 We are here to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I'm going to go to Affiliate Spirit of Sancti. Sisters brothers, it's good to be with you again. Actually it's depressing to be with you again. It's good to be amongst friends, but how many times have we done this? Here we are again. And yet the situation for Julian hasn't changed and yet here I have this worn out poster now, courtesy of my friend Luke Cornish, the crucified Assange. Time marches on. The suffering of Julian continues. And I know there's plenty of people who say they find this image offensive. It seems to me the longer we go on, the more appropriate it becomes because the whole concept of crucifixion as a form of imperial control was that it was a slow way of killing someone. I mean, it was a good way of getting rid of your enemies, but it was a way of doing it slowly. I mean, people would die over days and even over weeks. I often think of the image on the Virapia. It was 200 kilometers long, 73 BC, that the revolt asparticus, the great slave revolt was put down. 6,000 slaves, men I assume, 6,000 men crucified across the Virapia. I did the maths. That means every 75 meters you'd see a tortured soul on either side of the road. It's the same length as in Sydney to Galvin. That's a trip I take quite regularly. And I imagine what it'll be like every 75 meters from Sydney all the way to Galvin seeing on either side of the road the figure of a tortured body slowly dying. I mean, some would be dead. Some would be in agony, still dying. Some would be being visited by birds of prey. Others would be being humiliated by passers-by. You'd get the message, wouldn't you? I mean, this wasn't just the way of efficiently disposing of your enemies. It was a way of disposing with them slowly and publicly. And this is why the cross before it was ever a symbol of faith was a symbol of imperial control. It was a way of in which the Empire let you know that we are powerful. You are nothing. We have control of life and death. You do what we say. You don't speak up. Or this is what will happen to you. I don't know if there's other fans of Naomi Wolf here. I've recently read her book Facing the Beast. Interesting. She seriously suggests in that we may be seeing in our day resurgence of some of the ancient gods. The gods of Rome. And before that the gods are the Canaanites and the Amorites. Gods like Mollach and Baal. Gods that demand human sacrifice. I think she proposes this quite seriously and I think it needs to be taken seriously for I do think that the sinister nature of our world in the despicable way in which Julian has been treated goes beyond just the evil machinations of individual human beings. We're dealing with something really deep and sinister and powerful. It is ultimately I believe a spiritual battle which is depressing but at the same time deeply encouraging because I think again we come back to this symbol of the cross. I think we're on the right side of this battle. Ultimately I do believe that these forces of frankly just forces of wickedness that are silencing free speech and that are crucifying the messenger will have to ultimately be defeated. The very fact the symbol of imperial power became a symbol of faith is a reminder that ultimately there are some people who cannot be crucified. There are some voices that cannot be silenced. Julian I believe will come back and next time we meet I trust. Next time we're all together I trust it won't be for yet another protest but we will meet to celebrate the resurrection of our brother and we will do it with great joy. God bless you. Everyone for coming out today I want to start by acknowledging this is First Nations and Scatagal who respects Welder's past, present and emerging. Always was and always will be. Well I've got to tell you Albanese is feeling hate today isn't he? And so he bloody should be because actually the movement to free Julian Assange and bring him home is growing and growing around the world and if you'd asked me two years ago where were we I would have said well we need to rebuild the movement a global movement to support Julian a truth teller who should not be in jail in a high security prison in the UK with one of Australia's allies facing extradition to high security permanent jail with another one of Australia's allies in the United States. What country allows two of its closest allies to treat one of its own citizens a citizen journalist like that? Well only a country that's willing to roll over and have its belly tickled when its masters in Washington or London do so and if Prime Minister Albanese is to be a genuine Prime Minister for Australia that means standing up to the United States that means saying Australia will stand up for its citizens and will not permit a law of the United States to say wherever Australian citizens are anywhere on the planet that a United States law can reach and pluck them out of their homes if they dare tell the truth about the United States war crimes how could our Prime Ministers not condemn that law and demand the return of Julian, how could he? The only way is if you surrender sovereignty to the United States like the Albanese government and before that the Morrison government was willing to do shame on our government for doing that but I said that the movement is growing and I was very lucky to be on a delegation crowdfunded by Assange supporters so let me thank you all for that with an eclectic group of Australian MPs and Senators that went to Washington from Barnaby Joyce on one side to my colleague Peter Wish-Wilson Green's Senator for Tasmania on the other and we went the six of us Labor, Coalition, Greens, Independence we went to Washington to stir up a hornet's nest and we went to Washington because we thought the campaign had slowed in Washington and many members of Congress were not aware of just how real the campaign was and I've got to tell you now that that is continuing to bear fruit we've had joint letters signed by Democrats and Republicans from across the political spectrum demanding Julian Assange's release demanding the end of charges and just in the last few days a fresh resolution has been tabled in Congress again sponsored by members of Congress from across the political spectrum demanding on the basis of the US First Amendment and free speech rights demanding that the Biden administration end the prosecution and let Julian Assange come home and we can all join