In Defense of Humanity
April 15, 2019
The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity expresses its most comradely support to journalist Julian Assange, a prominent member of the Network, who has dedicated his life to the defense of human rights, the freedom of expression and the access to information in the public interest.
For his extraordinary contributions he has received awards from, among others, The Economist, Amnesty International UK, Ars Electronics Prize, Sam Adams Prize, the Gold Medal from Sydney Foundation for Peace – for his exceptional courage and initiative in the defense of human rights – and he was chosen by the readers of TIME magazine as the personality of the year in 2010.
We express our deep concern about the behavior of the Ecuadorian government that, violating the institution of political asylum, has handed Julian Assange to the British government, with a very high risk of extradition to the United States where his life is in danger. Moreover, we reject the pretexts used by the government of Ecuador to justify the withdrawal of diplomatic asylum, such as, the accusation of having “intervened in the internal affairs of other states” and even of an alleged “attempt to destabilize Ecuador” by Wikileaks.
We are concerned that Lenín Moreno’s government claims of national protection, “to prevent the country from becoming a center of computer crimes,” creates a harmful precedent. In 2018 Moreno himself issued a Special Protocol on visits to Assange, restrictions on his communications and medical care. This amounted to a violation of his fundamental freedoms including access to information and expression of free speech.
We recall that the 7 years of political persecution and imprisonment inflicted on Julian Assange constitutes a reprisal for the dissemination of materials, which Wikileaks released and distributed, under the protection of transparency of information, with information and data on international policy and geopolitics, which exposed war crimes and interventionist practices of the governments of several countries and power groups, primarily of the United States, a country that is plotting for an early extradition and trial.
The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity, a global organization that defends human rights and the Right to Information and Freedom of Expression, calls vigorously on the government of the United Kingdom to maintain a thorough observance of the principles and instruments of human rights, which in the case include a ‘special protection’, as stipulated in the Report of the United Nations on Assange (Opinion No.54 / 2015 concerning Julian Assange) and the Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
This protection must exclude any scenario of extradition to the United States, since Scotland Yard has recognized that the detention is due to a request for that purpose, formulated by that country. We call on the United Nations, its General Assembly and all mechanisms for the defense of Human Rights to enforce the protection referred to in its ‘Special Reports’ -A / HRC / WGAD / 2015 / 54- and to protect the life of the journalist Julian Assange, who is being politically persecuted. He deserves humanitarian treatment, with strict and unconditional adherence to international law.
We call on journalist guilds, organizations that defend freedom of expression and the right to communication, social and popular movements, human rights organizations and other organizations to mobilize to demand to the United Kingdom the freedom of Assange, because the accusations against him were already dropped and there is no sustained accusation.
April 11, 2019 Executive Secretariat, The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity Immediate Freedom for Julián Assange!! Network in Defense of Humanity – US
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Alert about Persecution and Harassment of Political Leaders, Intellectuals and Social and Digital Activist in Ecuador
The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity warns about an escalation of harassment and persecution of political leaders, intellectuals and social activists, unleashed by the government of Ecuador in connection with handing over Julian Assange to the British government. We are concerned that in order to justify such a nefarious decision, a campaign of criminalization has been unleashed towards new practices of knowledge and free technology, even against any element related to the sovereignty and digital security of the citizenry.
We caution about the persecution announced by national authorities against political leaders as happens with the leader of the Citizen Revolution Movement, Ricardo Patiño, using false assumptions and arguments that associate progressive or leftist ideas with “computer crime” and apocryphal destabilization plans.
We alert to the persecution of those who defend free software or who propose practices of digital sovereignty that are accessible and secure. These alternatives to the dominant corporate practices — concentration and use of data for surveillance and commercialization — are recognized by many countries that are adopting legislation to protect their citizenry from abuses.
We make an urgent call to the government of Ecuador to respect the human and constitutional rights that protect freedom of thought and expression, the free circulation of ideas, as well as the right to information and knowledge. All these aspects are the essence of democracy in the age of information and knowledge. The opposite, we warn, leads to fascism.
Network of Intellectuals, Actors and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity
April 14, 2019
Network in Defense of Humanity – US
Advisory Board
Danny Glover, Actor
Estela Bravo, Documentary filmmaker
Piero Gleijeses, Professor, Author
James Early, Consultant: Cultural Democracy and Statecraft Heritage Policy, African Diaspora
Jane Franklin, Historian, author of Cuba and the U.S. Empire: A Chronological History
Jose Pertierra , Attorney
Thomas Gumbleton, Former Bishop of Detroit
Chelis Lopez, Cultural Worker, host of Radio KPOO in San Francisco and Radio Bilingue in Oakland
Michael Parenti , Author and lecturer
Nelson Valdes , Professor Emeritus, Retired, Sociology
Gayle Mclaughlin , Former Mayor of Richmond, CA
Peter Schey, Executive Director, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Cristina Vazquez International Vice President of Workers United-SEIU
Felix Salvador Kury, Program Director & Faculty Advisor, Clinica Martin-Baro, SFSU-UCSF
Clarence Thomas , Past Secretary-Treasurer, ILWU Local 10
James Cockcroft , Lecturer and writer
Daniel Kovalik , Labor and human rights lawyer, teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Law
Rick Sterling, Investigative Journalist
Roger D. Harris, Writer, Task Force on the Americas Board Member Stephen
Edward Kimber, Canadian journalist, editor and broadcaster and professor at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Arnold August, Canadian author of Cuba-U.S. Relations: Obama and Beyond
