignoring pleas from Julian Assange’s legal team to protect the WikiLeaks founder from a possible death penalty in the US.

The foreign affairs department may have also been caught out in an embarrassing lie, after telling The Age they had replied to a letter from Assange’s British lawyer, Gareth Peirce, when they had not.

Tony Kevin, an Australian diplomat of three decades who served as ambassador to Poland and Cambodia, was critical of Mr Rudd’s handling of the Assange case, saying Australia appeared unprepared to grapple with its highly political nature.

Indeed, Australia is not the only country “unprepared to grapple” with the highly political nature of Julian Assange’s court case, but perhaps the most important. The US is not hesitating to use its ability of limiting the social sovereignty of other countries for the purposes of ‘security,’ and governments are clearly not interested in falling out of US favor. Thus, Australia is buckling to US political pressure and acquiring real complicity in Assange’s possible extradition to the US.

The result is the persecution of perhaps the most innovative web activist in history.

As an American citizen, I am not prepared to watch Julian Assange die at the hands of a public institution funded by my taxes. Losing him, regardless of WikiLeaks’ preservation as an organization, would prove to be a bitter setback in media progress by setting such a condemning precedent for expansion of free speech and free information.

This is a moment in history where American society is dominated by parasitic institutions. They are bent on infiltrating markets, personal liberty, and maintaining an unaccountable system of exploitation. Since the implementation of New Deal reforms and the end of the second world war, these public and private institutions have aggressively and bitterly fought public accountability. The recent global economic crisis reaffirmed their success in this fight, and revealed an unprecedented deficit of democracy. One must ask, if the mass media was doing its job—if journalists were doing (or were allowed to do) their jobs—would this crisis of democracy have happened?

The gap between what the media was doing and what it should have been doing was filled by WikiLeaks, which made institutional accountability a priority. With reference to this intention, many believe that “Wikileaks as a concept and a movement will continue indefinitely.” The New York Times, whose connections to Assange and WikiLeaks were halted as a result of confrontation with former editor-in-chief Bill Keller, barred no holds for Assange. “The idea of WikiLeaks and perhaps the organization itself will live on.” The Times and the media’s message is puzzling, however: transparency is alright, and “there’s no shortage of secrets,” but we can do without the guy who is dedicated to uncovering them.

Putting the inept media aside, don’t we, as American citizens, owe Assange something? Certainly not everything, given his self-described chauvinistic record and controversial attitude toward social change. Yet his ability to breath freely is the very least we can protect. Have activists and whistleblowers not benefited from the work of WikiLeaks? An organization built by less than ten hackers has managed to provide the anti-war movement with a higher degree of intellectual defense than the entire mass media combined.

To quote Assange from his blog in 2006,

“Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.”

Assigning the death penalty for crimes of cyber terrorism to Julian Assange is an injustice that the US population must not tolerate, if we have any inclination toward democratic values. When world governments are not able and willing to stand up to the US government, then we as citizens must do it ourselves. We must not be complicit by waiting until the last minute to make our voices heard. Let’s not wait to draw our line in the sand after Assange and WikiLeaks have been destroyed. We should draw it at his freedom, and nothing less.

A man who’s dedicated his life to informational justice does not deserve to die at the hands of the most accountable institution we as US citizens have: the government. Assange has become more than an agent of transparency; he’s our resourceful David in a 21st century fight against thousands of steroid-enhanced Goliaths. Simply appreciating what we have before it’s gone may not be an option in the fight for structural accountability: Assange’s absence would be too great a setback. We have all benefited from his work. Let’s show our appreciation by protecting his life and allowing him to keep doing it.

Protect Assange

2011-11-09 A new culture of resistance: from WikiLeaks to the squares

(Photo) Wikileak's Julian Assange wearing an Anonymous mask on October 15th at #OccupyLXS camp in London

Now that the grassroots movement that started inadvertently with the Arab Spring has gone global, it is necessary to cast a backwards glance to try and figure out, with some perspective, the dynamics of what has happened, physically and conceptually, over the last year. We propose a simple vision of the process of uprising in 2011, which was consolidated on the past 15th of October as a new culture of popular resistance and creativity. We also aim to point out the recent or enhanced concepts born in the collective consciousness of society during this period.

Wikileaks and the unmasking of the global system

Considered the most dangerous website in the world by the end of 2010, Wikileaks.org posed a serious challenge to the global political establishment. Even though the organization had been active in leaking content since 2006, the release of the Collateral Murder video in March of 2010 made 'Wikileaks' the most searched for term on search engines, and brought them to the forefront of mass media interest. The classified video, taken from the cockpit of a US Apache helicopter in Baghdad, depicts the slaying of around twelve people, including two Reuters journalists whose cameras were mistaken for AK-47s. After the first round of fire, one of them starts crawling toward shelter when an unmarked van appears to rescue him. Then, even though there was no weapon visible, the soldiers opened fire, executing the journalist, wounding two children in the truck, and killing their father. Hence the title 'Collateral Murder'.

In barely a few months, the organization followed up with the release of 100,000 classified U.S. files on the Afghanistan war, proving widespread war crimes and the efforts made to hide them. As the organization grew in prestige, their new role as a prominent force of change culminated in November with the historical leak of around described by philosopher Slavoj Zizek with an excellent metaphor: the emperor had been standing naked for a long time - global society has been living a dramatic period of financial and ideological crisis since at least 2008 - and Wikileaks was the one to stand up and point it out, adding documents to prove their claim. This time nobody laughed, people rose up.

The constant connections made between Wikileaks and the Tunisian uprising are not just a coincidence. Barka, a prominent member of a Tunisian association for female equality, told us that "the Wikileaks revelations circulated very well in Tunisia in January [2011]". She also confirmed that local newspapers were publishing Cablegate analysis at the begging of the year, prior to the revolution. She considers that the airing of the material on the mainstream media, revealing just how rotten Ben Ali's crony-capitalist system was, played a significant role in politically engaging the youth of the country.

We do not want to make it seem, as some have, that Wikileaks was the only cause for the uprising in Tunisia. Even though we acknowledge that their success had a moderate role in fueling the subsequent Arab Spring, we believe it played an incredibly important one in shaping the global audience's understanding of what happened. People following the process worldwide made the connection easily. To a large extent, the media made it for them, as both stories were unfolding at the same time in a seemingly simple cause-and-effect format. This assimilation of the events was to prove critical in the following months, as more and more countries saw their leaders knee deep in corruption.

Squares, camping as a demonstration

(Photo) Tahrir Square, Cairo, in January 2011

In March, in the town of Ergueb, in the rural province of Sidi Boussid, birthplace of the Tunisian Revolution, a man camped out in front of the local government building. He said he would only leave once he got a job. He is an example of occupation in the place where the global uprising took off. Afterwards, events of the same nature, albeit with different results and objectives, started popping up across North Africa and the Middle-East. Egypt was the next to topple a dictator and soon enough Tahrir Square (Freedom Square in Arabic) became an emblem of popular struggles. The same model was later exported to the Puerta del Sol in Madrid as it spread across Spain, then Europe, and finally to North America, where Occupy Wall Street took the protest to the physical heart of the issue. The bold move received widespread support in the U.S. As other cities followed their lead, and the media began paying attention, the movement went viral.

The will to re-appropriate the physical center of the polis - the ancient heart of politics - is deeply related with the impulse to engage with fellow humans, and is irrevocably linked with the concept of transparency. The new squares are the place to apprehend reality, a piece of land where there is no space for the administrative control of information. The square has once again returned to its role as a place of exchange for individual initiatives, art and politics.

In this sense public squares have become the physical antagonists of government and corporate conspiracies. This is proven by the brutal repression of the state security forces that didn't allow this kind of protest to continue in African or Middle-Eastern countries (with the exception of Israel). Sirians are still being massacred for demanding their rights. On 15th October twelve Yemenis were killed, and early on in Zimbabwe a group of teachers were arrested and tortured for showing videos of the Egyptian uprising. Despite the strong repression, peaceful protesters have continued to demand their rights. The movement took root and set an example for the popular uprising in Spain that started on the 15th of May, 2011. In a very significant gesture, the only national flag hanging in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid during the month it was occupied was the Egyptian flag.

Hive-minds: Popular assemblies and direct democracy

(Photo) Demonstration in New York, in September 2011.

As a place to experience the re-creation of social contents, the occupied squares of 2011 opened the way to experiment with new kinds of political interaction: the occupation works as a hive mind of resistance against the cybernetic system. In their search for public participation, the squares, which no longer tolerated intermediaries between people, established a more harmonic, tolerant and democratic relationship with each other. This, together with the pulse for political renewal, crystallized in the idea of ‘real democracy’.

A model of decentralized, horizontal, and not politically preconceived assemblies spread organically to around 300 squares in Spain in the weeks after the 15th of May. Their aim was to create a system of self-governance based on participative democracy, where everyone had an equal say on the issues that affected them. This was a radical shift from the representative democracy they deemed flawed to the core. As they saw it, elected leaders had betrayed the people's recognized sovereignty by siding with the financial elites, instead of defending social interests. They also recognized that this severe legitimation crisis (various polls set the empathy level for the movement at 70%) could not be translated into reform, as there is no democratic control of leaders or institutions after elections. The collective spirit of reform that was awakened in the camps could not find a way to express itself in the out-dated Spanish system, making the lateral process flourish as people poured their energy into creating politics, as opposed to political discourse based on hollow ideas, old character types and anachronisms. Slowly but surely the assemblies starting working to build a truly legitimate way for political interaction, based on horizontality and common decision-making. This also meant that the old dichotomy of left and right was finally transcended, as ideology was to be built inside the autonomous space created inside the assembly.

At the same time, many other small activist groups (who already used this method) tied in neatly, and the assemblies acted as an amplifier for these already organized voices. In Spain, direct action platforms such as the PAH (literally Plaftorm of Mortgate Victims, which was already working before May 15th) began forming local nodes within each assembly. The Platform organized flash mobs in front of the home of a family about to be evicted when the public inspector was scheduled to arrive. If successful, he would be unable to enter the building, making it impossible for him to effect his orders, which would revert the process back to the judge who issued the order. With this technique they have managed to stop hundreds of evictions from taking place all across the country. Their actions have become so integrated into the movement that a recently occupied hotel is serving, after the due consensus, to reallocate people who have been evicted. Our prediction is that this process of amplification will repeat itself wherever the assembly-based method takes root, serving to change attitudes towards humanitarian projects and a variety of social organizations.

Soon this method spread to the rest of Europe and finally to the USA, where hundreds of camps and even more assemblies have begun in recent months. It is safe to say that nowadays, periodical gatherings of the same type occur in perhaps thousands of squares in different countries across the globe. This has brought a generalized shift in civilian attitudes, marking a return to contentious politics. In this sense, squares and assemblies propose more than a transgression: they are a transcendence of political legitimacy. In these squares, creative commons, autonomy, sustainability and transparency are applied to urban reality and communitarian decisions. They are an experiment of direct democracy as a method for free political articulation among people, an afffirmation of existence, and a reaction to the political structures of contemporary society.

Cyber-occupying: The new dynamics of social uprisings

(Photo) Activists in Valencia, Spain, rename their public square: "15th of May Square"

This rethinking of public space that began in Tahrir Square can also be postulated in terms of social cybernetics. In The Self-Organizing Polity (1988), Peter Harries-Jones observed some of the key factors of what he called 'new cybernetics' and its relation to political science: "unlike its predecessor, the new cybernetics concerns itself with the interaction of autonomous political actors and subgroups, and the practical and reflexive consciousness of the subjects who produce and reproduce the structure of a political community.". One of the other main intellectuals behind new cybernetics in the 1990s, Kenneth D. Bailey, added that this concept "views information as constructed and reconstructed by an individual interacting with the environment", which in turn reduces gap between the individual and the social system as a whole. We believe that this process has come to a high point in history during the last year, serving to create a massive collective consciousness, now oriented towards systemic reform.

In this specific context, we propose the term cyber-occupying, which is inevitably linked with the new culture of resistance, as the appropriation of society’s virtual and physical systemics. At first this concentration of resistance continued to be the streets and public spaces, although much of its recent success is, according to Max Rousseau, due to the idea of "physical immobility". In this sense, it means that “the simple but prolonged collective presence in a public place can be an action of resistance". By occupying the traditional channels of information exchange (both physical and virtual) a resistance is built against the flow which normally serves to aid and perpetuate the established systems of society. Cyber-occupation is based on the prolonged permanence and concentration on strategic spots of informative, political, behavioral or monetary flow (among others).

Rousseau also argues that this new form of protest is born from a resistance to the reduction of the social system's space and time via the modernization of technology. Therefore, we can see it as a reaction to capitalist dynamics, which implies rapid transformation and movement. Not only do new occupations work as blockades of the healthy systemic flow of information of contemporary society, they also serve as an impulse towards autonomy from these rules in order to partially recreate reality. As a result, most occupied squares became temporary autonomous zones, experiments in collaborative administration that operated in a parallel plane to the system. They actually serve as forces of outward change from within: they are recursive. Thus their attitude is both resistant and creative, as well as adapted to 21st century urban life.

In this light, the term "Occupation" has a broader meaning than it did before. An #occupation can be carried out by one or two million people, as well as by one person, as long as they share the spirit of taking back society’s functional centers, which can be squares, parliaments, bridges, avenues, public transport, or even websites and online feeds. After the 15th of October, the #occupy spirit grew exponentially: people understood all these concepts intuitively, to the point where they started considering the #occupation not only of physical space but also of abstract ideas such as social media, private companies or even voting booths.

Anonymous and the occupation of online-space

(Photo) A protester in Madrid in May 2011

All the events narrated above co-existed with an important process of change in Internet dynamics regarding political activism, which can be understood as the #occupation of online-space. The politicized role that the Anonymous collective undertook to defend Wikileaks in 2010 marked the beginning of a parallel hacktivist movement on the Internet. Anonymous is the virtual culmination of the same organizing principles practiced in the squares: they are completely open (in a strange way - you don't have to know you are a member to be one), decisions are taken horizontally and in a highly decentralized structure.

In late 2010 they began to coordinate the shutting down of websites that were boycotting Wikileaks using their trademark DDoS attack. In a few weeks, 'Operation Payback' managed to take down the virtual spaces of Amazon, Mastercard and Paypal, who had unilaterally broken agreements to handle donations made to Wikileaks, freezing their assets and making them lose estimated millions of dollars. When the uprisings in North Africa started, Anonymous and various other hacktivist groups defaced and shut down websites related to the Egyptian and Tunisian governments, who were censoring and repressing their citizens. This connection with the movement has proved to be long-lasting, as local hacktivist groups have immediately backed the occupations as they reached their countries. This tendency has continued to expand as the organization merged with others and diversified, until it became hard to keep track of everybody's actions (a good source for information on this topic is http://thehackernews.com).

At the same time the people's freshly tuned moral compass, at its height of awareness during the Cablegate revelations, took over social networking sites, mainly Facebook (800 million users) and Twitter (200 millions users), which had already been acting as the largest centralized global forums on the Internet. These are the two most mainstream channels of communication that have been born on the web - over the last decade they have transformed the understanding and mechanisms of social interaction radically. Their technical capacity to host, debate and share information on a massive scale has united the global population to an unprecedented point. This is because they are transparent communication channels and their structure allows every citizen to become a potential journalist, a practice which has been increasingly common during the new wave of protests. The free flow of information, generated independently from political and corporate interest, has had a cleansing effect, allowing a clearer look into the dynamics of administrated media channels. In this sense, social networking tools effectively allowed uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, where state-controlled media chose to manipulate information. "During the days of the Revolution, we watched Facebook and Youtube to find news of the martyrs", a Tunisian living in Sfax told us.

The year 2011 has seen the biggest mass-uprising of the history of Internet so far. The global popularity of the movement has been translated into the appropriation of these public arenas, transforming them into crowd-sourced media outlets - the use of Twitter has certainly been revolutionary - and focal points of public debate on the issues explained above. The amount of blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and groups, as well as free platforms and tools successfully created to challenge the mechanisms of manipulation and control of information, is unprecedented. Every unknown user who silently but strenuously played a role in taking the Net was part of the decentralized response to the uprising.

A new starting point: October 15th, 2011

(Photo) Demonstration in Melbourne, Australia, in October 2011.

The 15th of October of 2011 was the first global culmination of these complex processes. In almost a thousand cities, in around 90 countries, millions of people began occupying their squares, parks and public areas. In countries where the movement was already established, the growth was spectacular. Madrid and Barcelona hosted the largest protests, with almost a million people between the both of them. The fact that they were the largest protests yet serves to prove that the process, already spread out into neighborhoods, is working. It also means that there is a healthy flow of information on the web, which in turn also influences mass media. In previous weeks, many important cities in the U.S. had already followed the example set by Occupy Wall Street: for example, camps in Washington D.C., Oakland, Denver and Chicago grew, and many others were started. On the 15th it spread around the world, as hundreds of new occupations sprung up in cities such as London, Melbourne, Sao Paolo, Berlin, Seoul and many others.

In all of these cities, assemblies were organized, as well as work groups and specific task-forces, replicating and reassuring the flourishing of the new system. These camps are now facing the first weeks of occupation, which are incredibly chaotic due to the organic and unguided nature of the process. Soon enough, however, we believe that the same dynamics of replication and intercommunication will set similar structures in place everywhere. This new richness, in the form of plurality, will be visible in the global structure of activism that is forming a new culture of resistance, which is of critical importance for the future of society.

Therefore it must not be forgotten that this movement is a reaction to the overwhelming understanding that the future of civilization is under serious question: the economic system is collapsing on top of social stratus that sustains it, crushing millions under it, and the uncontrolled misuse of resources is seriously destroying the very planet we live on. This structure is the only way we can articulate a deep process of reform that might save society from the gloomiest predictions. In this sense, the 15th of October marks a new beginning in the articulation between the global civil society: it is the date when it become fully aware of itself and its power. Whether or not a sufficient amount of energy can be channeled towards political reform, and especially towards a general shift of underlying morale, is yet to be seen.

