April, Thursday 11th., 2019
Assange arrest final step in character assassination campaign – Slavoj Zizek
Published time: 11 Apr, 2019 12:21 Edited time: 11 Apr, 2019 12:29
Julian Assange’s arrest was not a sudden development, cultural
philosopher Slavoj Zizek told RT. Instead it was well planned and the
final step in a long and ugly smear campaign against the WikiLeaks
founder
. WikiLeaksVerified account @wikileaks
After sheltering in
London’s Ecuadorian embassy for six years, Assange was dragged out of
the building by British police on Thursday morning. The arrest comes
after Ecuador’s new pro-US president withdrew Assange’s asylum claim,
and after WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed that an
extensive spying campaign was conducted against Assange, designed to get
him out.. WikiLeaksVerified account @wikileaks
This man is a son, a father, a brother. He has won dozens of journalism awards. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 2010. Powerful actors, including CIA, are engaged in a sophisticated effort to dehumanise, delegitimize and imprison him. #ProtectJulian
“I was not surprised,” Zizek told RT. “The problem for me is how people will simply accept this as the result of the long, systematic, character assassination campaign.”
Also on rt.com WATCH Julian Assange dragged out of Ecuadorian embassy shouting 'UK must resist' The first step in the campaign, Zizek said, was to connect WikiLeaks – an independent journalistic outlet known for leaking classified materials, which also prides itself on having never published false information – with Russia and Vladimir Putin. The next step was “character assassination.” Assange, Zizek said, was painted as “arrogant,” “paranoid,” and even a rapist, despite Swedish authorities dropping all charges against him in 2017.
Then the gossip against Assange sank to an “incredibly dirty personal level, that he doesn’t clean his toilet, that he smells bad and so on. Can we imagine anything lower?” WikiLeaks has argued the same, calling Assange the victim of “a sophisticated effort to dehumanize, delegitimize and imprison him.”
Assange’s arrest, Zizek continued, has “nothing to do with vengeance.” Rather, the WikiLeaks head was made an example of in the ongoing fight to clamp down on the free flow of information. Just like the European Union’s new copyright directive threatens to censor almost all free expression online, neutering organizations like Wikileaks is a step towards controlling what information we can and cannot access.
“All our lives today are somehow regulated through digital media,” he said. “So it’s absolutely crucial who controls this digital media. This is the greatest threat to our freedom.”
“We are not even aware of it as we don’t experience it as unfreedom. It’s not like the old days of the police state, where you look over your shoulder and see a man following you. You feel totally free, but your every move is registered and you’re subtly manipulated.”
“Wikileaks embodied resistance to this,” Zizek added.
Assange’s lawyer Jen Robinson confirmed on Thursday that Assange’s arrest was made in relation to a US extradition request. Assange is accused of conspiring with US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning – herself currently behind bars in Virginia for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks – to leak classified footage of US military war crimes in 2010. This footage showed a US Apache helicopter gunship opening fire on and killing 12 people, including two Reuters staff.
Jen Robinson @suigenerisjen
Just confirmed: #Assange has been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions but also in relation to a US extradition request. @wikileaks @khrafnsson
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