And so it goes – as Tariq Ali said yesterday afternoon – damping down dissent from hackers and whistleblowers. Ali sees activism as being under siege – with the attempted extradition of Julian Assange as the latest instance.
He continued to imagine the reaction if the threat to enter a foreign embassy had been made in Beijing or Moscow . . . Who cannot understand the fear of Assange after the precedents of forced rendition, Guantanamo Bay, the appalling humiliations inflicted, the condoned torture and long imprisonment without trial?
Julian Assange performed a public service in revealing the truth of what goes on behind the scenes but it is resented and rejected by those exposed- just as in a less dramatic way, the long procession of whistleblowers who feel they have to reveal abuse or neglect.
