A few days ago, the “Free Press” day was celebrated in the United States of America, an occurrence which’s irony is not less than laughable considering the recent events concerning the website Wikileaks and the military and governmental documents they have published, as well as some statements made by American officials, to name one I especially like; “Julian Assange should be hunted like Osama Bin Laden” – Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska.
Let’s first of all, look at the definition of terrorist, a title many American politicians and public media has tried to attached to the founder of Wikileaks.
“A person who uses terror to achieve his or her goals”
Hopefully you will instantly realise that this definition does not fit with the character Julian Assange, as he his means may have caused confusion and international turmoil, but to say that the publications of military documents is an act of terror is not only false but ignorant and, to be blunt, stupid. Ignorant because if you are an American, having heard these accusations from watching Fox News and trusting that news network completely, you are in need of help. Chances are that the only reason you actually watched the news was because it was between two episodes of the Simpsons. Stupid because if you have all the information and the definition of a terrorist, provided in this text, the obvious answer should come to you.
I will not say that Julian Assange is a man without flaws, his dictatorial ruling of the Wikileaks organisation is evidence of this. However, one can argue that Julian, being the founder of the organisation should be allowed to make the rules, no one is being forced to stay, some have even left and formed their own organisation; Openleaks.
Julian Assange has on many occasions said that his goal justifies his means, that the names published in some of his reports were necessary, that the risk towards those human lives did not outweigh the good that was achieved by publishing the military documents. And I agree to a point. Information about misuse and exploitation of power should be published, but thoroughly read prior to being released and removing names of innocent people whose lives could be endangered by it. However, when information simply threaten people’s lives, without any information but that is published, I have to disagree with Mr. Assange, what especially comes to mind are the locations and tactical information about American military bases. The information revealed about these may prove very useful to actual terrorist organisations, such as Al-Qaeda, as well as future countries aiming to invade the United States.
Also, is America the only nation that has made mistakes? Why continue to tear down the Americans when there is an even greater enemy to freedom of speech; China.
For closure. I think the world needs Julian Assange. I believe that he is necessary for our global society to achieve new heights, to become more than we have been before, he is important to a new world order, where governmental secrecy is limited and misuse of power is a shadow from the past. A world where the victors do not write history, a world where we will all know the horrible truth and live with it.
