It appears there are some hidden agendas with what is happening with Julian Assange, and his imprisonment at the moment. If you have not been following the news recently, Julian founded the website Wikileaks (the link to that page is for wikipedia - as the website is in constant states of change as the US Government start to flex their muscle). The idea behind Julian's website is to expose information, whether it be from government or from corporation to inform people everywhere about topics, as well as to promote transparency of information.
To be brutally obvious, some of those documents are embarrassing to certain governments or companies. Hence why there is not an attack on Julian himself. I believe the strategy is to stop him, and his website will go away. The internet being the internet, that will not happen. The US Government designed the internet so that in case of a hostile act (like war), the information would now be decentralized, therefore, if you take down one site, it does not mean that all the information is lost. Now that idea is being used against the US Government who are trying to stop Wikileaks.
Julian has been accused of rape in Sweden. The Swedish government is trying to extradite him from England (where he is currently arrested) to Sweden to stand trial for his accused actions. I am opposed against rape, so if he is truly guilty of this crime, then he must be brought to the correct authorities, and once sufficient process has been followed, and concrete evidence has been shown, he must be punished appropriately and fairly fitting the crime.
Why then has he been attacked by the US Government, as well as some other governments from other countries around the world? This has nothing to do with his allegations mentioned in my previous paragraph. Why is the US Government trying to charge him for treason? Are they trying to capitalize on the fact he is in custody, and attempting to persecute (and prosecute) him indefinitely? Is he not entitled to free speech like everyone else in their country? Is he not protected by the fact that he is apart of the media, and what he has shown is not lies made up to attack someone's character? If all journalists were "gagged" from presenting information, the majority of the news media system would cease to exist.
I ask everyone to read the reports of what is going on with Julian, and investigate how you yourself can support freedom of speech. You may not have to send any money, but it may require you do put in some of your time and effort.
Consider the alternative:
Why would people knowingly give up their freedoms, and hand power over to governments?
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V (from V for Vendetta - 2006); and "Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty." - John Basil Barnhill (1914).
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