Christine Assange (CA), the mother of Julian Assange was interviewed by Dennis Bernstein (DB) and Randy Credico (RC) on ‘Live on the fly’ in New York on the 5th April 2018.
For a brief summary of the lead up to Julian Assange’s complete isolation, no visitors, no phone and no internet see Free Wikileaks’ Julian Assange
Transcript of interview
DB: Dennis Bernstein with Randy Credico on ‘Live on the Fly’ coming out of New York City, and we’re joined by Christine Assange. Let’s just say she is somewhere very far away in Australia.
Christine Assange, it’s good to have you back again. We were hoping that this would be the occasion on which we would be celebrating, and we’d have Julian on the other line, but that’s not happening.
You wanna bring us up to speed as much as you know, about where the situation is now and the kinds of details you think will help us to understand what’s going on and welcome back.
CA: Thank you, Dennis, and thank you Randy for having me, and thank you for being good journalists in getting all this stuff out to the people.
And a thank you to John Pilger, who is always great to listen to about truth, and a wonderful supporter of Julian, a courageous investigative journalist. They know that the greatest investigative journalists around the world are standing up for Julian and like he said,
“the propaganda journalists / the fake news, are the ones pumping out the smear.”
Now John mentioned that we are at a critical stage, you know, possibly pre-war with Russia, because of the propaganda based around the Skripal poisoning in the UK, which has since been found not to be conclusively related to Russia. And all the diplomats being dispelled.
Now I would say, we are also at a critical stage for Julian’s safety and freedom. They come in together, and they are co-related.
For example, just before Julian’s complete communications with the outside world, were cut off, the day before, one of the lords in the UK Parliament, stated,
“Isn’t it about time, we took some action against the Ecuador embassy”
and that he wasn’t happy about Assange tweeting about the government’s response to the attack in Salisbury.
Now Julian was just merely tweeting facts. And of course, because Julian is known as a journalist who bravely tweets facts, that is very threatening to corrupt power. And the next day his communications were cut off.
And as I’ve said since then, what he said, his doubts about what the UK Government, have come to fruition, and the Lab in Porton Down has categorically stated, there is no evidence to connect Russia with that Skripal attack.
At the same time, what was happening at the same time, was Julian was also invited to give evidence on Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. And the Facebook shares were down 20% and the NASDAQ was down 3-5% affecting the whole U.S. market and global market. So is it a coincidence that also, not only was he tweeting about the Skripal poisoning, but at the same time he is about to give evidence.
And Cambridge Analytica, of course, is then tied into all sorts of dirty plays around trying to defame politicians.
At the same time, we’ve got major delegations from the U.S. military and economic agencies going into Ecuador, and we’ve got no doubt whatsoever, there is incredible pressure on Ecuador to hand Julian over to the U.S..
We know this, because during the Presidency of Rafael Correa, who gave Julian political asylum from U.S. threats against his life and liberty, that it was revealed by the former UK Ambassador, Craig Murray, that the mainly Pentagon funds – up to $87 million – were being used to try and bring down Rafael Correa, which has now happened.
Well, he had to leave the Party because he’d done his term, but now there’s pressure on the new President, Lenin Moreno.
And although we were sort of hopeful prior to Trump getting in, with his “we love Wikileaks”, because Wikileaks was publishing the truth about the corruption coming from the DNC and Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton of “can’t we just drone Assange?”
But by April 2017, the U.S. was firmly in a position of wanting to go after Julian. They were all on the side, like Pompeo on April 13th, 2017 who connected the Non-State Hostile Intelligence Services. He also said, Julian Assange has no first amendment freedoms, he is not a U.S. citizen.
Now he’s been promoted from the CIA to Secretary of State. Jeff Sessions around the same time, April, he wants to arrest Julian Assange once and for all.
You’ve got John Bolton, who was then appointed National Security Adviser, who, March 8th, 2017, said that the US government should launch a cyberwar attack against Wikileaks, for revealing Clinton’s emails and the CIA hacking scandal.
And looking back, President Trump in 2010, commented on a Wikileaks exposay,
“I think it’s disgraceful, there should be a death penalty or something.”
So there is no doubt that what is actually happening, is that the US wants to shut Julian up. They want to shut him up about corruption, that their allies are cooperating and that everybody is leaning on Ecuador.
