An Open Letter to Greenpeace (and Others)
September 10th, 2020
On the 7th of September 2020, the 2nd part of a historic extradition hearing in which Greenpeace is indirectly involved began.
It concerns the hearing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who, after having been tortured for years(1), has been charged by the U.S. with ‘espionage’ and is currently awaiting extradition from the U.K. to the U.S.
The ‘crimes’ Mr. Assange has been accused of includes providing the public with recorded proof of war crimes committed by U.S. troops (2), ironically the very same country that is demanding his extradition. For his courage Mr. Assange could face up to 175 years in prison, basically a death sentence.
This attempt to silence and intimidate anyone who dares to expose the powerful, especially by a group of democratic governments who are supposed to uphold and respect the law, should send chills down the spine of anyone concerned with the rule of law, journalism and freedom to information.
Though many Greenpeace supporters or employees might not immediately see the link between Mr. Assange’s work and the work Greenpeace does, the connection is clear.
Not only have Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks been publishing on a wide variety of environmental related topics for years, when Greenpeace decided to dedicate an entire website to trade leaks(3), it was probably WikiLeaks they were inspired by.
After all, the WikiLeaks team was already exposing trade leaks as early as September 2009(4).
So it is interesting to note that on its` site Greenpeace not only refers to WikiLeaks publications as an important source of information and verification, but also says to have redacted some of the published documents in order to protect its sources.
This of course makes perfect sense but prompts the question : If Greenpeace takes precautionary measures to protect their sources, what is Greenpeace actually doing to protect WikiLeaks or its founder, whose groundbreaking work is clearly fundamental to their own ?
Has Greenpeace, for example, ever ran a public campaign, or even an article to bring public attention to the fact that Julian Assange is currently rotting away in Belmarsh prison, the Guantanamo of the UK, precisely for his contribution to the kinds of leaks Greenpeace — and others — have been so eager to use and publish, and sometimes even put forward as proof in court ?
If this is not the case, could we agree that Greenpeace (and others), have a moral obligation to stand up for those whose lives are being destroyed for providing the rest of us with such eye-opening information ? Is it not true that Greenpeace, by not openly supporting someone like Assange, is in fact jeopardizing its own cause ?
For if we can not even mention, let alone protect, one of the most prolific and outspoken transparency advocates of our time, how many more journalists, publishers and whistleblowers will be willing to step forward and provide this sort of service in the future ?
And how many trade, environmental or other leaks will we be able to read and analyze then ?
Thankfully a growing number of people, including international organizations, are starting to wake up to the much larger dangers that lie behind this illegal and obviously political witch-hunt of this prominent journalist. They are speaking up because they understand that if Assange is convicted and sent off to die, a precedent will be set that might send us all even further into a spiral of state sponsored censorship from which we may never recover.
We sincerely hope that Greenpeace, and all those who have profited from his work for over a decade, will have the decency, insight and courage to join this growing coalition and do all it can to use its leverage to not only sway public opinion but help save the life and legacy of an extraordinary pioneer.
Let’s make Greenpeace’s favorite slogan ‘A billion acts of courage’, not just a slogan…but a way of life.
Thank you
1 . https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24665
2. https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/
3. https://trade-leaks.org/
4. https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/07/31/wikileaks-releases-and-environmental-causes/