{"id":403256,"date":"2019-04-17T07:55:14","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T06:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/the-persecution-of-julian-assange-3\/"},"modified":"2019-04-17T07:55:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T06:55:14","slug":"the-persecution-of-julian-assange-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/the-persecution-of-julian-assange-3\/","title":{"rendered":"the Persecution of Julian Assange"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe freedom of the press is not safe. It\u2019s over. And I think our republic is in its last days, because unauthorized disclosures of this kind are the lifeblood of a republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 <\/em>Daniel Ellsberg<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The persecution and arrest of Julian Assange is the first and most definitive step toward full blown global fascism. The symbolism of a gravely ill journalist being manhandled by uniformed henchmen is the exact imagery it needed to send a chilling message to whistleblowers and the press. The assault and eventual dismantling of what remains of a free press has always been that first step, and it is what lies on the horizon barring mass dissent. For decades the mainstream media has acquiesced to the demands of the corporate world of high finance that now owns them outright and the military and surveillance state that informs their narrative. To be sure, many of them must be trembling at the events that unfolded in London.<\/p>\n

That so many prominent American liberals are cheering this on is hardly surprising. History is replete with examples of how the privileged bourgeoisie are the first to capitulate to fascism. It happened in the 1930\u2019s in Germany, Spain and Italy. It happened in the 1970\u2019s in Argentina and Chile. It is happening now across the supposedly \u201cdemocratic\u201d western world. The animus they possess for Assange is not over his personal ethics, politics or affiliations, which are indeed open for criticism and debate. Like any human…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair \u201cThe freedom of the press is not safe. It\u2019s over. And I think our republic is in its last days, because unauthorized disclosures of this kind are the lifeblood of a republic.\u201d \u2013 Daniel Ellsberg The persecution and arrest of Julian Assange is the first and most definitive step toward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-403256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}