The internet is afire with speculation about what is happening with Julian Assange, founder and publisher of WikiLeaks. In the wake of an incremental release of (as of this writing) more than 17,000 emails belonging to Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, on Sunday the whistle-blowing publishing hub sent out three cryptic tweets sparking rumors that Assange had died — attested as false since then, though there’s still uncertainty about his current state.
These were followed by another quite stark tweet: “Julian Assange’s internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.”
“Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”
WikiLeaks has since confirmed that Ecuador severed the internet connection; it’s the country that has given Assange asylum and in whose embassy in London he’s been hiding out for more than four years.
WikiLeaks and, more specifically Assange himself, have become the face of the battle of our time, the axis upon which our contemporary existence pivots. It’s a battle about access to the free flow and use of information.
He stands in odd juxtaposition with President Obama and now, Hillary Clinton, who are upholding the volatile, inhospitable marriage of information and power.
Assange claims WikiLeaks uses information to serve truth and keep corrupt governments honest. Obama claims his administration’s collection of personal information about American citizens is needed to keep Americans safe. Assange collects information about Obama (and now Hillary Clinton) while Obama — whom Clinton served and still champions — collects information about all of us.
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Some claim the information released through WikiLeaks has threatened international sources and national security, aiding our enemies. WikiLeaks’ released video footage in April 2010 of American troops killing civilians (two of whom were journalists from Reuters) — called “Collateral Murder” — promptly elevated Assange’s profile for some to that of an international outlaw.
Yet when it comes to how much damage has been done by WikiLeaks in actual consequence, the consensus seems to fall on the side of national embarrassment rather than a breach of security. Robert Mackey, in an article entitled “U.S. Officials Reportedly Said WikiLeaks Revelations Were ‘Not Damaging'” in The New York Times (Jan 19, 2011), wrote:
“Leaked United States diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks ‘[were] embarrassing but not damaging.’ As the news agency reports, that private assessment, ‘that a mass leak of diplomatic cables caused only limited damage to U.S. interests abroad,’ contrasts sharply with the Obama administration’s public statements on the potential harm of the WikiLeaks disclosures.”
In June 2012, Assange took asylum inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations by two women, allegations he denies. The bigger issue for him is the real threat that, once in Sweden, he would then be turned over to the United States and put in the same category as Fox News reporter James Rosen once was: that of a “co-conspirator” who is aiding the enemy.
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For a long time, Assange’s plight evoked a yawning shrug from the majority in the press. A notable exception is the fascinating interview that Steve Kroft, of “60 Minutes,” conducted with Assange. It is also worth viewing the “60 Minutes Overtime” reflections of Steve Kroft on the time he spent with Assange. I’m compelled to add that I am one journalist who was riveted to that story and remains riveted as these new misadventures unfold. I have felt quite deeply that Assange represents something bigger than most of us understand.
Assange is no savior. But he is a harbinger. “The precedent works like this,” he said of his own predicament:
“If you communicate with a journalist, then you communicate with a publisher, then you communicate with the public, then you communicate with al-Qaida — so you communicate with enemies of the United States, and as a result your communications with a journalist must be punished by death or life imprisonment.”
He added, “If tolerated, that will lead to regimes where every U.S. government source, when speaking to a journalist, must be concerned that they will suffer either the death penalty or life imprisonment as a result. Now, having established that, the U.S. government will have set the precedent that not only is the [source] indirectly communicating with al-Qaida by communicating with the public, but the publisher and the journalist is as well. And therefore the publisher and the journalist can be embroiled in espionage charges, some of which similarly carry the death penalty.”
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People of faith on all sides of the political spectrum claim Jesus’ words to justify conclusions. Yet on one point, Jesus spoke quite lucidly and without equivocation — on the importance of light and the explosive possibilities that can result from shining it into darkness:
“‘Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.’ When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them” (John 12:36).
Jesus spoke about light — then hid. He left his hearers to decide for themselves what it means to live in the light. If nothing else, it clearly means stepping out from the fog of darkness. He foists upon his hearers the challenge to think about it and make a decision, whatever the cost.
Which is why we need Julian Assange:
1.) He broke light. It has awakened a darkened sleeping giant. Knowing that light can lay bare clarity of truth, in its own way (for better or worse), it levels the playing field somewhat — or ought to.
2.) We need Julian Assange as a necessary counterweight to the increasingly alarming and belligerent governmental overreach and corruption. (The sword of information gathering cuts both ways.)
3.) We need Julian Assange because he warned us.
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