Capitalism and US imperialism are faced with a crisis of legitimacy brought about by first amendment rights given to the Press. Journalists are protected from control by laws passed by Congress. However, private control of the press has allowed corporations and the capitalist class to maintain gatekeeper status for most information, news and propaganda. The internet changed that by opening a door to information and publications not controlled by the power establishment. Organizations like Wikileaks were free to reveal the brutality, corruption and hypocrisy of Western governments and corporate pillaging. In response, the US and its allies are attempting to control journalism by defining a “journalist class” so they can delegitimize journalists and any news outlet outside their control.
Although Assange has been a member of the Australian MEAA journalist union since 2011, western governments and corporate media are attempting to characterize him as “illegitimate” and therefore not covered by first amendment rights, opening him to charges under the 1918 Espionage Act. This attack on Assange is designed to create fear within journalism and to set a precedent that state power to control information is global. The ruthless and illegal prosecution and imprisonment of Assange is not only about the vicious repression of an individual who defied western imperialism. These events reveal western governments’ desperate collusion to undermine all Press Freedom in an attempt to maintain the capitalist power structure.
For the April Green Sunday, Steve Zeltzer will discuss the role of Assange as a journalist, the attack on journalists and journalism by the capitalist class and the role of the media worker union and labor in general in taking up the case of Julian Assange. Kim White will provide an introduction to the Wikileaks archives so people will gain an understanding of what is contained within the archives with the goal of providing them with the tools to conduct their own searches.
Steve Zeltzer is a member of CWA Pacifica Media Workers Freelance unit, the Producer of WorkWeek and Executive Producer of Pacifica’s Covid, Race & Democracy. He is also a Founder of www.laborfest.net and a Member of United Front Committee For A Labor Party: https://www.facebook.com/masslaborpartyusa/
Kim White has been involved in many organizations including: Vallejo for Community Planned Renewal (VCPR), a grass roots group that staved off an attempt by Shell Oil and Bechtel to locate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Mare Island; Occupy Oakland Research Group; Strike/Debt Bay Area; Occupy Forum San Francisco; and Vallejo Participatory Budgeting.
For more information see:
https://bayaction2freeassange.org/
https://assangedefense.org/about/
https://defend.wikileaks.org/take-action/