All That Comes To Mind (20) : Special Coverage on Julian Assange,Wikileaks and Bradley Manning

I watched 'We Steal Secrets : The Story of Wikileaks' back on 21st August and it totally instigated my dormant journalist spirit,which has been inactive for a very,very long time.When I was younger,I think I wanted to be a journalist (but then I was eleven or twelve) before which I had come across interests in being an astronomer and archaeologist (I am a Gemini,after all and I still fight with dreams where I struggle to know why I did not study Physics!)

Now,may there be a billion controversies about Julian Assange,I totally salute this guy not for what he has been because it is impossible for us to know the absolute truth but I respect him for what he has done.

Also,I talk about controversies before  non-controversial things,so do I think,as a feminist,that this guy is a crook who has been involved in rape or adultery? Well,I do not know about the second thing but as for the first,NO.NO.NO.He did not.In fact,such things are done everywhere in the world,a coin is supposed to have two outcomes and there are opportunist women out there.I am pretty much sure,as the anti-CIA people in the US and the world over are,he was just being trapped.This happens,has happened in India (remember tehelka.com as an example?)It must be severely painful for him to stay without the chance to feel sunlight in 3 years in a row but as for geeks (like us),I also understand that a computer keeps him happy and pleased.Would have been something similar for me,if I try to put myself in his shoes (of course I do not have his intelligence) but still,it is painful anyway.

(Photograph Source)

So,as per the movie,Assange is a certified anarchist and some believe him to be involved in the WANK worms case in 1989 over the DECnet.In fact,his favourite song was 'Blossom and Blood' from Midnight Oil,the last line of which is "You talk of times of peace for all

And then prepare for war."!!

Some people claim that Bradley Manning was who took all the pain and I agree that Assange never had to tolerate nudity or sleep deprivation or solitary confinement but he is trapped in the Ecuadorian Embassy and this,is anything but easy.This is hard and he does his job and he let us know.So,yes,this guy did do something for which he deserves graceful bows.And uncountable thanks.

He did not fear death threats,he did not fear the terrorist state of the US,he did not fear  the zillions of dollar worth ammunition the US hoards,he did not fear anything,really or virtually and he let us know.We did not have the capacity or capability to know unless he would have taken the initiative and we owe him a lot in that way.

(Photograph Source)

About Manning,I am always sorry for nerds in trouble.He was bright,he had a sense of right and wrong,that is why he spent time downloading 750,000+ documents!!!!!! He was one in a million because he felt the need to expose,he felt the need to expose because he knew it was a sin,if that is the word used for describing building salons and parlours for soldiers who killed thousands and thousands of people,most of whom were innocent civilians,children,mothers,women in Iraq.

(Photograph Source)

That is why he at least reacted.That is why we know that the state is equivalent to a lot of terror.A lot of power,so much that we would need time to imagine the worth,power worth billions  and billions of dollars,in the form of deadly commodities collectively termed as ammunition.These men (and also Edward Snowden and a few others whom I will write a detailed post on soon) overcame these barriers and they have to be respected for what we know today.I am going to watch 'The Fifth Estate' on 29th August,2015 and I will then start studying for composing the final article.

Summing over,I am so impressed.