Puerta del Sol, Madrid, October 15th 2011

2011-11-10 WikiLeaks News: WL and Bradley #Manning Support, #Cablegate, Threats to #Whistleblowing

We call upon everyone to assist us in this important fight. We have seen clearly what bankers' greed can do to our economies. We cannot allow them to directly infringe on our basic human rights. - Kristinn Hrafnsson

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.

Update: Former and current WikiLeaks associates Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Jacob Appelbaum and Rop Gonggrijp's twitter records are to be disclosed, U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady ruled today. The unsealing of docketing information pertaining to the case, and of relevance in the context of the Grand Jury investigation on WikiLeaks, was however refused.

Jacob Appelbaum reacted to the decision with the words: Today is one of those "losing faith in the justice system" kind of days.

Twitter Wikileaks Ruling

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The appeal against the extradition of Julian Assange to Sweden dismissed by the High Court of London (time frame for an appeal of this decision to the Supreme Court is presently 13 days), several entities have publicly opposed the possibility of the extradition taking place, as it would for instance facilitate a subsequent extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, namely the Pirate Party UK whose statement on the matter reads:

"...It appears that Judges in the UK have acted in-line with the law, but within the restrictive framework of the EAW. There are clearly problems with these arrangements -- it is outrageous that the UK is acting within a system where a citizen of one country could be handed to another on the basis of mere allegations. Unlike most other extradition proceedings the EAW prevents UK courts from considering the facts for a case before considering extradition."

and the World Socialist Web Site.

Moreover, an online Human Rights petition was started by supporters, demanding protection by the Australian Parliament against extradition to the US.

And on the 17th November, Australians will join Christine Assange (Julian's mother) on the occasion of US President Barack Obama's visit to Australian capital Canberra, in what is to become a day of support for Julian Assange. A protest against Julian's extradition and US government actions against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra. Please join.

In a recent interview, Christine Assange stated:

"I'm asking Australians around the country on November 17th to refuse to
celebrate the Obama visit, and instead replace it with a day of support
for Julian (...) Both [Australian] political parties have been spineless in standing up to the US over this. (...) Whatever the US wants, the Gillard government is handing it over. And the opposition isn't much better."

[For more information on the November 17 protest see: Join the Wikicitizens' protest against wars for the 1% on Nov 17]

On another important date, November 28, coinciding with the anniversary of Cablegate and the announced launch of a new WikiLeaks online submission system, Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson will debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

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Upcoming campaigns in support of Bradley Manning

* Starting next Monday (November 14), a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning will take place throughout the week. Additional information will be posted on the Bradley Manning Support Network website, bradleymanning.org.


* Bradley's 24th birthday will be on December 17th. This is the second birthday the alleged whistleblower will have spent detained in a military prison, without trial. Everyone is encouraged to gather support for Bradley Manning on this day and to send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

[Click here for more information on the items you can send.]

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Measures Threatening Online Whistleblowing


A number of measures have in past few months been proposed and implemented by the United States Government in reaction to WikiLeaks. Most recently a DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)-funded program that will generate decoy documents in classified networks with the ability to spot 'intruders' (potential whistleblowers) has been announced:

Darpa-funded researchers are building a program for “generating and distributing believable misinformation.” The ultimate goal is to plant auto-generated, bogus documents in classified networks and program them to track down intruders’ movements, a military research abstract reveals. [via Wired]

The Stop Online Piracy Act, a proposed copyright bill, constitutes another threat to online whistleblowing, with the particularity of allowing payment processors (eg. Visa, Mastercard or PayPal, that currently exert an unlawful banking blockade against WikiLeaks) to cease processing payments to any website voluntarily and without notice, provided there is 'reasonable belief' the website engages in copyright infringement.

That condition met, a financial blockade against any website, similar to that unlawfully imposed on WikiLeaks, would under this Act be considered legal.

[Sources:
1 Proposed Copyright Bill Threatens Whistleblowing and Human Rights,
2 The Stop Online Piracy Act: A Blacklist by Any Other Name Is Still a Blacklist, by Trevor Timm]

Lastly, an Executive Order on classified information signed by President Obama on the 7th October, known as the 'WikiLeaks Executive Order', explicitly aims to prevent further leaking of classified information. An article in the National Journal describes the Order as follows:

A new Insider Threat Task Force led by the Attorney General will develop a government-wide strategy to see whether agencies that handle classified information can weed out the malcontents and people whose behavior suggests they cannot handle sensitive information appropriately.
The result will be a beefing up of federal counter-intelligence programs.

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Selected Recent Cablegate Press Coverage

• U.S. lobbied against cheaper medicine law in the Philippines [philSTAR]:

'US lobbied with former senator and now Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Quirino Rep. Junie Cua against the Cheaper Medicine Act in the Philippines (a legislation intended to lower the cost of medicines in the Philippines by striking a competition among pharmaceutical firms) after American stakeholders expressed concern about the possible changes in the country’s pharmaceutical policies. The bill, according to US Ambassador Kristie Kenny was “troubling US pharmaceutical rights holders trying to retain their market share and profitability in the Philippines."'

• WikiLeaks reveals West's complicity in Papuan bloodshed [Green Left Weekly]:

'Secret cables from the US Embassy in Jakarta released by WikiLeaks show the US government was keen to find ways around a law banning training of military units with a history of human rights violations, to fund and train Indonesia’s military and police.'

• China paid inducements to Nepalese border guards for apprehending Tibetans and handing them back to the Chinese authorities [WebIndia123]

• WikiLeaks sheds light on Human Trafficking in South East Asia [3rd Degree]:

'In the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 cable, dated February 27, 2010, the Indonesian Government claims it has control over the human trafficking issue. Though information from the Australian Institute of Criminology begs to differ, stating that despite the increase in court cases against traffickers by the Indonesian Government, the estimated number of people trafficked in the region is still close to a million people a year.'

2011-11-11 WikiLeaks News: Collateral Murder changes US interrogator's views, WL/Bradley #Manning Support

You could never prosecute WikiLeaks without criminalizing all journalism in the United States. - Glenn Greenwald

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Collateral Murder changed U.S. army interrogator's perspective on the Iraq war

On Veterans day, The Atlantic interviews Michael Patterson, a former U.S. army interrogator whose decision to leave the military and current participation in the Occupy Movement (Michael is staying at Occupy DC) were motivated by the video Collateral Murder, released by WikiLeaks on the 5th April 2010:

"... I ask him what was the switch for him and when. He explained that it was WikiLeaks. It was the footage of the Apache helicopter gunning down Iraqis released by WikiLeaks in April of 2010. Up to that point he had been interrogating Iraqis and using what he describes as psychological torture. He was 10 years old when the World Trade Center was hit. He wanted to fight terrorism in Iraq. He bought into the whole thing, he tells me. He had been looking forward to signing up ever since the 5th grade and then, suddenly, last November, he found himself watching a video of his fellow soldiers gunning down Iraqis on the street and it all changed for him.

The Apache video, to a civilian, makes war look like a video game, but to Patterson, it was the first time he saw Iraqis as real people. Random people, with children and families who care about them. He tried to get out of the military as a conscientious objector after that. He was told it wouldn't work because he's an atheist. "So I just smoked a bunch of pot and got kicked out," he says. He was officially discharged on June 7th of this year. He went back home to Alaska, where he read about Occupy Wall Street on Reddit.

He then went to D.C. to sleep in a tent a block away from the White House."

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EFF and ACLU respond to Court ruling WikiLeaks' associates private twitter records are to be disclosed to the US government, as part of a Grand Jury investigation on WikiLeaks.
A statement released by EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundations), titled 'Privacy Loses in Twitter/Wikileaks Records Battle' reads:

'... Jonsdottir and others only found out about the government requests for information because Twitter took steps to notify them of the court order. EFF is urging other companies to follow Twitter's lead, stand with their customers, and promise to inform users when their data is sought by the government, as part of our Who Has Your Back? campaign.'

Both organizations represent Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks volunteer Birgitta Jonsdottir in the case. Read ACLU's press release on this subject here.
In an interview to The Guardian, Birgitta declared the intention to take the case to the Council of Europe.

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Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday


Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
On the 17th of December - his 24th birthday - Bradley Manning will have been incarcerated for 571 days.

On this day stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning whose only crime was revealing the truth - congregate at the White House, your city hall or town square, or your nearest US Embassy or Consulate - peacefully and solemnly. [For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]


Other upcoming campaigns in support of Bradley Manning

* Starting next Monday (November 14), a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning will take place throughout the week. Additional information will be posted on the Bradley Manning Support Network website, bradleymanning.org.

* Bradley's 24th birthday will be on December 17th. This is the second birthday the alleged whistleblower will have spent detained in a military prison, without trial. Everyone is encouraged to gather support for Bradley Manning on this day and to send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602


Julian Assange/WikiLeaks Support Campaigns

* November 17: Headed by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, a protest against Julian's extradition and US government actions against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
Know more about this protest.

* Online Human Rights petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.


Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 339 days without having been charged of a crime. (Visit Sweden vs. Assange for all information on this case.) Bradley Manning has spent 535 days detained without trial. A Fair Trials International campaign was launched to end pre-trial detention within the EU. Fair Trials International also advocate the reform of the European Arrest Warrant:

The EAW has removed many of the traditional safeguards in the extradition process. If a court in one country demands a person’s arrest and extradition, courts and police in other countries must act on it. In 2009, this fast track extradition system was used to extradite over 4,000 people across the EU (700 people from the UK alone).

Although it was intended to deliver justice, the current system is actually resulting in cases of serious injustice. Our own casework repeatedly demonstrates the human cost of EU extradition. Fair Trials International will continue to press for an EU extradition system which is both fair and effective. Through our Justice in Europe campaign, we are succeeding in making the case for reform.

2011-11-12 Rendering Assange: Hillary Clinton's revenge?

While speculating about the fate of Julian Assange -- in the face of U.S. wrath over the massive WikiLeaks disclosures of politically-sensitive diplomatic materials -- most media reports have focused on the likelihood of Assange's extradition to the U.S. to face criminal charges. Less discussed, however, is the possibility of irregular rendition, which could pose a far greater threat to Assange's life and safety. Unfortunately for Assange, the key to his fate lies in the hands of his political foil U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Indications abound that the U.S. may prosecute Assange and others for the public release of thousands of secret diplomatic cables. Confirming media reports, late last year U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that he had authorized "significant" actions in furtherance of a criminal investigation against Assange and his associates "involved in the breaking of American law." CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has suggested that prosecutors have a sealed warrant for Assange's arrest, potentially on charges that the WikiLeaks leader jeopardized national security. “It’s certainly my belief based on what the attorney general said that they have already got an arrest warrant for him and they are just waiting for the appropriate moment in the appropriate country,” Toobin said. A State Department spokesman acknowledged the existence of an ongoing criminal investigation, adding that the U.S. would "hold those responsible fully accountable." And "with a US grand jury currently empanelled to consider charges of espionage," noted the Sydney Morning Herald, "it seems to many that it is only a question of where Assange will be imprisoned, not if."

Characterizing the WikiLeaks's disclosures as "worse even than a physical attack on Americans," Congressman Peter King called Assange an "enemy combatant"; King suggested prosecuting Assange for espionage, designating WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization, and freezing the group's assets. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called for the execution of those responsible for the leaks, while former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Assange “should be hunted down just like al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.” Some have theorized that such statements raise the possibility of conspiracy and/or espionage charges; reportedly, the Pentagon and Department of Justice have considered charging Assange under the Espionage Act, which could carry a decades-long prison sentence.

The possibility of criminal charges against Assange and other WikiLeaks associates became more concrete early this week, when a federal court ruled that the Justice Department could subpoena records of the Twitter accounts used by Assange, Bradley Manning, and other WikiLeaks associates targeted in a criminal investigation. Google and at least one internet service provider have allegedly received similar subpoenas. This spectre of possible U.S. criminal charges looms as a U.K. court has also ruled that Assange may soon face extradition for questioning regarding alleged sex violations in Sweden, where Assange could be held indefinitely without charge and without access to visitors, lawyers, or the media.

Assange and his legal team have contested his extradition to Sweden partly on grounds that he might then be extradited to the U.S., and there face torture or the death penalty. However, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that extradition of a suspect to the U.S. to face capital charges would violate the European Convention on Human Rights; consequently, most European countries refuse to extradite to the U.S. unless they are assured that suspects will not be subject to the death penalty. In part because of his celebrity, Assange is unlikely to be an exception to this rule. Moreover, laws prohibit torture and other inhumane treatment within the United States and in U.S.-controlled facilities (although the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo remain somewhat questionable).

However, the options of U.S. officials are not limited to extradition. Indeed, a far greater threat to Assange's safety would be posed by the relatively recent U.S. practice of extraordinary rendition. Generally reserved for suspected terrorists, "extraordinary" or "irregular" rendition involves the extra-legal abduction of a suspect from a non-U.S. host country to another country (such as Egypt, Morocco, or Jordan) known to employ harsh interrogation tactics that may constitute torture. Rendered detainees may be held indefinitely, incommunicado, and without access to attorneys.

As an Australian national currently located outside the U.S., Assange would appear to be a potential candidate for such rendition. A Congressional Research Service report on extraordinary rendition states:
"Little publicly available information from government sources exists regarding the nature and frequency of U.S. renditions to countries believed to practice torture, or the nature of any assurances obtained from them before rendering persons to their custody. It appears that most, if not all, cases in which the United States has irregularly rendered persons have involved the transfer of non-citizens seized outside the United States, perhaps because persons within the United States (and U.S. citizens outside the country) are provided procedural protections against being summarily transferred to another country under federal statute and the Constitution. The legal limitations against the rendition of non-citizens seized outside the United States are much more limited."

Authorized under Reagan, implemented by Clinton, and widely deemed an illegal practice, the irregular rendition program is used to circumvent laws in the U.S. and other countries that have adopted the United Nations Conventions Against Torture (CAT). A 2007 report by the European Parliament indicated that the CIA had conducted at least 1,000 irregular renditions to countries where suspects might face torture. Sweden has, in the past, participated in this type of rendition; one such instance is the case of Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed al-Zery, who were rendered from Sweden to Egypt and allegedly tortured. Just days after taking office, President Obama issued an Executive Order opposing rendition torture and promising to shut down the CIA's secret torture prisons. However, this may be complicated by the fact that most such prisons are reportedly temporary, and thus difficult to detect. Additionally, some have averred the use of "floating" prison ships to conceal detainees.

CAT Article 3 prohibits any country from extraditing an individual to another country "where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” Therefore, prior to transferring suspects to receiving countries, the U.S. allegedly receives promises that detainees won’t be tortured upon arrival. However, the U.S. Congress has passed regulations that exclude certain aliens from CAT's protections, including any suspect who is deemed "a danger to the community of the United States" or "is believed, on the basis of reasonable grounds, to be a danger to the security of the United States." The above-cited comments by King and other government officials in the U.S. suggest that some may try to apply this exception to Assange, thus depriving him of international protections against acts of torture. One could imagine a scenario in which Assange might be rendered from Sweden to another country, forced to "confess" under duress of "enhanced interrogation," and then extradited to the U.S., there to contend with federal prosecutors armed with the details of any "confession" (whether genuine or false) obtained during torture.

Whether Assange faces U.S. extradition, irregular rendition, or both, one additional fact may work against him. Requests for U.S. extradition come from the Department of State, which has discretion and jurisdiction over the proceedings. Statements in the media by Assange and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would tend to indicate an absence of mutual affection. Assange, for instance, has said:

• "... the law is not what, not simply what, powerful people would want others to believe it is ... the law is not what Hillary Clinton says it is."
• " ... the U.S. State Department ... acts not ... in the interest of the U.S. people but in the interest of the State Department."
• "[Clinton] should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up. Yes, she should resign over that."

Clinton, for her part, has called the Wikileaks disclosures "an attack on the international community" that "puts people’s lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries." Stating that WikiLeaks has committed criminal acts that "tear at the fabric" of responsible government, Clinton asserted that the U.S. has been taking "aggressive steps to hold responsible those who stole this information." The State Department rejected a request by WikiLeaks to cooperate in redacting the diplomatic cables before their release. Publicly humiliated by the WikiLeaks disclosure of sensitive details regarding the functioning of the agency under her command, Clinton now holds the power of office to take revenge against Assange by having him extradited, abducted, and tortured ... or even eliminated.

2011-11-13 #WikiLeaks News: Appeal hearing for whistleblower Rudolf Elmer, Support Campaigns

The faster the US 'justice' system erodes its own legitimacy and independence the faster the ground will be set to replace it. - @wikileaks

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Upcoming Appeal Hearing for WikiLeaks whistleblower Rudolf Elmer


On November 17, whistleblower Rudolf Elmer's appeal hearing will take place. Prosecution requests 'convicted on all charges' verdict and increased sentence:

"Prosecution Office Winterthur/Unterland wants to make the case that Swiss Bank Secrecy protects the data in the Cayman Islands and that based on a former employment agreement Swiss Bank Secrecy applies also to Rudolf Elmer working in the Cayman Islands.
Prosecution Office wants to make the case that Swiss industrial secrecy laws also apply to the Cayman Islands in the case of Rudolf Elmer and accuses him of disclosing Julius Baer’s secrets on how it uses the operation in the Cayman Islands providing Trust & Company, Mutual and Hedge Fund services as well as the administering of Special Purpose Vehicles e.g. offshore companies of Carlyle, Washington D.C. within the Julius Baer Cayman office.
Winterthur’s head prosecutor Dr. iur. R. Jäger requests an increased imprisonment from 8 to 12 months on probation, and newly a prohibition period of 3 years even though some complaints have been dropped at the Bezirksgericht Zurich. Dr. iur. R. Jäger concluded that punishment must be drastically increased. Dr. iur. R. Jäger argues that Rudolf Elmer is only out for revenge."

Liberté info is accompanying the case and will post new developments on their website. Currently the appeal document is available for consultation.

Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss Bank Julius Bär provided, in 2008, information to WikiLeaks exposing tax evasion in the Cayman Islands.

