In Episode 31 [15] of the CounterVortex podcast [16], Bill Weinberg documents the ugly far-right politics of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks [17], and how the 2010 document dump risked the lives of dissidents under authoritarian regimes [18] in places like Zimbabwe—and may have constituted outright collaboration [19] with the repressive dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. An objective reading of the circumstances around the 2016 Wikileaks dump of Democratic Party e-mails reveals Assange as a Kremlin asset and Trump collaborator, an active agent [20] in a Russian-lubricated effort to throw the US elections [21]—part of Putin's grander design to impose a fascist world order [22]. Weinberg also notes that the ACLU [23] and Committee to Protect Journalists [24] have issued statements warning that the charges against Assange [25] may pose a threat to press freedom. But he argues that even if we must protest his prosecution, we should do so while refraining from glorifying Assange—and, indeed, while forthrightly repudiating him as a dangerous political enemy of all progressive values. Listen on SoundCloud [15], [15] and support our podcast via Patreon [26].
Production by Chris Rywalt [29]
We ask listeners to donate just $1 per episode via Patreon [26]. A total of $30 per episode would cover our costs for engineering and producing. We are currently up to $20.
