This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
08:15 PM Also, back from London from an inspirational and very entertaining discussion between Julian Assange and Slavoj Zizek, moderated by Amy Goodman. Much has been written about it already, both on twitter and the special blog opened by the Frontline Club (1 , 2) for the occasion.
A video of the event is available here.
Julian Assange on the origin and impact of Wikileaks:
“We need a cablegate for the CIA, we need a cablegate for the SVR, when need a cablegate for The New York Times, actually, one of the stories that have been suppressed and how they’ve been managed. And once we start getting that sort of volume and concretize and protect the rights of everyone to communicate with one another, which to me is the basic ingredient of civilized life…
It is not the right to speak. What does it mean to have the right to speak mean if you’re on the moon? There’s no one around. It doesn’t mean anything. Rather, the right to speak comes from our rights to know and the two of us together, someone’s right to speak and someone’s right to know produce a right to communicate and so that is the grounding structure for all that we treasure about civilized life.
This Saturday, July 2, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman will moderate a conversation with Julian Assange and Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Žižek. The event is sponsored by the Frontline Club, and broadcast from The Troxy theater in London.
The focus of the event will be the "ethics and philosophy behind WikiLeaks’ work, the talk will provide a rare opportunity to hear two of the world’s most prominent thinkers discuss some of the most pressing issues of our time," according to the Democracy Now web site.
The conversation coincides with the "publication of the paperback edition of Žižek’s Living in the End Times, in which he argues that new ways of using and sharing information, in particular WikiLeaks, are one of a number of harbingers of the end of global capitalism as we know it."
Starts below at 21 minutes.
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.
Wikileaks has announced specifics of their threatened legal action against Visa and Mastercard. Announcement from Wikileaks below:
LEGAL ACTION BY WIKILEAKS AND DATACELL AGAINST VISA AND MASTERCARD
Release after Sat 2 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT
WikiLeaks and Datacell (a service provider assisting WikiLeaks) are to sue Visa & MasterCard for engaging in an unlawful, U.S. influenced, financial blockade.
On June 9th a the law firms Bender von Haller Dragested in Denmark and Reykjavik Law Firm in Iceland acting on behalf of DataCell and WikiLeaks told the companies that if the blockade is not removed they will be litigated in Denmark and a request for prosecution will be filed with the EU Commission. Visa Europe, MasterCard Europe, and Teller (a Danish company licensed to process transactions on behalf of the card companies) are the subjects of the complaint.
It was pointed out to these companies that their coordinated action on December 7th last year to block all credit card transactions to WikiLeaks and DataCell constituted a serious violation of the Competition Rules of the EU (Article 101(1) and 102). Furthermore, that the actions of these companies have violated Danish merchant laws when they terminated the payment services and by refused to reinstate them.
Visa Europe, Master Card Europe, Teller and Korta where told that if the payment services would not be reinstated and liability for the damages accepted, DataCell and WikiLeaks would file a complaint to the European Commission regarding violation of EU competition laws and file a lawsuit with Danish Maritime and Commercial Court (“Sø- og Handelsretten ”).
The fight enroute to Gaza between the worldwide volunteers and the governments of Israel, the United States and Greece—has been portrayed from two opposite sides, yes, but opposite in a political and moral compass completely broken: on one side, the flotilla argues the desperate need of help and hope with which the Gazans live every day while, on the other side, the authorities trying to block the flotilla have accused it of being “ready to kill Israeli soldiers” or—more rhetorically convenient—“ready to kill Jews” due to the allegedly obscure intentions behind “Muhammad Sawalha, a senior UK-based Muslim Brotherhood figure connected to Hamas”, according to the website Gaza Flotilla 101.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
10:25 PM Cable on U.S.-Panama Express Rendition Program dissected.
07:45 PM Wikileaks just made an important announcement on twitter:
Stay tuned for important news regarding the attack on WikiLeaks by VISA, MasterCard and others
Update: This was after legal action against the financial institutions had been announced by Kristinn Hrafnsson in Brazil.