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U.S. State Department cable on IAEA director Yukiya Amano's strategic stance

• 2009-10-16: IAEA: AMANO READY FOR PRIME TIME

"2. (C) In a meeting with Ambassador on the eve of the
two-week Board of Governors (BoG) and General Conference (GC)
marathon of mid-September, IAEA Director General-designate
Yukiya Amano thanked the U.S. for having supported his
candidacy and took pains to emphasize his support for U.S.
strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded
Ambassador on several occasions that he would need to make
concessions to the G-77, which correctly required him to be
fair-minded and independent, but that he was solidly in the
U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level
personnel appointments to the handling of Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program.

3. (SBU) Amano shared with Ambassador Davies his public
stance on the role of the IAEA and the Agency's contribution
to the global issues of proliferation, security, power, human
health and water management. More candidly, Amano noted the
importance of maintaining a certain "constructive ambiguity"
about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei
in December. With a bow to the G-77, Amano felt obliged to
emphasize the importance of "balance" regarding the Agency's
work in peaceful uses of nuclear technology. For staff
morale reasons, Amano planned to work on improving the
quality of management while publicly praising the current
standards and commending staff members for their dedication."

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U.S. State Department cables published by WikiLeaks on display at Occupy London
[Image via Ryan Gallagher]

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Christine Assange speaks to Green Left Weekly


In an interview to Green Left Weekly, Christine Assange spoke of the Australian government's subservience to the United States:

"In my opinion we have become nothing more than a franchise of the US and Julia Gillard has traded my son for her position as prime minister... I’m going right to where the buck stops, which is Canberra, and I’ll be talking to people about this case.


The only way we can get protection for our citizens — because if they won’t protect Julian, they won’t protect anyone else — is to let them know, so I’m asking the people to make November 17, not ‘celebrate Obama day’ but ‘support Julian Assange day’.
(...) They’ve dragged us into so many wars that in hindsight were no good… There are many military and ex-military people [in the US and Australia] who are unhappy with the way the wars are being run… In fact, a veterans’ organisation called Stand Fast will be protesting in Canberra."

Christine also brought attention to the political motivations behind the handling of Julian Assange's case, which she described as: "a political case, right from the word go. There are documented abuses all over his case, even Swedish judges have come out and said that. The banking blockade against WikiLeaks, the release of the US diplomatic cables and the ‘red notice’ [international arrest warrant] all came out within 10 days of each other. To say this case is not political is naive in the extreme.”

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WikiLeaks/Julian Assange Support Campaigns


* Various call to action and petitioning letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange in the context of the Swedish Prosecution Authority vs. Assange case have been compiled into a useful resource.
Please take the time to read and send these letters, or to compose your own, and demand justice for Julian Assange and others affected by the same legislations and procedures.

* November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, a protest against Julian's extradition and US government actions against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
Know more about this protest.

* Online Human Rights petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.


Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 341 days without having being charged of a crime. Bradley Manning has spent 537 days detained without trial. A Fair Trials International campaign was launched to end pre-trial detention within the EU. Fair Trials International also advocate the reform of the European Arrest Warrant:

The EAW has removed many of the traditional safeguards in the extradition process. If a court in one country demands a person’s arrest and extradition, courts and police in other countries must act on it. In 2009, this fast track extradition system was used to extradite over 4,000 people across the EU (700 people from the UK alone).

Although it was intended to deliver justice, the current system is actually resulting in cases of serious injustice. Our own casework repeatedly demonstrates the human cost of EU extradition. Fair Trials International will continue to press for an EU extradition system which is both fair and effective. Through our Justice in Europe campaign, we are succeeding in making the case for reform.

Campaigns in support of Bradley Manning


* Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
On the 17th of December - his 24th birthday - Bradley Manning will have been incarcerated for 571 days.

On this day stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning whose only crime was revealing the truth - congregate at the White House, your city hall or town square, or your nearest US Embassy or Consulate - peacefully and solemnly.

[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]

* Starting next Monday (November 14), a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning will take place throughout the week. Additional information will be posted on the Bradley Manning Support Network website, bradleymanning.org.

* Bradley's 24th birthday will be on December 17th. This is the second birthday the alleged whistleblower will have spent detained in a military prison, without trial. Everyone is encouraged to gather support for Bradley Manning on this day and to send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-14 #WikiLeaks News: Call-in for Bradley #Manning Starts Today, Online Privacy Compromised

Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and other international NGOs that work to expose the wrongdoing of powerful players risk the same fate as WikiLeaks. - WikiLeaks

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Starting today: a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning will take place throughout the week: Each day of the week you can help by calling the number for a different official with key influence on the outcome of the case.

The Bradley Manning Support Network announces: "we will expand our efforts by organizing mass call-ins to five different government offices, disrupting activities of those whose job it is to silence whistle-blowers with specific demands that can lead to a fairer trial."

The first two contacts, whose phone lines are to be flooded with calls demanding justice for Bradley are:


* Secretary of the Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb: 703-697-3491
[email: Anne.edgecomb@us.army.mil]
* Army Chief of Staff Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col Alayne Conway: 703-693-4961
[email: Alayne.conway@us.army.mil]

More information at bradleymanning.org

Other Campaigns in Support of Bradley Manning

* Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
On the 17th of December - his 24th birthday - Bradley Manning will have been incarcerated for 571 days.

On this day stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning whose only crime was revealing the truth - congregate at the White House, your city hall or town square, or your nearest US Embassy or Consulate - peacefully and solemnly.
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]

Everyone is also encouraged to gather support for Bradley Manning on this day and to send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

WikiLeaks/Julian Assange Support Campaigns (updated)

Australian supporters: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Others have already taken action, namely @nicsha, who has been tweeting about the experience:

November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, a protest against Julian's extradition and US government actions against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
Know more about this protest.

On November 24 the UK Parliament will debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, contact your MP on the subject today. All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange.

• Various call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange in the context of the Swedish Prosecution Authority vs. Assange case have been compiled into a useful resource.
  Please take the time to read and send these letters, or to compose your own, and demand justice for Julian Assange and others affected by the same legislations and procedures.
  
  

• Online Human Rights petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 343 days without having been charged of a crime.
Bradley Manning has spent 560 days detained without trial.
A Fair Trials International campaign was launched to end pre-trial detention within the EU. Fair Trials International also advocate the reform of the European Arrest Warrant.

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The ruling on the Twitter/WikiLeaks case prompted a series of news articles addressing the issue of lack of Online Privacy.

In ‘Court makes it official: You have no privacy online’, Matthew Ingram writes:

"What is the rationale behind this request for information from the U.S. government? We don’t know, and the judge in this case decided that the three targets of the court order didn’t have a right to know either, since he declined to force the Justice Department to reveal the purpose of its request. All we know is that the government wanted personal data about their activity on Twitter — including their IP addresses, any “contact information” related to the account, as well as “records of session times and durations,” and could even include the content of individual messages (including private messages). And it did this despite the fact that none of them have been charged with any kind of criminal offence in the U.S., and neither have WikiLeaks or Julian Assange.

As Soghoian has pointed out, most social networks and web services such as Twitter, Google+ and Facebook — and particularly the latter — are focused on getting their users to share more of their information, because doing this enhances the value of the network (and makes it more valuable to advertisers and marketers). Google has said that it wants to make its new network part of everything it does, and connect it to everything that its users do on any Google service as a kind of central “identity platform.” Based on the decision in the Twitter case, any and all of that information could theoretically be available to someone, including the government."

An article by Kris Kotarski, ‘Twitter ruling reveals extent of surveillance’, draws attention to the scale of the problem: "the case is much bigger than just WikiLeaks and the fate of three Twitter accounts because of the dangerous precedent that it sets for the rest of us.

(…) Obviously, the idea that any government could secretly ask for computer records without a warrant is troubling, but it is made especially so by advances in data storage and data mining that can automate what once took multiple people to do.

Without legal checks and balances - such as warrants granted by a judge - to protect user data from prying eyes, there is no reason why the U.S. government (and any imitator) cannot begin to simply trawl through everyone's computer data indiscriminately, effectively placing all of society under electronic surveillance.

Just last week, The Associated Press reported that the CIA monitors Twitter and Facebook as sources of intelligence and that the CIA has several hundred "ninja librarian" analysts in an industrial park at some unspecified location in Virginia."

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Video: St Paul’s Cathedral’s walls covered in WikiLeaks cables
U.S. State Department cables published by WikiLeaks are on display at Occupy London.

2011-11-15 #OccupyWallStreet evicted by NYPD, occupiers re-assemble in Foley Square

At around 1:00 AM, November 15th, police forces arrived in full riot gear, batons, pepper spray and tear gas as well as bulldozers to clear out the park. Protesters resisting peacefully chanting “Whose park? Our park!”. Media was systematically blocked from reporting after being penned in, they complained from receiving rough treatment from police, their credentials were ignored and airspace was closed for helicopters.

Liberty Square (a.k.a. Zuccotti Park) after being evicted.

2011-11-15 #WikiLeaks News: Julian #Assange files for appeal, #Cablegate News, introducing a New Feature

A prosecution of Julian Assange for the WikiLeaks publication of secret diplomatic cables would be the worst thing for the press since the Pentagon Papers. - James C. Goodale

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Today Julian Assange’s legal team filed an application to have his extradition case taken to the Supreme Court, based on the following points:

1) Whether a European Arrest Warrant issued by a partisan prosecutor working for the executive (i.e. not an independent judge or investigating magistrate in the civil law system) is a valid Part 1 Warrant issued by a "judicial authority" within the meaning of sections 2(2) & 66 of the Extradition Act 2003?
This point argues that the decision goes against parliamentary intent in the 2003 Extradition Act (see SwedenVsAssange).

2) Whether a person in respect of whom no decision to prosecute has been taken can be said to be ’accused’ within the meaning of sections 2(3)(a) of the Extradition Act 2003?

On December 5, in a public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London), the High Court will decide whether these two points are 'of general public importance'. If that is considered to be the case, the appeal will then proceed to the Supreme Court.

On November 24 the UK Parliament will debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, contact your MP on the subject ahead of November 24.

Prior to the appeal being lodged today, both Swedish and British media erroneously reported Julian Assange would not appeal the High Court’s decision, therefore it’s worth reminding readers only WikiLeaks and Sweden vs. Assange provide reliable information on this case.

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Cablegate News

• Confronted by der Spiegel with a cable detailing his compliance with United States’ interests, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano declared it was 'not necessarily a disadvantage' if the U.S. believed his strategy was in line with its interests. via IRNA

• Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia created a Cablegate search engine for U.S. State Department cables from the country.

• Post-war challenges in Sri Lanka are the topic of a diplomatic cable dated October 30, 2009 published by WikiLeaks. In it, Patricia A. Butenis, then US Ambassador to Colombo (Sri Lanka) noted

"Most outside, neutral observers privately agree that the GSL could have finished off the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) more quickly if they had been willing to risk a higher level of civilian casualties." [via Colombo Telegraph]

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Introducing the WikiLeaks' events calendar: with the purpose of facilitating supporters' participation in action campaigns for WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, sharing of information and also that of simply conveying information in a clearer, more concise, more organized way.
The calendar and a list of links to the events therein referenced, ordered by date, will be regularly updated.

November 14 to November 18: a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning is happening this week.
The first two contacts, whose phone lines are to be flooded with calls demanding the authorization of a UN visit to Bradley Manning are:
* Secretary of the Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb: 703-697-3491
[email: Anne.edgecomb@us.army.mil]
* Army Chief of Staff Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col Alayne Conway: 703-693-4961
[email: Alayne.conway@us.army.mil]
More information at bradleymanning.org

November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, an antiwar protest, also against Julian's extradition and U.S. government’s measures against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
Know more about this protest.

November 17: whistleblower Rudolf Elmer's appeal hearing will take place. Prosecution requests 'convicted on all charges' verdict and increased sentence.

Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

November 28: a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

December 5: Public hearing for Julian Assange’s appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice (London).

December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

Other action campaigns in support of WikiLeaks/Julian Assange

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

• Various call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange in the context of the Swedish Prosecution Authority vs. Assange case have been compiled into a useful resource.
  Please take the time to read and send these letters, or to compose your own, and demand justice for Julian Assange and others affected by the same legislations and procedures.
  
  

• Online Human Rights petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 344 days without having being charged of a crime.
Bradley Manning has spent 561 days detained without trial.
A Fair Trials International campaign was launched to end pre-trial detention within the EU. Fair Trials International also advocate the reform of the European Arrest Warrant.

2011-11-15 BREAKING: Occupy Wall Street protesters march to retake 'Liberty Square'

After the eviction last night, thousands of people are swelling in front of a barricaded Zuccotti Park chanting "Open up the park!". The area is completely surrounded by police forces, however, protesters are waiting to see if a verdict from the court handling a demand against last nights eviction will allow them in again. The argument is that they can't evict the park before showing a decisive cause for it.

2011-11-16 #WikiLeaks News: a day for Julian #Assange, Stop the Stop Online Piracy Act

WikiLeaks should be regarded as a service to Humanity. - Geoffrey Robertson QC

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


November 17 is a day of global support for Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and Bradley Manning.
On the occasion of President Obama’s visit to Australia to mark the 60th anniversary of the Australian-US war alliance and the announcement of the expansion of U.S. Military presence in the country, an antiwar protest in Canberra, outside the Parliament House, will start at 10:30 am.

This protest is also in support of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, who currently risks extradition to the United States, should his application for a Supreme Court appeal be rejected by the High Court and extradition to Sweden granted. In which case the U.S. could apply for his ‘temporary surrender’. This would enable him to be extradited to the U.S.

Christine Assange, Julian’s mother, wrote an open letter this week to help bring more visibility to the protest. In it, Christine expresses concern over the possibility of an extradition to the U.S. and urges action be taken against it:

“(…)The situation is URGENT! Australians from all walks of life overwhelmingly support his work at Wikileaks to expose corporate and government corruption. His only hope now is that his fellow Aussies demand that our government stand up to US bulliying and guarantee his protection, against a US extradition.”


If you are not in Australia, there are other ways you can join the global protest.
For instance, if you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24, where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 345 days without charge.

More about EAW irregularities in this case.
Your MP should be easy to find on this list.


Other supporters can also take action on this day by:

• Donating to WikiLeaks or the Julian Assange defence fund

• Sending at least one of the several call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

• Signing this petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

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Stop the Stop Online Piracy Act

Today the American Congress held a hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, a proposed copyright bill that concerns many rights groups and freedom of information advocates for its potential to silence websites that expose institutional abuses, such as WikiLeaks, as well as whistleblowers, and virtually any Internet user.
americancensorship.org illustrates the consequences the SOPA would have once implemented (click in order to read).

Although Google, Facebook and Twitter all opposed the bill today, Google copyright policy counsel Katherine Oyama found it appropriate to refer to the unlawful financial blockade against WikiLeaks as an example of an future measure to counter online copyright violations.
Should the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ be approved, any website suspected of copyright infringement could be cut off by a payment processor without notice, similarly to what happened to WikiLeaks, only under the SOPA such an embargo would be legal.

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• Gavin MacFadyen, founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism, commented on Julian Assange’s extradition and selective media reporting about him.

• A new interview with Julian Assange, conducted by philosopher Peter Singer, was published today by a new german publication ‘Philosophy Magazine’. Der Standard published a few excerpts from the interview online.

  
  
  

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  November 14 to November 18: a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning is happening this week.
  The first two contacts, whose phone lines are to be flooded with calls demanding the authorization of a UN visit to Bradley Manning are:
  * Secretary of the Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb: 703-697-3491
  [email: Anne.edgecomb@us.army.mil]
  * Army Chief of Staff Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col Alayne Conway: 703-693-4961
  [email: Alayne.conway@us.army.mil]
  More information at bradleymanning.org
  

  November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, an antiwar protest, also against Julian's extradition and U.S. government’s measures against WikiLeaks will occur in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
  Know more about this protest.

  November 17: whistleblower Rudolf Elmer's appeal hearing will take place. Prosecution requests 'convicted on all charges' verdict and increased sentence.

  Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

  November 28: a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

  November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

  November 29: Channel 4 the airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

  December 5: Public hearing for Julian Assange’s appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice (London).

  December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
  Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
  [For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
  Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602


Other action campaigns in support of WikiLeaks/Julian Assange

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.
  
  

2011-11-17 #WikiLeaks News: #day4JA with Christine Assange; Rudolf Elmer’s appeal; Other Updates

It is time for Australia to stand up for its citizens, for its values and for itself as a nation. - Jennifer Robinson


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.

Protesters gathered in Canberra this morning for a rally in support of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning. The protest happened as U.S. President Barack Obama was visiting Canberra to announce the expansion of U.S. military presence in Australia.

Outside the Australian Parliament House, chants of Assange and Manning, let them go - Let us have our right to know were heard.
Christine Assange spoke against the extradition of her son Julian to the United States, declaring: “my son could be extradited to Sweden and then the U.S. in four weeks” where he could face “U.S. style justice”. She then referred to the appalling treatment of alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning - who has been under pre-trial detention in a military prison for 563 days - and the Australian government’s refusal to intervene for Julian Assange’s protection, saying: “The Australian government has done nothing for Julian.” She condemned the attitude of Australian leaders whom she described as ‘star-struck’ by Obama’s presence.
Christine ended her speech with the words: “Continue fighting for my son. Thank you”.

Below, a few images from the rally (all photos and information via Cassie Findlay, @CassPF on twitter, who live tweeted the protest).

1) A ‘drone’ outside the Parliament House in Canberra.
2) Christine Assange delivers a speech in front of a sign that reads: Obama, Killer of Hope.



1) Christine Assange holds a sign alerting to the risks faced by Julian Assange if extradited to the U.S.
2) A powerful message.



1) "If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth.", a quote by Julian Assange.
2) A protester holds a "Don’t shoot the messenger, thank him" sign.

You too can join this Global day of support for Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning:

If you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24, where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 345 days without charge.

More about EAW irregularities in this case.
Your MP should be easy to find on this list.


Otherwise, can take action by:

• Donating to WikiLeaks or to the Julian Assange defence fund

• Sending at least one of the several call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

• Signing this petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

• Participating in this week’s Call-in for Bradley Manning to the State Department and U.S. Military.

