Tuesday 7 July 2020

Free Assange NZ: Open letter to NZ Parliamentarians and Government (2 July re-post)

[8 July repost of accidently deleted 2 July post - oops and sorry for inconvenience]

On the occasion of Julian Assange's 49th birthday 3 July Free Assange NZ determined to run events in Auckland and Wellington 3 July and an early event Thursday 2 July at NZ's Parliament, to mark the two year occasion of our unsuccessful petition requesting the NZ Parliament to; "urge the NZ Government to provide Assange with asylum in NZ.

On this occasion Free Assange NZ wrote an open letter to NZ Parliamentarians focused on the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade select committee that considered the 2018 petition and rejected it for 'lack of jurisdiction' and without considering the merits.


Perhaps given NZ's prominence on the global stage for being a state promoting kindness and fairness across the planet with initiatives such as Christchurch Call, NZ may act locally to ensure fairness globally and act to demonstrate NZ's support for free expression and publisher's rights, making a "Call for Assange's Freedo
m."


As well as write our letter and the unenthusiastic response to our media release, Free Assange NZ placed a bit of promo material around the Wellington region direct to the public


Love Wellington for providing context for purposeful public display opportunities;


Contents

1. Open letter


2. Media release (after the linebreak)


3. Links to events associated with Julian's 49th birthday and the campaign to win his freedom

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Open letter to NZ Parliamentarians and Government                           From: Free Assange NZ
June 2020


Dear Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade select committee members, Greg O'Connor MP* and all NZ Parliamentary representatives,


Please carefully reconsider the question of Julian Assange and his work through Wikileaks.


We respectfully request;
New Zealand stands as a moral agent on the world stage by making a clear Public Call for the immediate release of Julian Assange.
By making such a principled stand, New Zealand will be acting locally for a global cause; a rule of law order that ensures people's freedom and rights are respected.


Assange's work has provided an insight into New Zealand's allies dirty and bloody wars.
For his and Wikileaks' effort toward informing the democracy, Assange is demonised by the UK-US led hegemony and many journalists from the mainstream media.
Assange is presently jailed at UK's Belmarsh high security prison, in solitary confinement awaiting an extradition hearing, the substantive arguments due September 2020.
The US has made new filings with their latest superseding indictment, 24 June 2020.
What to do about the challenge of transnational corruption of the world?

Sunlight and bravery
Press freedom and publishers' rights to transmit ideas and opinion, are inseparable and derive from the public's right to know.
A Call for Assange's freedom will be a major achievement as NZ is a partner within the Anglo-American alliance. It is NZ's alliance partners that persecute Julian Assange for his role in revealing war crimes and the mass surveillance state that underpins the current phase of state/capitalist market economy.
Many notable individuals, professionals, some journalists, politicians, organisations and public demand Julian Assange's release from persecution.

Free Assange NZ's 2018 petition for Assange's asylum
We wrote NZ Parliamentarians October 2018, when the FADT committee returned its report in regard to our petition “urging the NZ Government to facilitate Julian Assange's asylum to NZ.”
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (FADT) select committee denied the petition asserting a lack of jurisdiction in the matter.
Possibly at that point in 2018, NZ's political representatives did not sense that Parliament had the will or power to accede to our reasonable request?
New Zealand has had several transformative experiences since, and her international role has led to the growing perception of New Zealand and her Coalition Government as one who acts for general wellbeing.
Perhaps NZ's international reputation and apparent reasonable approach to contemporary matters might grant greater power to the Government's voice and ability to persuade allies toward rule of law and justice in the global chess game?
Where NZ's people and leadership desire a kinder and more caring nation state consider the precept; think global, act local.
To facilitate that kind and caring world, political will and capital needs to be exerted to attain the desired state.

Right to official information, to hold an opinion and express it
No democracy can exist without access to official information in order for those so motivated to delve, analyse, report and inform the mass of people of the state of public affairs. A good process facilitates enlightened public debate.
Modern society needs an effective public intelligence system. The fight for a free press and publishers' right to publish, is carried on the principle of free speech and the right to transmit one's opinions freely.

Open Government and transparency
Absent true open government interested parties will corrupt policy formulation, regulation and enactment through wielding their power or money.
Power and money invariably drive politics to favour their pecuniary and group interests. The formula is simple; their individual or group interest versus the broad public interest.
Wikileaks and Julian Assange provide a valuable window which allows belated slivers and rays of sunlight to penetrate the powerful entities, nations and hegemony's records, apparatus, actions and structures of command.
Such disclosures assist and enable the public to apprehend the interlocking interests between private individuals, corporations, think tanks, media and the various governments and non government organisations, so called 'philanthropic foundations.'
You are either with us for freedom and openness, or you are; effectively in favour of the full implementation of the surveillance capitalist state.
Powerful individuals and those representing vested interests, interface and intersect to realise their plans and schemes through revolving doors and money in politics.
That practice effectively denies the common people their due, as the corrupt steal from the common-wealth for their private advantage.
You are either with us for freedom and openness, or you are in favour of something other than democracy.
Any move from full democratic control is despotism and in the present age - likely totalitarian, where it doesn't descend to war lords as in Afghanistan, or as created in various North African (Libya) and other states (Syria) through inappropriate acts and pretext - invariably the war is criminal aggression.

