Presentation detailing the threats the WikiLeaks case represents to activism.

1. The Case against
WikiLeaks
A direct threat to our community

2. Belmarsh Virginia

3. A quick chronology of WikiLeaks publications…
2008 Petrogate (Perú), exposé of extrajudicial killings
in Kenya (Amnesty Award), Sarah Palin emails.
2009 Companies behind banking collapse in Iceland,
details of censorship in China and Iran.
2010 Collateral Murder Video, Afghan War Diaries,
Iraq War Logs, Cablegate. Julian Assange is arrested
in London, on behalf of Sweden. No charges.
2011 Gitmo Files, Spy Files 1 exposing 160 companies
in mass surveillance industries.
2012 5 million emails of contractor Stratfor – Global
Intelligence Files, Syria Files, Julian granted political
asylum in Ecuador.
2013 TPP text, Spyfiles 2, Manning is sentenced to
35y. Snowden granted asylum in Moscow. Jeremy
Hammond convicted and sentenced to 10 years.
2014 TISA, Spyfiles 3, updated TPP text,
2015 The Sony Archives, The Saudi Cables, Hacking
Team searchable database, TPP final texts.
2016 Clinton, Podesta, DNC emails. TTIP. TISA.
2017 Obama commutes Chelsea Manning sentence.
NSA spying on French Election, Vault 7, SpyFiles
Russia.
2018 Amazon Atlas, US Embassy shopping list.
Weapon dealers. Assange gagged most of the year.
2019 Assange is arrested. Manning is arrested
again. Pope orders, Douma Chemical Attack, Fishrot

4. Exposed by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks

6. What happened on April 11, 2019?
Asylum weakened forever.

7. Charges, as predicted, were UNSEALED

8. What happened with Sweden? A case of Lawfare.

9. Charges against WikiLeaks: 175 years in prison
Publishing
Protecting sources
Doing journalism

10. It is the first time the Justice Department
has ever successfully obtained an
indictment from a grand jury with
Espionage Act charges based exclusively
on the act of publication.

11. “Journalism has not been
collateral damage in this battle—
it has been the target.”
Masha Gessen, The New Yorker

12. Three relevant aspects of charges:
- Redactions are irrelevant.
- Mention of WL as “intelligence agency
of the people”.
- More people might be detained and
charged after extradition.

13. Chelsea Manning, Jeremy Hammond, Ola Bini

14. “I believe this grand jury seeks to undermine the integrity of public discourse
with the aim of punishing those who expose any serious, ongoing, and
systemic abuses of power by this government, as well as the rest of the
international community…”
“I wish to return home. I want to return to my work — writing, speaking,
consulting, and teaching. The idea I hold the keys to my own cell is an absurd
one, as I face the prospect of suffering either way due to this unnecessary and
punitive subpoena: I can either go to jail or betray my principles. The latter
exists as a much worse prison than the government can construct.”
Chelsea Manning, May 2019

15. “After seven and a half years of ‘paying my debt to society,’ the government
seeks to punish me further with this vindictive, politically-motivated legal
maneuver to delay my release, knowing full well that I would never cooperate
with their witch hunt. I am opposed to all grand juries, but I am opposed to this
one in particular because it is part of the government’s ongoing war on free
speech, journalists, and whistleblowers. I am insulted that those in power
claim that I have an ‘obligation that every citizen owes his government’ to
testify. As an anarchist, I am not part of their social contract, and do not
recognize the legitimacy of their laws and courts. Instead, I believe in a Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. quote I had taped to the wall of my prison cell for years:
‘One has an obligation to disobey unjust laws.’”
Jeremy Hammond, October 2019

17. Understanding extradition as a political process

18. Extradition: What every London taxi driver will tell you

19. The issues involved in this case are absolutely fundamental
Sovereignty and
political offences
Surveillance and
legal privilege

20. Implications for the public

21. “By the government's own admission, Assange
has been charged for his role in bringing to light
true information, information that exposed war
crimes and wrongdoing perpetrated by the most
powerful military in the history of the world.
It is not just a man who stands in jeopardy, but
the future of the free press.“
Edward Snowden

22. The “Assange Precedent” for investigative journalism

23. Alan Rusbridger
“The indictment is a mish-mash of accusations,
including the risk of penalizing any reporter
who does more than sit back and passively
wait for material to be leaked to them”

24. It is about you...
about someone just like you.

26. He was busy working in our communities
● Back in 1994 he was co-running one of the first public access internet
provider in Australia.
● He was always involved in the free software movement, contributing
thousands of hours to different projects.
● His code was even used by Apple and in other operating systems.
● He wrote the first open source software implementation of a deniable
cryptography file system, with the intention of helping human rights
defenders working in adversarial environments.

27. CCC, #26C3 and the charges: we are named there

28. Our communication practices are there

29. Chelsea Manning: “an ongoing investigation”

30. Bad omens from across the water: Daniel Hale,
Joshua Schulte and the DNC suit.

31. What happens next

32. What can you do?
- Do not be afraid to speak up.
- Immunise yourself against propaganda.
- Understand what is at stake, this is a
political persecution.

33. “Assange had been systematically slandered to divert
attention from the crimes he exposed. Once he had
been dehumanized through isolation, ridicule and
shame, just like the witches we used to burn at the
stake, it was easy to deprive him of his most
fundamental rights without provoking public outrage
worldwide.”
Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment

35. The UK government needs to know
that the world is watching
- No man is an island even after Brexit
- Key issues include the humanitarian ones,
press freedom and fair trial rights given
pervasive surveillance
- Trial monitoring in February 2020

36. A final word...

38. “Justice doesn't just happen. Justice is
forced by people coming together and
exercising strength, unity and
intelligence.”
Julian Assange at 25c3