Julian Assange is in extreme and imminent danger of being forced out of Ecuadorian embassy. The widest international campaign must be organised to demand that he be allowed to leave the embassy and as an Australian citizen, be protected by the Australian government and return to Australia if he wishes. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/29/assa-m29.html
For International Action to Defend Julian Assange.
"In June 2012, he was compelled to seek political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London when a British court handed down a politically motivated rejection of his final legal appeal against extradition."
"The American CIA and other police-intelligence agencies are waiting in the wings to move in with their extradition warrants. Underscoring the determination of the American ruling class to shut down whistleblowers and hide its crimes from the world, the CIA has labelled WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence agency,” while the US government has declared Assange’s arrest a “priority.” http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/28/pers-m28.html
Sri Lankan workers and students defend Julian Assange.
The Sri Lankan Trotskyists have organised a rally on 19 June outside the Fort Railway Station in Central Colombo to demand freedom for the WikiLeaks editor. A rally has also been organised in the Indian city of Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. (Click here for details)
We publish below interviews and statements from Jayawardenapura University students, Katunayake free trade zone employees and other workers in Sri Lanka. Mahesh, another FTZ worker, commented on the danger of a world war and called for freedom for Assange.
“I am against war,” he said. “The US had been waging war for years and has caused immense destruction in the Middle East. A world war is possible.” Koushalya, a shoe factory worker from Meethotamulla, the site of an April 2017 garbage dump disaster that killed over 30 people, said: “Politicians are openly engaged in corruption and crimes. Exposing them should not be illegal.
“Anyone who exposes this corruption is standing up for the rights of the people. The method of those in power is to hunt down and kill such whistleblowers.” Induni, a construction industry engineer, said: “Julian Assange is a brave journalist who has provided information related to US war crimes. His actions are very similar to the release of the Pentagon Papers. We, like all other workers, should be with him, in solidarity.”
She opposed Ecuador’s decision to isolate Assange and prevent him receiving visitors or accessing the Internet. “This as an instance of the capitalist system trying to prevent the working class and ordinary people from accessing honest information… I fully endorse the ICFI campaign to free Assange and the June 17 rally in Sydney.” Sasanka, a fourth-year sociology student, said: “I strongly support the SEP’s campaign demanding freedom for Julian Assange. The reason US imperialism wants to capture people like Assange is because it fears that any exposure of its war crimes will radicalise masses of people. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/06/07/work-j07.html
