- Re: Liberating Assange: a woeful lack of leadership Archived Message
Posted by margo
on November 3, 2019, 4:29 pm, in reply to "Re: Liberating Assange: a woeful lack of leadership "
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I hear what you're saying, brooks, but I still think the UK is sensitive to optics, definitely with respect to it trying to persuade the developing world and southern hemisphere of its appeal. Brute force has reigned for a while but people aren't stupid, power blocs are shifting and new winds are blowing. Many African leaders of former British colonies were over in Sochi last week, being reminded by Russia that Russia respects them and never colonised them: the message appears to have gone down well. The UK relies on a rather fragile softpower fairytale about a noble Royal who is "Head of the Commonwealth', who 'believes in democracy and freedom of speech' etc. It's all a rather flakey house of cards and it only works so long as people don't clock that the UK is actually indistinguishable from America. Thus the UK can do without partnering up with Trump to torture a Caucasian son of the Commonwealth to death. The UKUS has proven it can rendition and torture as many dark-skinned Others as they wish and no-one blinks (but the developing world notices). But to replicate the terrrorist treatment usually meted out to Dark Evil Ones on a pale-skinned Australian intellectual - one of the 21st century's most penetrating thinkers as many academics acknowledge - is new and risky territory. Their best bet (and you can bet some sensible heads have thought of this) is to limit the damage, move swiftly, leverage Melzer's statements and deport Assange to Australia as soon as is possible. Lawyer Jen Robinson renewed Assange's Australian passport last year, 11 MPS there have spoken out, one Australian MP has announced he's coming to London soon to visit. My money is on sensible heads prevailing at MI6 - but only under mounting public pressure of the "we are all watching you closely" kind. ------- - - - - - - - On a positive note, many small actions add up, accrue, and are worth it. Petitions to sign: [1] From Democracy In Europe Movement LINK https://internal.diem25.org/en/petitions/1 [2] From the Don't Extradite Assange campaign 38 degrees LINK https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/don-t-extradite-assange-2  Previous MessagePetition: To the incoming Home Secretary: To halt the extradition case against Julian Assange. Your predecessor, Sajid Javid, referred the extradition case of Julian Assange to the courts. It has since become clear that the extradition treaty between the UK and the US specifically forbids extradition for political cases. Julian Assange is charged by the Trump government with publishing the Afghan and Iraq war logs. These are clearly political actions for which he could face 175 years in jail. We urge you to review Sajid Javid's decision and to revoke his decision to commit Julian Assange to extradition proceedings. |