Join Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, on Saturday as he moderates a daylong chain of interviews in defense of WikiLeaks and its publisher Julian Assange beginning at 10 am EDT, 2 pm GMT.
From 10 a.m EDT to 10 p.m. EDT, a #Unity4J online vigil will be held to show support for the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, whose sanctuary at the Ecuadorian embassy in London has turned into torturous solitary confinement.
International media have reported that Ecuador may hand over Assange to United Kingdom authorities, with a fear that he would then be extradited to the United States. The two sides are engaged in ongoing negotiations, but Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010, has acknowledged that Assange’s legal team is not part of those talks.
The fate of Assange represents a threat to human rights, asylum rights, liberty and press freedoms. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights already have found in Assange’s favor.
#Unity4J originated from an unplanned but timely response to injustice when Assange’s internet access and visitation rights were taken away. The action grew into a series of high-profile monthly online vigils featuring Chris Hedges, George Galloway, Ray McGovern, Bill Binney, Daniel Ellsberg and many other noteworthy figures.
A dynamic new format for the monthly online vigils will be introduced on Saturday. To be led for the first time by Joe Lauria, Editor in Chief of Consortium News, the upcoming event will showcase the ever-growing list of high profile supporters of the movement in an engaging new way. Conceived by organizer Suzie Dawson, the concept is described as a “daisy-chain style digital relay” – featuring twenty four guest appearances of 30 minutes duration each. At the conclusion of each segment, guests transition from interviewee to interviewer.
Dawson said: “This fresh new format will produce unique pairings of vigil participants as each person interviewed becomes the moderator of the next segment. This will enable many activists and journalists who defend WikiLeaks and Julian Assange to engage each other directly and…