Forbes magazine reports ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomwatson/2013/08/17/assanges-politics-rand-paul-and-libertarian-wing-of-gop-represent-only-hope-in-u-s/2/ ) that WikiLeaks head Julian Assange, who previously said he identified with American libertarians, has amplified on those comments and made what appears to be a fairly radical libertarian statement, although he speaks of "non-violence" rather than "non-aggression":
"So, non-violence: well, don’t go and invade a foreign country. Non-violence: don’t force people at the barrel of a gun to serve in the U.S. Army. Non-violence: doesn’t extort taxes from people to the federal Government with a policeman..."
Meanwhile, Wikileaks is now an actual political party in Australia, where Assange is seeking public office via remote campaigning from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he remains a refugee from injustice. The UK's Guardian newspaper -- the paper under whose auspices Glen Greenwald interviewed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden -- reports that the Wikileaks Party is seeking international support, and offering membership for $20 (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/13/wikileaks-party-seeks-international-backing )
The extent to which Assange or other members of the new Wikileaks Party may be aware of the Libertarian Party in the United States, or how they feel about it, is not made clear in either piece. But the possibility that Wikileaks may become a new international political movement in its own right, like the emerging Pirate Party (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_party ) is an interesting development. Both emerging groups -- not coincidentally, I think -- share an emphasis on openness and transparency.
LP chair Geoff Neale announced some time ago that he was looking into starting an email list for discussion with leaders of other libertarian political parties around the world. I support this as a positive step toward greater international cooperation and solidarity in the global libertarian movement. I hope he will report to us on the status of this list, if it is operational (which parties are participating, what conversation has been happening so far), and open it to others to subscribe to on at least a read-only basis.
To the extent we can build bridges now with these emerging movements or networks, even as we attempt to grow the international libertarian movement, I think there is a strong potential for them to embrace more of the libertarian philosophy, as Julian Assange apparently does, and to work with libertarian political parties like ours. As alternative parties struggling to gain niches themselves, they inherently have more in common with the LP than they do with a wing of one of the establishment cartel parties in the United States, even if that wing is libertarian. The more the Libertarian Party embraces openness and transparency, the more appealing both our party, and the philosophy we represent, should be to both Wikileaks and the Pirate Party, as well as to their supporters and potential supporters.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee