[Reader-list] On Wikileaks

[Jeebesh]

Follow the growing aggression of lawmakers in US against wikileaks.  
(cross posted from nettime)

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html


The lawless Wild West attacks WikiLeaks
Monday, Dec 6, 2010 12:07 ET

Just look at what the U.S. Government and its friends are willing to  
do and
capable of doing to someone who challenges or defies them -- all without
any charges being filed or a shred of legal authority.  They've blocked
access to their assets, tried to remove them from the Internet, bullied
most everyone out of doing any business with them, froze the funds  
marked
for Assange's legal defense at exactly the time that they prepare a  
strange
international arrest warrant to be executed, repeatedly threatened him  
with
murder, had their Australian vassals openly threaten to revoke his
passport, and declared them "Terrorists" even though -- unlike the
authorities who are doing all of these things -- neither Assange nor
WikiLeaks ever engaged in violence, advocated violence, or caused the
slaughter of civilians.

This is all grounded in the toxic mindset expressed yesterday on Meet  
the
Press (without challenge, naturally) by GOP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, who said of Assange:  "I think the man is a high-tech  
terrorist.
He’s done an enormous damage to our country, and I think he needs to be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And if that becomes a  
problem,
we need to change the law."  As usual, when wielded by American
authorities, the term "terrorist" means nothing more than: "those who
impede or defy the will of the U.S. Government with any degree of
efficacy."  Anyone who does that is, by definition, a Terrorist.  And  
note
McConnell's typical, highly representative view that if someone he  
wants to
punish isn't a criminal under the law, then you just "change the law" to
make him one.

But that sort of legal scheming isn't even necessary.  The U.S. and its
"friends" in the Western and business worlds are more than able and  
happy
to severely punish anyone they want without the slightest basis in  
"law."
That's what the lawless, Wild Western World is:  political leaders
punishing whomever they want without any limits, certainly without  
regard
to bothersome concepts of "law."  Anyone who doubts that should just  
look
at what has been done to Wikileaks and Assange over the last week.  In  
this
series of events, there are indeed genuine and pernicious threats to  
basic
freedom and security; they most assuredly aren't coming from WikiLeaks  
or
Julian Assange.

People often have a hard time believing that the terms "authoritarian"  
and
"tyranny" apply to their own government, but that's because those who
meekly stay in line and remain unthreatening are never targeted by such
forces.  The face of authoritarianism and tyranny reveals itself with  
how
it responds to those who meaningfully dissent from and effectively
challenge its authority:  do they act within the law or solely through  
the
use of unconstrained force?

* * * * *

Yahoo News!' Michael Calderone has a very good article documenting how
major American media outlets -- as always -- snapped into line with the
authorities they serve by ceasing to use the term "whistle-blower" to
describe WikiLeaks.

One encouraging development is the emergence of hundreds of "mirror-
WikiLeaks" sites around the world which make abolishing WikiLeaks
pointless; that's a good model for how to subvert Internet censorship
efforts.  Those interested in doing that can find instructions here.

And here is a well-done site which asks:  "Why is WikiLeaks a Good  
Thing?"

UPDATE:  Just to underscore the climate of lawless initmidation that has
been created:  before WikiLeaks was on many people's radars (i.e.,  
before
the Apache video release), I wrote about the war being waged on them  
by the
Pentagon, interviewed Assange, and urged people to donate money to them.
In response, numerous people asked -- both in comments and via email --
whether they would be in danger, could incur legal liability for  
providing
material support to Terrorism or some other crime, if they donated to
WikiLeaks.  Those were American citizens expressing that fear over an
organization which had never been remotely charged with any wrongdoing.

Similarly, I met several weeks ago with an individual who once worked
closely with WikiLeaks, but since stopped because he feared that his
country -- which has a very broad extradition treaty with the U.S. --  
would
arrest him and turn him over to the Americans upon request.  He knew  
he had
violated no laws, but given that he's a foreigner, he feared --  
justifiably
-- that he could easily be held by the United States without charges, 
denied all sorts of basic rights under the Patriot Act, and otherwise be
subject to a system of "justice" which recognizes few limits or  
liberties,
especially when dealing with foreigners accused of aiding Terrorists.

All the oppressive, lawless policies of the last decade -- lawless
detention, Guantanamo, disappearing people to CIA black sites,  
rendition,
the torture regime, denial of habeas corpus, drones, assassinations,
private mercenary forces, etc. -- were designed, first and foremost, to
instill exactly this fear, to deter any challenge.   Many of these  
policies
continue, and that climate of fear thus endures (see this comment from
today as but one of many examples).  As the treatment just thus far of
WikiLeaks and Assange demonstrates, that reaction -- though paralyzing  
and
counter-productive -- is not irrational.  And one thing is for sure:   
there
is nothing the U.S. Government could do -- no matter how lawless or  
heinous
-- which (with rare exception) would provoke the objections of the  
American 
establishment media.

UPDATE II:  Those wishing to donate to WikiLeaks can still do so here,  
via
Options 2 (online credit card) or 3 (wire to bank in Iceland).

UPDATE III:  One more, from CNET, roughly 30 minutes ago:

As the article says, this is "a move that will dry up another source of
funds for the embattled document-sharing Web site."  Remember:  this  
is all
being done not only without any charges or convictions, but also any  
real
prospect of charging them with a crime, because they did nothing  
illegal.