06:20 PM The Wikileaks you missed: Foreign Policy sums up four months of secret diplomatic cable releases on Thailand, Haiti, India, Pakistan, Peru and Japan.
05:30 PM Apparently, while in Brazil, Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed Wikileaks has something to reveal about Visa and Mastercard.
A write-up on his talk at the 6th International Congress of Investigative Journalism with the participation of the founder of A Pública, Natália Viana, can be found here.
Since December 2011, five major US financial institutions: VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union, and the Bank of America have been trying to economically strangle WikiLeaks as a result of political pressure from Washington.
The attack has blocked over 90% of the non-profit organization’s donations, costing some $15M in lost revenue. The attack is entirely outside of any due process or rule of law. In fact, in the only formal review to occur, the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy C. Geithner found, on January 12, that there were no lawful grounds to add WikiLeaks to a financial blockade.
According to a PayPal statement, the restriction against WikiLeaks is due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that its payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate, or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.
Wikileaks, however, has not been charged with or convicted of any criminal behavior.
What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.
People are 'not allowed' to donate to Wikileaks. They can, however, happily support anti-abortion fanatics, Prop 8 homo-phobics, and the Ku Klux Klan.
I called the Italian Paypal office for an elucidation of the company policy. Their answer: “No comment." Visa also remains silent.
But there are still some ways around the blockade. Direct bank transfers that do not use the Bank of America network still work. Wikileaks also accepts Bitcoin donations or donations via postal mail.
To find out further details on how to bypass the illegal banking blockade against us and donate to WikiLeaks visit here
(photo: David King)
Public workers, up to seven hundred and fifty thousand teachers and civil servants, are alleged to have participated in a June 30 general strike called for in the United Kingdom after UK Parliament passed changes to pensions and retirement, specifically, increasing the amount an employee has to contribute.
At 1:31 pm London Time, Hélène Mulholland reported from the end of “the Strand, by Trafalgar Square,” that a march had been “good-natured” so far. “ She said it is clear that the turn out has been good, that quite a few in the UK believe the government did not properly negotiate the new pension and retirement changes. And she also reported, “There doesn't seem to have been much trouble," except for the stopping and searching of minority students.
Around 12 pm London Time, she “walked past five police officers stopping and searching two non-white 17-year-old sixth formers, Aamir Kadir and Jean-Claude Goddard, in Lincoln's Inn Fields to the dismay of onlookers.” Mulholland said they were searched because they were wearing keffiyeh scarves, a traditional headdress for Arab men. While there were white women with scarves standing around the two young men who were stopped, the police said they stopped the two because the scarves might be used to commit violence. They said they were stopped out of “empirical judgment” because “people use keffiyehs to mask their identity.”
Throughout the strikes today, the UK police have claimed stop and search powers under section 60 of the Criminal Public Order Act. Here is how this provision allowing police the legal right to stop citizens and search them in public is described on the Metropolitan Police website:
Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, gives police the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time when they believe, with good reason, that: there is the possibility of serious violence; or that a person is carrying a dangerous object or offensive weapon; or that an incident involving serious violence has taken place and a dangerous instrument or offensive weapon used in the incident is being carried in the locality. This law has to be authorized by a senior officer and is used mainly to tackle football hooliganism and gang fights.
In this case, the police are using Section 60 to thwart the “hooliganism” of public and civil servants who feel they just got a bad deal from their government, who are upset they might have more trouble making ends meet for their family.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
09:15 PM Wikileaks Malaysia: detailed report on human traffic for sexual exploitation and forced labor purposes
...The government provides no shelter facilities dedicated exclusively to TIP victims, as these individuals are not recognized as victims under Malaysian law. Until Malaysia amends its existing laws or enacts comprehensive anti-TIP legislation, TIP victims will be routinely processed as illegal migrants and held in the country's prisons or illegal migrant detention facilities, prior to deportation.
