13 April 2019: The following statement on the recent imprisonment of Julian Assange was made by Trotskyist Platform chairwoman, Sara Fitzenmeyer at the 13 April, 2019 protest action in support of left-wing, pro-DPRK political prisoner in Australia, Chan Han Choi (for a report on that sizable and vibrant protest go to: https://www.trotskyistplatform.com/energetic-protest-demands-freedom-for-socialist-political-prisoner-in-australia/):
“Like Chelsea Manning, Assange is being persecuted because he helped to expose the war crimes of Western imperialism. In particular, Assange helped to spread details of the horrific atrocities of U.S. imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan that Chelsea Manning so courageously provided. The Western rulers are cruelly persecuting him to deter others from exposing the ghastly crimes of U.S. and allied imperialism. Therefore, we call for freedom for Julian Assange. We also demand freedom for Chelsea Manning – perhaps the biggest hero in the events surrounding Wikileaks – who was thrown back in jail in March for bravely refusing to testify against Assange before the now not so secret Grand Jury in the US.
“At the same time we can’t help but notice that some of the people willing to defend Assange are not willing to take a stand in defence of Chan Han Choi. Perhaps some people, without even being conscious of it, are more comfortable having a white-skinned hero than an Asian one. But, actually, the case of Chan Han Choi is even more crucial for opponents of imperialism in this country than that of Julian Assange’s. Firstly, Choi is a political prisoner right here in Australia. Secondly, unlike Assange, who while having laudably exposed some of the horrific war crimes of Western imperialism later also did take some political stances which were against the interests of the toiling masses, Choi’s deeds, by assisting a socialistic state, are uniformly in the interests of the working class and oppressed of the world.
“So, we call on determined anti-imperialists amongst those who are rightly defending Julian Assange to also stand by Chan Han Choi. Indeed, the persecution of Assange gives us a taste of where the persecution of Choi will lead to. For first, the capitalist authorities target people like Choi who support socialistic states. And if they are allowed to get away with that then they will target others – like Assange – who are not even avowed partisans of the working class but who in some way get in the way of imperialism. That is why it is so important to stop the persecution of Chan Han Choi. We need to put an end to the emerging McCarthyite witch-hunt before it spreads just like the 1950s Cold War witch-hunt did and starts targeting broader and broader layers of activists and journalists.
“So we say: Free Julian Assange! Free Chelsea Manning! Free Chan Han Choi now!“
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