[Peace-discuss] Antiwar.com blog

[C. G. Estabrook]

Antiwar.com Blog

So Why Did They Even Ask?
Posted: 15 Dec 2010 08:01 AM PST

Time Magazine has announced that it has named Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg the 
“Person of the Year,” despite the billionaire’s decidedly lukewarm showing in 
the online poll on their website.

As of last night the leader by a strong margin was WikiLeaks founder Julian 
Assange, with the only close second being Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Needless to say either of them could have been a “controversial” choice: Assange 
because of the ongoing calls from top US officials to assassinate him and 
Erdogan because his only claims to fame were his role in criticizing Israel’s 
attack on the Mavi Marmara and his efforts to negotiate a deal on Iran’s nuclear 
program – both of which earned him serious scorn among US officials.

It is difficult to fathom how it could not be Assange, however, as he has surely 
had more impact on foreign policy the world over in 2010 than anyone else.

Not that Mark Zuckerberg is a terrible choice, he’s just a really boring choice, 
as evidenced by the public ambivalence in the pre-announcement poll. Assange was 
really head and shoulders above the rest of the list, and it seems it was only 
the desire to make the announcement as uncontroversial as possible which 
prevented his selection.

Prominent Americans Oppose Prosecution and Extradition of Assange
Posted: 15 Dec 2010 07:20 AM PST

In opposition to efforts by the U.S. Attorney General Holder to extradite Julian 
Assange, Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks, prominent authors, academics, lawyers, 
whistleblower activists concerned with eroding civil liberties, government 
accountability, electronic freedom, opposition to war, and protection of 
whistleblowers have signed on to a strongly worded statement (below) condemning 
‘U.S efforts to fraudulently criminalize the legitimate journalism of Julian 
Assange…”.

“This statement is the first step in an ongoing campaign to support Julian 
Assange, WikiLeaks and to re-assert the concept that the U.S. government is 
accountable to its citizens,” said Linda Schade of WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org. “We 
will not accept the manipulation of our legal system to criminalize a 
journalist; a free and independent press is non-negotiable.” The project is 
planning an aggressive campaign to support Assange and WikiLeaks and has hosted 
the statement online.

Among the prominent signers are:

John Perry Barlow, Electronic Freedom Foundation
Medea Benjamin, CODE PINK
William Blum, the Empire Report
Tim Carpenter, Progressive Democrats of America
Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, No FEAR Coalition
Daniel Ellsberg, former intelligence analyst who released the Pentagon Papers
Jodie Evans, CODE PINK
Margaret Flowers, MD, health care reform advocate
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
Eric Garris, Antiwar.com
Mike Gogulski, Bradley Manning Support Network
Chris Hedges, Former New York Times war correspondent and author
Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist
Bill Quigley, Center for Constitutional Rights
Justin Raimondo, AntiWar.com
Coleen Rowley, whistle blower and former TIME Woman of the Year
Linda Schade, Voters for Peace, initiator WikiLeaks Is Democracy
Cindy Sheehan, Peace of the Action
Jeffrey St. Claire, Counterpunch
David Swanson, War is a Crime
Sue Udry, Defending Dissent
Harvey Wasserman, journalist, author, democracy activist
Naomi Wolf, author, democracy advocate and political activist
Colonel Ret. Ann Wright, retired military and U.S. Foreign Service
Kevin Zeese, Voters for Peace
Tariq Ali, historian, writer, filmmaker, political activist and commentator.

Statement From WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org

“We, the undersigned, stand in defense of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and their 
actions to safeguard and advance democracy, transparency and government 
accountability, as protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Wikileaks performs an invaluable service to the broad U.S. and global public 
with a commitment to the protection of human rights and the rule of law. 
Government representatives have issued serious and unjustified threats against 
Mr. Assange and his non-profit media organization which serve only to maintain a 
cloak of secrecy around high crimes and violations of international law, 
including torture, tampering with democratically elected governments, illegal 
bombings and wars, surveillance, mass slaughter of innocent civilians and more.

We call on all governments, organizations, and individuals of conscience 
forcefully to condemn and reject all U.S. efforts to fraudulently criminalize 
the legitimate journalism of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and related efforts to 
expose an increasingly lawless U.S. government to the indispensable democratic 
requirement of public scrutiny. True or false, any charges which the Swedish 
government may pursue are irrelevant to the primacy of an independent free press.

Journalists should not be made into criminals for publishing materials critical 
of the government. Therefore, we reject any efforts to extradite Julian Assange 
to the United States or allied client states in relation to these matters. We 
condemn and reject every incitement to murder, incarcerate or in any way harm 
Mr. Assange. We encourage all those with information on corruption and 
violations of law to take courage from the example of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks 
by acting to expose all such information into the light of public and judicial 
review.”

Suggested Contacts

The letter is being signed from people with different backgrounds and 
experience. You are welcome to contact any of them. To represent this breadth of 
view we recommend contacting the following people:

1. John Perry Barlow is a leader in the electronic freedom movement and is a 
co-founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. He has written for a diversity 
of publications, including Communications of the ACM, Mondo 2000, The New York 
Times, and Time. He has been on the masthead of Wired magazine since it was 
founded. He is a former Wyoming rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist. His piece on 
the future of copyright, “The Economy of Ideas,” is taught in many law schools, 
and his “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” is posted on thousands 
of websites. He can be reached at barlow at eff.org. His phone nubers are 
1-917-863-2037, 1800-654-4322 (both go to his mobile) or his landline 
1-415-888-2241.

2. Daniel Ellsberg is a former U.S. military analyst who leaked the Pentagon 
Papers, a top-secret Pentagon analysis of the Vietnam War tothe New York Times. 
He can be reached at ellsbergd1 at gmail.com

3. Noted author Naomi Wolf’s recent article on the US Espionage Act and 
WikiLeaks is linked here. She is an author and political consultant. She is a 
leading spokesperson for the third-wave of the feminist movement and an advocate 
for progressive causes most recently arguing that there has been a deterioration 
of democratic institutions in the United States. Naomi Wolf can be contacted at 
naomirwolf at aol.com or 1-646-334-1290.

4. Kevin Zeese is the executive director of Voters For Peace, is an attorney and 
noted political activist who works on a wide range of issues including war, 
torture accountability, economic justice and corporate influence on American 
democracy (see also www.ProsperityAgenda.US). Zeese served as Ralph Nader’s 
press secretary and spokesperson in 2004. He is widely quoted in the media. His 
most recent article on WikiLeaks, is Assange in the Grasp of U.S. Empire. Zeese 
can be reached at KBZeese at gmail.com. He can be reached by phone at 
1-301-996-6582 (cell) or 1-443-708-8360 (office).

Linda Schade is the initiator of WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org which is an initiative 
of VotersForPeace.US. She served as the founding Executive Director of 
VotersForPeace, and most recently as the Director of Program Development at the 
Center for Climate Strategies. Ms. Schade is a 20-year political veteran 
featured on CNN, Fox News, C-SPAN, Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Pacifica 
radio, and other media outlets on her peace, justice and democracy work.

For Further Information:
Linda Schade 202-422-5780
Kevin Zeese 301-996-6582