A celebration of the life and legacy of John Pilger, whose journalism and films took on power, uncovered hidden agendas and gave voice to the voiceless across the world
This is an abridged version of an address by John Pilger in Sydney on 10 March to mark the launch in Australia of Davide Dormino’s sculpture of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, ‘figures of courage’.
In an interview with Oscar Grenfell of the World Socialist Website, John Pilger explains the latest manoeuvres by the US and UK authorities to extradite Julian Assange, journalist and publisher, to the US where he faces 175 years in prison for the crime of journalism.
In the crudest, most political judgement in memory, two High Court judges in London have ordered the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, where a trial in a kangaroo court awaits him, followed by a life lost in a barbaric prison system.
Following the final High Court hearing to decide whether or not Julian Assange is to be extradited to the United States – for the ‘crime’ of revealing a landscape of government crimes and lies — John Pilger looks back on the decade Assange has been fighting for his freedom, and the implications for independent journalists and the very notion of justice.
The pursuit of Julian Assange for revealing secrets and lies of governments, especially the crimes of America, has entered its final stage as the British judiciary – upholders of ‘British justice’ – merge their deliberations with the undeterred power of Washington.
John Pilger has watched Julian Assange’s extradition trial from the public gallery at London’s Old Bailey. He spoke with Timothy Erik Ström of Arena magazine, Australia.
On Saturday, 22 February, in London, people will march to the centre of British democracy: Parliament Square. They will set out at the Australian High Commission, which represents Julian Assange’s homeland. The silence on Assange and the meaning of his extradition hearing, starting 24 February, for justice and the freedom of all of us, must be broken.
Listen to John Pilger interviewed on KPFA by Dennis Bernstein and Randy Credico. Also, listen to this interview on Sputnik Radio.
Following the news that Sweden has dropped its case against Julian Assange, John Pilger draws together his investigations into the pursuit and persecution of the founder of WikiLeaks.