DB: Well, that was the voice of Christian Assange, she’s the mother of Julian Assange, a long-time activist, now she’s active, and …
CA: Can I just correct you with that one, Dennis.
DB: Yes, please, go ahead.
CA: I’m not a long-time activist, I’m an accidental activist.
DB: …and with a growing role, in battling for your son’s freedom, as things intensify, and you have taken on that role and done an amazing job. And I think, those of us who believe in journalism and the free flow of information, I really can appreciate your struggle and want to know as much about it as we can.
I mean it is no surprise to Randy and I, that there would be every move made to shut down Julian Assange, right now, in the context of what’s going on with the Salisbury scandal and the way in which really, the Clinton machine has fanned this Russia-gate flame. And that crew, really willing to risk World War 3 to prove that Hillary Clinton didn’t lose the campaign because she was a horrifying candidate.
CA: Yes, well also, Julian also very bravely, as a good journalist should, reporting factually on what was going on in Catalonia, which was absolutely disgraceful.
I mean you don’t have to support either side or Catalonia, to be against the brutal crackdown of their democratic rights.
And, according to Ecuador, the reason they gave for cutting off all his communication – internet, phone and visitor access – was because of the one tweet which was actually a factual tweet about the political prisoner, the elected President of Catalonia.
Now he had previously been reporting factually, where a lot of the world’s media had taken the side of Spain.
And, the word ‘fascism’ is loosely used….. I’m not happy with the way it is being used, it is used against everybody. But I think we can say, that the Spanish oppression of Catalonia can be seen as nothing more than the classical term of fascism. And that should be resisted worldwide in any country. And leaders of supposed “free” democracies should be standing up against this abuse.
DB: I know Randy is dying to jump in here. Randy?
RC: Hello! Yes, Good morning! I know it’s morning where you are, wherever you are, Christine. It’s Randy Credico here.
You know you were talking about Catalonia and the arrest by Germany of President Puigdmont of Catalonia. And Julian Assange did tweet something out, he was talking about that again. And you know, the Germans listened.
Today they released Puigdmont and will not extradite him to Spain!
So he does have an effect.
Thousands of people were protesting in Germany, because of the arrest of Puigdmont and they were embarrassed. And so this is the kind of journalism they don’t like. So I don’t know, if its…here are three things:
That happened, that tweet. Also he started talking about Salisbury.
Dennis and I had Craig Murray on the show two weeks ago and he was way ahead of his time on this. And Julian was talking about this. And then this guy in the house of lords, Sir Alan Duncan, comes out and says some nasty things, and said he should be shut up. So these things all happened within days, and then they cut him off.
What is the connection there?
CA: Oh! Well, the connection is power, isn’t it? They are a power alliance.
I mean let’s not mince words here. The struggle for freedom throughout the world in every country, for all our ancestors, there’ve been people struggles against corrupt power. That’s what it is.
We’re at a point now, where we need the people power.
I like a quote from George Orwell, if there is any hope, it lies in the proles. That’s us. That’s the ordinary people.
Throughout history, it’s not been, generally speaking, it has not been the leaders of our country that actually ensure our rights. It’s usually the leaders of the country that are preventing our rights and entrenching power. It’s the people who stand up, particularly in democracies, where they can have some sort of a voice, and demand that their leaders act in their interests.
I think, we’re at this critical point in our history again here…. we always get it, we are defending liberty. It’s a constant battle.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, as one of the U.S. Presidents said.
As John Pilger has said, we are facing a possible global war, and at the same time, a war on journalism, because obviously they don’t want truthful journalism coming out and stopping any attempts at stopping a lucrative war for defence contractors.
So I think, we have to now step it up, the people have to step it up. While we must continue to do petitions….there are three that have gone to the President of Ecuador:
One was delivered by a group of ex-CIA, NSA and FBI officers, supporting Julian, delivered by John Kiriakou. Another one was delivered by World Leading Thinkers. And we have one started by the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil, which was a people initiated organization, covering many countries in the Spanish speaking world.
Ok, those are three important petitions. Very important. Alright. But it is also important to get involved in action.
Straight after Julian was silenced, his supporters rallied all around the world, there was a ten hour vigil, an internet vigil, under the #reconnentJulian hashtag, with truthful investigative journalists worldwide and people, free speech, human rights people, ordinary people, all joined together to put worldwide pressure, to stop the U.S. leaning on Ecuador to silence Julian.
