[HCCN] Fwd: WikiLeaks Is Democracy (new petition)

[Judith Robbins]

>
>
> Dear Democracy Leader:
>
> I am writing to you as a fellow American who is concerned about the  
> state of democracy in the United States.
>
> You have been active on the issue of electronic voting and election  
> integrity, and I believe that the WikiLeaks phenomena is a  
> significant advance FOR democracy.
> The world is being rocked by the slow dripping of documents  
> released by WikiLeaks showing that a small non-profit media  
> organization and a few honest whistleblowers - perhaps 22 year old  
> Maryland solider Bradley Manning - can bring a superpower to its  
> knees.
>
> In fact, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange have thrown themselves  
> into the gears of the Empire on behalf of us all.
>
> In response, the US government is fighting back by bringing its  
> full force to bear.
>
> We must stand up in their defense, and for a culture of democracy,  
> human rights, and the rule of law. We offer this petition in  
> defense of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks at  
> WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org. Numerous prominent figures have stepped  
> forward and signed on such as Daniel Ellsberg, Naomi Wolf, Noam  
> Chomsky, Ret. Colonel Anne Wright, Juston Raimondo, Cindy Sheehan,  
> and Tariq Ali.
>
> If we let them criminalize an innocent man in the person of  
> Assange, who will stand when they come for us?
>
> If we let them silence Assange, we are all silenced.
>
> Here's the text of the petition.
>
> "We, the undersigned, stand in defense of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks  
> and their actions to safeguard and advance democracy, transparency  
> and government accountability, as protected under the First  
> Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
>
> Wikileaks performs an invaluable service to the broad U.S. and  
> global public with a commitment to the protection of human rights  
> and the rule of law.  Government representatives have issued  
> serious and unjustified threats against Mr. Assange and his non- 
> profit media organization which serve only to maintain a cloak of  
> secrecy around high crimes and violations of international law,  
> including torture, tampering with democratically elected  
> governments, illegal bombings and wars, surveillance, mass  
> slaughter of innocent civilians and more.
>
> We call on all governments, organizations, and individuals of  
> conscience forcefully to condemn and reject all U.S. efforts to  
> fraudulently criminalize the legitimate journalism of Julian  
> Assange, WikiLeaks and related efforts to expose an increasingly  
> lawless U.S. government to the indispensable democratic requirement  
> of public scrutiny. True or false, any charges which the Swedish  
> government may pursue are irrelevant to the primacy of an  
> independent free press.
>
> Journalists should not be made into criminals for publishing  
> materials critical of the government.  Therefore, we reject any  
> efforts to extradite Julian Assange to the United States or allied  
> client states in relation to these matters. We condemn and reject  
> every incitement to murder, incarcerate or in any way harm Mr.  
> Assange. We encourage all those with   information on corruption  
> and violations of law to take courage from the example of Mr.  
> Assange and WikiLeaks by acting to expose all such information into  
> the light of public and judicial review."
> Please consider signing the petition and forwarding it widely.  We  
> plan to organize some prominent signers to make a joint statement  
> to the press soon to amplify the power of this effort.  More steps  
> will follow.
> http://www.wikileaksisdemocracy.org/
> Thanks for your leadership,
> Linda Schade
> TrueVote.US
>
>
>
>
>

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