Assange: 'I get attacks on every aspect of my life'
Julian Assange admitted receiving death threats, accused his home-country of backing the US to get “invited to cocktail parties” and made clear that “history will win”, in an online Q&A earlier today.
Answering to comments by users on the Guardian website from a secret location – rumoured to be somewhere in south London or southern England – WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief, Julian Assange, acknowledged fear for his and his staff’s lives.
“The threats against our lives are a matter of public record. However, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power,” wrote Mr Assange.
“I get undue attacks on every aspect of my life.”
As established before at a press conference by another WikiLeaks spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson, the website staff and in particular, its founder, have been receiving death threats, as a consequence of the release of the embassy cables.
And these threats are not just being issued from vigilantes or fanatics, either.
At the time when the Iraq war logs were released, American columnist Jonah Goldberg, infamously asked in an opinion article published in the Chicago Tribue: “Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” More recently, Tom Flanagan, senior adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister, publicly stated that “Assange should be assassinated”, whereas on another occasion he said: “I wouldn’t feel unhappy if Assange does disappear”.
However, it seems clear that WikiLeaks has taken its precautions, if anything were to happen.
“The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries, to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” wrote Mr Assange. “Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations.”
The whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks, has been in the spotlight of the world and in the pointer of the US after it made public more than 250,000 classified cables, documenting communications between American embassies around the world. So far, the leak has caused embarrassment, awkward faces, downright criticism and has been stirring up a debate with consequences that are far from over.
In today’s Q&A, Mr Assange touched issues such as free speech, the consequences of the leaks for people’s lives, and anticipated that more cable material will be released soon - some with references to UFOs.
According to him, freedom of speech in the West is “like badgers and birds, free,” because it has “rarely any effect on power”.
“In states like China, there is pervasive censorship, because speech still has power and power is scared of it.”
He denied being able to return to his home country, Australia, anytime soon.
“I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal,” he said, accusing the Australian government of acting against one of its citizens by assisting the US in their attacks against him and his organisation. “What does it mean to be an Australian citizen?...Are we all to be treated merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties.”
When the embassy cables were released, the reaction of the US was similar to the one they had after the publication of the Afghanistan and the Iraq war logs, claiming the leaks would put lives at stake, both in America and elsewhere in the world.
Mr Assange claimed today that the allegations against WikiLeaks in this sense are “much-attempted manipulation and spin, trying to lead people to a counter-factual conclusion”.
“WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time there has been no credible allegation, even by organisations like the Pentagon, that even a single person has come to harm as a result of our activities,” he added.
Many questions asked by users were about the current DDoS hacker attacks that targeted WikiLeaks and caused it to be taken down from the internet, earlier today.
“Annoying as it may be, the DDoS seems to be good publicity. If anything, it adds to your credibility,” said a user nicknamed Rszopa. “So is getting kicked out of AWS [Amazon]. Were you planning for it?”
“Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit in order to separate rhetoric from reality,” answered Mr Assange. “Amazon was one of these cases.”
The original WikiLeaks webpage has been down, due to “scheduled maintenance”, since before the release of the Iraq war logs. Since then, almost four years of leaked documents published on the website have been unavailable to visitors. Some of them can still be found at the secondary address, mirror.wikileaks.info, but this URL seems often dead, as well.
In a previous interview with The Fresh Outlook, WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson said that they are currently working to get the website up and running again, adding that it was difficult due to the amount of traffic they have now.
Commenting on this, Julian Assange said that he is “deeply unhappy that my work and others is not easily available” to the general public.
“Since April of this year our timetable has not been our own” – said Julian Assange – “rather it has been one that has centred on the moves of abusive elements of the United States government against us.”
As bleak and tense as the situation may look for WikiLeaks and its captain, the closing tone of his writing seems that of someone who still has not played all his cards. We can almost see him, with a smirk on his face, typing the final – for now – words of the interview: “History will win.”
