Open letter to George Monbiot re Assange
Dear George,
I spent a few more hours this weekend catching up on the latest news of Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to the United States:
- An interview by former New York Times journalist, Chris Hedges, of Julian’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, about the documentary, Ithaka — a very personal portrait of the fight for justice by Julian’s father, John Shipton.
- A video of the meeting ‘Media Freedom and Democracy’ held in St Pancras New Church, London last Saturday with several prominent speakers, including Stefania Maurizi, who has just published her own book on the Assange case ‘Secret Power: Wikileaks and its enemies’.
- A second interview by Hedges of Kevin Gosztola, author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange.
After digesting the latest news on the case it would seem that Julian could be weeks away from being extradited to the United States (if his petition to appeal the in the High Court is denied) or condemned to a further two years in the high security HMP Belmarsh (where he’s already been held for almost four years) if granted the right to appeal.
It’s been three months since I sent you a copy of ‘The Trial of Julian Assange’ — a book summarising the Assange case written by former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, who fully investigated the case and became a strong critic of the behaviour of Sweden, the UK, Ecuador and the United States. The interview of Melzer by the Swiss publication, Republik, is a useful summary.
I sent you the book because I believe it’s staggering that you haven’t once used your Guardian column to write about the treatment of Assange. Sorry, your few recent tweets in support since 2019 don’t count. I find it incredible that you don’t believe you have anything original to contribute on the case or that you’re ignorant of the abuse of power by UK politicians, the corruption of the British judiciary and the compliance of the mainstream media in ‘othering’ Assange (with few notable exceptions). A piece by you in The Guardian (assuming they would publish a column on Assange), would in itself be original simply due to the size of your platform.
The criminal hegemony of the United States is to be feared, and you may be putting your £60,000 per year contract with The Guardian at risk, but what is the value of journalism if its members stay silent about the ‘slow motion murder’ of a father, husband, brother and son by governments angered by his journalistic activities which revealed their criminality?
We can all express concern for the environment, rail against corruption in public life or corporate malfeasance and condemn war crimes by governments in far away places over which we have little influence. But to stay silent about the horrific treatment of Assange in front of our eyes, in a London prison and by British courts, is to be complicit.
Just review (please) the recent books by Melzer, Maurizi and Gosztola — before it’s too late — you’ll be on the right side of history, I promise.
Thank you, in hope!
References:
George Monbiot’s tweets mentioning ‘Assange’ 2011–2022