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Whistle-blower Rudolf Elmer Appeals Verdict

Rudolf Elmer appealed the guilty verdict today and dropped charges against his former employer, Swiss bank Julius Bär.
Prior to the hearing, Rudolf Elmer released a Statement where he explains his motivations as a whistle-blower. Regarding his sentence, he wrote:

“(…) in 2008, the American judiciary, based on the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution ‘Free Speech and Free Press’, weighed the interest in the abuse higher in the case of Julius Bär vs Wikileaks and have not discussed Wikileaks’ motives.

Thus, the district court is in its decision in conflict with The European Court of Human Rights, the decision of the European Council, and goes against the global trend to protect whistle-blowers.”

Update - No verdict was issued as the Court declared 'lack of clear evidence' to rule on Rudolf Elmer's appeal.

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• Sweden Vs. Assange confirm lawyer Björn Hurtig is no longer representing Julian Assange in Sweden. Hurtig was replaced with Thomas Olsson and Per E. Samuelson.

• Launch of German publication ‘Philosophy Magazine’. In its first number Julian Assange is interviewed by philosopher Peter Singer.

• An article about the possible extradition of Julian Assange to the U.S. also analyses the Occupy movement, influenced by WikiLeaks.

• Holiday/Christmas items and news designs are now available at the WikiLeaks Shop: proceeds go entirely to WikiLeaks.
  There are two different models of Holiday stockings, one is only being sold in the United States, the other one in Europe.

  

  
  
  

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  November 14 to November 18: a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning is happening this week.

  November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, an antiwar protest, also against Julian's extradition and U.S. government’s measures against WikiLeaks occurs in front of the Parliament House in Canberra on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia. Please join.
  Know more about this protest.

  November 17: whistleblower Rudolf Elmer's appeal hearing takes place. Prosecution requests 'convicted on all charges' verdict and increased sentence.

  Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

  November 28: a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

  November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

  November 29: Channel 4 the airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

  December 5: Public hearing for Julian Assange’s appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice (London).

  December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
  Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
  [For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
  Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602


Other action campaigns in support of WikiLeaks/Julian Assange

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.
  
  

2011-11-17 An open letter to the President of the United States, Barack Obama & the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard on the occasion of Barack Obama's address to the Australian Parliament on 17th November, 2011.

Signed by Stop the War Coalition, Sydney, Sydney
Solidarity for Bradley Manning, Wikileaks Coalition, Peace Bus.

While you meet in Australia’s Parliament House, Australians concerned about human rights, peace, justice and equality protest against your policies. We believe that the policies you jointly agree on undermine the security of our future and the opportunity for our children to live in a world free of war and violence; a world where economic equality, freedom of speech, expression and knowledge are sacrosanct.

We are prevented from having that world because of the support you give to the military industrial complex, of which Australia is a loyal subsidiary. Those interests would have us believe that they wage war to bring peace and something they call “democracy”.

But, after 10 years of war in Afghanistan, and nearly eight years in Iraq, there is scant evidence of any democracy, only destruction and death. Israeli military action against the Palestinians will not bring peace. Israel can continue its apartheid-like policies against the Palestinians because it knows it has Washington’s support.

Many dared to dream that you, Barack Obama, would begin to reverse the terrible crimes of your predecessor. Instead your foreign policy is underscored by the same violence and coercion.

The stated aim of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to rid the world of terrorism and to bring democracy to the region, was deceptive. Both wars are illegal because they were conducted under false pretences. In his book “Axis of Deceit”, former Australian Intelligence Officer, Andrew Wilkie, now an Independent member of parliament, has said, that the over-riding reason for the invasion of Iraq was “the US’s determination to safeguard and enhance its global ideological, economic and military hegemony.” (64) We believe that the same applies to Afghanistan.

The “war on terror” has been used as an excuse to colonise Iraq and Afghanistan. In exchange for aid, the Governments of Iraq and Afghanistan have been coerced into adopting neo-liberal economic policies. In this “privatisation of war”, vital public infrastructure has been sold off or destroyed. Multinational corporations such as Blackwater, KBR (Halliburton), and agribusinesses such as Chemonics Inc, with the support of USAID, can now impose their products on these war-torn nations.

Meanwhile, mismanaged foreign aid falls into the hands of Afghan war-lords and criminals, fuelling corruption and violence and preventing Afghans from democratically deciding on their futures.

The majority of Australians do not want to benefit from the torture, maiming and impoverishment of civilians, the destruction of people’s livelihoods, and their environment. We call on you Julia Gillard to withdraw all Australian troops from Afghanistan.

WE ACCUSE

Barrack Obama and Julia Gillard: We accuse you of complicity in war crimes

You are responsible for killing and maiming unknown numbers of innocent men, women and children in Afghanistan and Iraq while peddling the illusion that war and occupation can still bring democracy.

These war crimes include: the execution of women and children in Ishaqi, Central Bagdad in 2006; an unprovoked helicopter attack on civilians and journalists in Bagdad in 2007 killing 11 people; and the bombing of Rigi village, Afghanistan in July 2010 where it is claimed 50 civilians, mostly women and children were killed. None of these atrocities have been adequately investigated by either the US or Australia. Human Rights Watch has reported that throughout 2011, there have been incidences of rape, torture and beatings committed by US/NATO backed Afghan Local Police forces. A recent report in Human Rights Watch has found that, with very few exceptions it is “rare for the US and NATO to hold independent and transparent investigations into possible acts of wrongdoing, or to hold individuals to account.”

The US President has conferred upon himself the right to murder US and other national citizens on the basis of “secret evidence”. Obama has escalated the use of unmanned predator drones to assassinate terrorist suspects, often killing innocent civilians. This undermines the rule of law and violates the US Constitution and the Geneva Convention. These CIA-based actions are morally wrong and set a dangerous precedent. The use of unmanned predator drones should be banned.

Barrack Obama and Julia Gillard: We accuse you of complicity in torture and continuing extraordinary rendition

For years Amnesty International has warned US, NATO and Australia that prisoner transfer agreements with the Afghani National Directorate of Security, will expose prisoners to the risk of torture. In 2010, Amnesty warned the Australian government that prisoners transferred by Australian officials in Afghanistan to US or Afghan detention centres may face torture and that this could put Australia in breach of International laws against torture.

You continue the practice of Extraordinary Rendition, sending suspected terrorists to compliant countries to be tortured. A report by the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University found that “the US government continues to take advantage of Bush-era secrecy in subjecting transferred detainees to the threat of torture”. (Dec 20, 2010 Press Release: Promises to Keep)

There are concerns that changes made to laws in 2009 governing the treatment of prisoners in US custody have loopholes that would allow for torture under specific situations.

Barack Obama and Julia Gillard: We accuse you of supporting the terrorist state of Israel and betraying Palestinians

Barack Obama, for years the US has paid lip service to peace between the Palestinians and Israelis while consistently voting in favor of Israeli interests at the United Nations Security Council and supplying aid and weapons to the Israeli military. Amnesty International reported in 2009 that over a 10-year period up to the year 2017, the US will provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid.

Barack Obama, in your September 21, 2011 address to the United Nations General Assembly you used the usual platitudes, the prevaricating language of the insincere, to excuse yourself from supporting Palestinian application for statehood. While in the Occupied Territories, East Jerusalem and throughout the refugee camps, the oppressed and dispossessed Palestinians suffer war, violence and hunger because of Israeli aggression towards them.
Julia Gillard deny Palestinians their right to statehood. How do you explain this to Australian Palestinians?

Barack Obama: We accuse you of the persecution and torture of Bradley Manning

You have declared Bradley Manning, the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, guilty before he has had his constitutional right to defend himself in a court of law. You have prosecuted more whistleblowers than any of your predecessors.

Bradley Manning’s detention conditions at Quantico Marine Base between July 2010 and April 2011 are reported to have included solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for 10 months, sleep deprivation and enforced nakedness during morning inspection. Yale Law School professor, Bruce Ackerman has stated that the treatment reported, “… is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee against punishment without trial.” You continue to deny UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez an unmonitored visit to Bradley Manning to clarify the truth of these reports.

Barack Obama and Julia Gillard: We accuse you of persecuting Julian Assange, Australian citizen and founder of WikiLeaks

Julian Assange has released material, such as the Iraq War Logs and Afghan War Diaries that expose the “corruption, deceit, brutality and criminality of the world’s most powerful factions”. They show the horrific reality of the Iraq and Afghan wars and the degree to which US corporations benefit financially. The Wikileaks cables make it clear that you are both complicit in corruption, war crimes and human rights abuses.

By revealing these crimes against humanity, Julian Assange has provided a great service to the public.

WikiLeaks has also exposed the degree to which European, British and US government officials knew about the fraudulent activities and dishonest brokering which led to the global financial collapse and the impoverishment of millions in the US and around the world.

Barack Obama your attack on Julian Assange makes a mockery of the First Amendment right to free speech.

Julia Gillard you are putting the interests of the US-Australia ANZUS alliance before the safety of an Australian citizen. You and Kevin Rudd have yet to apply diplomatic pressure to stop Assange’s possible extradition to the United States, which his lawyers say, would put him in grave danger. We call on you to fulfill your obligation to protect an Australian citizen in serious difficulty overseas.

Julia Gillard: We accuse you of ignoring public opinion on foreign policy

We do not accept that Australia's foreign policy is best served by a war alliance with the US. Signing a pact with the US government to allow joint command of military bases on Australian soil is not about preventing wars. Rather, it is about continuing the current illegal and unpopular wars, and being complicit in starting more.

Australians overwhelmingly opposed the invasion of Iraq and, now, the 10-year long war in Afghanistan. Australia's support for the NATO intervention into Libya, and the risk of such an intervention into Iran, will not help the democracy movements in these countries. Rather, these imperial interventions are about helping install compliant rulers with whom imperial powers, including Australia, can do business.

Barack Obama and Julia Gillard: We accuse you of putting the interests of corporations and the military industrial complex above the safety and well being of those in your care.

We support the worldwide Occupy movement against corporate greed and war. We, the 99%, want a co-operative and peaceful world. The wars being waged today are wars for the 1%.

The light on the hill is out.

But around the world, demands for justice, peace and equality, flare like a new sun.

2011-11-17 Mass arrests at #OccupyWallStreet, protesters block the Stock Exchange

The #N-17 'Day of Action' called for by #OccupyWallSt to protest for the violent eviction of the camp at Liberty Sq. on the 15th started early: at 7:00 AM hundreds of protesters blocked the intersections leading into Wall Street, actually managing to delay the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange by more than 30 minutes. There have been widespread reports of police violence against protesters practicing peaceful civil disobedience. The NYPD has created a partially militarized zone in downtown New York, after bringing out an LRAD audio cannon to disperse protesters and disallowing people to walk on certain streets, despite presenting valid IDs and press passes. There are at least 100 confirmed arrests, although the number could actually be much higher. Once again there have been reports of violence against members of the press. At 3:00 PM EST protesters will attempt to #Occupy the Subway, later they will head to Foley Square.

2011-11-17 The Hypocrisy of a President

Authored by Sam.

“Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have”.

On the 17th of November 2011 US President Barack Obama addressed the Australian House of Representatives and while well intentioned, the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore.

At present, the United States domesticity plays host to a historically significant protest movement and its executive branch has been the swiftest of any, to trample dissenting whistle-blowers. Its interest in exterminating voices of dissent is plainer now than ever and the thunderous applause at the conclusion of his speech illuminate for all to see, the profound indifference of our elected leaders to this disingenuous rhetoric and unacceptable official conduct.

If Obama truly believed what he says then recent history would be starkly different.

“We stand for an international order in which the rights and responsibilities of all nations and people are upheld. Where international law and norms are enforced.”[1] Surely then, he must be standing on some shaky ground. A President so steadfast in his commitment to the rights of other nations and their people in the international system, simply would not do and continue to do what he has done.

Let's speak of the symbol of international order, the United Nations. Unfortunately for them, in 2009 Obama's administration was not so convinced of its own wish for a respected international order. The Guardian reports: “A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.”[2] That sounds to me like a Government more concerned with personal advantage than international equality in the system.

Continuing, Obama remarks: “[we] seek economies that are open and transparent.” If only that were so! As I write this document, Wikileaks continues to be under what, for all intents and purposes, is an illegitimate, illegal financial blockade by some of the biggest players in the so-called “open and transparent” economy. Despite the clearly extra-judicial conduct Obama, a man who when faced with an economic reality running precisely counter to his ideal, says not a word. This cowardice means that as an Australian I cannot support an organisation whose values I personally respect and whose work has led to the betterment of our global society. This cowardice means that an organisation that has won an Amnesty International Prize for its work, may soon go under. This cowardice means that moral authority of the Government which Obama represents stands eroding in the eyes of the global citizenry. I borrow Obama's own words when I say that “[I] seek an open international economic system where rules are clear and every nation plays by them”. Readers should note his words, even if he does not act on them, when he remarks: “prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty.”

The most obviously facetious comments come towards the end of his remarks when he says to Members of The House: “[t]he final area where we are leading [is in] our support for the fundamental rights of every human being”. He makes this dishonest claim whilst his Government is responsible for detaining accused Wikileaks source Bradley Manning for over 500 days without trial. A Government too, that continues to operate one of the most disgusting prisons on our earth's surface. Guantanamo Bay.

Guantanamo, “according to leading Habeas Corpus lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights” is a place where "systematic denial of Red Cross access to prisoners remains. The use of dogs remains. Segregation and isolation are still used routinely and systematically – including an initial period of at least 4 weeks to enhance and exploit the disorientation and disorganisation [sic] felt by a newly arrived detainee', only terminated at the behest of interrogators” and even the basic necessity toilet paper is “still regarded as a luxury 'comfort item'”[3].

Obama asserts: “it is also true that certain rights are universal, among them freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders.” On all counts Obama undermines these apparently universal human rights either through his desire to not deal with past injustice or simply due to giving his consent to the continuation of counter-intuitive policy.

Wikileaks and the Occupy Wall Street movement together constitute the clear example of Obama's hypocrisy. Citizens asserting their freedom of assembly and speech are unwontedly censored, attacked and demonized by Government officials and by “media organisations” more accurately described as “propaganda organisations” - and a small non-profit publishing organisation, Wikileaks, is denied their supposedly incontrovertible freedom to publish - both through attempts to shut it down directly as well as extra-judicial financial muzzling, as previously alluded to. The man who has taken on the charge of being its public face has paid dearly for it. There have been threats on his life from numerous quarters both high up the political strata and in the mainstream and his home Government is all too ready to oblige those wanting to see the idea of his imprisonment for his work with Wikileaks, become a reality. His and Wikileaks' service to us all has been in exposing the oft ignored or unseen networked, systematized attack on our democratic freedoms. It has exposed as a falsehood the democratic truths we once held to be self evident and in continuing to pretend that they exist despite this, Obama too has exposed himself as a liar.

He is exposed a liar in claiming that the US "encourage[s] open government, because democracies depend on an informed and active citizenry”. This exposure is a result of his actions in response to a world event that legitimately enhances this principle. Namely, the recent disclosures by Wikileaks of the United States diplomatic cables as well as the true historical record of the two most recent wars this world is engaged in. Obama said it best when he stated in his speech: “an activist remains unbowed, imprisoned in his home, just to have the same rights we cherish here today”. He didn't intend to speak of Julian but we are often blind to the most uncomfortable truths.

Stand tall Wikileaks. Stand resolute Occupy Wall Street. The tokenism of the President of The United States is not empty for those who, with conviction, truly and honestly act on them. Take heed of the fact that, as he says: “History is on the side of the free - free societies, free governments, free economies, free people. And the future belongs to those who stand firm for these ideals, in this region and around the world.” “Across a vast ocean, it's impossible to know what lies beyond the horizon. But if this vast region and its people teach us anything, it's that the yearning for liberty and progress will not be denied.”

With luck, one day, Obama will read and not just “read” the speeches he gives. May he find in himself the honesty to see the contradictions he and his administrations repeat straight-faced. In the meantime, please donate to Wikileaks. Their new fund-raising drive is of critical importance to the continuation of their commendable mission and please also, support and join the citizens movement, Occupy. Demonstrate through your presence, that the hypocrisy of a President does not extend to his people. For, as Assange has said: “every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.”[4]

You can't evict an idea whose time has come.

References

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/national/text-of-obamas-speech-to-parliament-20111...

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un

[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20071206120849/http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Changes_in_Guantanamo_Bay_SOP_manual_(2003-2004)

[4] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/367059

2011-11-18 #WikiLeaks News: Christine Assange speaks in support of her son, Julian #Assange (video); Other Updates

The consensus of the Australian people I’ve spoken to… is the credibility loss at the moment globally for the U.S. is coming more from their reaction to WikiLeaks than the leaks themselves. - Christine Assange


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Christine Assange on the Australian government's failure to protect citizen Julian Assange:
A video of the speech delivered by Christine Assange at the November 17 rally for Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning in Canberra is now available on youtube.

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• The driver of @WikiLeaksTruck, Clark Stoeckley, arrested yesterday at Occupy Wall Street along with a reporter, has been released from jail. He tweeted about his arrest with his hands cuffed behind his back. A video of his arrest can be seen here.

• A group that calls itself 'WikiLeaks Lybia' has published a letter from American 'terrorism consultants', offering to help Moammar Gaddafi defeat the rebels an escape safely from Lybia for 10 million dollars.
  [via Washington Post]

• "After the revelations of WikiLeaks, it became clear that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi saved their government during the nuclear deal by purchasing 19 MPs", stated the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (India) in a press conference today.

• Starting at 9:23 minutes, Julian Assange’s legal advisor Jennifer Robinson discusses her work with WikiLeaks and as a human rights activist in an ABC One Plus One interview.

• In an article titled ‘Thanksgiving meets WikiLeaks’, David Alan Coia writes: "Since its release, with thousands of classified documents, our government and others have put up numerous roadblocks to WikiLeaks. Military personnel tell me they are not permitted to access Wikileaks, even with their own computers when off duty".

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Action Campaigns


WikiLeaks

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange

• If you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24, where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
  Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
  Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 346 days without charge.

