Julian Assange: A Question of Conscience a Warning from History
Vienna, Austria in the heart of Europe. Thousands of people visit everyday they come to admire, among other things the beautiful Stephan's Dome - the great Cathedral, around which Vienna was built. As people pose, buried in their phones taking 'selfies' chattering away, some may overlook a simple O5 chiseled into the stone at its Gothic main entrance.
O5 is a symbol of a famous Austrian resistance group which formed in 1944 across political divides against national socialism. They joined together with one aim to free Austria of the Nazi regime. It is a reminder from History that people must join forces to resist oppression regardless of political ideologies, race or creed.
As I went around various hot spots of Vienna city 'chalking' #ProtectJulian on the pavement in an attempt to raise awareness, most passers by probably failed to notice what I had written as they had failed to notice the O5 chiseled in the cold granite.
In early April 2019 many [Austrians] hadn't perhaps heard of Julian Assange in the days after I chalked his name in the street this would soon change. The day after he was horribly dragged out of his odious, dark bedsit his first glimpse of sunlight in almost seven years. Arrested like a thug and put into one of Britain's most secure prisons. All legal precedents it seems can be ignored in his case. In 2015 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared him an innocent man being unlawfully detained by the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Yet he remains there in Britain's Guantanamo in solitary confinement.
In this 'me too' era one would think human rights and democratic 'moral' values should be more important than ever yet men are being persecuted and tortured for exposing The Truth and speaking out against War Crimes.
Governments who are elected by the people to help run 'our' society and Politicians who should answer to the people 'our' vote puts them in power ignore laws and UN rulings, making illegal arrests and using torture. Whilst The Fourth Estate 'Journalists' there to hold Governments accountable betray their fellow man with smears and Propaganda Gobles would be proud of.
A Question of Conscience
Chelsea Manning a U.S solider and intelligence analyst had high security access to classified databases and was fed up of looking away from what was going on and reported corruption and crime to her commanding officer she was told to; “shut up!". Convinced it was the right thing to do she then gave the information to Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
Should Chelsea Manning have looked away from 'Collateral Murder' ?
Looked away from the innocent children shot at and mutilated by an Apache helicopter on the school run whilst their Father was brutally murdered before their eyes attempting to help a wounded man get to safety.
How different is the O5 movement from the #ProtectJulian of today?
How does the “American War Machine” bombing democracy into countries differ from Nazi Germany?
How different is Belmarsh Prison “Britain's Guantanamo” from one of the Gulags in Solzhenitsyn´s Archipelago when Stalin once ruled Russia?
Is the O5 in Vienna in the heart of Europe a symbol or a warning?
It is time to speak out for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange. It is time to resist and speak out in Europe for Democracy. As Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire stated in a recent speech; 'Julian Assange challenges us at the deepest level to ask in conscience is this right or wrong?'
Please do not look away !
First They Came for the Jews
by Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.