Detta anförande av samhällsdebattören Al Burke lästes av Sigyn Meder vid manifestationen till stöd för Julian Assange utanför Storbritanniens ambassad 31 augusti 2018. Al Burke kunde själv ej delta. Han har siten Nordic News NetworkTal och video från manifestationen har publicerats tidigare. ”Se filmen och läs om senaste stödmanifestationen för Julian Assange!”

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Utgivare: Cancillería Ecuador

Talet.

The United States has restored its kind of order in Ecuador and as one consequence, Julian Assange will not be seen or heard by those assembled here today.

For nearly six years he has been confined under threat of U.S. persecution to a small space inside the embassy, and for the past five months in conditions that are worse than prison — denied essential medical care, visits by anyone other than legal counsel, and contact with the outside world via telephone or Internet.

Normally when an individual’s legal and human rights are violated by governments, only one or perhaps two are responsible. But Julian’s case involves the combined depravity of five — the current government of Ecuador and those of Sweden, the United Kingdom and Australia, all acting in submission to the United States in gross desecration of international law and human rights.

It is an unprecedented concentration of institutional power arrayed against an individual, for the offence of exposing official misconduct and great crimes — aided and abetted by the malice and indifference of influential media, including such as have profited from the work of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

And yet he has survived it all thus far. How many of his tormentors would be able to do the same? Most likely very few, if any.

It is an extraordinary triumph of a solitary individual over an extraordinary conspiracy of evil bent on his destruction.

How much damage has been inflicted on him in the process, and how much longer he can hold out are matters of speculation. But it is essential that we continue to support Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and what they represent in any way we can. Thank you for coming here today for that purpose.

Our efforts may at times seem futile, given the monstrosity of the opposing forces. It is an ancient concern that was addressed over two centuries ago by my namesake, the Irish statesman Edmund Burke. With apologies on his behalf for the exclusively masculine pronoun, I recommend the wisdom of his maxim that, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

Whether a little or a lot, let us persist in supporting Julian Assange until he is free at last.