2012-07-15 Après Assange, Le Déluge

King Louis XV is widely credited with the phrase “Après moi, le déluge” (after me, the deluge), although it may have been spoken by Madame de Pompadour, his official mistress (the title was by appointment at the time: she divorced her husband after assuming the position). In any case, it was prophetic: Louis XV was the last monarch before the French Revolution. Louis XVI, his grandson and successor, was guillotined in 1793 at the Place de la Révolution.

On this Bastille Day, as the 21st Century staggers from one crisis to another, we are presented with a new turning point, inherently rich with the same revolutionary opportunity. Modern dictators and repressive regimes have long sought total control of the Internet, and with it the means to control information. But now even Western Governments, corrupted by Big Business and lacking true democratic legitimacy, are attempting to lock down information and dictate our very histories.

Let us be clear. The teflon-coated banksters who brought us this never-ending Global Financial Crisis, and the puppet governments who brought us the Iraq War, have bloody secrets they wish to keep hidden. Their psychopathic lack of morality is already clear. Millions of innocent people have already been killed, maimed, displaced and tortured for their greed. The mainstream media are in their pockets. They have thrown international law, the US Constitution, and national sovereignty out the window. These people will not go quietly - they have far too much to lose.

Sleeping on a blow-up mattress in an office of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Julian Assange is at the very center of this growing storm. And his fate may well determine the course of humankind.

Will WikiLeaks be followed by a deluge of free information, transforming our understanding of history and ushering in a new era of open government? Will Assange's battle for transparency open the floodgates to a radical transformation of society, whereby the gatekeepers of information are forced to publicly rationalise their decision-making with confirmed empirical evidence? Will this be the end of politically-motivated pseudo-science and socially destructive political spin?

Or will WikiLeaks be the last hurrah for free speech, followed by a deluge of new laws and restrictions that kill Internet freedom once and for all? Will the Internet go the way of the atomic bomb and become the most effective tool of power ever invented? Will endless resource wars continue to be justified by bullshit PR exercises while our planet warms beyond the point of no return? Is this the way the world ends?

Are we, the citizens of this earth - right now - choosing between certain Armageddon and a comparative Utopia? And if so, why are so few of us even aware what's going on?

Of course this is not just about Julian Assange, or even WikiLeaks. There are thousands of wonderfully gifted and inspiring people around the globe, courageously fighting the same battle for truth, transparency and online freedom.

But I cannot help thinking that Assange is now the canary in the coalmine.

At this critical time, I urge everyone who understands the stakes at play to put aside petty squabbles, put aside fragile egos, and unite in support for Julian Assange. Whatever you may think of his mainstream-media-enhanced personality, this is a man who has dedicated his life to truth, transparency, peace and love. If his sacrifices ultimately prove to be in vain, then all our efforts may also prove inconsequential.

The future is ours. Together we are strong. Vive la Révolution!