Defend Julian Assange

via anarkismo

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was arrested on 11 April when the Ecuadorian Government invited British police into their London embassy for that purpose. Initially charged with breaching bail, he was quickly also hit with a US charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. He has since been sentenced to almost the maximum term for breaching bail and the process for extraditing him to the United States, which could be a long one, has begun.

The United States wants Assange because Wikileaks stands against the entire apparatus of national security in that country and has published much damaging information about its murderous and undemocratic activities – not least the Collateral Murder video that made Wikileaks famous. Wikileaks is so dangerous to the reputation of the CIA, the US military, State Department, the FBI, the major political parties and so many other components of the State in the US that the capitalist class want that organisation shut down for good and for Assange to be made an example of to deter potential successors. Accordinly, though the charge on which Assange has been arrested is one that has a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, it should be expected that other, heavier charges are in the works.

In publishing the crimes of Uncle Sam, Julian Assange performed a great service for the working class and the oppressed peoples of the world and on that basis he must be defended against US attempts to seek retribution against him. He is, however, no saint. Firstly, he is accused of sexual assault in Sweden. While it is clear from published facts that Assange’s sexual ethics are poor, the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group is unsure whether his actions amount to a breach of Swedish law. Accordingly, we believe that he should go to Sweden to deal with the accusations and clear his name or face the consequences.

Secondly, Assange’s tactics during the US election campaign of 2016 and his political statements since are quite unsavoury, while some of the political associates he has been cultivating during his time as a fugitive in the Ecuadorian Embassy have been extremely dangerous. We therefore believe that, once he is out of the clutches of the United States, his future activities should be watched with great care until he can explain himself as a free agent.

The MACG thus defends Julian Assange, not because of his politics, which have curdled and are now quite suspect, nor because we consider him innocent of the Swedish accusations. The US ruling class has no objection to his politics, because they are riddled with the sort of people with whom he has been collaborating. And neither do they have any objection to sexual assault – if they did, Donald Trump would not be President. The United States wants to punish him, not for any crimes he might have committed, but for his good deeds. The MACG defend Assange for those same good deeds.

ASSANGE SHOULD GO TO SWEDEN NOT TO THE US

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

*Article from the The Anvil Vol 8/3, May-June 2019.

There are 26 Comments

Well you took the “critical support” option and didn’t automatically dismiss the complaints of the two women as CIA cointelpro. Way better than most Leftists and anarchists. And you acknowledge that his politics are suspect or worse.

But i’m much more critical. He models the confused/tankie notion that some nation states are good and some are bad. He embodies the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In this case US imperialism bad, Russian geopolitical manoeuvres ok. It also saddens me how in these times women and children are being thrown under the bus by the general Left and most anarchists. But hey after 10000 years of women being isolated, smeared, burned, beaten, raped, assaulted, marginalized, spoken over, held back, sold off, silenced, etc., and more recently after a century of making excuses for patriarchal Stalinist dictators, it makes sense that “ poor sexual ethics “ can be overlooked by most Leftists even for a dude whose politics are shit and who embraced his celebrity status to the max.

There is something off putting about the amount of attention and energy Assange gets when there are thousands of POC and indigenous people (and even quite a few anarchists) around the world doing time for protecting their lands and communities and fighting back against systems of power. Anarchists should make sure they aren’t overshadowed by the Assange case/Spectacle.

Mind if I add a friendly modify on the "dismiss complaints of two women as CIA cointelbro"?

I would say, his many enemies were cynically using his misogynistic behaviour as a lever to attempt to extradite/imprison/torture etc. Doesn't mean he's not a scumbag but obviously we all know the fine folks in the intelligence industry are paragons of total amorality so … calling out a cynical play for liberal outrage against assange is fair imo.

You have to jump in to the sewer and swim to even talk about people like assange or the CIA. Most journalists are scum, made to look halfway human compared with the casually murdering, troglodyte, demons that work for the CIA. Perhaps this is why it's "off-putting"?

who the 'scum' are? Maybe the people describing Assange as scum, maybe scum too? As Neil Young once sang on so sweetly: "My life is changing is so many ways, I don't who to trust anymore. There's a shadow running through my days, like a beggar goin' from door to door."

