 Cathy Voken here for Consort Amios and I am in the virtual rally for Julian Assange. We have Jeremy Corbyn behind me. Julian Assange is on a podium just opposite this at the entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice. I just heard that but it's taken a little while to figure out make my way around and in fact the way that you navigate this game is that you use your laptop and your mouse kind of navigates you through the space. You can use four keys W, A, S and D to walk around or the space bar to jump up in the air. So what you need to do what you'll see is when there's anything to hear you can see the QR code there. You need to scan the QR code with your phone and then you will get to the soundtrack so I'm going to play Jeremy Corbyn now and hold my phone close to the microphone hopefully it comes through. Julian's crime so-called was to tell the truth. Tell the truth about what US military power actually means. To tell the truth about what oppressive governments of all sorts do against their opposition. To tell the truth about the way in which big business is more interested in exploitation of the poorest countries in the world than preserving or protecting the environment or the human rights of the people that live in different places around the world. So Julian's message and information was of crucial importance to good decent people all around the world standing up for human rights and justice. But in the silencing of Julian and that's what it's all about it is also in effect the silencing of real journalists all around the world. Self-censorship takes over following the imprisonment of Julian Assange. The freedom of Julian Assange is the freedom for every real journalist all over the world to report the truth of what is really going on. It was to me a quite moving experience when I was invited to go to Washington last month to join in the Belmarsh Tribunal that we held in the National Press Club in Washington. National Press Club within a few meters of the White House of Congress and all the great institutions of the USA and it was that place that building that room where Julian showed the footage of the US commanders instructing people to be killed without checking who they were what they were we believe knew perfectly well they were wholly innocent civilians that were killed by high technology power in this case it was Iraqis but it could also be Afghan people could also be Somalis it could also be Yemen it could also be Palestinians it could be people in all sorts of places in the world that Julian's skill and brilliance helped to expose the vile nature of what control actually means. People want to hear Julian's story they need to hear Julian's story the personal story stuck in this horrible place of Belmarsh prison isolated unable to act in any kind of normal way and he is a Raman prisoner normally Raman prisoners are either released on bail or given pretty good conditions in order to await any kind of process Julian is a Raman prisoner in the most awful conditions in the most maximum of maximum security prisons in this country and then if if he's allowed to be removed to the United States he will face 175 year prison sentence a death sentence because that is what it is thank you Julian for all you did thank you for all your support for this campaign it's up to us now around the world to raise the voice for Julian and in raising that voice for Julian we're raising the voice for truth for peace and justice around the world let's get Julian out thank you. Okay so that was Jeremy Corbyn let's hear Stella. Julian's case is impossible to ignore anymore and it might be the case that for the media this is being ignored here in this country but in a way it's because it's bigger than them they don't know how to talk about it because it is bigger than them by the five publications which is a huge step forward and I think it's there's a complete consensus within the media that Julian should not be extradited and that he should be freed I think you probably most want to hear how Julian's doing he's in a difficult situation and he's a very strong person and he's human and that means that there are good days and there are bad days good days is probably an overstatement but sometimes it's easier to cope than others and just this week we were on the phone and he told me that the cell above him had been flooding so it was dripping into his cell and specifically there were several leaks coming onto his bed and I asked him well how are you gonna sleep and he said well maybe if I contort my body and do like an owl shape then maybe I can sleep on the bed and then the next day he said the the water had evaporated but had formed some stalagmites so this kind of cementy water had had evaporated and formed these like cement pyramids or something like that so that's Julian's day-to-day existence that's what he has to deal with apart from fighting this enormous legal battle and that's the reality of a place like Belmarsh he shouldn't be there and I think the reason part of the reason why the movement to free him has so much force behind it is because it goes to very basic instincts because we're human beings because we can reason we can distinguish justice from injustice and what Julian's going through what's being done to Julian is such an enormous injustice that whoever is denying it is denying it because they are part of the problem they're part of the ones who for some reason in some way are taking part in his torture outrageous people are you know whether they're someone high-profile like Julian or Vivian Westwood or just the regular person they have the capacity to to lead and to to compel and campaigning isn't just about going on a march every few months it's a daily thing you know it's about telling everyone you know finding the right occasion telling people about what you care about and why you care about it simple as that okay so moving on to Julian let's listen to what Julian has to say well that's very heartening to see that so many people care about the values that I hold dear and that is something I want to talk about what can we do with our values because the reality is Margaret