WIKILEAKS' JULIAN ASSANGE WINS PEACE PRIZE

Assange and his Sydney Peace Prize medal: Well deserved

Anyone above ground knows that the Nobel Peace Prize has become a pathetic joke.

Why? Well, take a look at some of these "winners": Henry Kissinger (mass murderer); Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin who shared the award in 1994 for all they did to bring "peace" between Israel and Palestine (absurd); Obama (huh?); Al Gore (c'mon, that's just silly); and on it goes.

There have been some worthy winners, like Mother Theresa, Amnesty International, and Albert Schweitzer, who said, many years ago: "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall, he will end by destroying the world."

There have also been glaring omissions: How Noam Chomsky hasn't been recognized by the Nobel noddies, I just don't know. But then, I have a similar attitude to awards as Woody Allen does: They're kind of dumb and meaningless most of the time.


Julian Assange Recognized

Still, for all of this, it was refreshing to hear that Julian Assange, he of Wikileaks fame, did snag a peace award this past week. He received the honor from the Sydney (Australia) Peace Foundation for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights."

Here's what foundation chief Stuart Rees had to say:

"For 14 years we've awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, but only on three occasions in 14 years have made an exception to the rule and awarded a gold medal for exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights.

"By challenging centuries-old practices of government secrecy and by championing people's right to know, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange have created the potential for a new order in journalism and in the free flow of information.

"Instead of demonizing an Australian citizen who has broken no law, the Australian government must stop shoring up Washington's efforts to behave like a totalitarian state. The treatment of alleged whistle-blower [U.S. Army Pvt.] Bradley Manning confirms a U.S. administration at odds with their commitment to universal human rights and intent on militaristic bullying."

And if you want to know the cred of the Sydney Peace Foundation award, the three previous winners for human rights are Nelson Mandela,the Dalai Lama, and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda. Not a bloodthirsty megalomaniac among them.


Don't Let the Press Muddy the Waters

And, I say again, Assange's work with Wikileaks should not be looked at through the lens of the allegations of sexual assault he is currently faced with. That's a separate issue. He is innocent until proven guilty. If he is given a truly fair trial and found guilty, then he should be locked up. But his Wikileaks work has still reflected great courage and been a victory for truth and democracy.

The main point is, social change is not happening completely under the radar. Things are changing.

Empires crumble, despots fall, good can win out.

Best wishes,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at WIKILEAKS, IRAQ AND THE PRICE OF TRUTH.