"We must protect him": Roger Waters - about the arrest of Julian Assange

“ Roger, thank you for finding time for us.” What thoughts did you have about seeing the police take out Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London?

“WikiLeaks learned beforehand that it was being prepared and warned us in a few days. But it was scary to see the police take out Julian Assange to the street, put him in a van and take him away. Disgusting. Britain has become such an obedient accomplice and satellite of the American empire that it is ready for such a move, violating all norms - moral, ethical and legal. I feel ashamed of being English.

- What do you think was behind the decision of the President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno to let the police into the embassy and allow Assange to be captured?

- Moreno was bribed by promising a loan from the IMF in the amount of $ 4.7 billion. I can say that the surrender of Assange is not all that they want from the president. It is also planned to provide Chevron with the opportunity to start oil production in the most important national park of Ecuador. And this is an absurdity that goes beyond all bounds.

But let's talk about the situation in which Julian found himself. After the adoption of the Patriotic Act and additional sections of the National Defense Law of the United States, citizens have practically no rights under citizenship law — everything is left to the discretion of the Supreme Commander. And the president is allowed everything. There is no law; one cannot resort to his help. I have noted this in the lyrics of my songs over the years.

When the law disappears, we are involved in world wars. And the current team - Bolton, Abrams, Trump himself, his deputy Pence and all the others - are desperately trying to make the third world war the planet on which we live.

Sorry, distracted from the topic of Julian, on which the entire international community should now focus. You cannot allow Britain to extradite Assange to the United States with impunity, and to the American authorities to arrange for him if you wish, torture and indefinite imprisonment until the end of his days. Otherwise, we will give them the opportunity to take a few more steps on the path to absolute tyranny and, possibly, to the destruction of the planet. That is my position.

The question is extremely important. It is necessary that the British people stop their government, did not let this happen.

• Archival photo. US President Donald Trump
• Reuters
• © Jonathan Ernst

- Lenin Moreno would say that there was no talk about any bribe, or about the CIA base in Manta or the IMF loan. The Guardian newspaper, which once collaborated with WikiLeaks, quotes the words of the President of Ecuador that Assange somehow spied on him while in the embassy.

- Moreno, the current president of Ecuador, for ten shillings will say anything. He is deprived of any principles, moral core and guidelines. Only money interests him. And it is clear that he is constantly and consistently lying.

- Theresa May said that Parliament should welcome the arrest of Assange. 70 deputies signed a letter in which they said that this was not about the military, but about the sexual crimes committed by Assange in Sweden. And supposedly, therefore, he is now in prison for especially dangerous criminals.

“He’s in prison because Donald Trump wants it.” The arguments are nonsense. As we know, all these allegations of sexual harassment have long been dropped. Now there are no complaints against him except for the dubious and petty charges of violating the release regime on bail. On this point, Assange is fully prepared to respond in accordance with the normal UK legal procedure. Previously, he did not do this just out of fear that the British establishment, serving the American empire, would arrange for his extradition to the United States. It seems that now this is exactly what is happening.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is just one of a very long series of US minions. Before her were David Cameron, Tony Blair ... We all saw what the course of Britain was after World War II. The country increasingly departed from the welfare state created in the post-war years under Clement Attlee, and became increasingly dependent on the United States. Take at least the base of nuclear submarines in Scotland and the like.

We, the British, know that we are under the heel of the United States. And we need to put an end to this and say, “No. This is wrong and illegal. After all, we have a journalist. ” To deny it is to contradict common sense. All that is needed to be a journalist is to be able to publish. Once, when laws were written, it was about the print press. Now it is access to the Internet and other ways to provide any information to the citizens of the world - no matter what. But the most important news that we, the global companions of Assange, need is information about secret crimes and violations on the part of our governments, which have become talk of the town hall.

Assange, as well as Manning, Snowden, and other whistleblowers who have proven themselves in recent years are heroes. They helped us to get at least some of the information that the powers that be would have concealed if that was their will. And this is in countries that call themselves democracies and where the government should, in theory, act in the interests of the people!

Not corporations, not Donald Trump, not Elliott Abrams, not Mike Pens, not Pompeo, not other rabid people at the helm, but us, the people.

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- You call Julian Assange a journalist. Why do you think many of his colleagues, the media, are now attacking him? And is it a coincidence that often these same journalists, together with the European Union and the American leadership, support the overthrow of power in Venezuela?

“Why do they attack Julian and say:“ He’s not a journalist ”? Why, when it comes to Venezuela mentioned by you, so many media outlets accept the idea that, say, Maduro is an evil dictator opposed by the people? Because they want to keep their jobs, that's why! After all, if they express opinions that are contrary to the attitudes of the powerful, sooner or later it will come around to them. And now you will not receive a warm place, they will not be raised, and so on. Speaking against them, you risk your career. This, of course, is only my guesswork. Surely I do not know. Perhaps some of them are simply so stupid that they cannot understand where the truth is.

