Without a semblance of doubt, last couple of weeks in international have been dominated by Wikileaks, whistleblower journalism & freedom of speech – oh, there you go again!
The information leaked by Wikileaks (or claimed to have been possessed) coupled with the sensitivity & criticality is definitely the LARGEST piece of information ever that was supposed to be secret has been released. Of course, without even thinking a bit, I’d laud the courage of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange of taking on the US diplomacy. This announcement is where it all started, this time. Definitely not the first time for Wikileaks!
Credibility & authenticity of the leaked cables was in doubt ONLY TILL the US started reacting the way it did. After that, everyone should be in a position to trust Wikileaks completely. Frankly, it would not be a big deal for me had the White House not reacted – even if it were to be true!
US’ diplomatic leadership of the entire world & its’ position of a global super-power that matters to each & every nation across the world has actually made these cables worth what they are. I mean, seriously, who would have given a shit about cables from Ethiopia or Thailand or Hungary?
Whatever it may be, whether we agree with Wikileaks or not – we should stand up for them to say what they want to. Whistleblower journalism is not new, especially to the US. Whistle-blowing is something that keeps us honest & transparent – it is an extremely necessary aspect of journalism & free speech (and thus, democracy, too).
On the other hand, is it justified to jeopardize America’s relationship with many other countries, leaking what could be best described as ‘opinions’ of American diplomats? Most of the cables are ‘judgments’ or ‘opinions’ of American outpost staff – there is no evidence of these opinions majorly influencing White House’s actions. Like every other nation, even the US has the right to have certain level of opinions on other countries – THIS is how foreign department works (the busiest one at that).
Again I say, I don’t trust Wikileaks that much – they might be blackmailing, they might not be responsible, they might not understand the sensitivity of their leaks – but that does NOT give anyone right to have them blocked. According to laws & regulations of many a countries – nothing that Wikileaks has done is illegal. Nothing that Wikileaks has done or is doing – has incited any kind of violence or placed American soldiers’ lives in danger, as the state might claim.
Whatever two sides of a coin say – the effort of the White house to suppress the voice of Wikileaks has actually made me & lot others speak for Wikileaks (even if I may not have, in the first place). Whether it is influencing Amazon pulling the plug on hosting Wikileaks or PayPal banning the Wikileaks payments – this can’t be supported. The life threats to Assange followed by his arrest were not at all called for. This kind of reacting is detrimental to Internet & the gift of expression on internet. No way, you can get away with this!
If the vocal online community can pressurize the Iran govt & win, why can’t we do the same in USA, the capital of world freedom?
Notable support has come from www.nytimes.com that has run the entire Wikileaks episode on it’s website for days. Some of the intelligent supporters being less ‘right’ & more ‘wrong’, have dealt a blow to Amazon & PayPal using Operation Payback
Many people attending rallies with numerous mirror sites making it easier for Wikileaks has displayed that we are not going to go down! For my part, I have signed online petition at http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/
I am speaking up, not just for Wikileaks, but for freedom of expression & openness of the internet.
My scribble 