Dear reader, The release of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange late last month has been enthusiastically welcomed by millions of people around the world. Assange's freedom is a significant victory and a major climbdown by American imperialism, which for more than a decade had sought his destruction.
The World Socialist Web Site campaigned from the very beginning against the persecution of Assange, which started in 2010, when WikiLeaks exposed historic war crimes. In contrast to the pseudo-left organizations that joined the witch-hunt or said nothing, we fought to mobilize support within the working class on an international scale.
Assange may be free, but the fight for democratic rights continues. Can you make a generous donation to the WSWS to make sure this work can be expanded? | In hundreds of articles, the WSWS exposed the right-wing witch-hunt against Assange. Our articles on Assange's persecution were read hundreds of thousands of times. The WSWS and ICFI organized rallies around the world, involving hundreds of participants and leading journalists, such as John Pilger, as speakers. In 2018, we held the webinar "Organizing Resistance to Internet Censorship," to which Assange sent greetings shortly before his internet access at the Ecuadorian embassy was cut.
The WSWS recognized from the outset that the persecution of Assange was a spearhead of an assault on democratic rights and an attempt to criminalize opposition to imperialist war. Assange is free, and that is a victory, but the conditions that gave rise to his persecution—massive inequality and global war—not only persist, they have greatly expanded.
The assault on democratic rights associated with the war drive is deepening. In Ukraine, the fascistic Zelensky government has imprisoned Bogdan Syrotiuk, a socialist and internationalist opponent of the US-NATO war against Russia. Syrotiuk's indictment on bogus treason charges refers to his writings for the World Socialist Web Site, in which he called for the unity of Russian and Ukrainian workers against the war, all the governments and the capitalist system. Since Bogdan's arrest on April 25, Ukraine has banned the WSWS entirely.
In the US, the turn towards open dictatorship is rapidly developing. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the president cannot be charged for crimes committed in the execution of "official acts," establishing in essence a presidential dictatorship.
There is mass opposition to war, inequality and authoritarianism. But to go forward, it must be armed with a socialist and internationalist perspective, directed against the source of the deepening barbarism, the capitalist profit system itself.
The role of the WSWS is decisive. To expand and deepen our offensive against the conspiracies of the ruling class, we need resources. This is why we appeal to you to give the most generous donation to the WSWS today, and consider an ongoing pledge. We must expand our coverage, our staff and our technical capabilities, to meet the challenges posed by the rapidly developing capitalist crisis. | | | We're powered by the support of our readers and workers. Make a contribution today to the World Socialist Web Site. This email was sent to alitealbum.wsws@blogger.com. If you want to, you can unsubscribe. We rely
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