[Peace-discuss] Revealing the corruption

[C. G. Estabrook]

WikiLeaks as This Century’s Upton Sinclair
By David A. Love

December 15, 2010 "BlackCommentator" -- - I find it interesting, though not 
surprising, that most discussions in the media about WikiLeaks focus on the 
suitable form of punishment for its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, rather than 
the nature of the diplomatic correspondence he and his organization have shared 
with the public. None of the documents were top secret—as they were either 
labeled secret, confidential or classified— and arguably they should be a part 
of the public domain. Some people are calling for the arrest and prosecution of 
Assange for espionage, and the branding of WikiLeaks as a terrorist 
organization. Rather than condemn Assange, we should commend him for doing all 
of us a great service.

Commenting on the good that can come from openness and transparency, Supreme 
Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” 
Well, today we find ourselves in a foul, germ-ridden place, where official 
misconduct is allowed to breed, infect the body politic and fester. Things are 
done in the name of the American people that would outrage them if they really 
knew the truth. And some past generations had the benefit of brave individuals 
to shine the light and clear up the stench, and they were all the better for it.

Without question, Noam Chomsky said it best in a recent interview with Democracy 
Now! “One of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the 
government from its own population,” Chomsky said. Of the similarity of 
WikiLeaks to the Pentagon Papers — a top secret history of the Vietnam War first 
published in the New York Times — Chomsky noted:

“But if you look at the Papers themselves, there are things that Americans 
should have known that the government didn’t want them to know. And as far as I 
can tell, from what I’ve seen here, pretty much the same is true. In fact, the 
current leaks are—what I’ve seen, at least—primarily interesting because of what 
they tell us about how the diplomatic service works.”

The Pentagon Papers revealed that the Johnson administration had lied about the 
Vietnam War, deliberately expanding the war in private while telling another 
story in public. In recent years America has been faced with two costly, deadly 
and seemingly useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latter is causing the 
nation to bleed $2.8 billion a week. And the military-industrial complex eats up 
half of the government’s discretionary spending when other nations prefer to 
spend their money on high-speed rail and green technology.

This comes at a time when Wall Street is awash with record profits, yet millions 
are chronically unemployed. Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor, the 
highest since 1928, is turning the U.S. into a nation of serfs. This is why we 
must embrace the spirit of WikiLeaks in 2010 and beyond, to inform citizens of 
potentially disastrous government decision making while something can be done to 
avert catastrophe.

In 1906—65 years before the Pentagon Papers and over a century before WikiLeaks— 
Upton Sinclair applied his own brand of disinfectant called The Jungle. His 
novel depicted the harsh conditions of the meat-packing industry, of diseased 
animals and dead rats finding their way to the dinner table. Ultimately, the 
visceral public reaction to The Jungle led to government reform of the food 
industry. More importantly, Sinclair shed light on the plight of poor and 
working people, on racism and immigration, on wage slavery, and the greed and 
corruption of people at the top.

It was a book about an era when, like today, capitalism ran amok. Every 
generation might not get an Upton Sinclair to make things right, and some 
generations need one more than others. At a time when some in the media are far 
too eager to embed themselves in power rather than expose the powerful, the 
second decade of the twenty-first century desperately screams out for sunlight.

Julian Assange is Upton Sinclair exposing the rotten meat. The message is, don’t 
buy the rotten meat, or the rotten wars they’re trying to sell to you. No wonder 
Bank of America is worried that they could be next.

David A. Love