Special by Cristian Carlos
The recent decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute the founder of WikiLeaksJulian Assange, for espionage and solicitation of hacking represents a setback for the supposed freedom that the United States claims to have. This is not the first time WikiLeaks has been charged with crimes, but it is the first time charges have been brought against a news organization. The most important thing about this case is that it shows how easy it is for the powerful to manipulate the law and silence their opponents.
In a democracy, there are two main ways to criticize or protest against a government's
government: through non-violent protests or through exposure in the media of the government's
communication. With the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S.
We see a contradiction with journalistic freedom in the land of "In God we trust". The U.S. First Amendment protects journalists and whistleblowers from government persecution, and Assange's extradition would undermine that protection by sending an unmistakable message that those who publish critical information?that should be known because it concerns their citizens, such as their spying?can be silenced.
In authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China, such acts are considered illegal and can lead to imprisonment or death. What, then, does the U.S. intend to do with Julian Assange as a journalist if it succeeds in extraditing him? The persecution of Assange shows how dangerous this situation can be. Not only was he exposing corruption in the upper echelons of the U.S. elite - business and political - and other countries, but he was also exposing corruption at lower levels. In other words, U.S. "justice" wants to get back at Assange for "saying things" that threatened sharp interests.
Assange, for those who do not know, is the founder of WikiLeaks, a global organization that publishes information through an online repository that has brought to light several scandals susceptible to international incidents.
The group began shaking up the Internet in 2010 and has since published more than 10 million documents. To give several examples, WikiLeaks exposed a mass surveillance program called Prism that gave the U.S. government access to data from technology companies such as Google and Microsoft; published thousands of State Department cables detailing U.S. diplomatic efforts around the world; and released information about the global financial crisis, helping people better understand the onset of the recession and Wall Street's role in it. WikiLeaks' work has led to numerous cases.
That same year, the group founded by Assange published a video showing images of the killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. soldiers. In 2013, it published hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies around the world. The biggest scandal came with the Panama Papers leak in 2016, which uncovered evidence of tax evasion by wealthy individuals and companies around the world.
Its explosive publication of thousands of secret documents has revealed the inner workings of some of the world's most secretive institutions, such as the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department. In 2012, after publishing diplomatic cables exposing U.S. surveillance programs, WikiLeaks was granted the right to an interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by then CBS News anchor Charlie Rose. The following year, it published more than 250,000 Democratic National Committee emails exposing a wide range of unprofessional and unethical actions by party officials.
As a result, the Democratic National Committee had to remove several senior members of its leadership team over the email scandal. In October 2016, WikiLeaks published emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, showing that he discussed how to undermine rival Bernie Sanders by questioning his loyalty to the Democratic Party.
WikiLeaks is not only synonymous with document leaks, but also with activism, as it has participated in several political campaigns. In 2010, for example, it worked with activists on a campaign to free political prisoners in Iceland. And in 2011, it played a key role in organizing protests against the former president of Kazakhstan, accused of corruption and human rights abuses. In 2017 alone, WikiLeaks published more than one million documents related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump's.
The persecution of Assange and other journalists affiliated with WikiLeaks is a clear violation of their rights to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and free association. It also poses a direct threat to the safety of journalists around the world.
If Assange and his colleagues are silenced, it will only serve to embolden governments who would want nothing more than to silence any dissenting voice.
To protect Assange and all other journalists who seek to hold power accountable, we must unite now. We cannot allow a small group of individuals with authoritarian tendencies to take advantage of this moment in history and silence those who are willing to speak truth to power. We must make our voices heard now, before it is too late.
As the preeminent nation in the Americas, the United States has a unique opportunity to lead by example when it comes to protecting the rights of journalists. By standing up for journalists around the world, we can send a strong message that those who challenge our government will not be silenced.
When governments withhold information, they are also censoring their citizens.
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