Democracy, Trust And WikiLeaks: A Conversation With The Mother Of Julian Assange
By Vivian Norris -July 27, 2012
“Mr. Assange’s only crime is that he cared enough about people to respect their right to truth, and had the courage and bravery to print the truth. In the process, he embarrassed powerful governments.” –Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire
“As a mother, of course I wish he had never done it — because now he is being politically persecuted, risks being tortured — but as a citizen what he and WikiLeaks have done is the best of investigative journalism bringing mainstream media approved by governments and big corporations to task. This is what journalists were originally supposed to do… they are there to help hold governments accountable. If the justice system is no longer independent and the media is no longer independent and no one is holding the government accountable, we do not have a democracy anymore.” — Christine Assange, mother of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange
I responded immediately when Christine Assange, the mother of WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange, said she was available for an interview. I know that so many people have become outraged by what they have learned via WikiLeaks, not because no other country is doing these things, but because the United States of America is supposed to be better than this, is supposed to be about democracy and justice and freedom. I also do not believe that democracy is strong if it cannot resist being questioned, admit it has made serious errors, prosecute those who have made those errors and stop trying to control to such a degree that liberty is weakened.
