Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

“Wars Against Assange.”

The intrepid journalist and author Glenn Greenwald, in his 2014 work No Place to Hide, offers a damning portrait of the U.S. media, too long trained to worship at the altars of power as agents of first attack against those journalists who dare to question or expose imperial edicts or escapades. Indeed, Greenwald himself details how establishment reporters begin their attacks by questioning both his status as a journalist and then one’s psychological wellness. Now today, we see the same tactics deployed against Julian Assange of WikiLeaks fame. Assange and his collective WikiLeaks have been whistleblowers and transparency activists determined to bring light on government activities everywhere. Ecuador’s decision to withdraw its welcome to Assange as exposed him to the venom of the American government, largely for showing U.S. atrocities back in Iraq during the war. In 2008, Greenwald writes, U.S. Army secret reports called WikiLeaks quote, “An enemy of the state,” showing plans to destroy the group. And although Assange didn’t work as a reporter, he compiled great amounts of data and shared it with great newspapers which, while publishing his data, still try to demonize him, denounce him, and question his sanity. Assange’s work has shown how governments, including the U.S., really work. For that, he has earned high praise.

From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.