Teachers demand freedom for Assange and Manning

 

“Without truth and a free press we are doomed to further oppression”

Teachers demand freedom for Assange and Manning

By
the WSWS Teacher Newsletter

19 April 2019

Teachers, who have been in the forefront of a wave of global strikes and struggles over the last year, are speaking out forcefully against the attempts of the Trump administration and the Democratic Party to silence the courageous voices of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.

Last Thursday’s illegal arrest of Assange and his forced abduction from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London has outraged workers and young people around the world. Likewise, there is overwhelming sympathy for the plight of whistleblower and class-war prisoner Chelsea Manning, who was re-imprisoned March 8 for refusing to testify against Assange.

Readers of the WSWS Teacher Newsletter have demanded the freedom of Assange and Manning, while expressing grave concerns for the growing suppression of democratic rights and the sharp turn to authoritarianism internationally.

“In a scene eerily echoing Eugene Debs’ imprisonment almost one hundred years ago to the day for violating the Espionage Act, Julian Assange was handcuffed away from the Ecuadorian embassy for the mere crime of telling the truth,” wrote Doug Martin, a former university professor, current special education aide and author of Hoosier School Heist, an expose of the charter school industry in Indiana.

He emphasized, “The attacks on Assange and Chelsea Manning are meant to usher in complete authoritarian rule, with more silenced voices, more surveillance, more corruption, and more war crimes. We, members of the working class, must organize. We must shout from the rooftops our demand that Assange, Manning, and all whistleblowers be freed.”

Steve, a veteran K-12 teacher…

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