“The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients,” said WikiLeaks in a statement on Monday 27 February.

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange and spokespeople from some of the international media partners that have been working for months on this release addressed media at a press conference held in London. The press conference was also live-streamed online to an audience of around 2700.

As far as the Australian perspective goes (so far), two items of note came up. First off, Peter Wilson from The Australian was present and put a question regarding possible involvement, or perceived involvement by WL, of Stratfor in Assange’s potential extradition. It is unclear whether other Australian media have had access to the GIFiles data or intend to cover this latest WL release. When I asked him earlier about involvement in this release, Philip Dorling from Fairfax responded to my inquiry saying “could be”, so wait and watch. So far it seems SMH has covered the story using Reuters copy, and The Australian used AFP.

Second Australian centric piece of information out of the press conference: Assange noted that Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull was, or is, subscribed to receive updates from Stratfor. It should be pointed out that anyone is able to sign up for Stratfor’s free weekly email updates. Assange mentioned Turnbull’s subscription as a way of demonstrating potential reach and influence of Stratfor’s analysis.

Here are my Twitter updates from the press conference:

For more information, see the full media release from WikiLeaks here, or look at Twitter #gifiles.

The fall out resulting in the paper’s cessation has seen news scandal unmatched by even the most sordid of stories that graced its own pages.

While reports that NoW journalists used phone hacking as a method of gathering gossip on royals and celebrities have circulated for some time, it was recent revelations that pushed the paper’s reputation from that of condoning bad practice to being irrecoverably immoral.

The final straw came with the discovery that phone hacking had been used to gather information on murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The Guardian reported on July 4 2011 that NoW journalists had “intercepted and deleted” messages in order to free up space for further messages to be left on Dowler’s phone. This misled Dowler’s family to believe she may still have been alive.

This news comes as a blow to British Prime Minister David Cameron who hired former NoW editor Andy Coulson as his head of communications.

Coulson was the editor of NoW between 2003 and 2007, before working for Cameron. Coulson resigned from the Prime Minister’s office in January this year due to pressure stemming from media reports on phone hacking that occured during his NoW editorship.

Until last week when news emerged that British police would arrest Coulson, Cameron had defended his decision to hire the former tabloid editor.

Many questions about media ethics have been raised as a result of the demise of NoW.

A full inquiry into the incident has been confirmed by Cameron however questions too have been raised about the relationship between political leaders and the media owners.

British and Australian Prime Ministers, current and former, have engaged with media mogul Rupert Murdoch in both social and professional settings, while at the same time openly criticising the work of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Australian PM Julia Gillard has openly called Assange a criminal for his involvement with WikiLeaks, yet earlier this year she helped Murdoch celebrate his 80th birthday.

Murdoch’s stable of papers, which included NoW, detail the lives of celebrities, footballers, and royals, while Assange uncovers the reality of war and diplomatic dealings.

As the debates continues around the morality of NoW and more broadly that of journalists and their publishers, perhaps it is time for the people of the world to reconsider what truly constitutes “News of the World” – is it the tabloid fodder happily endorsed by our political leaders, or the leaked details they don’t want us to see?

Related post: Hugh Grant’s hottest role to date.

Written for Australian Times.

A forum presented by Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning.
In association with the Sydney Peace Foundation and the Greens NSW

Tuesday 2 August 2011 — 6 for 6:30 pm to 8:15 pm

Theatrette, Parliament of NSW
Macquarie St, Sydney

Chair: David Shoebridge MLC
Panel: Prof Wendy Bacon, Prof Stuart Rees, Assoc Prof Ben Saul

US Army soldier Bradley Manning, allegedly the whistleblower who released much of the material published by WikiLeaks, has reportedly said:

I want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.

The leaks—including the “Collateral Murder” video of a helicopter attack on journalists, children and other Iraqis, US State Department diplomatic cables, and documents on the Guantánamo Bay detainees—show a vengeful culture of war, incarceration, and distortion of the truth. Bradley Manning has himself become a target of this culture, harshly imprisoned for over a year without trial and subjected to demonisation in the media.

The forum will discuss the gulf between the principles of Bradley’s apparent stand and the response to it from the US government and world media. It will consider how—if he is the leaker—his heroically sane example to humanity may help to instigate a change from a culture of secrecy and revenge towards an open, empathetic society, more able to face the great challenges of achieving peace, sustainability and social justice.

Each speaker will be allotted 15 to 20 minutes, and the panel will then answer questions from the floor.

At the forum, people who would like to support Bradley will be able to create a “photo signature” for the I am Bradley Manning campaign, and/or add their name to a letter of protest to the US Ambassador to Australia.

Attendance is free, but to ensure there is room for you, please register for the quantity of seats you need.

Assistance is available for mobility-impaired attendees. For enquiries, please email syd4bradley(at)gmail(dot)com or ring Marty on 0402 433 711.

Image credit.

