In Defense of Julian Assange

edited by Tariq Ali and Margaret Kunstler  

“I think the prosecution of Assange would be a very, very bad precedent for publishers … from everything I know, he’s in a classic publisher’s position and I think the law would have a very hard time drawing a distinction between The New York Times and WikiLeaks.” —David McCraw, lead lawyer for The New York Times

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  • December 2019
  • ISBN: 9781773632650
  • 452 pages
  • $29.00
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About the book

After being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange is now in a high security prison in London where he faces extradition to the United States and imprisonment for the rest of his life.

The charges Assange faces are a major threat to press freedom. James Goodale, who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, commented: “The charge against Assange for ‘conspiring’ with a source is the most dangerous I can think of with respect to the First Amendment in all my years representing media organizations.”

It is critical now to build support for Assange and prevent his delivery into the hands of the Trump administration. That is the urgent purpose of this book. A wide range of distinguished contributors, many of them in original pieces, here set out the story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the importance of their work, and the dangers for us all in the persecution they face. In Defense of Julian Assange is a vivid, vital intervention into one of the most important political issues of our day.

Contributors: Pamela Anderson, Julian Assange, Renata Avila, Katrin Axelsson, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Sally Burch, Noam Chomsky, Patrick Cockburn, Naomi Colvin, The Courage Foundation, Mark Curtis, Daniel Ellsberg, Teresa Forcades i Vila, Charles Glass, Kevin Gosztola, Serge Halimi, Nozomi Hayase, Chris Hedges, Srećko Horvat, Caitlin Johnstone, Margaret Kimberley, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, Lisa Longstaff, Alan MacLeod, Stefania Maurizi, Craig Murray, Fidel Narváez, John C. O’Day, John Pilger, Jesselyn Radack, Michael Ratner, Angela Richter, Geoffrey Robertson, Jennifer Robinson, Matt Taibbi, Natalia Viana, Ai Weiwei, Vivienne Westwood and Slavoj Žižek.

Crime & Law Cultural Studies International Politics

What people are saying

David McCraw, lead lawyer for The New York Times

“I think the prosecution of Assange would be a very, very bad precedent for publishers … from everything I know, he’s in a classic publisher’s position and I think the law would have a very hard time drawing a distinction between The New York Times and WikiLeaks.”

Authors

Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali is a writer, filmmaker and a longstanding editor of New Left Review

Margaret Kunstler

Margaret Kunstler is a civil rights attorney in private practice. She co-authored Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in Twenty-First-Century America.

Contents

  • Introduction (Tariq Ali and Margaret Kunstler)
  • Chronology of Major Events
  • Responding to Assange’s Critics (Caitlin Johnstone)
  • The Martyrdom of Julian Assange (Chris Hedges
  • The Scandal of Assange’s Arrest (Noam Chomsky)
  • The Media Cheer Assange’s Arrest (Alan MacLeod)
  • Prizes for Some, Prison for Assange (Charles Glass)
  • We Are Women Against Rape but We Do Not Want Assange Extradited (Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff)
  • Unpublished Letter on Arrest of Assange (Lisa Longstaff)
  • WikiLeaks and the Democrats (Kevin Gosztola)
  • The Naïveté of Julian Assange (Margaret Kimberley)
  • If Julian Goes . . . (Vivienne Westwood)
  • Julian Assange Must Never Be Extradited (Matt Taibbi)
  • The “Assange Precedent” (The Courage Foundation)
  • Assange’s Espionage Charges (Daniel Ellsberg)
  • Outside Belmarsh Prison (Pamela Anderson)
  • Assange in Prison—Forever? (Geoffrey Robertson)
  • Responding to Assange’s Critics (Caitlin Johnstone)
  • Open Doors for Julian (Fidel Narváez)
  • A Letter to the Ecuadorian President, Rafael Correa, Concerning My Application for Asylum (Julian Assange)
  • What’s the Point of Swimming in the Sea If You Don’t Believe in Anything? (Srećko Horvat) For Julian Assange (Serge Halimi)
  • The Prisoner Says No to Big Brother (John Pilger)
  • To Make the World a Better and Safer Place (Teresa Forcades i Vila)
  • Endgame for Assange (Angela Richter)
  • A Conversation with Julian Assange (Ai Weiwei)
  • Responding to Assange’s Critics (Caitlin Johnstone)
  • A Cypherpunk in His Own Words (Julian Assange)
  • Assange Has Only Us to Help Him! (Slavoj Žižek)
  • Truth and Chaos (Franco “Bifo” Berardi)
  • Exposing Abuse of Power: For the People (Sally Burch)
  • Imprisoned Light of Our Civilization that Kindled the Heart of Democracy (Nozomi Hayase)
  • Julian Assange for the Future (Geoffroy de Lagasnerie)
  • Responding to Assange’s Critics (Caitlin Johnstone)
  • Calling Assange a “Narcissist” Misses the Point (Patrick Cockburn)
  • Injustice and Justice (Jennifer Robinson)
  • A Return to the WikiLeaks of 2010 (Naomi Colvin)
  • Who Is Julian Assange and What Did WikiLeaks Do? (Renata Avila)
  • The Real Muellergate Scandal (Craig Murray)
  • WikiLeaks and UK Foreign Policy (Mark Curtis)
  • Inside the WikiLeaks Revolution (Stefania Maurizi)
  • Assange and Whistleblowers (Jesselyn Radack)
  • Assange and the Corporate Media’s Demarcation Problem (John C. O’Day)
  • Julian and His Creatures (Natália Viana)
  • Responding to Assange’s Critics (Caitlin Johnstone)
  • Epilogue (Michael Ratner)
  • Appendix: Superseding Indictment

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