• More about EAW irregularities in this case.
  Your MP should be easy to find on this list.

• Send at least one of the several call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

• Sign this petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

Bradley Manning

• Today is the last day to participate in the Call-in for Bradley Manning to the State Department and U.S. Military.

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November 14 to November 18: a Call-in to The White House and Military to Demand UN Access to Bradley Manning is happening this week.
The first two contacts, whose phone lines are to be flooded with calls demanding the authorization of a UN visit to Bradley Manning are:
* Secretary of the Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb: 703-697-3491
[email: Anne.edgecomb@us.army.mil]
* Army Chief of Staff Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col Alayne Conway: 703-693-4961
[email: Alayne.conway@us.army.mil]
More information at bradleymanning.org

November 17: Led by Christine Assange, Julian Assange's mother, an antiwar protest, also against Julian's extradition and U.S. government’s measures against WikiLeaks occurred in front of the Parliament House in Canberra, on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Australia.

November 17: whistleblower Rudolf Elmer's appeal hearing took place. Elmer dropped charges against Swiss bank Julius Bär. A verdict was not issued on the appeal against his sentence. Updated documents on this case can be found at Liberté Info.

Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

November 28: a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

December 5: Public hearing for Julian Assange’s appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice (London).

December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-18 Arrests & Renewal #OccupyLA Day 48

I just got out of jail a few hours ago. I was one of 300 people arrested Thursday in Occupy Wall St. protests across the United States. In Los Angeles, a total of 67 people were arrested from Occupy Los Angeles, SEIU and Good Jobs LA which combined forces for two back-to-back protests, both of which had as there centerpieces acts of civil disobedience that brought important sections of downtown to a complete standstill as the biggest occupation in the nation took to the streets.

The first was a march that started at 7:00am to the 4th St. bridge, that brought Figueroa Ave, which at 30 miles, is the longest street in LA, to a complete standstill in the middle of the morning rush hour. This also pretty much shutdown freeway access to downtown, Figueroa is that important. 23 protesters, mostly SEIU members, were arrested in a very orderly, non-violent fashion after the protesters set up tents in the street.

I arrived at the first protest near its end. I knew better than to try to approach via the freeways but even surface streets came to a standstill once I got to Figueroa so I settled for a parking lot on 8th, west of Figueroa. Knowing that I might be arrested, I picked a lot that never closed and walked into the action between 3rd and 4th. From there I returned with the occupiers to city hall. The next march was to start from there at noon.

This day's activities had been carefully planned for weeks. We intended make a major expansion and create a new occupation at the Bank of America Plaza on Flower between 3rd and 4th. It became clear that the protest we did several weeks ago in which we set up tents in the Hope St. Bank of America lobby was a dry run for this. The whole afternoon had been planned as a beehive of protest activity in downtown Los Angeles with three marches by different groups headed for different locations in the financial district. Few people knew the final objective before that morning and that was obscured by all the published activity.

The LAPD had sensed the wind and knew that an expansion or move was planned, but they didn't know where. This left them trying to protect every open space. On our way back to Occupy LA, some of us noticed that the cops had closed the nearby dog park with yellow tape and a detail was guarding it. We laughed. We asked them "What are the dogs going to do?" and "Do you really think we're going to occupy a dog park?"

When the marches diverted from their published paths to converge on the Bank of America Plaza, the one with the orange Picasso, I couldn't believe it. It had been left virtually unguarded with only a few rent-a-cops and LAPD as we took the plaza.

While SEIU members flooded the streets and marched around the plaza, a group of occupiers took the high grassy ground in the center. A couple of cadre emerge from their hiding place with pre-positioned tents and supplies, and in a matter of minutes, before the LAPD showed up in large numbers, we had more than a dozen tents up and encircled by more than a hundred activists from Occupy LA, and outside of that, around the orange Picasso sculpture and other section of the Plaza were hundreds more activists and supporters.

For the afternoon rush hour, it was the LAPD's turn to block the streets as they turned Hope St., in front of the Plaza, into a parking lot for police cars and a space to form up squads in riot gear. The standoff began. It was a little after 2:00pm. Most of the union members were starting to leave but other activists were coming to support this new occupation as cell phones sent the message back to base camp at city hall and throughout the region.

The media team built a mobile rig for this and I'm told that more than 10,000 people ended up watching the unfolding events on the Internet LiveStream. There was also a lot of other media of all types. The local TV news, knew it was going to be a big day and so they were covering the unfolding Occupy LA events starting live with the 6am morning news.

While the LAPD moved to encircle the occupiers with the tents in the center grass covered square, the first move was made by the B of A management. They turned on the sprinklers! As if.

As if activists that were willing to face off with cops in riot gear armed with guns that shot a 37mm Foam Baton Round were going to be run off by a little water! One innovative occupier came up with the solution. We used the tent pole bags to cover the pop-up sprinklers. This still left a lawn that soon became a muddy mess and because of B of A's little stunt, more damage has done to sections of their lawn in hours than had been done to the lawn at city all in as many weeks. Eventually we did find the sprinkler water valves in the Plaza and shut them down completely.

The LAPD, however, was a different matter. They kept building their forces. My favorite question for them was a quote from the Usual Suspects, "Sure you brought enough guys?" It was interesting to find that because of the city budget crisis, they weren't paid overtime for the extra duty. This was also true in the jail and it became one of our best talking points with them.

It wasn't all conversation but the standoff lasted for hours. We knew that a lot of pressure was being placed on Mayor Villaraigosa to leave us be. Union leaders, community leaders and others were keeping his private lines lit up. Meanwhile, on the Plaza, a group of religious leaders, Christian, Muslim and Jewish joined us for moral support. However, they did not stay to get arrested.

Eventually it was the Plaza's owner that forced the police to act. The Bank of America Plaza is owned by the same people that own Zucotti Park were Occupy Wall St. is. That was one of the main reasons for choosing that target, as a show of solidarity with Occupy Wall St.

At 3:55 the LAPD brass with bull horns announced that we had 5 minutes to take down our tents and vacate the premises. Seeing little compliance, they gave us an automatic extension to 4:10 pm. That time came and went. By then we had reformed our lines as locked arms encircled around a few of the tents. For the next hour that was the standoff. They even took to loading there riot guns in an effort to intimidate us. In anticipation of a tear gas attack, we distributed face masks and vinegar for soaking bandannas in. They were hoping that the number willing to face arrest would dwindle and for a while it did. Then it stabilized. We still had about 50 people that weren't going anywhere, so around 5pm they moved forward and arrested us one by one.

We were locked arms in a tight circle as the cops in riot gear closed in. The commander suggested that things would go better if we just sat down while still locked arms. We considered our options then and there and decided to remain standing. When the commander asked what was going on. Someone explained to him that we were a democratic assembly and we always made decisions democratically. I then asked if someone wanted to take stack.

When they arrested us they used the tie wrap handcuffs and of course they put them on way too tight. One occupier was sitting next to me for hours and his cuffs were on so tight that he couldn't move the fingers of this left hand and it was getting cold. After a bit of agitation by us, he got some relief. Another, at 80, the oldest of the "custodies" came away from the experience with bloody wrists.

My Prisoner's Receipt says that it was a citizens arrest for trespass by one Dave Thompson, citizen. Bail $100. That's the way it was for all of the 42?? occupiers that were arrested and taken to booking in two vans and a bus, a second wave followed later.

The booking process was a very slow one that involved an occasional action with a lot of sitting around in hand cuffs. I told them I had hypertension and they sent me to the MT. Another delay. He took my blood pressure. I told them I had a two day supply of medication in my wallet but they threw it away anyway.

Finally we were put in a pod with cots, it must have been around midnight. At 3am they woke us for breakfast. I've had better. There were about a 18 occupiers in my pod. My name was called with two others about 4:30 am and a little while after that we were walking out of jail and into the cool morning air to be greeted by a group of occupier with hot coffee. Most of them had just been bailed out themselves. Then I found out about the furious effort that had been going on to raise the money to bail people out. As of this hour, four people remain to be bailed out. One has a high bail because she is charged with assaulting an officer, one has +$500 in tickets and two are refusing to identify themselves. Go figure.

I dodge another bullet by getting back to my car slightly before 6am. It had a note on the windshield saying they were going to tow it and the small print at the bottom of the stub gave them the right to do it at the owners expense if it was parked overnight.

This is what the LA Times reported:

Los Angeles police began arresting dozens of Occupy Los Angeles protesters who refused to leave Bank of America Plaza in in the financial district Thursday afternoon in the second major protest of the day.

Police ordered the protesters to disperse at 4:10 p.m., a request that was greeted with chants of "Shame on you."

The protesters began taking over the plaza about 1 p.m. after a march from City Hall. They set up tents on a grassy area and locked arms, where they faced down police. But the property owner informed the LAPD that it was closing the park, which is private property, and requested that anybody who remained be arrested for trespassing.

The arrests came after 23 other protesters were taken into custody Thursday morning after they erected tents in the middle of a downtown street.

The second march was organized by the Service Employees International Union and included janitors, security officers, airport workers and other service workers, along with protesters from Occupy L.A. After the march, many union members left, but said they supported Occupy L.A.'s continued efforts.

Mike Garcia, president of the SEIU United Services Workers West, issued a statement in support of the expanded protest.

"We call on Mayor Villaraigosa to support and protect their right to peacefully protest within our great city," he said.

"Across the country, workers, unemployed people, parents, students, veterans and people of all ages are speaking out to say that Wall Street banks wrecked our economy and they are responsible for fixing it.

"Occupy L.A. has taken that message to the doorstep of one of the nation's biggest banks, Bank of America, with a new occupation in front of the Bank of America building in downtown Los Angeles. We stand in solidarity with them."

The mayor's office issued a statement saying that the plaza is private property and the city attorney's office was looking into the legal issues.

The day's activities were among the boldest yet taken by Occupy Los Angeles. Although we were unable to defend and maintain this new occupation, it served as a warning shot that we will be expanding beyond city hall and sprouting new occupations across the city. It also served to shift our focus away from the internal dynamics that have been eating away at the movement and back to the struggle against finance capital.

Most importantly, a lot of unity was forged in the course of these events and a lot of productive discussions took place. Hell, we were even planning to hold a General Assembly in jail a little latter that morning. Maybe that's why they finally sprung us.

2011-11-20 Chemical cops & crimes against the humanity of #OWS protesters

In the last few days, many have seen the shocking video of a police officer, one Police Lt. John Pike, pepper spraying a line of seated, peaceful non-violent students at the University of California (Davis.) ...one female protester was rushed to hospital in an ambulance for treatment of chemical burns. Ten protesters were arrested.

This use of chemical weapons on peaceful students representing no threat to the community such as a breach of the peace, or any other sign of potential violence, riot, affray or public disorder escalates the 'war' against the #OWS movement to frightening new levels.

I use the words "Chemical Cops" noting that pepper spray is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and that being so, (given also that the Los Angeles Times in 1995 reported 61 deaths attributable to pepper spray since 1990) recklessness in its use may lead to a homicide being made out.

The question is immediately raised that if this substance is banned for war use, how do we allow it to be used on fellow citizens in time of peace? How do we allow its use for what is - obviously in this case - a method of extra-judicially punishing dissent?

The risk of death being ever present in its use; the culpability of its wantonly reckless use on innocent people by officer Pike is palpable.

If and when #OWS protesters are shot and killed - as I predict they will be - we might very well then be entitled to call the responsible law enforcement officers and their leaders sociopaths if not facists.

The justification for this horrendously violent, dangerous and unnecessary conduct?

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza defended the brutality to KCRA 3, saying that camping on campus is “not safe for multiple reasons.”

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students...."Hindsight is 20-20 and based on the situation we were sitting in, ultimately that was the decision that was made"

Viewers of the video can see for themselves that at no stage was the campus 'not safe', nor that police officers were threatened in any way. Officers turn their backs on the protesters for example and the crowd is quite calm.

In some ways it is surprising that the protesters were not charged with assaulting police, which is a common ambit of law enforcement when trying to cover up outrageous and unlawful behaviour on their part - perhaps all the video was too overwhelming for that.

Pepper spraying appears to be common conduct in the USA in reaction to #OWS protests, being used in Portland, Seattle and Oakland.

What Chief Spicuzza might contemplate in a moment of reflection is that the International Criminal Court and its nation state adherents also has 20/20 hindsight on crimes against humanity. Prosecution for breaches is not by definition limited to nations such as Egypt, Libya or those towards whom US foreign policy could perhaps be best described as-one-size-fits-all-belligerence:

Article 7
Crimes against humanity

1.For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

(a) Murder;
(f) Torture;

(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

2. For the purpose of paragraph 1:

(a) "Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack;

(e) "Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions;

(g) "Persecution" means the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity;

Given that there appears to be some coordination between various law enforcement agencies throughout the USA, the element "directed against a civilian population" becomes stronger in a prosecutorial sense. Any evidence of Federal Agency involvement, such as the FBI, would make the evidentiary burden even less onerous.

Whether pepper spraying and other acts can be legally described as torture, persecution or other inhumane act is not so important at this stage, what is important is that evidence is emerging that "State or organizational policy" is poised in determination to crush the #OWS movement and appears to be escalating the violence in the process.

The #OWS movement is under attack potentially by those like HBGary who want to change the narrative. Washington lobbying firm, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford according to a leaked memo, have thrust themselves into the arena, wanting:

to build “negative narratives” about the protests and politicians that are leaning towards supporting the movement. The lobbying firm requested $850,000 to conduct the research...

I predict when this or other like minded organisations gets to work that their narrative will not be far removed from:

The #OWS People Are Economic Terrorists.

When that happens I also predict the gloves will come off and the real bullets will fly.

As the clear historical conduct of the "1%" is to 'steal' the narrative (not only just as much of the wealth of a nation as they can), it behooves the #OWS movement I would have thought, to establish the narrative themselves.

One small way of doing this I suggest, in similar circumstances to that at UC Davis, when faced with a line of pepper spraying police is to label it for what it is: A Crime Against Humanity.

2011-11-21 #WikiLeaks News: Hearing for Bradley #Manning on December 16; New Support Campaigns; Cablegate

The charges against Bradley Manning are an indictment of our government’s obsession with secrecy. - Daniel Ellsberg


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.

After 17 months in confinement, Bradley Manning will appear before court on December 16, for an Article 32 pretrial hearing, his lawyer announced today.
The hearing, expected to last 5 days, will take place at Fort Meade, Maryland and will be held publicly “with the exception of those limited times where classified information is being discussed”.
The primary purpose of this hearing is to evaluate the US Government’s case against Manning.
Supporters will be outside the Court as he arrives, for a demonstration also tied to the celebration of his 24th birthday on the following day, December 17.

On December 17,
please write or send small gifts to Bradley Manning.
And don’t forget you can also contribute to his defense with a donation.

The Bradley Manning Support Network organizes a day in support of Bradley on this occasion and a Global Vigil is also planned.

Additionally, in response to the White House’s refusal to comment on a petition to let a UN torture investigator visit Bradley Manning in order to assess the conditions he is being held under, another petition was created requesting that the White House begins to “take petitions seriously”.

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Cablegate Press Coverage and Other News

• As Hillary Clinton prepares to announce new U.S. support for the Philippines, Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), questioned the Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries making reference to WikiLeaks revelations:
  "How can we expect fair and equal treatment from the U.S., especially after what we learned from Wikileaks?", he asked. "In 2009, Secretary Clinton herself ordered U.S. diplomats to spy on UN officials and other UN representatives, even ordering the gathering of biometric and IT-related information. (…) As revealed in Wikileaks, the U.S. embassy in the Philippines undermined Philippine sovereignty on many issues. That’s the kind foreign policy that the US carries out even with its so-called ‘allies’."

• “The United States warned Kenya two years ago not to launch an offensive in southern Somalia against al-Qaida-allied al-Shabab rebels, but a U.S. official also offered to check on the "feasibility" of a U.S. review of the plans”, US State Department cables published by WikiLeaks show. [via McClatchy]

• Today the New York Times Examiner uploaded the fourth segment of an interview with Julian Assange, on his experience working with newspaper ‘New York Times’. To view parts 1, 2 and 3 click on these numbers.

• A video of Christine Assange and other protesters chanting and marching at the November 17 rally for WikiLeaks/Julian Assange has been uploaded to vimeo. See it here.

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Action Campaigns


WikiLeaks

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange

• New: November 25 - Rally to Defend Julian Assange in Brisbane. From 5pm to 7pm.

• If you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24, where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
  Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
  Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 349 days without charge. On December 7 he will have been detained for a year.

  More about EAW irregularities in this case.
  Contact your MP at writetothem.com.

• Send at least one of the several call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

• Sign this petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

............................................
WikiLeaks event calendar (updated)
Click to enlarge.

Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

November 25: ‘Defend Julian Assange’ rally in Brisbane. More details here.

November 28: On the anniversary of Cablegate, a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

December 5: Public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London) to determine whether Julian Assange’s appeal will proceed to the Supreme Court.

December 7: Julian Assange will have spent a year under house arrest without charge.

December 16: An pretrial hearing for Bradley Manning is scheduled to begin at Fort Meade (Maryland) and is expected to last five days. Supporters will gather outside the Court.

December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-22 #WikiLeaks News: The Disappearance of WL Truck; Senate confronted about Mr Assange’s extradition; Other News

The UK High Court has recognised Mr Assange is a journalist and WikiLeaks is a publishing organisation. It is not, therefore, just the WikiLeaks organisation that is under attack; it is all of us. - Senator Scott Ludlam


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.

WikiLeaks Truck is still missing after it was taken from its owner by the NYPD at Occupy Wall Street. Artist Clark Stoeckley, the owner and driver, was pulled over and subsequently arrested, possibly unlawfully, for ‘obstructing government administration’.

Clark refused to consent to a search [video here] and the truck was towed by the NYPD. He was released from jail on November 18 but the truck, containing his personal belongings, is still in an unknown location. Although Police assured Clark Stoeckley the WikiLeaks Truck was to be found in an impound lot in Brooklyn, the truck never made it to said impound lot.