DB: Is that still going?
CA: Well, yes..
RC: It’s an online vigil that resumes this week. I know that Suzie Dawson is spearheading that and I’m going to participate in that 48 hour online vigil coming this weekend.
Last time you were on, Christine, you said to me and Dennis, that we need Wikileaks’ warriors, not Wikileaks’ worriers! So how does that hard core following of his maintain being warriors at this point?
CA: Good question! Alright. Well, that vigil brought together various people from all around the world, who had individually been speaking up and supporting and defending Julian.
They are now, we are, we are all now working together in a network, to get up a global network of people for the ordinary citizens who haven’t yet been involved but are concerned for Julian’s welfare and safety, to quickly access Assange Action.
And we’ve got up one at the moment, just one Twitter handle: #AssangeAction which will be mirrored in countries around the world.
The #reconnectJulian hashtag and #unifyforJA hashtag will also make inroads to awaken more contacts right now. But we will be building on this, and we need to take it to the streets.
In the same way that any change happens in a country, it’s the people going out into the streets, telling their leaders they are not going to vote for them if they continue down this path of suppressing the media, suppressing the people’s rights to the truth, abusing human rights of award winning investigative journalists who give us the truth.
Now a good example of on the street action is the historic long term vigil outside the Ecuadorian Embassy by UK citizens with Ciaron O’Reilly. It’s been going for years, nearly six years. And people can visit that vigil, any time they want.
If you are in London, go to: 3 Han Crescent, Knightsbridge, London SW1X OLS
Go by Tube to: Knightsbridge, via the Piccadilly line.
Get out there and stand outside the Ecuadorian Embassy with your placard. There are official vigils four times a week, under the hashtag #JA_defence. It’s next to Harrods. Now that is something you can do that is already set up. Ok.
If you are in Australia, follow Support Assange & Wikileaks Coalition @SAWCSydney – that’s already been up for years.
Now the thing is here, Randy, there was a lot of activity worldwide in defence of Julian, and action prior to him going into the Ecuadorian Embassy because he was of imminent risk of extradition to the U.S. via Sweden through their backdoor treason of temporary surrender.
We are very grateful to Ecuador. Ecuador stepped up when none of the others would. They showed sovereignty, principles, ethics and courage in protecting Julian from the U.S., and this went on for several years. They were pestering Ecuador, but they stood strong.
But now with the change of leadership and a problem in the Government and a split in the Party, they now are coming under extreme pressure, and the Ecuadorian Government appears to be wavering. It is critically dangerous for Julian. And because this has happened, now people around the world who were feeling ok, well he’s safe, are now galvanizing and organizing actions.
DB: 30 seconds… we have an outgoing message to Moreno Ok, in 30 seconds, what is your message to him?
CA: Message to Lenin Moreno
“Stand up for the sovereignty of your country. You’ve got a wonderful country, a fabulous constitution. It is a template for democracy throughout the world. Don’t let down Ecuador. Don’t let down Julian. Don’t let down free press, because the constitution backs free press. Stand strong. The people will stand with you.
Be remembered for the President who carried on Democracy in Ecuador, when it stood strong and tall and didn’t cave. You will be remembered for this. Don’t be remembered for the President who rolled over for yet another U.S. coup of a South American country.”
DB: Perfect. We thank you Christine Assange, Randy Credico in New York. I’m Dennis Bernstein. That wraps it up!
Dennis J. Bernstein is a host of “Flashpoints” on the Pacifica radio network and the author of Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net. Randy Credico is an American perennial political candidate, comedian, radio host, activist and the former Director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice
Julian Assange Defence Fund (JADF) https://justice4assange.com/Donate.html
The WikiLeaks Official Legal and Public Defence Fund https://www.iamwikileaks.org/donate/
Free Wikileaks’ Julian Assange
The Isolation of Julian Assange is the silencing of us all – John Pilger
The Isolation of Julian Assange Must Stop – Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedge, John Pilger et al
John Kiriakou Personally Delivers Petition For Assange To Ecuador’s D.C. Ambassador On Behalf Of Intelligence Veterans – Disobedient Media
Elizabeth Lea Vos – Christine Assange speaks out on how we can help