with that because that's our ultimate goal on a day like this short speeches are good speeches I will continue to press the likes of Penny Wong to actually show some backbone and stop saying that this is all just a matter for the courts and she can't intervene she's never said that in relation to freeing Australians from China she's never said that in relation to freeing Australians from Iran she's never said that about freeing Australians or other citizens from Russia it's just that when it's one of the great and powerful allies of Australia that this government just surrenders its will and it's not enough just to endlessly ceaselessly repeat the mantra that it's gone on too long Australia should put some critical assets on the line in the relationships and say to the United States well if you don't free Julian Assange you got a six months where your ships can't visit Australian ports if you don't free Julian Assange we're going to stop this cooperation with you put something meaningful on the table and it matters because it does and let's keep pushing our government until they make it matter until Julian can be home with his wife and his kids in Australia being a proud, brave, journalist citizen thanks very much find it difficult to believe it's been so long that the time that Julian has been incarcerated and how long this campaign has taken I want to thank everyone that's turned up today as a journalist citizen in particular the people that have dedicated so long of their time and dedication to this cause which is so important it is so fundamental about over a decade ago WikiLeaks revealed an incredible amount of US diplomatic cables in terms of their relations, the United States relations diplomatic relations with Latin American countries those revelations caused a lot of embarrassment for certain countries in Latin America it caused a lot of embarrassment for the United States it highlighted not necessarily highly sensitive information but it highlighted how the United States does business around the world how the United States does business in Latin America it's historical backyard it was embarrassing for them industrial espionage against Brazil attempting to find out if the president of Argentina, Cristina Cristina Fernández Cristina Fernández the Kitchener whether she was on any medications because her husband had recently died the list went on and on and on and the United States was quite upset because again it took away the mask, the facade that they have that they support freedom that its government supports democracy around the world that's so far removed from the truth in Latin America for example in the country of Colombia there was a civil war that raged on for almost 50 years the United States had no problems supporting the most reactionary forces inside the country forces that killed hundreds even in fact thousands of trade union leaders progressive social activists environmentalists and the list just goes on and on and on and on even today after seven years of a peace agreement the Colombian state errors and failures in that peace agreement do you want to know who actually contributed to creating peace to getting the FARC guerrillas to sign an agreement with the Colombian state it was Cuba it was Venezuela the international bogeymen of Latin America they actually managed to contributed to sitting the guerrillas down and then talking to them and saying let's really try and find what we have in common with the Colombian state I haven't read anything positive about the United States in those peace negotiations I know about playing Colombia I know about funding for weapons I know about Israeli military advisers in Colombia but I don't know about US diplomats working into overdrive for peace in Colombia there was an attempted coup d'etat in Ecuador 2011 or 2012 if my memory serves me correctly US diplomats in the United States was happy to fund sectors of the Ecuadorian police force and when the president at the time Rafael Correa attempted to negotiate with them they decided to kidnap him and there were plans in place to carry out a coup d'etat the coup d'etat did not work out but what do you think, take a wild guess what the role of the United States was in those developments I shouldn't even say they were not in favor of a progressive government in Ecuador in fact the president of the country at the time Rafael Correa talked about how a US base the lease for the US base was not going to be renewed under his administration and he said quite sensibly in my opinion the day that the United States allows for an Ecuadorian military base in the United States then we can talk about Ecuador having a US military base about the United States having a military base in Ecuador so Julian Assange believe it or not is known widely throughout Latin America it's respected in Latin America WikiLeaks is respected in Latin America I hope one day we see statues to Assange in Latin America I hope we see something here in Australia it's a place of birth really it saddens me but it also gives me encouragement to see that you guys are still going that you're still doing the groundwork that he is not alone and Alba I mean mate you're a disappointment honestly how much does it take to speak a few words for an Australian citizen the New York Times the Washington Post all the major newspapers were happy to collaborate with WikiLeaks when they thought there was something in it for them but then when the US government decides to go after WikiLeaks after Assange they are leaving to hang up and dry unacceptable shame again Prime Minister do something act don't just claim that you're engaging in diplomatic closed negotiations we don't believe it we just don't believe you anymore Assange needs to come home he needs to come home he needs to engage in his job as an editor as a journalist and from Latin America I can tell you many people appreciate him so thank you for allowing me to speak with you today thanks to everybody I've had tremendous support and as we expected as I always expected we could well lose the battle but we will win the war there's no doubt about it the government is a bit like the character Cartman in the animated series standing their feet and saying you will respect our authority you must respect our authority but the more shrill they get the more they flash their plastic baton around the more people realise it I went to a comedy act the other day and Jordan Shanks