09:00 PM (podcast) Interview with Andrew Marshall, the journalist responsible for the release of Wikileaks cables on Thailand as part of his in-depth study Thai Story.
04:55 PM Julian Assange's autobiography will be out this year, according to its publisher in Brazil 'Companhia das Letras'.
04:00 PM It appears Wikileaks really has been blocked in Thailand. A tweet from their official account:
WikiLeaks main sites have been blocked by the Thai government. When governments fear information, they fear their people.
With Greece sinking in chaos, the country's MP's have voted in favor of the five-year austerity plans prescribed by the UE along with the IMF and other foreign banks. The vote, thought by some to be very hard to predict, turned out as a clear statement in favor of the harsh measures opposed by the population (a summary of the conditions can be found below). In the end PM Yorgos Papandreu achieved 155 votes in favor, 138 against and five abstentions, thus avoiding bankruptcy at a cost nobody seems to want to pay. The voting was made under such pressure that a member of the ruling party Panagiotis Kouroublis was expelled for voting negatively, reducing the party's majority to 154 seats.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
11:35 PM Senator Youri Latortue, ally of Haiti's president, described as a drug-trafficker, gang godfather, death-squad leader and overall corrupt politician in U.S. State Department cables.
11:25 PM Inside Canada’s very own W.T.F.: a Wikileaks Task force and a ‘war room’ were set in Ottawa to deal with Wikileaks releases by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. This ‘war room’ used to be operational 12 hours a day and was the only place where access to the Wikileaks website was allowed.
04:40 PM Curators of Wikileaks-inspired art exhibition Information is Currency praise Wikileaks' impact in new interview:
WikiLeaks has shaken power dynamics; it has given some power back to people. 'We can access you; you're not impenetrable or invincible, and we can wreak our own sense of moral justice on you'. That's what youth identify with; that they want to wrestle some of this power back.
Anonymous sources report that Turkey is considering a number of options to help Syrian President Bashar al Assad defuse the uprising in his country.
According to Ivan Watson, CNN's Istanbul based correspondent, multitudes of Syrians are entering Turkey. 10,757 Syrian refugees in total. 12 have been recorded having bullet wounds. 441 recorded having returned to Syria in past 24 hours, and 76 new arrivals today, Ivan reported.
On June 23, the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, reportedly spoke with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moallem, about the security situation in Syria. Both apparently discussed the movement of Syrian troops and refugees on their shared border, a situation that has created tension for both.
Despite the public condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al Assad for his regime’s use of violence against the opposition, Turkey has privately endorsed a strategy towards Syria that endorses Syrian internal political and social reforms.
Turkey has provided Syrian opposition forces, including the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), open forums to organize.
According to STRATFOR sources, one of the options Turkey is considering is a political model akin to the Lebanese political system. Lebanon operates on a confessional system and on a 1932 census that roughly divides power between the country’s Christian and Muslim sects. The proposal for Syria would entail equally dividing power between the country’s Arab and Kurdish Sunni majority and the country’s minorities — Alawites, Druze and Christians. The system would create checks and balances to prevent either side from monopolizing the political system or imposing its will on the other.
July 22nd and 23rd were very important for the political calendar of Europe. The European Commission signed the new adjustments of the Euro-Pact, the rules for the european commonwealth, organized by the European Bank, the IMF and the executive body of the European Union. In Brussels, where the whole summit took place, people went to the streets and squares to manifest their indignation regarding corruption and economical dominance of state affairs.
We have been there and experienced two days of rage in the european political capital.
(Part 2 of 2)
Part 1 here.
(update below)
Photo by ChicagoGeek
In San Francisco, New York and Chicago, support contingents for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower, participated in Sunday’s gay pride parades. Those who marched in contingents aimed to make the LGBT community more aware of Bradley Manning.
Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network and Bradley Manning Support Network Advisory Board member, says he and others in the LGBT community organized a contingent because Manning is a gay man and “we think it is important to stand up for those in our own community who are being victimized.”
