Julian Assange To Participate In Debate And Get A Temporary Monument

By Jerry Smith Mar 23 2011
assangewatch.blogspot.com

The British political magazine New Statesman and the media hangout Frontline Club are organizing a debate on Saturday April 9th 2011 at Kensington Town Hall in London. Jason Cowley, the editor of New Statesman, will chair the debate featuring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for the proposition, in his first debate since Cablegate.

And in Ekaterinburg, Russia there will be a temporary monument erected for Assange, within a larger project called 'The temporary monuments to the Internet heroes', scheduled to open today.

The debate will ask:

"are UK and US officials correct to argue that those who publish leaks threaten national security? Or do we need them to expose wrongdoing because, as transparency advocates argue, governments always abuse secrecy?"

The event will have audience voting and the promoters say that tickets are limited and will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

For more information click here.

The authors of the monument project are representatives of the art movement 'Old Bukashin', and have done other monument projects before such as a monument for the letter 'E', and one for the letter 'N'.

When the monuments, which are made from ordinary light materials like paper so that they can be easily transferred and later removed, are finished, they will be registered and a photo will appear on the internet.

Project organizers said:

”The temporary monuments to the internet heroes begin living by their own life as soon as they appear in the global net. Many monuments are forbidden, destroyed, bought and sold, but the temporary monuments to the Internet heroes continue living in the net forever and remind about the frailty of the material life.”

Lawyers for Assange have recently filed an appeal against Judge Howard Riddle's ruling that Assange, who is still under house arrest at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk,UK, should be extradited to Sweden because he felt Assange could get a fair trial in Sweden and that his extradition to Sweden would not violate his human rights.

Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden where he has not been charged with anything but is wanted for questioning by the Swedish police about accusations of rape and sexual molestation made against him by Sofia Wilen and Anna Ardin. Assange denies the allegations and says he had consensual sex with the two women.

Assange and his lawyers fear that if he is extradited to Sweden he may then be extradited to the United States, where he could face torture, confinement at Guantanamo Bay, both, or even the death penalty.

Assange has angered the United States with the releasing of leaked embarrassing diplomatic cables, the classified documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the 'Collateral Murder' video.