and he pointed me out in the crowd I got a standing ovation from everybody in the crowd the real Australia it's very closeted strange small circle in Canberra that echo chamber that says national security that says Julian Assange damaged national security by releasing the truth that becomes increasingly hollow and yet people who work for the government I think they probably really believe it Mark Dreyfus released something I think today about how wonderful his reforms were and transparency and rule of law and anti-corruption he's got no idea the people know what's really going on and I've heard before and I can't obviously I want to avoid specific details about today about my case but I always go back to the historical details and about the men that translated the bible into English and they were murdered by the state and the state of those people who convinced themselves that these the simple act of translating the bible out of Latin into English was a state was a threat to national security and only about 10 years after the Tindall was murdered by the state and by Thomas Moore of all people behind it who obviously thought he was a bit like Dreyfus thought he was new law the Tindall's English version became the standard bible now it's that's the world we live in people convinced Mike Pazullos of the world convinced that they are actually supporting the government but don't realize that by becoming effectively lawless society a police state where truth tellers are put in jail on the say so of people who have already sold our country out to another country that lie that national security is protected by keeping government crimes a secret will only last so long in my case they never looked at the conduct in Julian's case they never looked at the conduct exposed that never came into it the only thing that came into it was whether or not it was classified information as if that overrides any criminal conduct now clearly it doesn't clearly in first year law you know that you know that we will win this absolutely win this and history has been made the best history anyway has been made by people like you that stand up in the face of apathy stand up in the face of those who support government just because it's in their own interest if you do something because you're going to be promoted and going to be thanked for it you're not acting in the national interest you're acting in self interest you people on the other hand aren't here because you're going to get promoted you're not here because you're going to get a pat on the back down in the boys club of camp girls club you're here you're in direct contrast to the people who ran the robo debt scheme who lied and cheated and in the name of their own self advancement and they got caught out and now we have a race to the bottom the latest high court judgement which obviously said you can't hold people in jail indefinitely unless they've been sentenced it's a pretty obvious principle but both sides both sides of politics can't do enough to thwart the law simply because they think there might be a few votes in it anyway you know all that and I just want to thank you I've had tremendous amount of support I don't feel like a criminal I will go to whatever fate awaits me in Mark with a sense of dignity and I will use my own appearance my own character and sense of self to contrast against those who hide in the shadows speak out of the corner of their mouths and put me in jail and say I'm a criminal I can't do it without you I could not there's only so much one person can do Julian can't do it without you and it's really all the same kind of case the way we can beat it is to speak quietly with dignity and repeat the same mantra it can never be a crime to expose a crime but it is something that whatever happens to Julian whatever happens to me in years to come I can guarantee you very very proud for taking the stance that you took today and yesterday and last year and next year you are the people that make will save the world will save Australia and while it's a thin red line at the moment that's where the greatest battles have been won by and again I just can't thank you enough for your support I really would be dead and so would Julian probably and with your support we can really change the world and certainly leave a legacy and we can be very very proud of you let's go together on a little journey if you will tomorrow the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights all genius arises from within the people of the nation the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the secular Bible out by all of us it was fathered by Herbert Bear Evert an Australian to take the opportunity to reference those Australians that have contributed that have arisen out of the people and displayed the genius of the people Herbert Bear Evert John Pilger Julian Assange David McBride Wilfred Burchard they are ours we created them from within us within the culture of us forget that not for it is ours grasp it to your heart for it gives strength an understanding that this is what we have done and can do as David Schubert mentioned Julian Assange can be freed with a phone call the government can ring up their colleagues in the United Kingdom and say send him home his visas expired you've served the expiration date notice on him anything that the United States wants we can handle here that is a clear possibility it's not done for 13 years we witnessed acquiescence to whatever the United States and the United Kingdom wanted to do to Julian 13 years of it acquiescence means complicity you're in if you don't act if you know and you don't act then you're in no other way can't escape that's it we participated in the to use father Dave's word in sending a man to Calvary we participate it's changed now that Australia have bound together and brought into being a name that spread into government into parliament into the Congress that Julian must be returned home so it's our congratulations that Anthony Albanese says in parliament I see no benefit in this persecution continuing he doesn't say persecution I'll help him out there he's a nice man next Julian Assange Chelsea Manning gave us the last glimpses of reality as you may feel we haven't had any understanding of what is reality since then now we see through the benefit of social media and our cameras and our relationship with each other the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes in