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In a Crisis of Democracy, We Must All Become Julian #Assange dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/in-a-c… #FreeAssange
Why has Julian #Assange become a target of these Western governments’ coordinated attack? Over 10 million documents that #WikiLeaks released with a pristine record of accuracy revealed the corruption of these governments, including US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. 1/9
But more significantly, #Assange has been condemned because #WikiLeaks’ publication exposed the true face of Western liberal democracy, informing the public about how the structure of power really works. 2/9
What is Western liberal democracy? It is a particular style of governance that was developed in the US and exported around the world. Political theorist Sheldon S. Wolin described it as “modern managed democracy”. 3/9 #Assange #WikiLeaks
The managed democracy relies on secrecy & deception to control the will of the populace. With the infiltration of commercial interests and the consolidation of media, the big business class has found a way to regulate free speech on their terms. 4/9 #Assange #WikiLeaks
The establishment of corporate media turned journalists’ First Amendment protection into a privilege that they can use against the public. 5/9 #Assange #WikiLeaks
Journalists, who have now become a new class of professionals, no longer share interests with ordinary people. They serve the agendas of the powerful state in maintaining an illusion of democracy, by restricting the flow of information and controlling narratives. 6/9 #WikiLeaks
#Assange understood that within the existing political system there is no mechanism for ordinary people to check on this unaccounted power. 7/9 #WikiLeaks
#Assange through his work with #WikiLeaks provided vital tools that make it possible for everyday people to counter corporate media’s weapon of mass deception and pierce the façade of democracy. 8/9
At the core of #WikiLeaks is scientific journalism. By publishing full archives in a searchable format, the whistleblowing site gave ordinary people a mechanism to independently check the claim of journalists and to hold them, with their unelected powers accountable. 9/9 #Assange
