The confirmation yesterday by Yahoo! News that the CIA planned to abduct and render, or murder, Julian Assange also revealed the absurd extent of surveillance to which Assange, and anyone associated with him, was subjected to. One former official quoted by Yahoo! described the surveillance, by teams from multiple countries, as “beyond comical”, with “every human being in a three-block radius … working for one of the intelligence services — whether they were street sweepers or police officers or security guards”.
Assange was also the subject of intense surveillance within the Ecuadorian embassy, with even toilets bugged by UC Global, the firm ostensibly charged with providing security for the embassy.
The surveillance meant that anyone who visited Assange was scrutinised by an array of official and non-official intelligence units.
“I visited the embassy a number of times, most recently in 2017,” former Greens senator Scott Ludlam says. “Knowing now that Julian and other guests of the Ecuadorians were being placed on a speculative kill list makes my blood run cold. The revelations of the last few days confirm beyond doubt that the pursuit of Julian and his friends and associates was long ago unmoored from the rule of law, common sense or morality … it must end now, and it’s time, a decade late, for our government to draw a line.”
Former Greens staffer Felicity Ruby found herself directly targeted for her support of Assange. “First it was part of my job, but the more I learned, the work became my own choice,” she told Crikey. “I’ve visited Julian in Ellingham Hall, the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the Belmarsh dungeon [where he is currently imprisoned]. I knew each time I visited that I was under surveillance and that caring personally about him and his team could be dangerous.”
“While it has cost me, not acting in defence of a free press would have cost me more. The very point of a chilling effect is provoking fear and paralysis, so it’s important to shrug it off but that hasn’t always been easy.
“It got real for me personally when documents surfaced showing the UC Global chief telling his staff to target me and a colleague. My mother was dying at the time and I was disturbed by the confirmation of our fears, but also afraid it would become public and upset her. We know … plans existed back in 2010 to destroy supporters and the organisation.
“If you’re a friend of Julian’s, it does affect your life, how you communicate, how open you are to meeting new people without suspicion. It’s awkward too when an old friend gets in touch, or a new friend comes into my life, to explain that because I’m a close friend of Julian Assange, their communication will likely be caught in surveillance, but it seems irresponsible to not flag it.”
“Reading about plans to kill Julian, and that we were all stalked and watched makes me wonder how much our government knew or even participated in this CIA operation, and when it will ever end. I’m tired, but that’s also the point of the torment, to tire supporters and see them drop away, but the opposite is happening.”
Academic and technology researcher Suelette Dreyfus speaks of the high personal cost of being a friend of Assange’s. “I wrote a book with Julian Assange in 1997, and we’ve stayed friends. Nothing could prepare me for the personal cost of that friendship in terms of the surveillance inflicted on me.
“The physical surveillance was so obvious that at times friends and relatives observed it and asked about it. At times, their presence frightened my children. My phone was stuffed for months. Out of place people followed me to country Victoria. Strangers entered my house when I wasn’t there — and they didn’t know I could determine they had been there. A surveillance team even followed me to Queensland on holidays with my family. It was nuts. I was censored from speaking at a conference — here in Australia — by Australian Signals Directorate.
“So, yeah, I’ve paid a high personal cost. But nowhere near as high as Julian Assange. Nor Daphne Galizia, Jan Kuciak, Giorgos Karaivaz or Peter de Vries — all assassinated investigative journalists.”
Dreyfus wants to know how much the government knew about the US and UK plans. “When your best-buddy allies hatch plans to assassinate your citizens, it may be time to rethink that partnership … President Biden needs to drop all the trumped-up charges against Assange. All three governments need to issue, if not an apology which is owed, at least an enduring commitment to stop trying to silence journalists who reveal uncomfortable truths. And all of these governments need to confess to their citizen victims about the overreach of the spying and harassment that went on — so it doesn’t happen again.”
Human rights lawyer and Assange legal adviser Jen Robinson also wants answers from the Australian government. “I have serious questions for the Morrison government: (1) What did you know and when about US plans to abduct and assassinate Julian Assange, an Australian citizen? (2) What action will the Australian government now take in response to these revelations? (3) What more will it take for our government to act to protect this Australian citizen?”
“For more than a decade,” Robinson says, “I have been asking successive Australian governments to exercise diplomatic protection over Assange. How can the Australian government now stand silent and refuse to act in response to a CIA proposal to assassinate an Australian citizen who has done no more than publish truthful information about the US, war crimes, human rights abuse and unlawful government surveillance?”
“For years, we have been raising concern with our government about the unlawful spying on Assange and on us as his lawyers. The Australian government has so far done nothing.”
On Friday, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, asked about Assange, said “we do think of ourselves and we are approaching this from an entirely different approach of the last few years as it relates to freedom of the press”.
The US appeal to overturn the ruling by the British courts refusing to allow the extradition of Assange on espionage and conspiracy charges continues. Assange remains in Belmarsh prison.
As I have always maintained, we have the illusion of a democracy in the west in general and here in Australia in particular. Sure, our style of government is much better than that which obtains in many other countries, especially those which are overtly authoritarian. But nevertheless, if you ‘poke the bear’ too severely then you will suffer repercussions, possibly of a lethal nature. And by ‘poking the bear’ I don’t mean using physical violence and mayhem, I mean if your ideas and especially your influence, do not coincide with what the mainstream capitalist class demand and you are perceived as being a real threat, then you will most like be crushed like Julian has been, or you will be harassed and denigrated as have some of those who dared to support him.
