I saw the Wachowski brothers movie, but I have not read the graphic novel. I romanticize neither the fictional nor the historical character, but wonder, “What’s up with this?” The historical figure was a religious extremist trying to blow up an arguably democratic institution. The comic book character, while offering and organizing resistance to a future fascist Britain, is a pretty twisted individual, using pretty twisted methods. But in view of the current political turmoil in the world, I can’t let the Fifth of November go unremarked.
Yet whether the inspiration is the comic, the movie or the historical figure, the imagery – co-opted today by everyone from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the hacker group Anonymous – carries stronger connotations than some of the Occupy protesters seem to understand.
While Fawkes’ image has been romanticized over the past 400 years, he was a criminal who tried to blow up a government building. It would be hard to imagine Americans one day wearing Timothy McVeigh masks to protest the government or corporate greed.
(via Occupy Wall Street: Vendetta Masks Become Symbol Of The Movement)
An unreleased military investigation shows U.S. taxpayer dollars are being funneled to the Taliban in Afghanistan under a $2.6 billion transportation contract. The year-long investigation implicates four of the United States’ eight prime contractors in Afghanistan in criminal enterprises or support for the enemy. The military has not revealed which four companies were involved, nor has it disclosed the total amount of taxpayer dollars that have disappeared. The investigation confirms separate inquiries carried out by Congress, federal agencies and The Nation magazine.
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Democracy Now! | Headlines for July 26, 2011
Let’s just be clear about this. Bradley Manning rots in jail in inhumane conditions, and we’re totally gunning for Julian Assange, even though the Pentagon itself admits that Wikileaks has not compromised the safety of any US servicepersons or interests. Yet consider this activity, which some might argue is treasonous. They’re artificially stimulating demand, and officials are probably still playing golf with these guys.
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Ladies and gentlemen, today we have seen Hamlet without the princess. We have seen a prosecutor who has been ready to feed the media with information but has been unprepared to come here and subject herself to the cross-examination she knows she cannot withstand. I challenge you, Marianne Ny: Marianne Ny, come to London, come on Friday, subject yourself to the cross-examination by Geoffrey Robertson QC.
Certainly if Sarah Palin or any of those other politicians come to Australia, for whatever purpose, then we can initiate a private prosecution, and that’s what we intend to do.
Arresting Julian Assange will definitely stop the leaking of classified documents, just like shutting down Napster stopped the illegal distribution of copyrighted music.
Time’s Person of the Year is Mark Zuckerberg…sorry Julian Assange, I guess you didn’t violate enough people’s privacy.
I.F. Stone would have loved WikiLeaks. This is, after all, the man who wrote: “Nothing makes life more interesting than outwitting censorship.” Julian Assange was still a teenage hacker when Stone died in June 1989, and the WikiLeaks founder’s motives and early influences are as much of a mystery as his personal life. But what WikiLeaks has achieved, in a remarkably short space of time, is nothing less than the Holy Grail of muckrakers from Ida Tarbell to I.F. Stone. Perhaps Upton Sinclair, whose novel The Brass Check was a pioneering exposé of media self-censorship, put it best: if a journalist could only “succeed in his efforts to make the people believe what ‘everybody knows’—then he will be recognized in future as a benefactor of his race.
Well, the first thing to note is that no formal charges have yet been brought. Of course, on Monday night we received news after close of business that a valid European arrest warrant had been communicated by the Swedish authorities, which was an arrest warrant that is yet unclear, but is in relation to the allegations, not formal charges, and is for the purposes of having him give his interview and answers to the questions of the prosecutor. That was communicated on Monday night. We negotiated with the police to voluntarily attend a police station, so Mr. Assange could meet with the police and deal with the arrest warrant, and the hearing was heard yesterday.
In the court’s decision yesterday, Judge Riddle found that he was a flight risk, if he was granted bail. We obviously disagree with that. Mr. Assange has cooperated with both the Swedish authorities to the best of his ability and also with the British authorities. You have to remember, of course, that when the allegations came up, he remained in Sweden for more than a month and a half to answer the allegations and to provide answers to the questions of the police. He left the country with the prosecutor’s permission. Since leaving the country, he has been in touch with her. And indeed, the judge noted yesterday that I had written to the police to notify them here in Britain that we were aware that an arrest warrant may be communicated and that we were willing to cooperate. The judge noted that this was a very positive sign. Julian has, at all stages, cooperated. We have volunteered cooperation to the prosecutor. There is absolutely no need for this arrest warrant to obtain his testimony, and this is the point that we will maintain.
The Power Elite
Anyone who doubts the analysis of C. Wright Mills in The Power Elite (1956) should note the celerity with which the banking industry has enacted its digital McCarthyism, all without due process. Neither he nor I are arguing conspiracy here, only a confluence of interests. It’s doubtful the government is leaning heavily on the credit institutions: look at how toothless credit and banking regulation is.
