Posted by So when we read in Twitter of an upcoming Radio call in to discuss if “Assange is any good” should we expect a fair or balanced leadership in discussing the matter?
The presenter’s views on the matter are public for all to see since 2012:
So let’s prepare ourselves for what the presenter leading the conversation is going to lead us the audience to.
That Assange:
is a hypocrite: “Ecuador asylum to #Assange but has 2nd poorest record of free speech in region,after Cuba.How can “champion” of free speech be happy w/that?”
lacks courage: “facing rape allegations in Sweden, not US. Rape, a serious issue. Anyway,I’d face anything for my beliefs, unlike him it seems”
hates the US, is a Russian agent:”how can u be happy w/ him being Russian state tv anchor &cosying up to banana republic? Hatred for US worse than for Russia?”
is (again) a hypocrite, works for Russia: “I dislike hypocrites claiming free speech yet work for Russian state&cosy up to worse abuses (Ecuador)than those they critique”
avoids answering rape charges (JA has never been charged), he is an autocrat: “Faces rape charges,needs to answer them.His Wikileaks colleagues claiming he’s an unaccountable autocrat: http://techpresident.com/news/22729/why-julian-assange-wikileaks-single-point-failure#.UC11nTl-Kgo.twitter”
And all of this in a single twitter interaction that you will find archived here: http://archive.is/
So when presenter Maajid Nawaz is asking us to participate in a conversation about whether Julian Assange is a force for good, evil or his ego, in the context of WikiLeaks’ latest US election releases, prepare for LBC to lead you into the Longest Propaganda ‘Conversation’ in the country.
What a joke!
Perhaps Maajid Nawaz would like to comment on some real Human Rights matters regarding Julian Assange, (but I doubt it) for example:
Here is a useful guide against disinformation: https://wikileaks.org/10years/distorted-facts.html
The show broadcasted live, found most people not sharing the presenter’s hateful message. The presenter’s efforts to dominate and lead the conversation where he wanted ie get the callers to agree to his point of view failed. Interestingly, in the radio programmes website after the show, a podcast and transcript of the mildest part of Maajid Nawaz torrent of lies and abuse against Julian Assange was documented:
I have made bold the most prominent blatant lies.
MAAJID NAWAZ
3pm – 6pm
LBC HighlightsMaajid’s Blunt Message For Julian Assange
22 October 2016, 16:24Maajid Nawaz has a very important message for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
Talking on his LBC show Maajid lambasted Assange for his singular obsession with transparency, which has lead to deaths and helped Donald Trump’s bid to be president.
“Not all leaks are equal, Mr Assange. In certain countries people are killed for things for far less than that because of your leaks.”
“You leaked information about counter extremist Muslims who are working in Afghanistan who are working with coalition forces against the Taliban and it directly led to their deaths because their names were released as collaborators and the Taliban hunted them down.”
“Back then nobody cared because if some poor brown Muslim guy in Afghanistan who was attempting to fight the Taliban and nobody cared that the consequences of your privileged first world Australian, male life didn’t have to think about causing the deaths of those vulnerable people in Afghanistan who are attempting to fight the Taliban.”
“I’ve always despised what you’ve done since day one because I have seen the consequences of your actions against people like me and people like Iram at the top of this show brave Muslim voices who work within our communities to challenge extremism and you put them all at risk with your leaks and that’s what you’ve just done again because Donald Trump isn’t the most savoury of characters isn’t the nicest of people and yet you here you are again with your uncurated leaks effectively supporting Donald Trump’s campaign.”
You can hear the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntmM_er2AGY