ACTION ITEM - Protest to Free Julian Assange! Thursday 12/16, Noon-4pm / LPSF resolution supporting WikiLeaks?

Discussion
1

There's going to be a protest for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange this Thursday:

WHEN: Thursday December 16, noon to 4pm
WHERE: 1 Sansome Street at Market, near the British consulate
DETAILS: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110765495662010

    Given the international furor surrounding WikiLeaks and Assange, I expect strong media coverage.

  I had already been thinking it would be desirable for the LPSF to adopt a resolution in support of WikiLeaks, and this demonstration would be a perfect occasion to read such a resolution. Therefore I urge the LPSF officers to adopt a resolution ASAP. Here is a quick stab at some language, however I am open to suggestions for making it better:

2

I'm not an officer but support the resolution....

Mike

3

Thanks for supporting this, Mike! I'm copying Jawg on this -- hopefully she and the other officers will vote to approve so I can take the resolution to the protest tomorrow and get us some good publicity by reading it as a statement of the LPSF.

  I've made some minor changes after getting feedback from other lists to which I sent the sample language. Ron Getty also hinted at possible improvements -- Ron, please let me know if you have any suggested changes. Otherwise, I urge the officers to consider the following resolution ASAP:

WHEREAS WikiLeaks has provided an invaluable service to the cause of free speech and to helping keep governments and other institutions accountable to the people of the world; and

WHEREAS WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange has been called a traitor by numerous politicians in the United States (treason being punishable by the death penalty in the U.S.); and

WHEREAS it is possible that if Julian Assange is extradited to Sweden, he could be extradited from there to the United States; and

WHEREAS the sex charges for which Julian Assange is wanted by Swedish authorities appear to be baseless, yet have been pursued in an unusually urgent and forceful manner by said auth orities, in what can only be a result of Assange's role in WikiLeaks;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Libertarian Party of San Francisco calls on the British authorities who have arrested Julian Assange and currently have not released him in Britain despite bail being granted and posted, to immediately stop all judicial proceedings against him, and refuse to extradite him to Sweden, the United States, or any other country.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Libertarian Party of San Francisco thanks Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, as well as their sources including U.S. Army private first class Bradley Manning, for exposing what congressman Ron Paul called "the delusional foreign policy" of the U.S. government, and revealing government secrets wrongfully withheld from the American people.

  Note to Marcy -- I was not saying at the meeting Saturday that I was *against* the LPSF-Activist list being used for making decisions, only that Jawg may be correct that our Bylaws do not allow it. Personally I don't have a problem with it, provided we adopt a procedure that makes sense. In this case of course, it would not be the list making a decision, but the officers -- I simply posted to our lists in order to give others the opportunity to weigh in or suggest changes.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))

4

Oops, forgot one change -- please use this version instead of my previous email. Harland Harrison pointed out that the "treason" charge re: the U.S. government doesn't technically apply (even though it's being bandied about in the public discourse) because Assange is not a U.S. citizen:

WHEREAS WikiLeaks has provided an invaluable service to the cause of
free speech and to helping keep governments and other institutions
accountable to the people of the world; and

WHEREAS numerous politicians and other public figures in the U.S.
have called WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange a
a traitor (treason being punishable by the death penalty in the U.S.) and
even in some cases for him to be assassinated; and

WHEREAS it is possible that if Julian Assange is extradited to Sweden,
he could be extradited from there to the United States; and

WHEREAS the sex charges for which Julian Assange is wanted by Swedish
authorities appear to be baseless, yet have been pursued in an
unusually urgent and forceful manner by said auth orities, in what can
only be a result of Assange's role in WikiLeaks;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Libertarian Party of San Francisco
calls on the British authorities who have arrested Julian Assange and
currently have not released him in Britain despite bail being granted
and posted, to immediately stop all judicial proceedings against him,
and refuse to extradite him to Sweden, the United States, or any other
country.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Libertarian Party of San Francisco
thanks Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, as well as their sources
including U.S. Army private first class Bradley Manning, for exposing
what congressman Ron Paul called "the delusional foreign policy" of
the U.S. government, and revealing government secrets wrongfully
withheld from the American people.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))