Other notable examples of people like Julian Assange include Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Their experiences are well known and speak for themselves.
As does those of Labor and the Whitlam government, which put paid to any notion of sovereignty permanently.
My comments relating to the USA and all that it stands for won’t allow me to trust an iota of their media releases and international published reports. Please understand that I am a careful researcher.
Beware this current Prime Minister (just as treacherous verging close to the edge treason against the people of Australia, was the treacherous Howard and his partner in deception, ‘Downer.’)
One must beware of Scomo and his sycophant ministers, that mob refuse to understand that throwing open the welcome
gate to the USA in any form or shape (but more particularly their military standover stooges) will be the undoing of Australia.
That’s just an indication of what’s in store after Scomo’s Gung Ho welcome and patronage. In the fullness of time, the people of Australia will come to regret this overt threatening matter.
The loss of our sovereignty does not matter a dicky-bird to the invasive USA war dogs.
It is surely ironic to use the term,”Gung Ho”, which is Chinese.
Either that or kow-tow – for cash (scrip paid to coolies, the first paper money).
And first used by a New Zealaner, Riwi Alley who lived and worked in China for most of his adult life.
https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2017/04/21/the-expat-origins-of-gung-ho-rewi-alley-a-new-zealander-in-china/
We lost our sovereignty when the CIA and Queen and Coalition perpetrated the coup against Whitlam. This has been further attacked, if any shred of it was left anyway, by the Coalition’s FTA with China and its ISDS provisions. It’s over, and has been for decades in Australia. Assange’s planned murder by American forces and his betrayal by Labor and Liberal one of the high profile incidents in recent years.
Is there video available of White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, BK? I just want to see if she said that with a straight face. How can the Biden administration possibly claim that while they’re still trying to extradite Assange on the same BS charges? Are we all supposed to forget it was Hillary Clinton who went after Assange in the first place?
This is bipartisan US policy. It’s also tripartisan international policy- we can’t have journalists exposing the ugly true nature of “democracy” to the world- it undermines its moral pretentions.
https://twitter.com/halalflow/status/1441912635033743375
For all its faults I prefer this version of “democracy” such as it is to your applauded Chinese version of government.
I find it discouraging that some here are so eager to put Chinese governance on a higher HR pedestal than that enjoyed by Australians; what’s left of it anyway. Most interesting too. You are a great champion of China over Australia, care to explain why, I doubt if you’re a Chinese Hong Kong resident or one of the target groups in this report.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/east-asia/china/
LoL wrote: “I find it discouraging that some here are so eager to put Chinese governance on a higher HR pedestal than that enjoyed by Australians”.
I have just returned from Darwin, where an ongoing genocide of aboriginals is evident, in the form of chronic generational and systemic unemployment and related alcohol abuse, following on from the actual 19th century cultural genocide. The only way to correct this present human rights abuse is via a Job Guarantee (since the hunter-gatherer economy has been destroyed forever).
Hence for my part, I will prefer the governance that creates common prosperity; and internationally, governance via a rules-based system which de-legitimizes war. Note re national sovereignty: de-legitimization of war requires subjugation of national sovereignty to an International Court of Justice, in the arena of international relations.
The alternative – business as usual – is an arms race with China in Cold War 2.0.
Hope this enlarges your perspective re ‘sovereignty’, ‘human rights’, and China’s economic rise.
Forget Hilary Clinton? That must be the plan. There’s a recent report that reckons the nasties visited on Julian Assange were started by Donald Trump. Had me going, until I remembered that Julian had supported Trump. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This answers Kathy’s question. The Democrats hate Julian. Interesting that the source of the interview was given as Russian State media.
I’m intrigued that you jump in with your assertion about China lovers. Nothing I have read has put China on ‘a higher HR pedestal’. Just fair ‘pot calling the kettle black’ assessment of the anti-China propaganda.
Scott Morrison’s ‘bull in a china shop’ diplomacy ought to be of concern to all of us, as he ties us increasingly to the fortunes of a ‘democracy’ little removed from our sick joke. Have you noticed that we actually vote for a political party to govern us?
It has always amazed me how easy it was for Manning and others to access and copy the data that the CIA & friends are now so concerned about. The CIA has a long history of assassinating anyone crazy brave enough to expose its stupid and treacherous behaviour. The USA government has failed everyone by letting the CIA nutters roam around the world for over 70 years.
The USA government has no say in the matter. How many times did we breathe a sigh of relief when Trump was forced to cancel a course of action. Someone told him he couldn’t.
“You can’t bring all the troops home.” That might have been what they voted for, but he wasn’t allowed to. All those pretty promises in Obama’s brilliant orations. They didn’t sound like lies, but they didn’t happen. Did Bush II invade Iraq because someone fed him false intelligence?
The politicians are not in charge. That’s the point of our system. It’s downright dangerous to be the one “not covered in shit” (Monty Python). Far better to make things happen from behind the scenes. These are the people who are really threatened by Julian Assange.
Robinson’s question: ‘What action will the Australian government now take in response to these revelations?’
Answer: The Australian government will ask exactly when the US would like Assange delivered.
Just waiting for a big enough distraction to enable it