This year’s theme “Words. To Live By” engaged readers and writers in a week long festival of ideas ranging from discussions about the future of media to the ongoing revolutions in the Arab World.

Here is a look at some of the 2011 festival highlights:

Songs of Blood and Sword

Afghan-born Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto spoke about her book Songs of Blood and Sword, which she describes as a “daughters memoir”. The book looks at the political landscape of Pakistan and details the murder of her father, Murtaza Bhutto, son of Pakistan’s former President and Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The session was facilitated by Sandra Yates who describes Bhutto’s book as “the story of Pakistan’s most famous family, an extremely uncomfortable look at Pakistan”.

Bhutto is highly critical of the involvement of the United States in Pakistan, condemning their ongoing drone strikes in the country, which she notes have killed thousands of “nameless and faceless” Pakistanis.

Addressing the protests that are continuing across the Middle East, Bhutto said that indicators exist in Pakistan that are similar to those that provided motivation for the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, such as high unemployment, “crippling” food inflation, and a young population.

So why no mass protests in Pakistan?

“Fear. Violence of state is so overwhelming … [for example] people are disappeared … bodies turn up years later,” she said.

Bhutto said she felt compelled to address this sort of corruption and noted her own motivation to speak out in her book.

“It is silence that makes it possible for each government to employ violence … there is no place for that kind of silence, it has to stop.”

The Dissident Cafe: Tweeting from the Middle East

This session was held as an interactive event where the audience could ask questions from the floor or via Twitter.

On the panel were Samah Hadid, Anna Perera, Farid Farid and Sara Haghdoosti, who spoke about social media and the ongoing uprisings in the Arab world.

Farid started out with the reminder that while the mainstream media focus may move on, there remains an ongoing revolutionary process unfolding in Egypt and the region.

On the role of social media in the Arab uprisings, Hadid said: “[Social media] doesn’t invent courage and resistance, but it sure as hell spreads it like wildfire.”

The panel also discussed then need for economic reform in Egypt, the immense level of solidarity from across the mobilising Middle East with Palestinians, and the role of women in the uprisings.

Who’s Afraid of WikiLeaks

Barbara Gunnell, Guy Rundle, Robert Manne, Andrew Fowler and Suelette Dreyfus addressed questions of national security, political agenda, the role of Julian Assange, and the impact of the organisation on the relationship between the citizen and the state.

Robert Manne gave his assessment of WikiLeaks saying: “I regard it as a revolutionary idea.”

Suelette Dreyfus pointed out that WikiLeaks was “a new kind of media organisation” and pointed to its journalistic point of difference of offering raw data.

Guy Rundle said that the technology embraced by WikiLeaks to facilitate whistleblowing allowed for a radically different relationship between power, information and citizenship.

Silenced Voices of War

Michael Otterman and Antony Loewenstein identified issues associated with mainstream media coverage of conflict and the role of social media and blogging in amplifying unheard voices, especially in the context of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and across the Middle East.

In pointing out the impact of the mass media on influencing public opinion, Loewenstein spoke about the way stories are framed, how language is used, and the importance of recognising how certain (not necessarily accurate) ideas can be normalised as a result of media representation.

“The idea that hundreds of thousands of Arabs hate us for no reason is absurd,” he said.

“They don’t hate us. They hate what is being done to them.”

Otterman raised the issues associated with news from journalists embedded with the Western military in places such as Iraq.

He said that this type of journalism allows “zero opportunity for engagement with Iraqis [and] deliberately screened out voices.”

David Hicks and Donna Mulhearn

Donna Mulhearn who acted as a human shield in Iraq speaks with David Hicks who recounts his five and a half years in Guantanamo Bay and the events that led to his being there.

Hicks explained his motivation for writing a book, saying that he felt it necessary to combat the widespread misinformation about his story.

He said that while a lot of the decisions he made have been called impulsive, but that his intention was always good.

“I saw the people from Kosovo and Kashmir the same as I see my family and friends.”

Mulhearn summed up Hicks as being motivated by justice and humanity together with a sense of adventure.

Hicks said that his treatment by the Australian government, in allowing him to remain incarcerated in Guantanamo for so long, set a dangerous precedent. He raised concern about the potential for Julian Assange to be treated similarly.

While critical of the government, Hicks said: “I’ve got to thank the Australian public, for the marches and dressing in orange and all that.”

“I went overseas to help people, I ended up detained, tortured and accused of being a terrorist.”

Hicks received a standing ovation at what was his first public appearance since the release of his memoir.

Mary Kostakidis described the moment in SMH on May 25: “People rose to their feet gradually and with a sense of purpose and obligation. They applauded because they felt we as a nation had let him down then, but it wasn’t too late to stand up for him now.”

***

Other festival highlights included the Write a Revolution session which brought together spoken word artists to discuss (and demonstrate) creative engagement with social and political change, a multilingual spoken-word performance by the Auburn Poets and Writers group, and The Israel Question which looked at the ongoing occupation of Palestine by Israel and identified some of the obstructions to real progress in the region.

