Firstly, the right wing press have sought to, on the one hand, glamourise the WikiLeaks chief as a kind of James Bond-style Lothario on the one hand, and a creepy nerd on who foists his attentions upon women, on the other hand. These attacks have been part of a wider fundamental dislike and mistrust of the activist, particularly prominent in the American news media, where he has been portrayed as a threat to national security, and akin to Osama Bin Laden. For example, an editorial piece in the Washington Times, Jeffrey T. Kuhner said Assange should be treated in "the same way as other high-value terrorist targets". Similarly the Rupert Murdoch owned right wing news channel, Fox News, has a National Security Analyst, host Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland, who has has referred to Assange as a terrorist, , and Wikileaks "a terrorist organization" calling for Lieutenant Bradley Manning's execution if he is found guilty of being responsible for the leaks that lead to the production and release of the video 'Collateral Murder'.
The specific accusations of rape against two women in a ten day period in Sweden, allegedly committed in August of this year, it has been widely argued by the left, are a continuation of this line of attack on the journalist, deliberately designed to discredit him and his public profile, and, by association, that of WikiLeaks. This is very much the reasoning Assange has asserted himself, in relation to these allegations.
Meanwhile, the UK's Guardian newspaper this weekend decided to publish the substantive details of the allegations against Assange, which have been leaked to it by Swedish authorities, in a move which the protester says is part of this campaign to discredit him. The claims, although complex, do appear to have some air of legitimacy to them, revealing the actions of a man who is at the least sexually aggressive and irresponsible in his private affairs. The greater problem with the revelations is that they hit a "sweet spot", dividing those on the left where it hurts them most. Feminists and those sympathetic to the female cause have leapt to the defence of the women, and their right to a fair trial, while others on the left are reluctant to tar Assange with the mark of being a rapist, and have instead attacked the women concerned.
While the authorities whose actions have come under scrutiny may rejoice at their good fortune, the greater issue here for those who hope for a better, more open world in which governments do not mislead their public, the problem is that a symbol of that hope has been tarnished. In a very short space of time Julian Assange has gone from being a computer hacker sat in a basement in Melbourne, to the focal point for a worldwide movement, in the same way that Gandhi became a symbol of peace in 30s and 40s India, and Nelson Mandela became a voice of racial reconciliation in South Africa.
Such claims may be bold, and at the moment, they hang in the balance, because that symbol is being tampered with, whether it's by an unholy alliance of the authorities and the feminist left, or the poor judgement of the man himself. And while, as much as he Assange is a symbol of a better world, he is also a man made of flesh and blood, and the world should not allow its' idealism to detract from examining his actions, and matching them to the high standards we expect of our elected politicians and leaders.
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