The Free Julian Assange protest outside the British Consulate at 90 Collins Street Melbourne started on time and was well attended. Julian Assange's father was there and thanked people for coming. We have to give credit to the organisers - the Socialist Equity Party (SEP). It seems that no-one else in Melbourne has been able to draw people together to protest about Julian Assange's persecution, although it is obvious that many people do care. A problem may be that people believe they need permission to hold meetings and rallies, but this is rarely the case. There were several speakers and we did not film all of them. The films uploaded here were filmed on a hand-held digital camcorder, more for the record than for art. We also filmed the surroundings and participants to give viewers an idea of the scene in Australia. Another protest was to be held tonight (19 June 2018) at the State Library, where the film, Collateral Murder, would be shown. We have embedded a copy of this chilling record of a night of murder for fun by US armed forces in Iraq, which is a document that Julian Assange published, and for which he has been pursued with murderous resentment by the United States ever since.
The Collateral Murder video (April 2010) (embedded below) was shown at a Free Assange Vigil from 6-8pm at Melbourne State Library on 19 June 2018.
The video below records James Cogan, National Secretary of the Social Equality Party's speech about Assange's predicament and the record so far of Australian prime ministers, among other things.
Comments
Sheila Newman
Wed, 2018-06-20 12:37
Permalink
Apologies for getting James Cogan's name wrong, now corrected
admin
Wed, 2018-06-20 19:45
Permalink
Promotion of Global rallies on Tuesday for Julian Assange
The following is from Support global rallies today to demand freedom for Julian Assange (19/6/16) by Mike Head | World Socialist Web Site:
Vigils and demonstrations are being held in many cities around the world today in defence of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, who remains effectively jailed inside Ecuador’s London embassy, and in grave danger of being handed over to British and US authorities.
As the result of a deepening international campaign for Assange’s freedom, rallies are being held in London, outside the Ecuadorian embassy, and globally, from New Zealand and Australia, to Sri Lanka and India, across Europe and in many US cities, including Washington DC.
This follows a rally in Sydney on Sunday, organised by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) (Australia), to demand that the Australian government intervene to protect Assange, an Australian citizen, and guarantee his right to return home and his freedom from being extradited to the US.
...
James Sinnamon
Sun, 2018-07-22 00:35
Permalink
Julian Assange could be surrendered to British govt any day now!
From Assange Will be Handed Over to UK 'In Coming Days, According to my Sources' - Head of RT, Margarita Simonyan (21/7/18) by Michael Quinn | Russia Insider:
Let's hope her "sources" are wrong.
This is ominous because Simonyan has incredibly good sources, i.e. high level people in Russia with access to good quality intel.
She is also close to Assange.
Her tweet reads:
"My sources say that Assange will be handed over to UK authorities in the coming weeks or even days. I hope with all my heart that my sources are mistaken."
Comment: It is long past time that the Australian government should have exercised its duty of care towards Australian citizen Julian Assange who has been found twice by the United Nations to have been arbitrarily detained for no valid reason. This whole crisis could be ended in a matter of hours were the Auustralian government to dispatch urgently to London a contingent of Federal Police to London to escort Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy and back home.
admin
Tue, 2019-02-26 20:08
Permalink
Julian Assange issued with new Australian passport
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was granted a new passport by his native Australia, marking what could be the clearing of a significant hurdle in his quest to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and return home.
After lengthy discussions over whether Assange was subject to an arrest warrant for a “serious foreign offence,” Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed: “Mr Assange does have an Australian passport.”
Confirmation was given at a Senate hearing on Thursday that Assange’s 2018 application for a new passport had been accepted. The WikiLeaks chief received his Australian passport in September 2018, news of which has only now been reported.
Assange had been without a passport after his previous one expired a few years ago. The new passport issued to him makes it possible for him to return to Australia if he were ever able to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy without UK prosecution.
Assange has been there since he sought asylum in 2012, after Swedish authorities requested his extradition as a suspect in a rape case.
He was granted Ecuadorian citizenship in December 2017 in a bid to protect him from being extradited to the US, where he fears he would face secret charges for publishing US government cables and thousands of classified documents relating to activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2017, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had closed the rape investigation.
Original source of this post is https://www.rt.com/news/452159-assange-australia-passport-granted/
Add comment