The Full Talk by Julian Assange Including Questions and Answers Discussed Further (October 1st 2024, Council of Europe Committee Legal Affairs)
WebM: Julian Assange's talk in France
IN THE previous article I tried my best to objectively explain the key points made by Julian Assange in the speech he had prepared and probably "premeditated" in his mind for months if not years. It was well delivered and executed in about a quarter of an hour, more so considering the fact that until 100 days ago this poor man had been in a high-security prison for half a decade - all this for the 'crime' of embarrassing an empire by showing its misbehaviour.
Wikileaks covered this talk in "tweets" (with some photos and quotes) - not exactly the best sort of forum given who owns Twitter/X and given this was an excellent opportunity for Wikileaks to promote its Web site (which it actually controls) instead.
Questions and answers were sometimes interesting. Although Assange had slight difficulties comprehending some of them (maybe English not as a first language (accent), maybe stage fright, maybe the questions being articulated as statements rather than questions) and some people asked "double-questions" or tried to asked a question a second time around (the "moderator" cautioned against it upfront and also interrupted attempts to bypass this rule) he handled all of them OK.
The closing remarks from Julian Assange (last few minutes of this long video) were quite insightful and they were expressed slowly for dramatic effect or easier digestion.
Since X.com will be offline one day (maybe in a few years) we've decided to reproduce key quotes from Wikileaks:
"I am not yet fully equipped to speak about what I have endured - the relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically nor mentally, and the deaths by hanging, murder, and medical neglect of my fellow prisoners"
"The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey; it strips away one's sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence"
"Justice for me is now precluded as the US government insisted in writing into its plea agreement that I cannot file a case at the ECHR or even a freedom of information act request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request"
"I eventually chose freedom over unrealisable justice after being detained for years and facing a 175 year sentence with no effective remedy"
"Like so many of the efforts made in my case - whether they were from parliamentarians, presidents, prime ministers, the Pope, UN officials and diplomats, unions, legal and medical professionals, academics, activists, or citizens - none of them should have been necessary"
"I see more impunity, more secrecy, more retaliation for telling the truth and more self-censorship. It is hard not to draw a line from the US government crossing the Rubicon by internationally criminalizing journalism to the chilled climate for freedom of expression now"
"I hope my testimony today can serve to highlight the weaknesses of the existing safeguards and to help those whose cases are less visible but who are equally vulnerable”
"I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today because after years of incarceration I pleaded guilty to journalism. I pleaded guilty to seeking information from a source"
"14 years ago the United States military arrested one of our alleged whistleblowers, PFC Manning, a US intelligence analyst based in Iraq"
"Transnational repression is also conducted by abusing legal processes. The lack of effective safeguards against this means that Europe is vulnerable to having its mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties hijacked by foreign powers to go after dissenting voices in Europe"
"The CIA's targeting of myself, my family and my associates through aggressive extrajudicial and extraterritorial means provide a rare insight into how powerful intelligence organisations engage in transnational repression"
"Such repressions are not unique. What is unique is that we know so much about it due to numerous whistleblowers and judicial investigations in Spain"
"When I founded WikiLeaks, it was driven by a simple dream: to educate people about how the world works so that, through understanding, we might bring about something better"
"The criminalization of newsgathering activities is a threat to investigative journalism everywhere. I was formally convicted, by a foreign power, for asking for, receiving, and publishing truthful information about that power while I was in Europe"
"When powerful nations feel entitled to target individuals beyond their borders, those individuals do not stand a chance unless there are strong safeguards in place and a state willing to enforce them. Without them no individual has a hope of defending themselves against the vast resources a state aggressor can deploy"
"I wish to express my deepest gratitude to this assembly, to the conservatives, social democrats, liberals, leftists, greens, and independents—who have supported me throughout this arduous ordeal and to the countless individuals who have advocated tirelessly for my release"
"Let us all commit to doing our part to ensure that the light of freedom never dims, that the pursuit of truth will live on, and that the voices of the many are not silenced by the interests of the few"
"Freedom of expression and all that flows from it is at a dark crossroad. I fear that unless norm setting institutions like PACE wake up to the gravity of the situation it will be too late"
"The fundamental issue is simple: Journalists should not be prosecuted for doing their jobs"
"Journalism is not a crime; it is a pillar of a free and informed society"
"After 14 years detained in the UK… and facing a 175 year sentence, with the prospect of years more in prison before being able to have a shot at the European Court of Human Rights, I accepted a plea offer from the United States that would release me from prison immediately…. The US insisted that I not be able to take a case in relation to what happened to me, in relation to the extradition proceedings. Nor could I file a Freedom of Information Act [to the] US government... There will never be a hearing over what happened which is why it is so important that PACE acts... If left in its current state [the current regime] will inevitably be abused by other states. Norm setting institutions like PACE must make clear that what happened to me can never happen again"
"Where we once released important war crimes videos that stirred public debate, now every day, there are live-streamed horrors from the wars in Ukraine and the war in Gaza. Hundreds of journalist have been killed in Ukraine and Gaza combined. The impunity continues to mount… and it is unclear what we can do about it"
"Ultimately, the threat of people leaving a state, is what, in the final analysis, controls its behaviour... There must be competition between states to be good places for people to live and to work"
"The assault on asylum through means of transitional oppression… in my case it was difficult to find a state that would give asylum that I would be able to get to. There is a big gap in the system for people who are not fleeing their own state but are fleeing an ally of that state or a third state. That was my case. Asylum law does not easily [address] that situation"
"In the final UK High Court case, which I won and the US appealed against, I won on the basis of nationality discrimination…. The US tried different tricks to get around that in the UK system and it was uncertain as to whether I would prevail. However, there is nothing in the European Charter to prevent discrimination in relation to extradition. It was hard to apply in the UK context" "In 2010 I was living in Paris. I went to the United Kingdom and never came back, until now. It’s good to be back. It’s good to be amongst people who – as we say in Australia – who give a damn. It’s good to be amongst friends."
"I would just like to thank all of the people who have fought for my liberation and who have understood, importantly, that my liberation was coupled with their own liberation. That the basic, fundamental liberties which sustain us all, have to be fought for and that when one of us falls through the cracks soon enough those cracks will widen and take the rest of us down."
"Thank you for your thought, your courage in this and other settings, and keep up the fight" █