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
This piece is one of a bunch of old articles published on The Fresh Outlook, dated October 2010, that had not been posted here yet.
Answering to comments by users on the Guardian website from a secret location – rumoured to be somewhere in south London or southern England – WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief, Julian Assange, acknowledged fear for his and his staff’s lives.
“The threats against our lives are a matter of public record. However, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power,” wrote Mr Assange.
“I get undue attacks on every aspect of my life.”
As established before at a press conference by another WikiLeaks spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson, the website staff and in particular, its founder, have been receiving death threats, as a consequence of the release of the embassy cables.
And these threats are not just being issued from vigilantes or fanatics, either.
At the time when the Iraq war logs were released, American columnist Jonah Goldberg, infamously asked in an opinion article published in the Chicago Tribue: “Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” More recently, Tom Flanagan, senior adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister, publicly stated that “Assange should be assassinated”, whereas on another occasion he said: “I wouldn’t feel unhappy if Assange does disappear”.
However, it seems clear that WikiLeaks has taken its precautions, if anything were to happen.
“The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries, to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” wrote Mr Assange. “Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations.”
The whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks, has been in the spotlight of the world and in the pointer of the US after it made public more than 250,000 classified cables, documenting communications between American embassies around the world. So far, the leak has caused embarrassment, awkward faces, downright criticism and has been stirring up a debate with consequences that are far from over.
In today’s Q&A, Mr Assange touched issues such as free speech, the consequences of the leaks for people’s lives, and anticipated that more cable material will be released soon - some with references to UFOs.
According to him, freedom of speech in the West is “like badgers and birds, free,” because it has “rarely any effect on power”.
“In states like China, there is pervasive censorship, because speech still has power and power is scared of it.”
He denied being able to return to his home country, Australia, anytime soon.
“I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal,” he said, accusing the Australian government of acting against one of its citizens by assisting the US in their attacks against him and his organisation. “What does it mean to be an Australian citizen?...Are we all to be treated merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties.”
When the embassy cables were released, the reaction of the US was similar to the one they had after the publication of the Afghanistan and the Iraq war logs, claiming the leaks would put lives at stake, both in America and elsewhere in the world.
Mr Assange claimed today that the allegations against WikiLeaks in this sense are “much-attempted manipulation and spin, trying to lead people to a counter-factual conclusion”.
“WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time there has been no credible allegation, even by organisations like the Pentagon, that even a single person has come to harm as a result of our activities,” he added.
Many questions asked by users were about the current DDoS hacker attacks that targeted WikiLeaks and caused it to be taken down from the internet, earlier today.
“Annoying as it may be, the DDoS seems to be good publicity. If anything, it adds to your credibility,” said a user nicknamed Rszopa. “So is getting kicked out of AWS [Amazon]. Were you planning for it?”
“Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit in order to separate rhetoric from reality,” answered Mr Assange. “Amazon was one of these cases.”
The original WikiLeaks webpage has been down, due to “scheduled maintenance”, since before the release of the Iraq war logs. Since then, almost four years of leaked documents published on the website have been unavailable to visitors. Some of them can still be found at the secondary address, mirror.wikileaks.info, but this URL seems often dead, as well.
In a previous interview with The Fresh Outlook, WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson said that they are currently working to get the website up and running again, adding that it was difficult due to the amount of traffic they have now.
Commenting on this, Julian Assange said that he is “deeply unhappy that my work and others is not easily available” to the general public.
“Since April of this year our timetable has not been our own” – said Julian Assange – “rather it has been one that has centred on the moves of abusive elements of the United States government against us.”
As bleak and tense as the situation may look for WikiLeaks and its captain, the closing tone of his writing seems that of someone who still has not played all his cards. We can almost see him, with a smirk on his face, typing the final – for now – words of the interview: “History will win.”
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
This piece is one of a bunch of old articles published on The Fresh Outlook, dated October 2010, that had not been posted here yet.