Protesters speak out in defence of Julian Assange

By our reporters, wsws.org, 15 December 2010



Some of the protesters at the demonstration at Westminster Magistrates Court

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to a number of those protesting outside Westminster Magistrates Court to demand the release and freedom of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Sam said, “I don’t really go out on the streets to protest, but this case really scares me because of the way the media and the people are being controlled by the politicians and bankers. The reaction of these governments is to clamp down on WikiLeaks.
“They are suppressing transparency and transparency is essential for a functioning democracy and it’s also essential for peace. In the past, if we had the transparency that we now have with WikiLeaks there would have been fewer wars.

Sam

 

“What they are trying to do is deny people a balanced understanding, about what politicians are really doing in the world. We need transparency so that people can understand each other in different countries.

“The leaks speak for themselves. Where I think attention needs to be raised is the reaction of the regimes in the Western countries, to clamp down on freedom of speech. This is exactly what they criticise many Eastern countries for. And here we see it in our own countries in the West. It is complete hypocrisy and double standards.

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