New Zealand and other people's wars
Governments allow war through various means; facilitate allies, engage themselves or assist through surveillance. Technology and armament exchanges enable war to be advanced and conducted against another nation state's people, assets and territory.
New Zealand is such a government within the Anglo-American hegemony, thus involved in heinous war crimes which are geopolitically necessary - PM John Key roared in the House “get some guts” or on another occasion spelt out the corrupt arrangement “it's the price of being in the Club.”
The club of blood-thirsty belligerents is no longer appropriate for the land of kindness and care. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
There ought be a high bar, to dissuade belligerents - a high likelihood of criminal prosecution for war crimes.
New Zealand refuses to sign the Kampala Amendments which would make aggression by leaders a crime. Why does NZ disagree with the principle of prosecuting war criminals?
Surely that would be a deterrent to aggression so favouring the public interest and wellbeing NZ states it supports.

Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers perform a public service through the risk they undertake in disclosing to the public corrupt matters that they encounter in their working life.
Wikileaks enables whistleblowers to disclose corrupt practice, thus Wikileaks is a public service and the democracy would be lessened without Wikileaks or whistleblowers.
NZ's new bill that will allow whistleblowers to more easily report wrong-doings is recognition of the principle that whistleblowers are an essential good to counter corruption and wrongdoing.
Supporting Assange's freedom is acting under the same principle, ending corruption and enshrining the public right to know.
Wikileaks aids in the task of rooting out corruption for the public good.

Freeing Julian Assange is analogous to freeing the power of a well informed democracy.

Events in cities around the planet to mark Julian's 49th birthday 3 July.
In conclusion please consider that the case is well established that the continued detention of Julian Assange is arbitrary persecution and unjust in most rational people's consideration of law and rights.

We respectfully request;
New Zealand stands as a moral agent on the world stage by making a clear Public Call for the immediate release of Julian Assange. Call for freedom.
By making such a principled stand, New Zealand will be acting locally for a global cause; a rule of law order that ensures people's freedom and rights are respected.

Many thanks in anticipation of your further consideration.
Ends.
*NZ Labour MP, Greg O'Connor kindly sponsored Free Assange NZ's petition seeking NZ offer Julian Assange political asylum in 2018.

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2. Media release    (to Free Assange NZ's knowledge no media organisation published it)


Media release                                                                         for immediate use 29 June 2020

New Zealand kicks off Global protests - Free Julian Assange Now!

Wellington events
1. Parliament 12pm: Thursday, 2nd July
2. Left Bank Cuba St: 4pm, Friday, 3rd July

Auckland event
Aotea Square, Auckland CBD: 12 pm Friday, 3rd July

New Zealand kicks off global protests to mark the occasion of Julian Assange's 49th birthday 3 July 2020.
Free Assange NZ has written to the Open letter to NZ Parliamentarians and Government seeking they Call for Julian Assange's freedom;
We respectfully request;
New Zealand stands as a moral agent on the world stage by making a clear Public Call for the immediate release of Julian Assange.
By making such a principled stand, New Zealand will be acting locally for a global cause; a rule of law order that ensures people's freedom and rights are respected.

Julian Assange and Wikileaks 's work has provided an insight into New Zealand's allies dirty and bloody wars.
For his and Wikileaks' effort toward informing the democracy, Assange is demonised by the UK-US led hegemony and many journalists from the mainstream media.
Assange is presently jailed at UK's Belmarsh high security prison, in solitary confinement awaiting an extradition hearing, the substantive arguments due September 2020.
The US has made new filings with their latest superseding indictment, 24 June 2020.
What to do about the challenge of transnational corruption of the world?

Sunlight and bravery
Press freedom and publishers rights to transmit are entangled and derive from the public's right to know.
A Call for Assange's freedom would be a major achievement as NZ is a partner within the Anglo-American alliance.
Many notable individuals, professionals, 'some journalists,' politicians, organisations and public demand Julian Assange's release from persecution.
Free Assange, free the power of a well informed democracy

Events in many cities to mark Julian's 49th birthday, 3 July:



Wellington events
1. Parliament 12pm: Thursday, 2nd July
2. Left Bank Cuba St: 4pm, Friday, 3rd July

Auckland event
Aotea Square, Auckland CBD: 12 pm Friday, 3rd July


#FreeAssangeNZ                             #Candles4Assange                                #FreeAssangeNow

Ends

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3. Links to events associated with Julian's 49th birthday and the campaign to win his freedom

I'll add up to date links soon. Again sorry for my clumsiness in deleting the original 2 July post. 







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