Gaza 70 journalists have been killed in Gaza 70 the other day a dear man I'll finish with this if you're patient enough Rafat Haria was targeted a journalist was targeted in his sister's home he was killed his brother was killed his sister was killed the four children were killed he wrote a poem which I'll read to you just take a second to get there it's worth it this is titled if I must die it's not long and it bears weight upon all of us for we are the understanding and the power that will change these circumstances not them us for as we have changed Julian's circumstances where he is just about on the cusp of being free us if I must die you must live to tell my story to sell my things to buy a piece of cloth and some strings make it white with a long tail so that a child somewhere in Gaza while looking heaven in the eye awaiting his dad who left in a blaze and bid not one farewell not even to his flesh not even to himself sees the kite my kite you made up above and thinks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love let it bring hope let it be my tale I first had the duty because I've been asked to do it to read out a statement from my journalist union Mia and that's also Julian Assange's journalist union he was granted an honorary lifetime membership from Mia under the previous director this statement is signed by its current president Karen Percy now folks I'm not going to say these are not my words but I have highlighted a couple of things that I would just like to clarify for you because I think it's quite important to do so so here it goes the continued pursuit of Julian Assange is a direct threat to media freedom around the world from the outset the media entertainment and arts alliance has stood up for Julian not just because he's one of our members but because of what the case is against him it represents for the role of journalism and journalists a threat and it threatens sources that we rely on it's been great to see Australian delegations visit the US to lobby for his release disappointingly there seems to be little will from those who could change the outcome for Julian to do so in fact all the talk of commitment to supporting the role of journalism in our society our leaders are betrayed by their actions the most recent case of course that of whistleblower David McBride who was acting in the interest of the public by briefing journalists is being punished for doing so exposing the wrongdoing of soldiers on the battlefield as David and Julian have done is important in holding the powerful to account but the public's right to know is imperiled when those who are brave enough to speak out are charged and imprisoned the media in Australia is currently facing one of its most testing times the current violence in Gaza and the information of that war that surrounds it pose great challenges for journalists trying to inform audiences and readers propaganda and fake videos and photos on social media add a toxic mix to an already tense situation where views are entrenched and trust in short supply when credible whistleblowers with evidence are crushed what hope do we have when war crimes are committed in the current climate we hope that the authorities will soon come to their senses and release Julian our thoughts are with his family and support network signed by media really requires clarification there's a point to it David and Julian are grouped together here legally speaking they are quite different it would be more appropriate you know that Julian is a journalist and David McBride a heroic whistleblower they both deliver us information but they're different from the onset they have different challenges facing them so Julian would be more appropriately compared to Dan Oaks from the ABC from the CDPP it's commonwealth direction of public prosecutions gave a public interest reason to the AFP not to prosecute Dan Oaks now why is there not consistency between Dan Oaks and Julian Assange and why is there not public interest for David McBride the person who actually passed it onto is he's doing that in the public interest it's inconsistent so I think it's important that we understand the difference and we push to expand that definition of public interest and how it is applied to the people who bring us truthful information the second point that I would kind of draw exception to is this focus on media as source of toxicity I think that the most dangerous widely disseminated lies are the official lies and we have lots of information I brought my official aid anyone recognize the ban where does that ban come from who recognizes the ban it's from the collateral murder video and I'm just going to lay these out I don't have time to go through them all but you can do that because they all self-explanatory this was the official story originally that was given to Reuters by the military the generals didn't show Dan Yates the ban part because there was an obvious war crime he didn't see that and he was led to believe it was his cameraman's fault why he got shot so we had WikiLeaks to actually bring us the truth and we had the whistleblower Chelsea Manning you know in more modern times we have terrible lies terrible lies that some people here today can relate to Alta Zira was accused of publishing a photo of a plastic doll that it was a baby a dead baby well, they were exposed by this little known independent outlier I've never heard of them before they're called BOOM his name was Mohammed Hani al-Sahar it was a real child so these kinds of toxic lies we have Mark Regev Melbourne born Mark Regev he's closer to Benjamin Netanyahu telling us to take the figures about the dead the numbers with a grain of salt I quote him there but you know who else we have we have a rough body count and some of you might remember them because they requested of WikiLeaks that they use their data, what they did was prove people died by finding out their names by getting their ID numbers their ID numbers to show the public their original names and then transliterations into English and the actual number in the list of dead and tragically their age so many less than a year old and the proof in the end in the analysis research and analysis from an unbiased party John Sliboda testified in Julian Assange's extradition hearing he was the founder of a rough body count he's not from Iraq it's just a job that he does he tries to bring justice and David McBride said recently give them a name