Thatcher had it right there is no society anymore what there is is a transnational security elite that is busy carving up the world using your tax money to combat that elite we must not petition we must take it over we must form our own networks of strength and mutual value which can challenge those strengths and self-interested values of the warmongers that have formed hand-in-hand and alliance I don't need to tell you the depravity of war you are all too familiar with its images with the refugees of war with information that we have revealed showing the everyday squalor and barbarity of war information such as the individual deaths of over 130,000 people in Iraq individual deaths that were kept secret by the US military who denied that they ever counted the deaths of civilians instead I want to tell you what I think is the way that wars come to be and that wars can be undone in democracies or the pseudo democracies that we are evolving into wars are a result of lies no more and the push for US involvement was a result of the Gulf of Tomkin incident a lie Iraq war famously is a result of lies wars in Somalia are a result of lies the second world war and the German invasion of Poland was a result of carefully constructed lies that is war by media let us ask ourselves of the complicit media which is the majority of the mainstream press what is the average death count attributed to each journalist when we understand that wars come about as a result of lies peddled to the British public and the American public and the public's all over Europe and other countries then who are the war criminals it is not just leaders it is not just soldiers it is journalists and why one might think that that should lead us to a state of despair that the reality that is constructed around us is constructed by liars is constructed by people who are close to those that they are meant to be policing it should lead us also to an optimistic understanding because if wars can be started by lies these can be started by truth so that is our task and it is your task go and get the truth get into the ballpark and get the ball and give it to us and we'll spread it all over the world well i'm getting my avatar to give that one a round of applause that was a pre-recorded speech by Julian Assange recorded in October 2011 when he was still a relatively free man and the last lines if wars can be started by lies peace can be started by truth is a fundamental principle of wiki lakes we want accuracy and the historical record so that people can make informed decisions about whether they want to go to war i'm going to play one more speech now that is from rebecca vincent from reporters with borders this speech i believe was made especially for this event hello i'm rebecca vincent the director of campaigns for reporters without borders what an honor to be here today as part of this historic gathering at a truly historic moment in one of the most important cases of our generation the case of julian assange reporters without borders campaigns to free assange as one of our very top global priorities because of the enormous implications his case has for journalism and press freedom globally reporters without borders defends julian assange because of his contributions to journalism the publication of the leaked classified information by wiki leaks informed public interest reporting around the world exposing war crimes and human rights violations crimes which have never been persecuted only the publisher has been pursued if he has extradited to the united states julian assange will be the first publisher tried under the espionage act which itself urgently needs reform as it lacks a public interest defense anyone accused in this way would be unable to defend themselves we are alarmed by the precedent that could be applied to any journalist or any media organization from any part of the world the implications of this cannot be overstated it is the future of journalism that is at stake now is a more crucial moment than ever as we await the final stage of the legal proceedings in the UK and as diplomatic negotiations are taking part on julian assange's behalf we are encouraged by reports that the australian government is advocating for a solution for their fellow australian and we urge both governments australia and the united states to commit to finding a diplomatic solution to this case before prime minister albinese's state visit to washington dc in october and crucially we stress that any solution agreed should involve no further time in prison for julian assange he should not spend a single day more behind bars in the uk in the us in australia or anywhere he should be immediately released and of course the keys are ultimately in the hands of the biden administration at no point has any of this been inevitable it is still possible for the u.s. department of justice to drop these charges and to close this case to stop pursuing julian assange after all these years to show that the u.s. government means what it says when it comes to the protection of media freedom and human rights globally so we call on president biden in particular to heed this call and of course the public has a role to play all of us have a part whether it's as simple as informing our friends and neighbors or writing to our policymakers or donating to the legal defense of julian assange everyone can do something to help and it is now more important than ever that we come together in solidarity around the world at this crucial time again in one of the most important cases of our lifetimes at reporters without borders we're committed to doing everything we can in our global campaign to free assange and we stand shoulder to shoulder with julian assange's family with his legal team the don't extradite assange campaign and with you all of his supporters around the world let's come together to free assange well that was a taste of what you can see in the wisterverse a virtual protest space at the rally to free julian assange there's a lot more to see and a lot more speakers but i think i'm going to leave that for another visit so this is kathy bogan for consortium news logging out