Three years after Ecuador\u2019s government granted political asylum to Julian Assange in its small ground-floor London embassy, the founder of WikiLeaks is still there \u2013 beyond the reach of the government whose vice president, Joe Biden, has labeled him “a digital terrorist.” The Obama administration wants Assange in a U.S. prison, so that the only mouse he might ever see would be scurrying across the floor of a solitary-confinement cell.<\/p>\n
Above and beyond Assange\u2019s personal freedom, what\u2019s at stake includes the impunity of the United States and its allies to relegate transparency to a mythical concept, with democracy more rhetoric than reality. From the Vietnam War era to today \u2013 from aerial bombing and torture to ecological disasters and financial scams moving billions of dollars into private pockets \u2013 the high-up secrecy hiding key realities from the public has done vast damage. No wonder economic and political elites despise WikiLeaks for its disclosures.<\/p>\n
During the last five years, since the release of the infamous “Collateral Murder” video<\/a>, the world has changed in major ways for democratic possibilities, with WikiLeaks as a catalyst. It\u2019s sadly appropriate that Assange is so deplored and reviled by so many in the upper reaches of governments, huge corporations and mass media. For such powerful entities, truly informative leaks to the public are plagues that should be eradicated as much as possible.<\/p>\n