Chomsky: Prosecution of Assange reflects “Extreme” use of state Power

The following is an interview with Noam Chomsky, American linguist, philosopher, and political activist on prosecution of Julian Assange, WikiliLeaks editor and publisher. This interview was conducted by Patrick Farnsworth and published in website of Truthout.org, under the heading: Chomsky says: Prosecution of Assange reflects extreme use of state power.

“Assange basically is being murdered by the British government. His being sequestered in the Ecuadorian Embassy was bad enough. Now after the rightwing government in Ecuador expelled him, he was taken over by the British. He’s in a high security prison under very harsh conditions. All of this for the crime of skipping bail…. And his treatment, the people that have seen him at that court scene that you mentioned say that his health is sharply deteriorating. He’s being treated in a way which is basically destroying him."

Without whistleblowers and investigative journalism, governments are free to abuse their power and keep the population in the dark about the atrocities they commit, not only to others, but also to the citizens they supposedly represent. With WikiLeaks editor and publisher Julian Assange facing an extradition hearing in February, and whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning serving time for repeatedly refusing to testify before a grand jury against Assange, we are witnessing the harsh consequences of challenging state power.

If there were any illusions about what the price is for holding systems of power accountable for their crimes, these two cases in particular should dispel those notions indefinitely.

In the transcript of my interview with world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky presented, we spoke of the responsibility journalists have, especially in this time of increasingly hostile attacks by the Trump administration against whistleblowers, journalists and publishers, to speak truth to power.

To examine this latter point, we focus on the current situation of Julian Assange, imprisoned in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London. He is awaiting an extradition hearing set for February, after his asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was revoked and was handed over to British authorities in April. “Assange basically is being murdered by the British government,” states Professor Chomsky, as Assange’s health continues to rapidly deteriorate from his time holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy, and more recently, by his treatment under British authorities in Belmarsh Prison.

The WikiLeaks publisher faces 18 charges, including conspiracy to hack government computers and violation of espionage law, with the real possibility of being extradited to the United States, “where he’ll be tried with crimes that, even theoretically, can lead to the death sentence, which he’s already practically suffering [from] now.” Chomsky compares this attack on press freedoms and whistleblowers to the Red Scare post-WWI, in which there was a massive attack on human rights, mass deportations, and independent and dissident media was effectively crushed.

The U.K. and U.S. governments are using the horrendous treatment of whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning, and publishers like Julian Assange, to set an example. The treatment of Julian Assange is one of the most extreme cases of this. Regardless of your personal opinions about his decisions as a publisher, it needs to be understood that this case is symbolic of the lengths the State will go to crush dissent. The health and well-being of the WikiLeaks founder is being destroyed, blatantly and in public view, for daring to reveal the truth about the U.S. government and its numerous war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the world over. It is the responsibility of journalists, and of people who care about the truth and exposing the abuses of state and corporate power, to speak up for Assange and anyone who puts their lives and freedom on the line. If there ever was a time to speak truth to power, it is now.

Chomsky elaborated: “Assange basically is being murdered by the British government. His being sequestered in the Ecuadorian Embassy was bad enough. The embassy (incidentally I visited him there) is kind of like a small apartment. He was basically stuck in a couple, one or two rooms. In many ways it’s worse than being in prison, at least prisoners are allowed to go into the yard and see the sun. He couldn’t go out. It was plainly psychologically very difficult; it would be for anyone. Now after the rightwing government in Ecuador expelled him, he was taken over by the British. He’s in a high security prison under very harsh conditions. All of this for the crime of skipping bail…. And his treatment, the people that have seen him at that court scene that you mentioned say that his health is sharply deteriorating. He’s being treated in a way which is basically destroying him. There is an extradition hearing coming up. How it’ll turn out, we don’t know. The British will probably extradite [him] to the United States, where he’ll be tried for crimes that, even theoretically, can lead to the death sentence, which he’s already practically suffering [from] now. And as for the media, they’re simply supporting this, or even not reporting it, or saying, “Yeah, it’s the right thing because he’s a hideous criminal who revealed to the world the things that the U.S. government doesn’t want populations to know.” Meanwhile, the same media eagerly exploit the revelations that come out from WikiLeaks. So, that’s basically what I have to say about Assange.”

Chomsky further said: "The Trump period is innovating in a way which is familiar from totalitarian states. The entire system in the United States under Trump is becoming a kind of proto-fascism without the ideology, just the appurtenances of fascism. One of those is to totally destroy the information system so that the concept of truth, fact, accuracy just fades into oblivion. And the way they’re doing it is just by flooding the information system with fakery, perfectly conscious lying and deceit on every imaginable topic, trivial or important, to the point where people have to sort of abandon the effort to try to find out what’s true or false. Of course, you can still do it if you work at it. But for much of the population, it means that the whole concept of accuracy, truth, fact and so on, kind of dissolves. Well, that’s a very effective way of undermining public engagement in many of the decisions that matter in the world. In other words, it’s destroying democratic functions. And Trump is a master at it, and that’s working very well. He’s got an adoring constituency where he can do no wrong. Facts are what he says. They’re maybe about forty percent of the population or more, very solid base. The Republican Party is terrified of that base, won’t do anything to cross Trump, he’s their god."

He said: "The ideology for Trump is just Me. whatever is important for me. But it has some of the features of totalitarian systems [with] undermining of the media, creating anger and distrust regarding the media as some kind of enemy. That’s a good way to undermine democratic functioning. That’s happened for sure.”

AE/MG