Assange receives information from sources that protects. Sometimes it helps them to collect it ... or not. And then publishes, if he believes that the publication will be truthful and in the public interest. Nor is he a journalist? And who is he then? Who is Julian Assange? Here I am, you - we are all journalists. We are trying to find out something about the truth. And do not interpret it to the public, and make it so that it has access.

This is the principle of freedom of information, absolutely necessary for the functioning of any healthy form of government. Including democracy. And it is precisely this that the authorities are trying to prevent, not wanting their secrets to surface. They want to keep everything a secret so that we do not know how they use torture or keep innocent people in prison, or, or, or ... That's why Assange is being persecuted. It is like a splinter for them.

In addition, they - Trump, Theresa May and the rest - want to intimidate potential followers of the case of Julian Assange, who could provide an incredibly useful service to society in the future. This is a deterrent measure. The case of Assange is being tried to be illustrative - instead of awarding him a prize, like the European Union, for exposing ugly secrets and conveying the truth.

- Assange also published US documents on policies aimed at regime change, - on secret plans for the destruction of Syria, on the operation in Iraq. That is, there is a definite connection between the materials published by WikiLeaks. How do you explain your point of view, say, on Venezuela? Here Richard Branson held a concert in support of the course of the US and the EU. Why do you think you understand the situation better than people like him?

- Branson is not interested in reality - only cotton candy and he himself. Politics does not concern him, in my opinion. Branson doesn't care. He wants to effectively advertise himself. Anyone who knows him will confirm this to you. And, by the way, he himself speaks of this publicly. For the sake of objectivity, he does not hide the fact that he is a light-weight opportunist who is not really interested in anything but his own ego.

Until the end of February, I maintained contact with friends who were in Venezuela and reported the situation on the ground. I asked them questions about what was happening. We need to do at least some kind of analysis, and not to trust the words that were repeated to us over and over again: “Maduro is a dictator! People are starving! The United States is trying to provide humanitarian aid to people! We must act! ”And suddenly, out of nowhere, after a phone call - from whom? - it seems from Pence ... Guaido appears and says: “Hi! I am the new president! So said Mike Pence. " Wait a minute. What about the people of Venezuela? Shouldn't he be involved in this decision?

By the way, it’s wrong to say that Maduro tramples on the Constitution of Venezuela. For him, as for most of his fellow citizens, the Constitution is extremely important. Although she is clearly unimportant for a Guaido, he treats her unceremoniously, lies about her, changes and pulls the wording out of context.

- Bernie Sanders, who can be called the favorite of the Democratic Party’s national committee in the fight for the US presidency in 2020, also criticized Maduro and, as far as we know, did not say anything about Assange. Are politicians afraid to take the same position as you?

- Of course, they are afraid. I very rarely use Twitter, but did not restrain myself when Sanders left his comments on Venezuela, in which he made sweeping statements about Maduro and followed the general line of information.

It doesn't matter what I told him ... But he discredited himself. And it’s a pity, because in terms of domestic policy, Sanders fairly tried to move the debate in the US towards progressism. His position is close to me and even admires in something. But he, of course, is terribly afraid of making a mistake and ruining his chances in the 2020 presidential race.

It is enough to look at how new progressists and even those who have been there for several years are exposed to attacks on any anti-war statements in Congress. For example, Tulsi Gabbard and some newly elected women politicians.

- What would you say to British Premier Teresa May?

- What would I say to the British premiere? I could probably say anything. First: “Resign. But before that, think carefully about whether to transfer Julian Assange to the Americans. ” Only all these statements on my part would be a waste of time. I think I need to go directly to the British. Teresa May cannot be used as an intermediary. I think she is hopeless. She is Tory. To the bone marrow conservative of the post-etcher era. And I have absolutely no respect for her. In addition, it was during her time that we were beaten, perhaps, by the most terrible disaster in British history. I speak, of course, about brexite. Just an incredible disaster!

- Do you think that in the case of Assange the stakes are so high that they can kill him? And should this whole story teach us how important information and facts are?

- Assange is already being killed. Have you seen what he looks like? For six years, a man hardly saw the sun, although he did not commit any crimes. And in the end, he may die - simply because the American President Donald Trump wants him to be dead.

When the police put Assange in the van to take him away, he called on the British people to resist. I heard him. I saw these shots on TV. “Resist them!” - and people should do it. To make a general strike in England to prevent his extradition. Millions must take to the streets as if they were invading Iraq. Although those in power will probably ignore this, as then. But we all must do everything in our power to protect Assange.

See the full interview on the RTD website.