Please raise awareness about the disappearance of the WikiLeaks Truck: locally, if you live in New York, or online if you don’t. The WikiLeaks Truck has become a mascot of both WikiLeaks and the Occupy movement and must be returned to its owner by the NYPD.
Below, a few tweets by the @WikiLeaksTruck driver, Clark Stoeckley describing the situation:

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How to attend Bradley Manning’s Pretrial Hearing


The Bradley Manning Support Network website has been updated with precise indications on how to attend the Rally for Bradley Manning, on the day of his pretrial hearing, and the hearing itself, which will be open to the public, except for the moments when classified information is discussed.

VIGIL (or attend hearing)
Friday, December 16th, 8am to 5pm

RALLY & MARCH
Saturday, December 17th, Noon to 3pm

The Fort Meade Main Gate is located in Odenton, Maryland, 25 miles northeast of Washington DC, between Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland.

MARCH
After a rally and vigil, supporters will march via the sidewalk along MD 175/Rouse Pkwy/Annapolis Rd, one mile, to Maryland 175 & Llewellyn Ave (the military court room is located on Llewellyn Ave one mile from the gate). Afterwards, we'll march back to the main gate.

SUPPORTERS ATTENDING THE PROCEEDINGS
Those wishing to attend the proceedings should go to the Visitor Control Center (near the intersection of Maryland 175 & Reece Rd, Fort Meade, MD 21113) when it opens at 7:30am (and certainly no later than 8:15am). All other gates are for military I.D. card holders only.

You do not need to pre-register. Each person will need a valid state or
federal photo ID such as a driver's license or state photo ID card.

Anyone driving on to Fort Meade will be required to submit their driver's license, vehicle registration, and printed (not digital) proof of insurance. Your vehicle will be subject to search. Consider walking on base if there are any questions at all regarding your vehicle and paperwork.

The proceedings are likely to start at 9am daily at the Magistrate Court, 4432 Llewellyn Ave, Fort Meade, MD 20755. The court room is 1.5 miles from the Visitor Control Center. The pre-trial hearing will break from Friday, December 23 until January 2 if needed.

MEDIA ATTENDING THE PROCEEDINGS
Contact the Fort Meade Public Affairs office for information at 301-677-1361

More information at bradleymanning.org

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Bradley Manning’s attorney is expected to call up to 50 witnesses during the pretrial hearing that will begin on the 16th December. Witnesses could include “people who can talk about the public benefits of whistleblowers”, such as Daniel Ellsberg.

Australian Senator Scott Ludlam focused on the legal and consular rights of Julian Assange, as an Australian citizen, when he addressed the Senate today.
He expressed concern over a possible extradition of Julian Assange to the United States where, he stated, ‘his life is under threat’, providing the Senate with examples of high-profile American figures having publicly condoned the murder of Julian Assange. He also defended WikiLeaks’ position as a publishing organization.
A full transcript can be read here

Jennifer Robinson, WikiLeaks’ legal advisor, delivered a keynote address on challenges and extralegal attacks faced by WikiLeaks (at the inaugural conference of the Centre for Legal Governance in Australia, under the theme ‘Tomorrow's Law: Disclosure of Information - Balancing Public and Private Interests’ - November 18).

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Action Campaigns


WikiLeaks

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange

• On November 25 - Rally to Defend Julian Assange in Brisbane. From 5pm to 7pm.

• If you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24, where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
  Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
  Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 350 days without charge. On December 7 he will have been detained for a year.

  More about EAW irregularities in this case.
  Contact your MP at writetothem.com.

• Send at least one of the several call to action and petitioning draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

• Sign this petition demanding Julian Assange be protected by the Australian Parliament from extradition to the United States.

............................................
WikiLeaks event calendar
Click to enlarge.

Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

November 25: ‘Defend Julian Assange’ rally in Brisbane. More details here.

November 28: On the anniversary of Cablegate, a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

December 5: Public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London) to determine whether Julian Assange’s appeal will proceed to the Supreme Court.

December 7: Julian Assange will have spent a year under house arrest without charge.

December 16: A pretrial hearing for Bradley Manning is scheduled to begin at Fort Meade (Maryland) and is expected to last five days. Supporters will gather outside the Court.

December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-23 #WikiLeaks News: WikiLeaks Truck retrieved; Rudolf Elmer Support Campaign; Other Updates

I know where the WikiLeaks Truck disappeared to! The same place where civil liberties and the rule of law went. - @JLLLOW


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


The WikiLeaks truck is back with its owner.

Despite assurance by 'an OWS sympathizer judge' that all of Clark Stoeckley's parking tickets had been dropped, the truck was returned with two parking tickets on it and a dead battery, that has since been jumped by the NYPD yet needs replacement.
The judge, according to Clark, the artist behind the WikiLeaks truck project, congratulated him on his work. Clark was then able to pick up his truck at Pier 76 impound.
The truck, he says, was never taken to impound after the arrest. Instead, Police "left it in a bus spot and let it collect tickets until it got towed".
All updates on this story at @WikileaksTruck.

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Supporters of Bradley Manning marched in San Francisco last night, after the announcement of a pretrial hearing for the alleged whistleblower on December 16. A gallery of photos can be found here.

A message from @wikileaks to its supporters regarding petitions:

“Please never sign or start petitions on behalf of WikiLeaks or its people. They are an inconsequential distraction. Lobby decision makers. Petition sites collect email addresses for their own political or financial purposes. Not to help WikiLeaks. Donate, act or organize.”

A Swedish witness for one of the complainants against Julian Assange (Witness C in the police documents) resigned from the Social Democrats Party after being arrested for shoplifting.

............................................

Action Campaigns


Rudolf Elmer new

Liberté Info started a campaign to make whistleblower Rudolf Elmer’s trial an international issue. The campaign page is constantly updated with new developments on his case. Readers are encouraged to share.

WikiLeaks

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange

• Contribute to the Julian Assange Defense Fund.

• On November 25 - Rally to Defend Julian Assange in Brisbane. From 5pm to 7pm.

• If you live in the UK, contact your MP ahead of a Parliamentary debate on extradition, on November 24 (tomorrow), where Julian Assange’s case will be discussed.
  Please bring his case to the attention of your MP: the EAW for Julian Assange was issued in abuse of process as it is being used for questioning, not for the purpose of having him prosecuted for an offense.
  Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 351 days without charge. On December 7 he will have been detained for a year.

  More about EAW irregularities in this case.
  Contact your MP at writetothem.com.

• Send at least one of the several call to action draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

Bradley Manning

• Learn how you can attend the Rally, Vigil and March for Bradley Manning scheduled on the first day of his pretrial hearing, December 16 at bradleymanning.org

• And on his 24th birthday, December 17:
  write or send small gifts to Bradley Manning, contribute to his defense with a donation or participate in the Global Vigil planned to mark this occasion.

  
  
  

  ............................................
  WikiLeaks event calendar
  Click to enlarge.
  
  

  Before November 24: the UK Parliament will, on November 24 debate the extradition of Julian Assange, among other cases. If you live in the UK, write your MP on the subject ahead of this debate. Here’s how. (All details about this case at Sweden vs. Assange)

  November 25: ‘Defend Julian Assange’ rally in Brisbane. More details here.

  November 28: On the anniversary of Cablegate, a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

  November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

  November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

  December 5: Public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London) to determine whether Julian Assange’s appeal will proceed to the Supreme Court.

  December 7: Julian Assange will have spent a year under house arrest without charge.

  December 16: A pretrial hearing for Bradley Manning is scheduled to begin at Fort Meade (Maryland) and is expected to last five days. Supporters will gather outside the Court.

  December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
  Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
  [For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
  Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-23 Egyptians reclaim #Tahrir as revolution flares up anew

Dozens killed and thousands injured as protesters take back Tahrir Square in a bid to reclaim their revolution and overthrow the military regime.

After 9 months of slow-motion “trench warfare”, during which the military transition council hijacked the popular uprising and the world turned its eyes away from the Middle East and towards the protests and crises unfolding in the West, the Egyptian Revolution flared up in mighty intensity this weekend as thousands of protesters fought running street battles with riot police in an attempt to reclaim Tahrir Square and overthrow the military junta.

So far, the brutal military-police crackdown, which has left at least 33 people dead and more than 1,700 injured, has only appeared to strengthen the resolve of the protesters, who flocked into the square in the tens of thousands on Monday night, forcing the civilian government to offer its resignation and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) to call for emergency talks with leaders of all political parties. Egypt’s first post-Mubarak general elections are scheduled for next week, but there are concerns the vote might have to be postponed in the wake of the violence.

The street fighting broke out on Friday, after a massive march by moderate Islamists ended with a police attack on a small protest camp that had been erected in Tahrir Square. Outraged at the assault, thousands of Egyptians of all faiths and backgrounds took back the square on Saturday, demanding an end to the brutal repression of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and an immediate transfer of power to a genuine civilian transition government. Clashes broke out at the fringes as some protesters sought to make their way to the Interior Ministry to protest again the regime.

Then, around 5pm on Sunday, police launched a violent attack on the protest camp at Tahrir, temporarily clearing the square and burning down several tents. But as a testament to the sheer power and bravery of the Egyptian people, within half an hour the revolutionaries swarmed back onto Tahrir, drove out the police and reclaimed their square. The events in Cairo unleashed a wave of protests across the country — with casualties as far away as Alexandria and Suez –reminiscent in many ways of the early days of the popular uprising that started on January 25 and toppled Mubarak 18 days later.

As the Guardian reported:

In a year when Egypt’s uprising against tyranny helped inspire protests around the world even as it stuttered and stumbled at home, the cycle of change has come full circle and revolution has sprung to life here once again. “People have come down from their homes to join us; they removed the head once, and now they are back again to strike down the body,” said Mai Adly, a 25-year-old reporter who was setting up for the night in Tahrir.

The New York Times, meanwhile, has noted how “the violence has seemed to reinforce the revolutionary urgency that had returned to the square, and when the army moved to push out the thousands of protesters on Sunday, more than twice as many quickly flooded back.” Anger in Egypt is boiling over as the SCAF has sought to assure itself a permanent role in Egypt’s political future, while displaying increasingly autocratic tendencies in its dealings with civil society. In recent months, the oppression of opposition forces has radically intensified.

Since the toppling of the regime some 9 months ago, over 12,000 civilians have been arrested and put in front of military tribunals, which is more than Mubarak managed to process in 30 years. Torture and political murder are still part and parcel of state practice. But this weekend’s violent state response — protesters were beaten, tear gased, dragged by the hair and shot at with rubber bullets, birdshot and even live ammunition, often fired at head height — has once and for all revealed the fact that the military government is nothing but the Mubarak regime without Mubarak.

In the process, the mask of the regime has fallen. In the weeks after the revolution, the army was widely perceived to have sided with the people against Mubarak. But what was already clear to some of the more radical protesters in February, has now become unmistakable for a broad cross-section of Egyptian society: Mubarak was never overthrown — he was sacrificed; oozed out of office by the military elite, which still controls most of Egypt’s wealth and therefore has a powerful incentive to cling on to power in one way or another.

Again, the Guardian reports:

When the military attack finally came, dissolving once and for all any lingering boundaries in protesters’ minds between the army on the one hand and the hated black-clad riot police that symbolised Mubarak’s security apparatus on the other, it was brutal and ephemeral. Guns were fired in the air, civilians were beaten on the ground; several soldiers appeared to drag lifeless bodies – unconscious or dead, no one could tell – towards small piles of rubbish by the roadside.

Over the past 9 months, therefore, the SCAF has willfully obstructed the development of democratic institutions, culminating in an obscure clause it tried to secure into the new constitution, which would fix the military budget at its current level; provide the military with permanent oversight over the country’s political system; designate the SCAF as the legal “guardian of the constitution”; and make army officials immune to criminal prosecution. Precisely the type of sham democracy, in other words, that the Egyptian people were so convinced to have overthrown back in February.

Yet the Egyptians — especially those who risked their lives or lost their beloved ones in the struggle to overthrow Mubarak — would have none of it. “This is February 12!” yelled 42-year old Abeer Mustafa. “We have finally succeeded in reclaiming our revolution.” Tarek Salama, a surgeon volunteering in the makeshift field hospital, where he has treated hundreds of severely injured protesters, exclaimed that “this is the breaking point we were all waiting for. Getting rid of Mubarak was just the warm-up. This is the real showdown.”

As the Guardian wrote, “the marches and protests that followed last Friday attracted the largest crowds since Mubarak was toppled, an early indication that concern about the junta and scepticism of their heavily curated vision of democratic transition was beginning to go viral.” The outbreak of violence, which comes just a week before Egypt’s first post-Mubarak elections are scheduled to be held, has already led several leading candidates to suspend their campaigns in order to focus on the protests. But the protesters do not seem to worry about elections much.

“We’ll stay here until we die, or military rule dies,” promised the 27-year-old Mahmoud Turg. ”SCAF must leave, because the people have seen through them. It has taken a long time, but the mask has slipped.” Another protester, 21-year old medical student Amr Wageeh, neatly summarized the revolutionary spirit in the square: ”the elections can go to hell – Tahrir comes first, and we must complete our half-finished revolution before starting to organise a vote.”

2011-11-23 Omar Khadr Part 4 of 4: “Punitive post-conviction confinement”

This article is in lieu of the long delayed fourth part of the Omar Khadr series written on WL Central last May. The original fourth part consisted of hours of interviews regarding the astoundingly corrupt and illegal military process which culminated in a verdict which allows the Canadian press to refer to Omar Khadr as a 'convicted terrorist'. One day the information in those interviews will be widely known, but today we are still prevented from publishing any of it for fear of retribution to those we do not wish to harm.

Today, Omar should be at home in Canada, as promised by the Canadian government as a term of his acceptance of a plea deal. Today, he is still in Guantanamo Bay serving what the US military terms “punitive post-conviction confinement.”. A little known fact regarding the Guantanamo sentences is that time served before sentencing is not considered 'punitive' and therefore does not count as time served towards his sentence. Omar's sentence is to be carried out in a solitary confinement 'enhanced interrogation' environment, and at the end of his sentence he can be placed back in 'Prisoner Of War' status in the Guantanamo cells he has spent his life in since he was 15 years old. Without repatriation to Canada, his eight year plea deal is just an eight year sentence to solitary confinement in the middle of a lifetime sentence in Guantanamo.

Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg writes, But Bahlul and Qosi, Khadr and Noor are segregated because they are “serving punitive sentences,” says Navy Cmdr. Tamsen Reese, a Guantánamo spokeswoman. Under the 1949 Third Geneva Conventions, she said, the other captives are “detained under the Law of War only as a security measure” and “should not be subjected to a penal environment or comingled with prisoners punitively incarcerated as a consequence of a criminal conviction.” Once their sentences are over, under Pentagon doctrine, they become ordinary detainees again — put back with the others in a penitentiary away called Camp 6, the closest thing at Guantánamo today to POW-style barracks housing.

I spoke last summer to Omar's former defense attorney Dennis Edney about his current condition. "Omar is doing his post sentencing time back in Camp 5 which as the Pentagon states is "designed for enhanced interrogation techniques". He is back in solitary confinement where he has spent so much of his life. Prior to trial, we were able to have him removed to the cages where he was able to socialize with others which made him happy. He is not happy and has been subject to interrogations by the FBI."

In this isolated and unsupported environment, "He is never allowed mail from other than family which rarely arrives." As part of his 'plea deal' he is not allowed to have legal counsel present during his interrogations.

Thanks to Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s appeals, all levels of court in Canada have agreed, in 2008 and again in 2010, that the Canadian government has violated Omar’s rights under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by interrogating him at the Guantanamo Bay facility in 2003 and 2004 and by sharing information from those interviews with U.S. authorities despite knowing that in 2004 U.S. authorities had subjected him to illegal interrogation methods, including sleep deprivation. It further found that his status as a minor, his detention without counsel, and his interrogators' awareness that he had been subjected to sleep deprivation were "not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice."

Omar was sentenced in October of last year. In a diplomatic exchange with the United States which formed part of Omar's plea deal, the Canadian government wrote "The Government of Canada therefore wishes to convey that, as requested by the United States, the Government of Canada is inclined to favourably consider Mr. Khadr's application to be transferred to Canada to serve the remainder of his sentence, or such portion of the remainder of his sentence as the National Parole Board determines" after his first year of post-trial incarceration.

Omar's defense counsel filed the paperwork for his return in October. Now we are told: Corrections officials have received the request for transfer and now have to determine if Khadr is eligible to return to Canada to finish out his sentence. Once Canadian officials determine that, they send an official request to American officials. If U.S. officials agree, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has the final say. He has the option of refusing the transfer if he decides Khadr is a risk to public safety. The process is expected to take about 18 months. A spokesman for Toews said he doesn't comment on individual cases.

In addition to this, the United States now must certify Canada as a fit place to send a convicted terrorist, a nation not likely to permit him to attack the United States, and one that has control of its prisons. That certification must be delivered to Congress signed by U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta with “the concurrence of” U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton.

It is well documented in the US State cables released by Wikileaks that Canadian indifference and hostility have had everything to do with the torture and unlawful confinement of a child and the continuing suffering of the only western citizen left in Guantanamo Bay. "There would be virtually no political blowback domestically for the Conservative Party if the government chooses to pursue an appeal, making this a strong likelihood.” reports one cable.

December 10 is World Human Rights Day, the day the world celebrates the 63rd birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written first by Canadian John Humphrey. If Canadians are ever again to hold their heads up on this day, we must remove this human rights blight from our actions by finally repatriating the man we have victimized since he was a child.

WL Central calls for immediate action to defend the rights of this Canadian citizen.

Previous WL Central coverage on Omar Khadr here.

Omar Khadr Part 1 of 4: “Omar Khadr is a lovely young man”
Omar Khadr Part 2 of 4: Canada, the entire world is still watching
Omar Khadr Part 3 of 4: “The world doesn't get it”

2011-11-24 German Pirate Party shuts down Piratepad server after child porn allegations

The entire Piratepad service provided by the German Pirate Party has been shut down after a Berlin based newspaper, Tagesspiegel, received a "dubious e mail" saying that one of the public pads contained links to child pornography. Once the Pirate Party was notified, it immediately shut down the pad in question and reported the case to the police. Berlin State Police subsequently recommended to suspend the entire service to prevent further abuse; the party followed this advice and shut down the Piratepad server, including pads used by its own working groups.