Audio recordings of many sessions is available from the Sydney Writers Festival website [www.swf.org.au].

An edited version of this article appeared in Green Left Weekly.

The medal is awarded “very occasionally” – Assange’s award is only the fourth in 14 years – and this is a mark of its distinction, said Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation.

Professor Rees said: “Although we are interested in peace, we are 100 times more interested in peace with justice.”

Which is an interesting thought. One seemingly at odds with the peace-making efforts carried out by our governments.

Somewhere along the way it became acceptable to prescribe to the belief that peace and justice can be achieved through war.

But only if it’s us in the West bringing the war. See, our wars bring peace. Their resistance averts justice. Or so we are told.

Thankfully we have the likes of Assange, celebrated by Sydney Peace Foundation, to remind us what war looks like, and what sort of secret diplomacy is needed to make possible these wars of ours.

WikiLeaks isn’t short of this sort of material to reveal thanks to the efforts our government over the last decade, during which we’ve attempted to export our prized so-called democracy by invading and occupying at least a couple of nations.

Thus far it’s not been a tremendous success. In justifying Defence Department spending in the recent budget announcement, The Australian reported on May 10: “Australia’s contribution to international efforts to deny terrorists a safe haven and training ground in Afghanistan will cost $1.3 billion in 2011-12.”

We’ve killed hundreds of thousands of civillians in our attempts to deny those terrorists a ‘safe haven’ in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But we’re doing ok. Let’s look for a moment at the recent killing of Osama bin Laden. A victory! A success! A sign that the war way over there can be won (or so says opposition leader Tony Abbott).

After bin Laden had been killed, US President Barack Obama mused: “Justice has been done.”

A body full of bullets, thrown to the bottom of the ocean. Is that what justice looks like?

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is happy to agree with this particular execution of “justice”. She phoned Obama to express her gratitude, on behalf of Australia, for bin Laden’s demise at the hands of the US military.

What legitimacy do we have to condemn “terrorism” if we advocate eye-for-an-eye style revenge?

While our PM celebrates death, funds war, and condemns transparent diplomacy, we should look elsewhere for leadership. We might just find that justice looks less like a shot up human body, and more like open information.

Written for Australian Times.
Featured image by John Linwood.

Rees said: “Although we are interested in peace, we are 100 times more interested in peace with justice.”

He continued:

We think you’ve made an enormous contribution to people’s understanding of what democracy might be about, in terms of the responsibility to hold powerful people accountable, in terms of enthusiasm for freedom of information, and in terms of the presumption of innocence. We also think that that commitment to democracy asks many of the rest of us, journalists, lawyers, teachers, academics, to stop being so shy about challenging the establishment. To stop having their thoughts embedded, consciously or unconsciously, by allegiance to mainstream points of view. [...]

We were also motivated … to make this award because we were ashamed of the Australian government and we wanted some way to repudiate their cowardice. [...]

…some [American] politicians, among them Sarah Palin said you should be ‘hunted down like bin Laden’, well we now know exactly what that means.

The Sydney Peace Foundation’s Chair Mary Kostakidis elaborated on the importance of Assange’s work with WikiLeaks:

Many of us have come to journalism because of its core purpose to scrutinize the decisions and actions of those in authority. Because of the impact of those decisions on the lives of many people. The Howard government’s foreign minister Alexander Downer was asked by the Australian ABC recently whether he had read the Guantanamo Bay dossiers, he said he couldn’t be bothered. That all that was just history now. Revealing precisely what we need to guard against: arrogance, contempt for truth, contempt for justice, contempt for other people’s lives. The most important obligation of a state towards its citizens is to protect their human rights. They get away with not doing it because of our indifference. Our failure to imagine ourselves in other people’s shoes.

Kostakidis presented the medal to Assange telling him it that it recognised his “conviction that truth matters, and that justice depends on it”, and further for his “courage, leadership and tenacity in journalism and publishing”.

Assange noted: “The real value of this award, and the Sydney Peace Foundation, is that it makes explicit the link between peace and justice.”

Video streaming by Ustream

At the time, Manning was being held in solitary confinement at Marine Corps Brig, Quantico in Virginia.

Speaking through his lawyer, Manning accused the guards at Quantico of treating him differently to other prisoners and reported he had been forced to strip naked by guards every night.

Mendez said US authorities had “not been receptive to a confidential meeting” with Manning.

Manning’s incarceration at Quantico was widely criticised. However, US President Barack Obama said he had been informed by the Pentagon that Manning’s treatment was “appropriate”.

During April, the US Defense Department moved Manning, 23, from Quantico to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. It said Manning was no longer held in solitary confinement.

Manning has been held in pre-trial imprisonment for almost 12 months.

Organisations including Amnesty International and the US-based Psychologists for Social Responsibility have expressed serious concern regarding his confinement.

Written for Green Left Weekly.