Every era has it’s icons.
They are those people who represent the very essence of the era and the region.
When we think about that particular era, it’s those people, those icons who immediately come to mind.
In the 1960s, they were J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Daniel Ellsberg amongst others.
The Age of Reason brought us Voltaire, Paine, Jefferson, among other greats.
These are people who represent the best of us and the best of what that particular era represented at the time.
Julian Assange has become such an icon for this current new era.
WikiLeaks, led and inspired by Julian Assange, along with Occupy, inspired by AdBusters and Anonymous, inspired by the denizens and “bad boys” of the Internet are the icons of this era.
When we look back 10, 20 years from now they will be the ones that we will remember as representing the essence of what and who we were.
While we all come from disparate backgrounds, ideologies, philosophies the one common thread in this new mass social movement for change is a deep desire to end this social, economic and political corruption and injustice which infests our society and to inject a new humanity, a new standard of ethics which respects both individual and social civil liberties and rights as well as demands standards of humanitarianism and egalitarianism.
These concepts aren't new, and they are one's which have been fought for repeatedly over the years. They've just never had the chance to become entrenched.
The greatest strength of democracy is also it’s greatest weakness. It’s openness and transparency can be taken advantage of and undermined by the unscrupulous and has been repeatedly over the years.
The naivete and blind trust placed in politicians by the citizenry also enables this abuse.
And this is where people like Julian Assange and the WikiLeakers, Occupiers and Anonymous come in. They are the balancing force. The force which pushes to maintain the transparency necessary for an open and democratic society to function on behalf of it’s citizens.
They are both our conscience and our inspiration.
Without them how easy it would be for fascism to walk in and simply take over. Are our politicians responsive to our demands? No. They call us terrorists for engaging in legitimate dissent. They call us terrorists for exposing corruption and forcing the transparency to which every citizen is entitled to from the state. A state which is supposed to be representing us and not a few corporations.
And this is why we need people like Julian Assange to be free. So that he can continue to inspire this very important transformation which is occurring today thanks to him, the WikiLeaks, Occupy and Anonymous movements.
I hope that Ecuador opens it’s doors to Julian Assange so that he can be free to continue this very important contribution he is making to our world. He doesn't deserve to be imprisoned in the US. He deserves to be honored for what he has done. A Nobel Peace Prize would be perfectly in order.
I’d like to thank Mr. Assange for making this beautiful contribution towards the transformation of our world into a better and more humane place for all of the citizenry.
Happy Birthday, Julian Assange and may you have many, many more birthdays living in freedom.
Much love.
1 comment:
I agree. It is often said that soldiers are fighting for our freedom. This is sometimes true, like in 1776, or during WW II. But mainly they are fighting for someone else their government tells them is against our freedoms.
Yet it is only the government that can take our freedom from us. Wingnuts flying planes into buildings did not take our freedom away, they simply killed a few people, and warned us about one more way our safety (not freedom) can be compromised.
The Draconian Patriot Act, that took away our freedoms. Something 16 hijackers and 4 planes could never do.
It is people who keep governments honest that fight for our freedoms
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