According to § 184b StGB, it is illegal to possess child pornography, and to make it accessible. It is not uncommon for internet users to report such cases to the police in Germany, as any failure to do so could be interpreted as complicity.

The Piratepad service made headlines earlier this year, when the Offenbach based server was confiscated by Darmstadt prosecutors shortly before state elections in Bremen. The raid was motivated by allegations that instructions for a denial of service attack appeared on one of the pads. The Pirate Party filed a complaint about the way the case was handled. Darmstadt District Court would later acknowledge procedural errors.

A few months later, the Pirate Party won 8.9% at Berlin state elections.

2011-11-25 #WikiLeaks News: Cardin bill would endanger Whistleblowers; UK Parliament Debate on Extradition (summary)

At the heart of the problem with the European arrest warrant is the inability or unwillingness of Europe's judges to prevent injustice. - Fair Trials International


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


Summary of UK Parliament debate on abuses of EAW


Various cases where extradition procedures resulted in abuse of Human Rights were debated yesterday, November 24, at Westminster Hall.
Observations were made throughout the debate relating to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, although his extradition was not one of the central topics. The cases of Gary McKinnon, Babar Ahmad, Deborah Dark and Michael Turner were brought up frequently and the ordeals suffered by these UK citizens exposed in depth. For more information on these cases and other misuses of the European Arrest Warrant please visit Fair Trials International.

Specifically regarding the extradition of Julian Assange, two primary issues were raised:


1) despite facing extradition, Julian Assange has not been charged with a crime (the EAW was therefore incorrectly applied as it was not issued for the purpose of prosecution, but investigation)

2) the European Arrest Warrant for Julian was requested by a private prosecutor who is not an official representative.


Julian Assange’s defense will, on the 5th December, consist essentially of these two points. The High Court of London will then decide whether these arguments are of “general public importance” and based on this decision, whether his appeal against extradition to Sweden will proceed to the Supreme Court as intended.

In several instances, Members of the Parliament were critical of the Scott Baker Review of UK Extradition Arrangements as it disregards evidence that the Extradition Arrest Warrant is being used for investigation rather prosecution and denies EAWs are being used in cases where there is insufficient evidence.
The EAW, Members of the Parliament agreed, ‘blindly assumes fairness in justice systems across Europe’ and can, for lack of strict legislation lead to miscarriage of justice.

It was conceded that the European Arrest Warrant must be reviewed in order to ensure its use for investigation is barred, issued under stricter guidelines as appropriate procedures are more difficult to evaluate in a foreign country with foreign language and foreign jurisdiction, and that the issue of excessive pretrial detention is also a pressing matter.
A requirement that extradition can be refused in case there is insufficient evidence to prosecute a citizen in a foreign country was also suggested.

WikiLeaks itself was mentioned briefly, as a cable on Gordon Brown’s private plea to have Gary McKinnon serve sentence in the UK was brought into discussion.


[Click here if you wish to contribute to the Julian Assange Defence Fund.]

............................................

A proposed update to the Espionage Act, known as the Cardin bill as it was drafted by Senator Benjamin Cardin, would ensure anyone who publishes classified material could be prosecuted criminally, including news organizations:

“The legislation would exempt employees who violate nondisclosure statements if they are acting within federal laws set up to protect whistleblowers. But many experts say those protections are inadequate because they limit whom whistleblowers may approach.

News organizations, for instance, are off-limits.

Cardin declined to speculate on how his legislation, if enacted, would have affected the Drake or WikiLeaks cases. He acknowledged the problem of over-classification but said lawmakers still must take steps to ensure that legitimately secret material is protected.” [via Baltimore Sun]

Media Lens denounce the omission of a cable published by WikiLeaks on IAEA chief Yukiya Amano from corporate media.

Julian Assange receives ‘Freedom of Speech’ Award from Spanish independent newspaper La Voz del Occidente.

Brisbane supports Julian Assange: a rally to demand his protection from extradition to Sweden and subsequently the U.S. took place today. [Image via @Muzzray]

Occupy London activists and supporters of Bradley Manning confronted US Ambassador Louis Susman with demands for the freedom of Bradley Manning, as the Ambassador attended the annual Thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
A solidarity rally is planned on the day Bradley celebrates his 24th birthday, December 17.

All of WikiLeaks Truck’s parking tickets, including the ones issued while the driver Clark Stoeckley was in jail, were dropped today.

............................................
Action Campaigns


WikiLeaks

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange
353 days under house arrest without charge.

• Contribute to the Julian Assange Defense Fund.

• Send at least one of the several call to action draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

Bradley Manning

• Learn how you can attend the Rally, Vigil and March for Bradley Manning scheduled on the first day of his pretrial hearing, December 16 at bradleymanning.org

• And on his 24th birthday, December 17:
  write or send small gifts to Bradley Manning, contribute to his defense with a donation or participate in the Global Vigil planned to mark this occasion.

Rudolf Elmer

• Liberté Info started a campaign to make whistleblower Rudolf Elmer’s trial an international issue. The campaign page is constantly updated with new developments on his case. Readers are encouraged to share.

............................................
WikiLeaks event calendar
Click to enlarge.

November 28: On the anniversary of Cablegate, a new WikiLeaks online submission system is to be launched.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’.

December 5: Public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London) to determine whether Julian Assange’s appeal will proceed to the Supreme Court.

December 7: Julian Assange will have spent a year under house arrest without charge.

December 16: A pretrial hearing for Bradley Manning is scheduled to begin at Fort Meade (Maryland) and is expected to last five days. Supporters will gather outside the Court.

December 17: Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

2011-11-25 Al Nashiri asks ECHR to fast track his complaint against Poland

Abd al Nashiri, a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, has asked the European Court of Human Rights to fast track his complaint against Poland, TVP reports. He alleges to have been held and tortured in a prison facility operated by the CIA on Polish territory, and accuses Poland of a failure to investigate his case.

Abd al Nashiri is currently being held at Guantanamo, and could face the death penalty. According to documents seen by TVP, his lawyers ask the ECHR to influence Poland to protect al Nashiri through diplomatic contacts to the United States.

Another criminal investigation into the case is currently underway in Poland. The prosecutor in charge, Waldemar Tyl, has recently said that he expects the proceedings to be "completed" in 2012. He made this statement during a meeting with Alka Pradhan of the Constitution Project. The group is collecting evidence on CIA rendition, and has voiced criticism about the use of the State Secret Act to prevent an investigation on US soil.

For our previous coverage see this link.

2011-11-25 Help Stop the Eviction of Occupy Los Angeles on Monday!

Mayor Villaraigosa & Police Chief Charlie Beck announced today at a afternoon press conference that the LAPD would forcefully throw Occupy Los Angeles off of the park areas surrounding Los Angeles City Hall Monday, November 28th at 12:01am. This move is being made although there have been no major incidents to marred the record of 56 consecutive days of peaceful protests at City Hall since the encampment first started on October 1st.

It is being done in spite of the vote by City Council in October to:

ADOPT the accompanying RESOLUTION to SUPPORT the continuation of the peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by "Occupy Los Angeles"

At the time City Council President Eric Garcetti told the campers on the city hall front lawn "Stay as long as you need, we're here to support you," Now it would seem that the city's tune has changed.

To it's credit both the City of LA and the LAPD have taken a decidedly different approach to the occupy movement compared with other major cities, including New York, Chicago, Oakland and Portland where the movement was faced with eviction and police violence almost from the beginning of those encampments. Until now, the City of Los Angeles has allowed the encampment at city hall to establish itself and to grow with a minimum of police and city interference.

This approach had undoubtedly worked well for all involved. This negotiated peace between the City and Occupy Los Angeles has no doubt resulted in much lower policing costs than those seen by other cities. Police violence is very expensive, keeping people out of parks is very expensive. Whereas the LAPD has had to task very few extra officers to Occupy LA except for when we have held marches, rallies or other special activities. I am afraid that this will now change.

For our part, it has allowed Occupy LA to grow to be the largest occupy encampment in the United States with over 400 tents pitched on the green spaces around city hall. The stability of the occupation has allowed it to develop organization in depth, a strong committee and affinity group structure that is the result of more that 50 consecutive General Assemblies at the same location, as well as physical institutions on site like the Library, Media tent, bike repair shop, print shop and People's University.

In this winter of our discontent., I believe the survival of the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall is vital for the whole occupation movement nationwide While many of the encampments are being shutdown by police, many others will see their survival threaten by winter in coming months. So far, Occupy LA has avoided both of these frustrations. Already many occupiers from Wall St. are talking about flying west for the winter, some have already arrived. We get activist visitors from all over the world at Occupy LA and under the current, peaceful conditions, Occupy LA is the ideal base camp for many of the institutions that glue the occupy movement together. The role of Occupy LA in helping the entire occupy movement survive the winter and turn the next season into an American Spring can not be underestimated.

But now there is a nationwide reactionary movement among big city mayors to shut down the occupy encampments. Oakland's Mayor Quan spoken of a conference call of eighteen big city majors on this very subject. This indicates some level of national co-ordination. Now it would appear that Los Angeles is being pressured to join this reactionary movement. We need you to supply the counter pressure.

Please contact the Los Angeles City elected representatives and tell them not to shut down the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at city hall.

Tell them to continue their support and cooperation with Occupy Los Angeles.

Tell them we will not go quietly into that good night.

Tell them them, if they think they have budget deficients now, tell them that if they evict Occupy Los Angeles, they will have hell to pay.
This approach had undoubtedly worked well for all involved. This negotiated peace between the City and Occupy Los Angeles has no doubt resulted in much lower policing costs than those seen by other cities. Police violence is very expensive, keeping people out of parks is very expensive. Whereas the LAPD has had to task very few extra officers to Occupy LA except for when we have held marches, rallies or other special activities. I am afraid that this will now change.

For our part, it has allowed Occupy LA to grow to be the largest occupy encampment in the United States with over 400 tents pitched on the green spaces around city hall. The stability of the occupation has allowed it to develop organization in depth, a strong committee and affinity group structure that is the result of more that 50 consecutive General Assemblies at the same location, as well as physical institutions on site like the Library, Media tent, bike repair shop, print shop and People's University.

In this winter of our discontent., I believe the survival of the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall is vital for the whole occupation movement nationwide While many of the encampments are being shutdown by police, many others will see their survival threaten by winter in coming months. So far, Occupy LA has avoided both of these frustrations. Already many occupiers from Wall St. are talking about flying west for the winter, some have already arrived. We get activist visitors from all over the world at Occupy LA and under the current, peaceful conditions, Occupy LA is the ideal base camp for many of the institutions that glue the occupy movement together. The role of Occupy LA in helping the entire occupy movement survive the winter and turn the next season into an American Spring can not be underestimated.

But now there is a nationwide reactionary movement among big city mayors to shut down the occupy encampments. Oakland's Mayor Quan spoken of a conference call of eighteen big city majors on this very subject. This indicates some level of national co-ordination. Now it would appear that Los Angeles is being pressured to join this reactionary movement. We need you to supply the counter pressure.

Please contact the Los Angeles City elected representatives and tell them not to shut down the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at city hall.

Tell them to continue their support and cooperation with Occupy Los Angeles.

Tell them we will not go quietly into that good night.

Tell them them, if they think they have budget deficients now, tell them that if they evict Occupy Los Angeles, they will have hell to pay.

In Solidarity,

Clay Claiborne

Emails of the Mayor & Council Members:

mayor@lacity.org
councilmember.Krekorian@lacity.org
councilmember.zine@lacity.org
councilmember.Labonge@lacity.org
paul.koretz@lacity.org
councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org
councilmember.alarcon@lacity.org
councilmember.parks@lacity.org
Jan.Perry@lacity.org
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
councilmember.englander@lacity.org
councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org

Here is some more contact info you can use:

Mayor's Office: (213)978-0600 or (213)978-0721 fax- (213)978-0655 @villaraigosa on twitter
City Hall: (213)473-3231 email 311@lacity.org
LAPD: 1-877-275-5273 email lapdonline@gmail.com

2011-11-26 #WikiLeaks News: WikiLeaks to enter New Phase; New Upcoming WikiLeaks Events; Other Updates

I believe that there are extreme "public interest" grounds, given that the case is entirely political. (…) This is a very important issue, not just for me personally because Julian is my son, but for the future of democracy. - Christine Assange


This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a news update of stories relating directly to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression.


WikiLeaks released a very important announcement today: a press conference will take place in central London, on the 1st December, where WikiLeaks will address the postponed launch of a new state-of-the-art secure submission system and expose serious threats to the Privacy of journalists, sources, human rights activists and others.


"On December 1st, WikiLeaks will host a press conference which will expose extraordinary privacy threats to journalists, sources and others as well as launch a new phase for WikiLeaks, just over a year after the Cablegate release.", the Statement reads.

"WikiLeaks is building a state-of-the-art secure submission system. Constructing the system is very complex. Due to the deteriorating state of internet security which directly impacts the ability of sources to communicate with journalists and human rights activists securely, WikiLeaks has decided to postpone the launch initially scheduled for Monday 28th 2011 in the interest of source protection. WikiLeaks' new public electronic drop box is substantially more advanced than its predecessor.

Online security has become severely and irreversibly compromised over the past months. Over a year or longer SSL certificates have been penetrated by various organised crime groups and intelligence agencies. The entire SSL system, which is the mechanism that guarantees security and anonymity online, has been compromised. SSL is beyond repair.

The press conference will be in central London at 12:30 PM. Location of the press conference will be announced early next week as well as information on those present.

Places will be limited so please register your attendance by emailing: wikileaks.pressconference@mail.be
Three people, including a camera, will be allowed per organisation."

............................................

World Socialist Web Site published an extensive interview with Christine Assange. In it, Christine provides the facts on injustices faced by WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning and how they affect and should be a matter of concern to us all. Be sure to read the entire interview.

"A Palantir engineer, exposed by the hacker collective Anonymous earlier this year for participating in a plot to break into the PCs of WikiLeaks supporters, was quietly rehired by the company after being placed on leave." [via National Review]

Full transcript of the UK Parliament debate on extradition abuses that took place yesterday in Westminster Hall is now available. Misuse of the European Arrest Warrant issued for Julian Assange and a WikiLeaks cable about Gary McKinnon were mentioned during this discussion.

Papuan freedom fighter Benny Wenda received an Interpol Red Notice, requested by the Government of Indonesia. Julian Assange received the same disproportionate notice in November 2010.

A first hand account by artist Clark Stoeckley of his arrest at Occupy Wall Street and the confiscation of WikiLeaks Truck by the NYPD this week. Clark has since been released from jail and his truck was finally retrieved three days ago.

An activist and supporter of WikiLeaks left an interesting observation in the comment section of yesterday's WikiLeaks News, regarding Fair Trials International level of involvement in WikiLeaks support campaigns. Note that WL Central can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of this story.

............................................
Upcoming WikiLeaks Events
Click to enlarge. The event list below the calendar has been updated.

November 28: Anniversary of Cablegate.

November 28: Julian Assange and Kristinn Hrafnsson debate the topic “The WikiLeaks effect: the rebirth of investigative journalism at the GEN News World Summit (Hong Kong).

November 29: Channel 4 airs new special ‘WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies’, described by @wikileaks as a Guardian smear.

Upcoming events in the month of December (updated)

December 1: WikiLeaks will host an important press conference in Central London, at 12:30 pm. This conference will serve to announce the opening of a state-of-the-art WikiLeaks submission system, as well as expose extraordinary privacy threats to journalists, sources, human rights activists and others.

December 3: Julian Assange is to speak on the topic “Democracy and Wikileaks: The Trickledown Effect” at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

December 5: Public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (London) to determine whether Julian Assange’s appeal will proceed to the Supreme Court.

December 7: Julian Assange will have spent a year under house arrest without charge.

December 8: Kristinn Hrafnsson and founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism Gavin MacFadyen will host a WikiLeaks related panel in Bratislava.

December 16: A pretrial hearing for Bradley Manning is scheduled to begin at Fort Meade (Maryland) and is expected to last five days. Supporters will gather outside the Court.

December 17: Global Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday:
Saturday, December 17 · 12:00am - 11:30pm
[For more details, see Vigil for Bradley Manning on his 24th Birthday's facebook page.]
Send small gifts and birthday cards to the following address

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 6602

............................................
Action Campaigns


WikiLeaks

• new If you live near Washington DC and wish to participate in a creative action to mark the Anniversary of Cablegate, please contact emma@couragetoresist.org of bradleymanning.org

• If you live in Australia: click here to complain to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) about the Banking Blockade against WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange
354 days under house arrest without charge.

• Contribute to the Julian Assange Defense Fund.

• Send at least one of the several call to action draft letters addressed to European organizations and Members of the European Parliament requesting action over the unjust treatment of Julian Assange.

Bradley Manning
548 days detained without trial.

• Learn how you can attend the Rally, Vigil and March for Bradley Manning scheduled on the first day of his pretrial hearing, December 16 at bradleymanning.org

• And on his 24th birthday, December 17:
  write or send small gifts to Bradley Manning, contribute to his defense with a donation or participate in the Global Vigil planned to mark this occasion.

Rudolf Elmer

• Liberté Info started a campaign to make whistleblower Rudolf Elmer’s trial an international issue. The campaign page is constantly updated with new developments on his case. Readers are encouraged to share.

2011-11-26 Occupy Movement, Birth of the Ordinary Hero #OWS

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) began in September and quickly spread, becoming a unifying force worldwide. This movement was initially ignored and ridiculed by the US corporate media. Yet as it grew, it became harder to ignore. Repeated police brutality against peaceful protesters has pulled the Occupy Movement even more into the limelight and galvanized support for it.

