Member-only story
Assange extradited to the US: “Press freedom dies”
This is very bad.
I could write a long article for you to outline many points about exactly why this is such a bad thing. Or I could just share this video that says many of the points I’m thinking about.
Video content warning: Mention of suicide, torture, imprisonment, ableist language
My heart goes out to Assange, his family, and all genuine investigative journalists worldwide who risk their lives and liberty to expose war crimes, imperialism, human rights violations, and more. Assange’s extradition is a direct attack on everything the press is supposed to stand for. It’s a direct attack on freedom of speech.
One point not talked about in the video is that, in this case, the US has said that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Assange because he’s not a US citizen. That is utter nonsense in and of itself because a law for human rights applies to all humans, regardless of citizenship, and journalists have freedom of the press regardless of citizenship. Meanwhile, the very same US government also argues that they need to…
