2011-07-02 WikiLeaks Notes: Stainless Steel Rat, Bradley Manning Rally, WL Crusade Against Visa & Mastercard

Remember that the WikiLeaks essay competion has 8 finalists

Find your favorite essay in order to vote and/or comment clicking on our competition tag.

Wikileaks lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard

Great Reddit discussion on WikiLeaks and Datacell to sue Visa & MasterCard for engaging in an unlawful, U.S. influenced, financial blockade.

Stainless Steel Rat, is the play about the life and works of Julian Assange a rip-off?

Paul Tomlinson writes in the Harry Harrison Official News Blog: Assange is known for taking things which don’t belong to him and making them freely available. The authors of the ‘wikiplay’ Stainless Steel Rat seem to have taken a similar approach, but they’re using Harry Harrison’s creations for their own profit. Shame.

On the words of Harry Harrison: These guys are ripoff artists. I'd have them in jail if I could. I'm trying.

Meanwhile, in the Sydney Morning Herald: Stainless Steel Rat attempts to answer all [big] questions [about Assange], while offering chuckles and cheap laughs along the way. The result is a half-digested dog's breakfast of political thriller, media satire, sex comedy and speculative psycho-sexual analysis. The play's references to sodomy border on the obsessive. Drawing parallels between Assange's penetration of network firewalls, to his bare-backing of Swedish groupies, is plain misguided. [...] A gutsy attempt to grab a headline and run with it, but as it stands, Elisha's framing is clumsy - unnecessary, really - and his desire to titillate will strike anyone, with more than a passing interest in the subject, as patronising or dismissive.

Bradley Manning Rally in New York!

Elaine Brower invites us from Bradley Manning dot org: Get Your “I am Bradley Manning” picture taken in Union Square at the Bradley Manning Photo Booth. Saturday, July 2 from 2-5 pm. Check out your photo and then talk to other people about Brad’s case and encourage them to support his cause! If everyone who reads this announcement talked to 10 people about Brad Manning and why he should be free, we could made a big dent in that 40% of New Yorkers who never heard of him! So come out and show your support, and let’s get the word out on this holiday weekend.

Legal Complaint against Visa & MasterCard

WikiLeaks tweeted the Legal Complaint against Visa & MasterCard for political censorship; Forbes dot com presents a summary by Andy Greenberg: The complaint argues that the three payment firms have violated Articles 101 and 102 of the E.U. Treaty, which deal with competition among businesses and forbid the creation of anti-competitive cartels. Article 101 prevents firms from creating partnerships for the purposes of price fixing, and Article 102 forbids firms in a “dominant position” from abusing that position. Both Visa and MasterCard have claimed that payments to WikiLeaks and DataCell were suspended because they potentially violate the companies’ terms of service. MasterCard has gone as far explaining that it prohibits “customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal.” Visa has stated that it is investigating “the nature of [WikiLeaks] business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules.”

Today, at 11 am EDT, Amy Goodman To Host Discussion With WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange and Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek

Democracy Now anchor Amy Goodman will host a Discussion With WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange and Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek at 11 am EDT. Full information here.

Simultaneously (at 11am EST; 4pm GMT; 8pm AEST), Frontline Club will host a special "in conversation" event about this same Democracy Now broadcasting, according to their Twitter account.