A powerful contrast emerged between the militarized police violence and the occupiers’ courage and commitment to peaceful action. As the excessive force on peaceful citizens increased, instant YouTube videos capturing blatant abuses of power with chemical agents and truncheons went viral. The scenes displayed the violence, yet at the same time revealed the strength of ordinary people. Is the Occupy Movement creating a new kind of leader? Perhaps what we are seeing is a birth of the ordinary hero. They are everyday people, young, old, foreclosed, students and unemployed, showing how each of us can become our own leaders. Here are some of the faces and stories of these ordinary heroes:

Kettled and Sprayed

Occupy Wall Street was in its second week when a group started to march from Zuccotti park to Union Square. Two women were kettled in an orange net and maced by NYPD. This disturbing scene was caught on tape, uploaded onto YouTube and widely circulated. Just as the iconic photo of a little girl running from the napalm was a catharsis moment for the Vietnam anti-war movement during the 60’s, similarly this video of two women kept in a cage became symbolic, showing the police working for the 1% and brought public attention to the abuse of power and strengthened the movement.

We Are All Scott Olsen

The participants of these demonstrations cut across backgrounds and orientations and included war veterans. 24 year old Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was struck by a police projectile in downtown Oakland, California during one of the first police reactions. His skull was fractured and he was in critical condition for days. Significantly, the brain damage made him unable to speak. The video clip of that scene went viral and public support emerged around the world. With the twitter meme, “We are all Scott Olsen”, people united around the soldier who was attacked defending his country’s ideals here at home.

That show of indiscriminate force brought thousands more people to Frank Ogawa Plaza in support. On Wednesday Nov 2, the US saw the first general strike since the last one in 1946 which coincidentally also occurred in Oakland. Later, Olson posted a message, thanking those who expressed support.

I'm feeling a lot better, with a long road in front of me," Olsen wrote. "After my freedom of speech was quite literally taken from me, my speech is coming back, but I've got a lot of work to do with rehab.

Olson is not the only Veteran who was the victim of the Oakland police. Footageshowed Oakland police in riot gear stopping Kayvan Sabehgi, another Iraq war veteran who was passing through a street late on the night of the Oakland’s general strike on November 2nd. Officers beat Sabehgi hard and he suffered a ruptured spleen. Photographer Neil Rivas recorded the event. As his camera rolled at one point he shouted at police, “Hey stop stop stop stop … let it go … shoot me I am recording you, shoot me”. The raw footage was shared with the Guardian and revealed to the mainstream public.

The corporate media often refuses to report the news that is inconvenient to those in power, yet brave citizen reporters are everywhere, bringing these crimes of oppression to the public eye.

Occupy with Aloha

The waves of the Occupy Movement spread to the island of Hawaii. On Nov 12, during President Obama’s summit with leaders of Pacific Rim nations in Honolulu, popular Hawaiian singer Makana was invited to provide entertainment. In the midst of the dinner, he opened the jacket showing a t-shirt with the words, ”Occupy With Aloha” and sang his new song “We Are the Many” written for the movement. He sang it for about 45 minutes to these world leaders (who appeared to not notice him). He later recalled how he made the decision to do this when it occurred to him that there is something wrong with society if someone feels afraid of singing a song to the very people they wrote it for.

The video clip of him singing in front of President Obama and other world leaders was quickly shared via social media. He demonstrated the importance of speaking what needs to be said without fear to those who serve power, and that this is not only OK but is necessary for one to maintain their humanity.

Mario Savio Steps

During Occupy Cal outside of Sproul Hall in Berkeley, by the very steps that Mario Savio gave his famous FSM speech in 1968, students linked arms as robocops repeatedly jabbed them with batons. The Youtube video went viral and a Colbert Report episode pointed out how police first went after one that appeared to be the most vulnerable, an Asian girl in the front. The video showed that despite being hit she kept her body on the line. Her courageous act really lived up to Mario Savio’s words, as she was literally putting her body upon the gears, upon the apparatus.

Outrage at the attack on these courageous students brought many more people to the campus the next day. Thousands gathered for the Mario Savio Memorial Lecture that had become a part of the UC Berkeley strike, which was called in reaction to the brutality. Daniel Ellsberg, who was present sharedhis elation:

Frankly, it’s been a while since I’ve felt as much hope as I feel tonight. I’ve almost been reluctant to speak in public and let people know how hopeless I was—I felt at some times. And that mood has changed tonight. I don’t think it will go away. The young people are recreating the youth movement of the '60s, and the youth movement changed this country in the ’60s. And we haven't seen it really like this since then. So I have great, great hope for what’s coming out of this.

84-Year Old Retired Seattle Teacher

84 year-old retired Seattle teacher Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed in the face during a protest. Rainey spoke in an interview at DemocracyNow:

The thing really is not about me getting pepper-sprayed. It is a much bigger issue than that, and I would like everybody to keep that in mind, that while we’re getting pepper-sprayed, other issues are not being heard. And that’s my problem.

The photo of Dorli's face after being sprayed traveled around the Internet showing the escalating impunity of the police crackdowns. In this photo not only did the world see the merciless thrust of an authority obviously afraid of the people, but also the wisdom of an elder that eloquently speaks for the movement. When we see what was done to her, the outrage goes deeper as it symbolizes an insult to wisdom, to a rare sane voice in a society run by illegitimate, lawless authority.

UC Davis Solidarity

At the UC Davis on Friday Nov 17, campus police raided the campus to take down the tents that students put up after being inspired by Occupy Wall Street. A police officer casually walked up to a handful of students sitting down peacefully with linked arms and pepper sprayed them like he was spraying Roundup weed killer.

The video clip of a supposed protector of the people and the first amendment abusing his power was all over the mainstream news and really confronted the world with what policing had become. Along with that chilling inhumane act, the footage captured the amazing human spirit in solidarity and deep caring of people who support those students. When police approached them, people began chanting, "don't shoot students". Most of all, it showed the moral power and the young people’s discipline in the face of asymmetrical brute force.

Occupy Bat Signal

On the same day of the UC Davis event, a Day of Action had been called nationwide in response to the uprooting of the original encampment at Liberty Square. There was a huge demonstration in New York City, while protesters were making their way to the Brooklyn Bridge, a series of bat signal projections emerged on the wall of the Verizon Building in Lower Manhattan. The beam rolled through a series of words:

99% / MIC CHECK! / LOOK AROUND / YOU ARE A PART / OF A GLOBAL UPRISING / WE ARE A CRY / FROM THE HEART / OF THE WORLD / WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE / ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE / HAPPY BIRTHDAY / #OCCUPY MOVEMENT / OCCUPY WALL STREET / list of cities, states and countries / OCCUPY EARTH / WE ARE WINNING / IT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING / DO NOT BE AFRAID / LOVE.

Boingboing interviewed one of the people behind this operation. Representing the crew, Mark Reed described the creative process. He spoke of the Occupy Movement as a response to all environmental and economic crises:

Our leaders aren't responding to any of that in a way that is commensurate to the crises we face. And that one sign has always spoken to me. We have to throw off our despair about the future world we might be facing, because if we come together as people and humanity, we can change it. And what Occupy Wall Street makes me feel is that for the first time in a long time that might be possible.

These powerful messages projected on the wall were shared instantly through Youtube around the world. This showed the creativity of the new leaders as a force that could bring us into a more human future.

World Citizen Meditation

The new face of leadership does not have a single nationality nor citizenship of any particular country. They are citizens of the world and no border can stop the waves of popular action for justice. Pancho Ramos Stierle was arrested when he was meditating at the Oscar Grant Plaza during an early morning raid on Occupy Oakland encampment. He spoke of how he responds to people who ask where he is from. “I say, ‘Well, I’m from planet earth.’ ‘And where is your citizenship?’ ‘I’m a citizen of the world.”

After his arrest, Thousands of supporters launched a campaign for his release. Within 24 hours, 6,600 signatures were collected on a petition.

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg of an emerging citizen power. What are we seeing in these new faces? Anytime we hear news and watch the video of police crimes against fellow brothers and sisters, we discover heroes. They are not like the leaders that claim to represent the people like politicians and government officials, but they are one of us. Perhaps we are seeing true strength made of courage, compassion, creativity and wisdom. Every day, people take the risk of getting arrested and engaging in civil disobedience. People are beginning to unite, feel for each other and realize that an assault to one is an assault to all. When action unfolds in solidarity in the face of insanity this awakening becomes a powerful force that no military or police can destroy.

Before the emergence of these ordinary America heroes, the trend had already been set in the Middle East and Europe. On Nov 16 after the police cleared Zucotti Park, writer and activist Arundhati Roy spoke at the People's University in Washington Square Park:

Few of us dreamed that we would see you, the people of the United States on our side, trying to do this in the heart of Empire. I don't know how to communicate the enormity of what this means.

The fire of self-immolation was lit in Tunisia, leading to people’s uprisings in the Arab Spring. Recently peaceful protesters were killed in Cairo's Tahrir Square. In Syria people continue to fight against brutal dictatorial repression. People the world over are rejoicing to see Americans finally joining these heroes.

Every drop of pepper spray, every rubber bullet that is used to intimidate opens up a ribcage and awakens the tender spot inside that remembers how to feel for a fellow man. Disturbing photos and videos of police brutality break our hearts. When it comes close to home, that pain makes us stronger, inspires humanity to unite and meet oppressive force with love. Every minute, every second, even now at this very moment somewhere in the world, a leader of a new global generation is being born.

As the movement continues, we see new faces of ordinary heroes that are leading into the future. History will remember them not as those with teargassed faces, cracked skulls, or lost speech but as those with courage and moral conviction who stood up for their grandchildren. The world will come to know that this is only the beginning of the beginning.

2011-11-30 #OccupyLA - Day 60: The Eviction

Occupy Los Angeles was raided last night by the LAPD. By the time of the General Assembly at 7:30pm everyone knew that the promised eviction of the encampment around Los Angeles City Hall was coming that night.. Even during the GA and after city cops circulated among the occupiers and their supporters, over a thousand people had responded to the call to come out and support the occupation. Many voiced their willingness to be arrested.

The protesters moved out into the streets around city hall, as they had done Sunday night, as the police blocked off the streets and formed a encirclement of city hall designed to keep move arriving protesters from joining those already there. Twitter and the [occupy la] listserv were alive with information about alternate routes still open to city hall, such as thorough little Tokyo, or an alley near Temple.

The encirclement of the protesters deepened as hundreds of cops in riot gear arrive on buses from their staging area at Dodger Stadium but the raid began in earnest in a move that surprised everyone. Hundred of cops in riot gear that must have been prepositioned , or moved in via the tunnels connecting city hall to neighboring buildings`, came storming out of city hall and down the steps.

As they came storming down the south stairs, were most of the people were, they were confronted by a photographer who refused to move. He was wrestled to the ground and arrested. That may have been the first of hundreds of arrests to take place that morning.

At first the cops seemed more interested in dispersing the protesters rather than arresting them. Up to a certain point they allowed protesters to leave city hall, the police encirclement and escape arrest. Then they stop letting people leave and arrested the remaining protesters and cops in hazmat suits started kicking down the tents.

After the the order to disperse was given around mid-night, the LA Times described what happened this way:
Hundreds of police officers in riot gear swarmed out of Los Angeles City Hall early Wednesday, batons across their chests, surprising and engulfing the Occupy L.A. protesters who had been camped in the surrounding park for two months.

"Shame on you!" protesters shouted, as the officers ran to pre-assigned spots, instantly dividing the park into small, easily controlled segments. "Get back!" police shouted to those who came too close.

"We are peaceful!" protesters yelled.

The operation began at 12:13 a.m., on orders from Deputy Chief Jose Perez, watching from the steps of Los Angeles police headquarters across the street.

Two minutes later, it was effectively over.

Although police spent hours more arresting protesters and clearing the area, there was never a fight for control of the park. Police made sure that was not really a question. And although a few protesters threw rocks or otherwise resisted, most kept their cool and urged their compatriots to do the same.

Through a combination of effective tactics, daunting numbers and — significantly — restraint by both sides, police managed to bring the encampment to a largely peaceful end, avoiding the melees that marred the eviction of protesters from similar camps in Oakland, New York and elsewhere.

In the process, the LAPD took a major step toward shedding a reputation earned over decades for heavy-handed crowd control.

Two local L.A. Television stations, KCAL channel 9 and KTLA channel 5 gave continuous coverage from about 8pm till 1:00am and 2:00am respectively. After enduring months of coverage on the Murray trial and the usual trivial, it was nice to see these local stations cover an important story with such vigor.

Apparently the LAPD didn't always play so nice after the TV cameras were gone or they were out of sight. There are a number of reported incidents of beating with clubs that need to be investigated and I personally saw a wound on one young demonstrator that I tend to believe was made by a Foam Baton.

Over 200 protesters were arrested. Most for unlawful assembly and most held on $5,000 bail. We don't have anything like that in the bail fund (My own bail was $100 for what we now refer to as N17.) but we are told that the will be release on OR after arraignment tomorrow.

FYI, there was an attempt to get a TRO. The outcome and the reason for it are explained in an email I received this morning:
The suit for Injunction filed by the NLG (Carol Sobel) on Monday was denied today as moot.

This is exactly what the Order says:

On November 29, 2011, at 8:06 p.m., Plaintiffs e-filed this Exparte Application for a Temporary Restraining Order ("Application"), requesting that we enjoin the removal of participants in Occupy Los Angeles from City Hall Park. Plaintiffs did not inform us yesterday that a TRO Application would be forthcoming, nor did Plaintiffs contact the Court last night to inform us htat the Application had been e-filed. As a result, it did not come to our attention until 8:00 this morning that the Application had been e-filed. In the interim, all participants in Occupy Los Angeles were removed form City Hall Park by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Given last night's events, Plaintiffs' requested relief is no longer applicable. Accordingly, Plaintiffs' Application is hereby DENIED as moot.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
GEORGE H. KING, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE

2011-11-31 Euro crisis unresolved: the cycle of stupidity continues

There’s nothing more frustrating than watching this endless cycle of stupidity unfold. Sometimes it’s just more dignified to face death rather than fight it.

To regular readers, it will sound like a tiresome cliché by now, but the fact that capitalism never solves its own crises was driven home once more last week by the outcome of the much-anticipated European Union crisis summit in Brussels on Wednesday. Yet again, European leaders managed to stave off an immediate catastrophe by buying themselves some extra time. But, yet again, the fundamental problems remain unresolved.

Here’s a list of points that European heads of state agreed upon:

• Private creditors will “forgive” 50 percent of Greece’s sovereign debt.
• European banks will be recapitalized to the tune of 109bn euros.
• The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will be ramped up to 1 trillion euros.

And here’s a list of reasons why this is nothing but hot air:

• The write-down of Greek debt is voluntary. It therefore remains to be seen whether foreign lenders will actually agree to take the 50 percent haircut. If enough private creditors actually refuse to accept the ‘voluntary’ write-down, the plan will formally constitute a hard default, triggering the feared Credit Default Swaps that could unleash another “Lehman’s moment”. Besides, Greece has long since ceased to be the problem. Its $400 billion debt was child’s play compared to the $2 trillion that Italy still owes.
• Bank recapitalization will backfire. Europe wants its banks to hold a 9 percent capital-to-equity ratio by 2013, but will not inject any capital itself. Since inter-bank lending is already precarious, raising additional capital on private markets will be a costly endeavor for the banks. As “rational” actors, they will therefore have an incentive to shrink their assets (i.e., lend less money), as opposed to raising more capital. This will further aggravate the credit squeeze, which is a retarded thing to do in a context of pro-cyclical austerity measures. The banks know this and will use the argument to hold the EU hostage to their own agenda. It’s an embrace of death.
• The enlargement of the EFSF rests upon two shaky assumptions: (1) that the large creditor nations underwriting the fund will retain their triple-A rating; (2) that the fund succeeds in raising hundreds of billions of euros in investments from emerging economies like China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The first point is critical because France, the second biggest contributor to the fund, is mired in its own sovereign debt and banking crisis and will probably lose its triple-A rating soon, throwing the EFSF into disarray. The second point is problematic because potential foreign creditors like China understandably remain skeptical about the fund’s profitability.

These problems will surface sooner rather than later. Don’t be surprised if EU leaders are called back to Brussels within a few weeks or months to hammer out yet another temporary solution… and so on, and so on… until the edifice finally crumbles and the eurozone’s inevitable demise finally becomes a reality. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching this endless cycle of stupidity unfold. Sometimes it’s just more dignified to face death rather than fight it.

So here’s what we believe should be done:

• For starters, the EU should immediately impose capital controls to stem the outflow of hot money, kicking speculators in the nuts and greatly diminishing the risk of financial contagion and future speculative bubbles. A Robin Hood tax on long-term financial transactions should be imposed with immediate effect to pay for the anti-social and counter-productive austerity measures currently being imposed on the people.
• Greece should default on all of its foreign debt, leave the eurozone and nationalize its banks (which won’t survive a large default). This will trigger a run on Portugal, Ireland, Italy and possibly Spain as well, forcing a series of defaults and the break-up of the eurozone, unleashing a major financial crisis in Europe’s crazily over-leveraged banking system. But at least these countries will then be able to to devalue and print their own currency, ramp up public investments, boost unemployment and avert a social disaster.
• The countries of the core should allow their banks to fail (underwriting deposits up to a certain amount to make sure the average citizen is not affected), perhaps nationalizing the banks that are considered “too big to fail”, restructuring them into small, cooperatively-owned credit unions. The European Central Bank should pursue an expansionary monetary policy to make up for the credit squeeze induced by private bank failures. Germany and the Netherlands will oppose this. Screw them. Time to move South.
• The previous two arrangements will render the EFSF largely irrelevant. But European nations will now be stuck with even higher sovereign debt levels as a result of the bank nationalizations and collapse of tax receipts induced by the inevitable collapse in output that will follow the break-up of the eurozone. Sorry for all of you de-growthers out there, but for now, the only way out of overwhelming debt and mass unemployment remains through growth. Public investment facilities will need to be set up to boost employment and fund the transition towards a sustainable economy.

Whatever we do, we have to make sure this crisis doesn’t further embolden the bankers. Indeed, the crisis must be used to break the bankers’ backs and sever their stranglehold over our economy. Once that is done, we can finally start considering how to build an alternative model of democracy that truly reflects the will of the people, returning power to the masses and ensuring a future based on social justice, cooperation and sustainability. It’s just an idea, you know.