The Bradley Manning Support Network finds Manning is “being increasingly hailed by LGBT activists as a hero.” Lieutenant Daniel Choi, an active and well-known gay rights advocate who helped contribute to the movement that ultimately results in the repeal of DADT, recently announced he was “proud to stand by side with Bradley Manning” and on the day of the pride parades tweeted, “I dedicate this Pride to American Hero Private Bradley Manning, our fellow gay freedom fighter currently locked up in Ft. Leavenworth, KS.”
The pride parade in Chicago was one of the first major events for the Chicago chapter of Bradley Manning supporters. Here in Chicago, activists are confronting the fact that many do not know of Manning.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
11:25 PM Cable on Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy offers insight into Malaysia's government-controlled media.
08:55 PM Good news. Julian Assange in conversation with Slavoj Žižek, moderated by Amy Goodman will be live streamed this Saturday, 04:00 PM GMT at democracynow.org
06:20 PM Bahamas concerned over Chinese labor in the country close to 2007 general election, a cable shows.
05:00 PM After six months of having 90% of their donations unlawfully blocked, Wikileaks releases video and statement calling for investigation and de-licensing of the five major U.S. financial institutions responsible: VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union and the Bank of America.
Morocco’s opposition youth movement is calling on followers to boycott a constitutional referendum on July 1st. On Twitter, @ibnkafka, a Moroccan source, confirmed the data and mamsawtinch.com presents the petition against the referendum proposed by King Mohammed VI.
Claiming that the reforms proposed by the King in the referendum program are largely superficial, the February 20th Movement invokes freedom and real changes.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.
23:35 PM Before leaving to Brazil to participate in the 7th International Congress on Investigative Journalism in São Paulo, Kristinn Hrafnsson gave an interview to Brazilian magazine Época where he states that Wikileaks is in possession of so much material to go through already that fixing its sabotaged submission system was not considered a priority.
He also stresses the organization’s capacity to survive and adapt to any circumstances involving its members : It’s not an idea that depends 100% on a single person or a small number of people.
22:55 PM A Pública continues its analysis of diplomatic cables related to Brazil, including the government’s intention of building a hydroelectric plant in territory disputed by Venezuela and Guyana in an ‘effort to consolidate Guyana’s claim to the area’.
During Wikileaks Week about 50 articles total will be published based on Wikileaks material.
June 27 and 28 are likely to be the next big dates for Greek protests.
Many Greeks dislike the revised Euro-Pact and Papandreau Austerity plan and intend on gathering in the streets. “Thieves, thieves,” are what many protesters call the members of Parliament.
But what makes the Greek protests different from other uprisings is the lack of organized groups on the Internet. Social media has not played a large part in Greece until now. This may be in part because protests have been a common occurrence in Greece. However, the economic crisis and revolution in Spain have intensified the situation in Greece, bringing more people out onto the streets. In short, Greeks are not on the Internet, they are on the streets.
According to WLC reporter Wikileaks World, covering revolutions on the ground across Europe, “Locals say that it is still very disorganized, different groups are protesting, anarchists, left and right wings, nonpartisan”.
Police action has been aggressive towards protesters, as have protester response. Scenes of police tear-gasing peaceful protests are common.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.
17:35 PM The Chinese government has refused to comment on a U.S. State Department cable that reveals China’s ex-Finance Minister Jin Renqing was victim of a honeytrap by a woman believed to be a Taiwan intelligence operative. This situation preceded his sudden resignation in 2007.
15:20 PM Wikileaks' supporters organize events in London advocating Julian Assange’s freedom : a Free Assange, End The Wars public meeting is scheduled for the 9th of July, at the Giuseppe Conlon House and a video of a previous manifestation of support entitled Julian Assange Subterranean Homesick Blues can be seen on youtube :
Friends around the globe,
We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us. 50 days ago, we set sail with our humble ship on an uneasy and brutal ocean: the Internet. The hate machine, the love machine, the machine powered by many machines. We are all part of it, helping it grow, and helping it grow on us.
For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself.
While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn't that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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