“Seeing ongoing political reforms that have a real impact on people all over the world is extremely satisfying. But we want every person who's having a dispute with their kindergarten to feel confident about sending us material.” PeopleWorldWantFeelsPersonsRealPoliticalSeeingMaterialsImpactReformSatisfyingDisputesOngoingKindergartenPolitical Reform Author:Julian Assange
“The west has fiscalised its basic power relationships through a web of contracts, loans, shareholdings, bank holdings and so on. In such an environment it is easy for speech to be "free" because a change in political will rarely leads to any change in these basic instruments. Western speech, as something that rarely has any effect on power, is, like badgers and birds, free.” PoliticalEasyEnvironmentEffectsSpeechBirdInstrumentsWestWesternContractsFree SpeechLoanPolitical WillBadgersPower Relationships Author:Julian Assange
“I would be happy to accept asylum, political asylum, in India — a nation I love. In return, I will bring Mayawati a range of the finest British footwear.” Would BePoliticalNationsAcceptingReturnIndiaBritishRangeFinestAsylumsFootwear Author:Julian Assange
“We get information in the mail, the regular postal mail, encrypted or not, vet it like a regular news organization, format it - which is sometimes something that's quite hard to do, when you're talking about giant databases of information - release it to the public and then defend ourselves against the inevitable legal and political attacks.” SometimesHardPoliticalTalkingInformationNewsOrganizationReleaseInevitableGiantsMailFormatVetsDatabases Author:Julian Assange
“I saw that publishing all over the world was deeply constrained by self-censorship, economics and political censorship, while the military-industrial complex was growing at a tremendous rate, and the amount of information that it was collecting about all of us vastly exceeded the public imagination.” WorldSelfPoliticalImaginationSawsGrowingMilitaryInformationAmountEconomicsComplexesRateCensorshipPublishingCollectingMilitary Industrial ComplexSelf Censorship Author:Julian Assange
“If a source gives us material that is of political, diplomatic, ethical or historical significance that has not been published before and is comprised of official documents or recordings, then we will publish it.” IfsGivingPoliticalMaterialsSourceHistoricalOfficialsSignificanceEthicalDocumentsPublishDiplomaticWikileaksHistorical Significance Author:Julian Assange
“Let us not compare Edward Snowden's situation with that of Chelsea Manning or Jeremy Hammond, who is also imprisoned in the United States. As a result of WikiLeaks' hard work, Edward Snowden has political asylum, has travel documents, lives with his girlfriend, goes to the ballet and earns substantial speaking fees. Edward Snowden is essentially free and happy. That is no coincidence. It was my strategy to undo the chilling effect of the 35 year Manning sentence and it has worked.” YearsHardStatesPoliticalUnitedResultsSituationUnited StatesEffectsHard WorkStrategySentencesCompareGirlfriendBalletDocumentsCoincidenceChillFeesAsylumsChelseaWikileaksSnowden Author:Julian Assange
“If you look at the history of the FBI, it has become effectively America's political police.” IfsLooksAmericaPoliticalPoliceFbi Author:Julian Assange
“Our [Russia]documents have gone on to be used in quite a number of court cases: refugee cases of people fleeing some kind of claimed political persecution in Russia, which they use our documents to back up.” PeopleKindUsePoliticalUsedNumbersCasesGoneCourtRussiaDocumentsPersecutionRefugeeFleeingCourt Cases Author:Julian Assange
“That was a brave and principled thing for Ecuador to do [give me asylum application]. Now we have the U.S. election [campaign], the Ecuadorian election is in February next year, and you have the White House feeling the political heat as a result of the true information that we have been publishing.” GivingYearsHas BeensFeelingsPoliticalNextHouseWhiteResultsInformationGive MeElectionBraveCampaignsHeatWhite HouseApplicationPublishingNext YearAsylumsFebruaryPrincipledEcuador Author:Julian Assange
“I just find it absolutely amazing that the narrative about this situation is not put out publically in the press, because it doesn't suit the Western establishment narrative - that yes, the West has political prisoners, it's a reality, it's not just me, there's a bunch of other people as well.” PeopleWellsRealityPoliticalSituationPressesWestWesternBunchSuitsNarrativePrisonerEstablishmentPolitical Prisoners Author:Julian Assange
“Of course, no state accepts [that it should call] the people it is imprisoning or detaining for political reasons, political prisoners. They don't call them political prisoners in China, they don't call them political prisoners in Azerbaijan and they don't call them political prisoners in the United States, U.K. or Sweden; it is absolutely intolerable to have that kind of self-perception.” PeopleShouldKindSelfStatesReasonPoliticalCoursesUnitedAcceptingUnited StatesPerceptionChinaPrisonerSwedenSelf PerceptionPolitical PrisonersAzerbaijanDetaining Author:Julian Assange
“Now, is it the case that Facebook is actually run by U.S. intelligence? No, it's not like that. It's simply that U.S. intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure on them. And it's costly for them to hand out records one by one, so they have automated the process. Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database for them.” ShouldStatesHandsRunningAblePoliticalProcessUnitedCasesUnited StatesRecordsBuildingBearsPressureAddAgencyDatabasesIntelligence Agencies Author:Julian Assange
“And if Bradley Manning really did as he is accused, he is a hero, an example to us all and one of the world's foremost political prisoners.” IfsWorldPoliticalExampleHeroDeceitPrisonerAccusedPolitical PrisonersBradley Manning Author:Julian Assange