find out what their names are so that people can have empathy because what's being done here is leading us that's the short circuit our empathy so we don't quietly say this is enough we're not going to take it anymore but lots of people are now I was going to say one more word in response to I don't know who heard David speak in the senate with Penny Wong and ask her about the recent supreme court ruling in the UK in relation to refugees now, Craig Murray published an article saying this ruling gives hope for Julian Assange why is that? because the ruling was that it is no longer the business of a home secretary to determine if a country is a safe country what would she know after a couple of diplomatic notes it has to be done in a court and by the supreme court with solid evidence track history current situation now and it has to be assessed by judges so of course that applies to Julian's case because now now really David is asking well we should take a look at this because Pretty Patel determined that it was a safe country safe prisons that Julian Assange was being sent to but the lower court judge didn't determine that she determined that was so bad and the expert witnesses said that they were so bad that he would surely commit suicide and all of the expert medical witnesses agreed right so the thing is if it's not the job of a home secretary to determine the safety of a country is it the job of a judge no matter how high his rank is and I'm talking about Lawchie Justice Ian Burnett who ignored the fact that Julian Assange had a stroke in court his medical condition has really changed so there's a second reason why a judge is not to determine she'll be right mate for Julian the bottle of his anti-stroke medication in his pocket when he's bundled off to a hell hole that's just looking for trouble and there are two good reasons now why Julian Assange's case extradition case in relation to US assurances needs urgent review and we should push for that thank you it's kind of difficult for me to stand here in front of you today after so many eloquent and important people have gotten up to speak before me and you may be asking why is it that I should be getting up here to speak when there are so many other more important and relevant people who have given us such useful and first hand information my brothers and sisters my name is Tom Toby I am an Australian of Lebanese heritage I travel to Iraq every single year and have done so since 2014 on a pilgrimage and I ask myself as an Australian Muslim man of Arab heritage I ask myself what would I know about what happened in Iraq during the war were it not for people like Julian Assange yes, right on and I ask myself to what extent would the Australian Government have been complicit were it not for the people like Julian Assange ask myself how many nameless faceless children who would have disappeared into the ages into the graves mass graves without their name ever known were it not for people like Julian Assange I have stood in my own pathetic way really for Julian since the very beginning for what that man has to go through when I think to myself how complicit the hypocrite in this office and the hypocrites like him here in Australia and the hypocrites like him all over the world faces and give us their bullshit excuses as to why they cannot free an Australian citizen whose only crime was to tell the truth against this western bullshit democracy that we want to hold on to so tightly and I think to myself how much they scare us and they say well you know you should be thankful that you're not living in China we should be thankful that we are not living in Russia and I think well how much more different could it be we're doing what they do maybe we're a little jealous of them that they do it a little more efficiently than what we do but stay on this path and we will end up there soon enough I've heard it said to me before you bloody wog go back to your own country and I looked at them and I said this is my country and I was born here and it's not that I think that other countries are better or worse I just expected a hell of a lot more from this country when you are going to stand there and of course I'm speaking to the government when you are going to stand there and lecture the world on what it is to be a western democracy but you have not got a humbling word to say about your own citizen whose only crime was to speak shame on you to myself now if we are going to spend billions of dollars on purchasing submarines from our other ally in france well at least we could have put a cover on it and said we'll buy your bloody submarines but why don't you release one of our own and bring him back but that's not what we did this is not who we are as a nation I'm embarrassed to call myself an Australian and the only thing that I have left to love in this country are the people that stand before me my aboriginal brothers and sisters those who would stand against injustice everywhere not just depending on the colour of the skin of the person we're outraged for my brothers and sisters I've spent the last two months shaking with rage and what has happened in Palestine I spoke to a journalist not so long ago and I said to her because she looked like she was struggling the poor thing and I said look if you're not sure how to fill columns in a newspaper just write down the names of the children that Australia has supported the killing of in Palestine and you won't run out of words to say and when I said that to her I remembered my brother Julian my mentor come to the highest of this country and I think to myself Julian if you hadn't been arrested back then you would have been arrested this time and if you hadn't been arrested this time there would have been something else for you to be arrested over because I know you would not give up the cause for your own safety and your own well-being and I just wish that governments here and overseas and I'm not going to talk about the Israeli government because well when you have a man of the clergy here Satan need not be mentioned but I say to people of good faith and yes I include my atheist brothers and sisters because good faith is something that comes from within I say to my brothers and sisters of good faith do not forget your brother Julian Assange do not forget your brother McBride do not forget the needy and the massacred all over the world and you are the ones to be proud God bless you all