Sure … I'm a scumbag. Nowhere near the kind of semi-rapey dudebro who lies about condom usage … which obviously seems pretty trivial compared to invading Iraq and cackling while I mow down people with machine guns. What can I say? I have a bleak worldview. Assange sounds like a not-that-great guy who kicked the hornets nest of people far, far worse.

Unless of course, all the claims against him were completely fabricated?

I know a you Idpol type lefties love to take any and all allegations as gospel, but it's pretty widely know that the sweedish situation was a total pretext to jail him for exposing the US gov. If I'm not mistaken, he had consensual sex with a woman who requested he follow stipulations during the sex (him wearing a condom). Allegedly he did'n't follow through with the stipulations (he didn't wear a condom), and while this is very poor and distrustful behavior on his part, it would be extremely intellectually dishonest to call this "rape" as some people have done, or insinuate that's he's a rapist and should be turned over to the us.

uh … are you gatekeeping the concept of rape, right now? If you're trying to differentiate between lying about a condom and more violent sexual assault scenarios … that's a pretty weird thing to do. Nobody needs you to clarify that. Maybe you need to expand your definition of the word and catch up to the rest of us?

Also, we're mostly anarchists here so it's unlikely that anyone is arguing in favour of "american justice".

Maybe sexual assault and poor judgment but hardly rape. Don’t be flaming fucking idpol on these definitions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden

Apparently "flaming fucking idpol" includes entire countries and their legal definitions. Now ziggles will proceed to his usual talking point about how legal definitions are bunk, therefore we should presumably rely on his arbitrary definition. Random jackass on the internet automatically awards himself definitions of words.

Not exactly, but essentially, yes. LeWay's gonna hand him over the award after an emotional speech, but the jury will consist solely of SE.

These entire nations and their legislatures you fawningly defend are the rapists of original thought and the suppressors of sexual liberties. Lurking beneath your senile cloistered inquisition crouches the enslaved twisted creature of your moral righteousness. *Similtaneously sighs and yawns* Alas,
"LeWay's gonna hand him over the award after an emotional speech"
Yes, I shall, to defy your arrogant attack upon the very graceful Sir E !!!

Yes … I'm obviously fawning over the swedish legislation. Couldn't possibly be that I've already wasted hours of my life on you two blathering idiots and learned from my mistakes.

don’t worry, senileoldtroll. stand tall with your chin held high, i got your back. even if they catch you slippin, you’re never even half as ridiculous and nonsensical as them. they should start a salon and log off forever (so should we, though a different one without them)

Slippin?! It's a pretty reasonable argument for expanded definitions imo… Look, I'm an anarchist, I'm not interested in putting people in cages. Shitty behaviour is still shitty and obviously I'd have different responses to shitty behaviour than the swedish state.

Now, I don't actually know all the exact details about what assange did or didn't do, all I know is that obviously his enemies were trying to crucify him. This whole thing started with the first commenter being like "everyone assumes he's not misogynistic at all just cuz the CIA said the opposite". I'm saying I don't know what he did.

also, you're a sweetheart anon, don't you worry about my stubborn pride! ;)

Awww, poor senileoldtroll needs a hug, since finding out that being a troll is a demanding persona, and requires a bit more backbone and mettle than anticipated.

haha, i wasn’t refereing to this instance, just conceding you leeway in case trolls confuse you

we're all just peeing our names in the snow here, what's to be confused about?

Agreed,in a nation of neo-bourgeois Utopianists who regard the absence of a condom as an invasion of alien species, unprotected sex has become a Puritanic crime against the State, and the orgasm a social commodity owned by moral authority.

The "victim" has stated many, many, many times Assange did not rape her. But fuck Assange. Fuck cages more.

Expand my definition to the 2019 definition = "Rape: whatever a woman says it is"? Get out of here with that pc idpol nonsense. No I'm not gatekeeping, nor do I think women should gatekeep and be the sole definers of what rape is. Nor do I believe any and all allegations should be regarded as fact.

"Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group is unsure whether his actions amount to a breach of Swedish law. Accordingly, we believe that he should go to Sweden to deal with the accusations and clear his name or face the consequences."

wait what? these anarchists think he should what??? because of swedish law??? or face the consequences??? of the law???

communism is a hell of a drug. wtf, macg

I will not bother commenting on this narcissistic non-entity statist sexist whiner!!

Like I keep saying....fuck all hammer and sickle 'anarchists'.

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