Antipodi
11-12-2010, 03:50 AM
The statement:
Dear President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder:
We, as Australians, condemn calls for violence, including assassination,
against Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, or for
him to be labeled a terrorist, enemy combatant or be treated outside the
ordinary course of justice in any way.
As Thomas Jefferson said, "information is the currency of
democracy."3 Publishing leaked information in collaboration with
major news outlets, as Wikileaks and Mr. Assange have done, is not a
terrorist act.
Australia and the United States are the strongest of allies. Our
soldiers serve side by side and we've experienced, and condemned,
the consequences of terrorism together. To label Wikileaks a terrorist
organisation is an insult to those Australians and Americans who have
lost their lives to acts of terrorism and to terrorist forces.
If Wikileaks or their staff have broken international or national laws,
let that case be heard in a just and fair court of law. At the moment,
no such charges have been brought.
We are writing as Australians to say what our Government should have
said: that all Australian citizens deserve to be free from persecution,
threats of violence and detention without charge, especially from our
friend and ally, the United States.
We call upon you to stand up for our shared democratic principles of the
presumption of innocence and freedom of information.
We're printing this statement in the Washington Times and the New
York Times early next week - and the more Australians sign, the more
powerful the message will be. Please add your name by clicking below,
and forward this message to friends and family:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks
What has started with WikiLeaks being branded as terrorists won't
end there.
In fact, just yesterday U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Chair of the
Senate's Homeland Security Committee, said that the New York Times
should also be investigated under the U.S. Espionage Act for publishing
a number of the diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks.4 We can help stop
such plans in their tracks, by showing how they are affecting the image
of the US in the eyes of their staunchest friends and allies.
Click here to sign the statement before it's published in the New
York Times and Washington Times.
Thanks for being part of this,
the GetUp team.
---
1 Beckford, M., 'Sarah Palin: hunt WikiLeaks founder like al-Qaeda
and Taliban leaders', The Telegraph, 30 November 2010.
2 Oakes, L., 'Oakes: Gillard gushes over US leaks', Perth Now, 4
December 2010.
3 The quote is widely attributed to Jefferson, but some now dispute
whether he actually said it. We know, at least, that he said
"knowledge is power," even if Francis Bacon did say it first.
Dear President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder:
We, as Australians, condemn calls for violence, including assassination,
against Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, or for
him to be labeled a terrorist, enemy combatant or be treated outside the
ordinary course of justice in any way.
As Thomas Jefferson said, "information is the currency of
democracy."3 Publishing leaked information in collaboration with
major news outlets, as Wikileaks and Mr. Assange have done, is not a
terrorist act.
Australia and the United States are the strongest of allies. Our
soldiers serve side by side and we've experienced, and condemned,
the consequences of terrorism together. To label Wikileaks a terrorist
organisation is an insult to those Australians and Americans who have
lost their lives to acts of terrorism and to terrorist forces.
If Wikileaks or their staff have broken international or national laws,
let that case be heard in a just and fair court of law. At the moment,
no such charges have been brought.
We are writing as Australians to say what our Government should have
said: that all Australian citizens deserve to be free from persecution,
threats of violence and detention without charge, especially from our
friend and ally, the United States.
We call upon you to stand up for our shared democratic principles of the
presumption of innocence and freedom of information.
We're printing this statement in the Washington Times and the New
York Times early next week - and the more Australians sign, the more
powerful the message will be. Please add your name by clicking below,
and forward this message to friends and family:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks
What has started with WikiLeaks being branded as terrorists won't
end there.
In fact, just yesterday U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Chair of the
Senate's Homeland Security Committee, said that the New York Times
should also be investigated under the U.S. Espionage Act for publishing
a number of the diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks.4 We can help stop
such plans in their tracks, by showing how they are affecting the image
of the US in the eyes of their staunchest friends and allies.
Click here to sign the statement before it's published in the New
York Times and Washington Times.
Thanks for being part of this,
the GetUp team.
---
1 Beckford, M., 'Sarah Palin: hunt WikiLeaks founder like al-Qaeda
and Taliban leaders', The Telegraph, 30 November 2010.
2 Oakes, L., 'Oakes: Gillard gushes over US leaks', Perth Now, 4
December 2010.
3 The quote is widely attributed to Jefferson, but some now dispute
whether he actually said it. We know, at least, that he said
"knowledge is power," even if Francis Bacon did say it first.