Defend wikileaks

December 1, 2010

Wikileaks is coming under a fierce attack from all the expected sources – politicians who have been caught revealing their contempt for democracy, and for each other, in the shadowy world of international diplomacy.

In fact Wikileaks has provided an enormous public service by shining light on these previously secret communications.  They are secret because the political elites of the world believe that democracy is dangerous unless it is strictly controlled and kept in the dark about some of the most important aspects of public policy and international relations.

We even have  Tom Flanagan (advisory to both Preston manning and Stephen Harper) and Ezra Levant (a graduate of the Fraser Institute and right wing publisher) two of Canada’s most virulent right-wingers calling for the assassination of wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Write a short letter to you local paper defending wikileaks as a major promoter of democracy and its detractors as those who want to keep a veil of secrecy over government actions around the world.

IMPORTANT:  Send an email to the CBC demanding that the show Politics, on CBC’s Newsworld channel, remove Tom Flanagan from their panel of commentators. Send your emails to: ombudsman@cbc.ca

FRAMING:   Wikileaks has accomplished what no mainstream media has been willing or able to do – shed light on the backroom machinations of some of the most powerful and some of the most authoritarian governments in the world. Thos attacking wikileaks found Julius Assange are simply trying to divert attention from the fact that transparency in government is at the core of democracy.

Some of the facts and arguments you can use – in addition to those you wish to make:

• In the face of the failure of the corporate media to force governments to be transparent and accountable, dedicated groups like wikileaks provide an invaluable service to ordinary citizens and public debate;

• Wikileaks has not just released 100s of pages of documents it has exposed corruption and lies around the world – including the willful slaughter of innocent Iraqis (including two Reuters journalists) and corruption in the Kenyan elections a few years ago.[Watch this excellent video]

• The release of the documents has revealed just how vicious the right wing can be when information is made available to the public. It is outrageous that  Tom Flanagan a former advisor and confidant of Stephen Harper would publicly call for Assange’s assassination [video]

• Ezra Levant should be charged by the police for his similar call for Assange’s death: "Why is Assange still alive? …U.S. President Barack Obama could do what he’s doing to the Taliban throughout the world.   …He doesn’t sue them or catch them. He kills them.”

• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton claims this is an attack on the whole global community:  “This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests. It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity.” [Globe and Mail] This is a laughable and outrageous claim – in reality much of this material simply shines a light on the US empire and its hundreds of military bases around the world, and its bloodletting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• It is unfortunate that wikileaks  has not received secret documents from Canada regarding the torture of Afghan prisoners – something Canadians need to know but will never find out because of Stephen Harper’s determination t cover up the truth.

• The leaks regarding Canada have revealed the arrogance of the political elite in this country with quotes from former CSIS head Jim Judd showing his contempt for human rights – for example those of child soldier and Guantanamo prisoner Omar Khadr. He told American colleagues that pictures of Khadr crying would trigger "knee-jerk anti-Americanism" and "paroxysms of moral outrage, a Canadian specialty." [nowpublic.com]

• Some of the politicians comparing wikileaks to terrorism are the very same people who are complicit in making the decisions to carpet-bomb Baghdad and slaughter tens of thousands of civilians in an illegal war.

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