By Neenah Payne

Julian Assange, Australian founder of WikiLeaks, was freed on June 25 after being held for over five years in London’s Belmarsh prison (although he had been charged with no crime) and after spending over seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid extradition to the United States.

Assange will celebrate his 53^rd birthday on July 3 in Australia with his family.

The Saipan surprise: How delicate talks led to the unlikely end of Julian Assange’s 12-year saga.

John Shipton will host a birthday party to celebrate Assange’s freedom, the people’s victory, and the importance of freeing journalism on July 3 from 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm Australian EST (July 2 from 4:00 am-7:30 am Eastern Time USA). Shipton is an architect who lives in Sydney, Australia, and is the father of Assange who adopted his step-father’s surname.

Shipton and award-winning broadcaster/author Antoinette Lattouf will discuss the war on journalism, whistleblowers, and the dire need for press freedom and whistleblower protection. They will discuss journalism holding the powerful accountable and those who pay severely for doing so. This is an historical event supported by speakers who worked to free Assange Including Libertarian MP David Limbrick and Craig Isherwood of the Australian Citizens Party and musicians who created songs for Assange.

Truth Not War “is a grassroots campaign for WikiLeaks and Whistleblowers. TNW boasts a vast array of volunteers from every corner of Australia including concerned citizens, journalists, artists from every sector, lawyers and most of all activists for peace.”

Tune into Melbourne4Assange to hear live coverage of this event.

Danger of Exposing the Collapse of The Rule of Law

Assange’s father and brother Gabriel Shipton traveled throughout Europe, the US, Mexico, and Latin America for 10 years in defense of Assange. In 2021, the Shiptons arrived in the US for a month-long, country-wide speaking tour. Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange awarded keys to Mexico City as family lobbies for his release. Filmmaker Gabriel’s 2022 documentary Ithaka follows his father’s fight for Assange’s release.

Assange's release 'cherry on top of a handsome birthday cake,' says father (video)

Assange’s birthday on July 3 is one day before Americans celebrate their freedom on July 4. Americans often take that God-given freedom for granted because it is protected by the US Constitution. However, we saw how easily the COVID policies overrode the First Amendment protections of the Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, and Freedom of Religion.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times. In the video below, Hedges explains why Assange’s work is so important. This is especially true as Donald Trump is dealing with the “lawfare” of four trials as he campaigns for the presidency. Warning To America: The End of Everything explains that three of Trump’s advisors were jailed on spurious charges.

Hedges says,

A society that prohibits the capacity to speak in truth, extinguishes the capacity to live in justice. Tyrannies invert the rule of law. They turn the law into an instrument of injustice. They cloak their crimes in a faux legality. They use the decorum of the courts and trials to mask their criminality. Those, such as Julian Assange, who expose that criminality to the public are dangerous. For without the pretext of legitimacy, the tyranny loses credibility and has nothing left in its arsenal but fear, coercion, and violence.

The long campaign against Julian and WikiLeaks is a window into the collapse of the rule of law. The rise of what the political philosopher Sheldon S. Wolin calls “Our system of inverted totalitarianism” – a form of totalitarianism that maintains the fictions of the old capitalist democracy, including its institutions, iconography, patriotic symbols, and rhetoric but internally surrenders total control to the dictates of global corporations….

There is no legal basis to hold Julian in prison. There is no legal basis to try an Australian citizen under the US Espionage Act. The CIA spied on Julian in the embassy…. This spying included reporting the privileged conversations between Julian and his lawyers. This fact alone invalidates any trial of Julian.

Hedges interviewed Assange’s very articulate father who maintained a wry sense of humor throughout Assange’s long ordeal. Shipton discussed the support of people throughout the West for Assange as Western governments collapse into increasing barbarism. For example, 88% of Australians support Assange. Shipton notes the difference between governments and citizens and discusses the impact of the information Julian released.

Assange and other whistleblowers are the last line of defense before uncontrolled tyranny. This is the role the US Founding Fathers envisioned for the press, the Fourth Estate. They wanted the media to hold the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches to account. They put Freedom of the Press in the First Amendment because they understood it as a guarantor of democracy.

The Chris Hedges Report: Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, speaks out

Julian Assange has spent over a decade fighting imprisonment, extradition, and CIA espionage. On Oct. 8, Chris Hedges and others will gather in Washington, DC, to demand Assange's release at the same time that protestors surround the British Parliament. John Shipton, Assange's father, shares updates on the international campaign to free his son.

Why Julian Assange Matters So Much

Why the US Is Trying to Imprison Julian Assange and Why You Should Care 3/7/24

Richard Medhurst is an independent journalist specialized in international relations, US politics, and the Middle East…. He is one of few journalists to have executed on-the-ground coverage of…Julian Assange's extradition hearing. He previously hosted his own television program, The Communiqué, on Press TV.

For More Information

• Chris Hedges: You Saved Julian Assange
• Chris Hedges: The Crucifixion of Julian Assange
• Chris Hedges: The Impending Collapse of American Empire
• Chris Hedges: Joe Biden’s Parting Gift to America Will be Christian Fascism
• Chris Hedges and Dennis Kucinich on the Bleak 2024 Elections and How Elites Broke Our Democracy

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