ASSANGE’S DEHUMANIZATION CONTINUES – BY Joe Van Langenberg

Photo Source:BBC News

Hot on the heels of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange been dragged out of the Ecuadorean embassy like a common criminal, the dehumanization & witch-hunt continues, with no signs of abating any time soon.

At this point in time, Assange has been sentenced for a period of fifty days in a British prison; for having allegedly breached his bail conditions.

His trauma will be unlikely to end, given that the United States is bent on having him extradited to face so-called justice ,for having leaked highly-classified military information, which it claims has been inimical to its national security. Whether this claim like many others, can be given any credence, remains a moot point; considering that Uncle Sam has the uncontrollable propensity to engage in exaggerated rhetoric.

Britain has once again, pandered to America’s whims & fancies. And that should come as no surprise; in view of the fact that it has been America’s subservient lapdog for decades on end. Who can possibly forget the invasion of Iraq, with Britain joining the ‘Coalition of the Willing’; which George W Bush masterminded, along with his cronies & partners in crime, Tony Blair & John Howard in 2003; an invasion which paved the way for sectarian violence in the country & the consequential formation of ISIS & other splinter groups, which continue stirring up irreversible upheaval in many countries? Should Julian Assange be extradited to the United States, his fate will in all probability, hang in the balance. Uncle Sam is infamously known for its third-degree methodology, when it comes to coerced confessions; if the brutal treatment of water-boarding & other forms of psychological torture, are anything to go by.

It also resorts to bully-boy tactics, not to mention arm-twisting. Sweden who subsequently agreed to drop the alleged rape charges against Assange, has now, on the obvious instigation of the US, gone off at a tangent, by pursuing its initial objective; despite relegating the same to the limbo of forgotten things. In light of this development, it is then fair & logical to assume, that Britain has toed America’s line willy-nilly. The inhumane, disgraceful & contemptible treatment, meted out to a valued member of the prestigious Fourth Estate, by two countries professing to be champions of the media & advocates of human rights, have factually reneged on both assurances.

Julian Assange has been demonized, for having upheld the values of media freedom & for having had the courage, to act in accordance with his steadfast convictions. And now he continues paying the price, for having done so. Assange will no doubt have his fair share of detractors. Nonetheless, should even his most trenchant critic, take the time to weigh up the pros & cons, he/she will realize, that an injustice of colossal proportions, which neither words nor deeds can amend, has eventuated. Meanwhile Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson, has voiced grave fears for her client’s physical, mental & emotional well-being, considering the massive toll this ongoing trauma is taking on Assange’s life, leaving him exhausted & abandoned, with little, or no light at the tunnel’s end!