{"id":246921,"date":"2021-12-11T08:14:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T08:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=246921"},"modified":"2021-12-12T08:33:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T08:33:07","slug":"as-fascism-casts-off-its-disguises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=246921","title":{"rendered":"As Fascism Casts Off Its Disguises"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Caitlin Johnstone \u2013 Caitlinjohnstone.com Dec 10, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The US government has <a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2021\/12\/10\/assange-loses-high-court-allows-us-appeal-sends-assange-case-back-to-lower-court\/\">won its appeal<\/a>\u00a0against a lower British court\u2019s rejection of its extradition request to prosecute Julian Assange for journalistic activity under the Espionage Act. Rather than going free, the WikiLeaks founder will continue to languish in Belmarsh Prison where he has already spent over two and a half years despite having been convicted of no crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result, that extradition request will now be sent to British Home Secretary Prita Patel, who technically must approve all extradition requests but, given the U.K. Government\u2019s long-time subservience to the U.S. security state, is all but certain to rubber-stamp it,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/greenwald.substack.com\/p\/julian-assange-loses-appeal-british\">writes Glenn Greenwald<\/a>. \u201cAssange\u2019s representatives, including his fiancee Stella Morris, have vowed to appeal the ruling, but today\u2019s victory for the U.S. means that Assange\u2019s freedom, if it ever comes, is further away than ever: not months but years even under the best of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark this day as fascism casts off its disguises,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnpilger\/status\/1469259818779226115\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0journalist John Pilger of the ruling.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Media freedom plays an indispensable role in informing the public, holding governments accountable, and telling stories that otherwise would not be told. The U.S. will continue to stand up for the brave and necessary work of journalists around the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SummitForDemocracy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SummitForDemocracy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ilitbdzSd1\">pic.twitter.com\/ilitbdzSd1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecBlinken\/status\/1468590944752599041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 8, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This ruling which allows the US to continue working to extradite a journalist for exposing US war crimes comes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/summit-for-democracy\/\">on the final day<\/a> of Washington\u2019s so-called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2021\/12\/10\/summ-d10.html\">Summit for Democracy<\/a>\u201c, where the\u00a0US Secretary of State <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecBlinken\/status\/1468590944752599041\">made a grandiose show<\/a> about how press freedom \u201cplays an indispensable role in informing the public, holding governments accountable, and telling stories that otherwise would not be told\u201d and said \u201cThe U.S. will continue to stand up for the brave and necessary work of journalists around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This ruling also comes on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/human-rights-day-2021-when-did-the-un-adopt-a-universal-declaration-for-human-rights-2645129\">UN Human Rights Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes on the same day as two journalists formally received the Nobel Peace Prizes they\u2019d been rewarded and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/12\/10\/nobel-peace-prize-2021-winners-ressa-muratov-journalism\">demanded protections for journalists<\/a> in their acceptance speech.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes as the US government <a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2021\/12\/09\/can-media-be-independent-if-it-accepts-us-funding\/\">pledges hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a> in support for \u201cindependent media\u201d around the world <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcmediaaction\/status\/1468567036959854599\">in coordination with British state media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes <a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2021\/09\/30\/pompeo-effectively-admits-to-assange-allegations\/\">after it was revealed<\/a> that the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and assassinate Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy after the 2017 Vault 7 releases embarrassed the agency.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes after it was revealed\u00a0that CIA proxies\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thegrayzone.com\/2020\/02\/24\/assanges-trial-risk-extradition-cia-spying\/\">spied on Assange and his lawyers<\/a>\u00a0at the Ecuadorian embassy, thereby making a fair trial in the United States impossible.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes after it was revealed that the US prosecution\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stundin.is\/grein\/13627\/key-witness-in-assange-case-admits-to-lies-in-indictment\/\">relied on false testimony<\/a>\u00a0from a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/06\/27\/assange-prosecution-relied-on-false-testimony-from-a-diagnosed-sociopath-and-convicted-pedophile\/\">diagnosed sociopath and convicted child molester<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling comes after <a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/p\/us-coverup-of-syria-massacre-shows\">recent investigative reports<\/a> on civilian-slaughtering US airstrikes reminded us why it\u2019s so important for the press to be able to conduct critical natsec journalism on the most powerful military force ever assembled.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The High Court has ruled that Julian <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Assange?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Assange<\/a> can be extradited to the US. &quot;How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?&quot; said Stella Moris. Mark this day as fascism casts off its disguises.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; John Pilger (@johnpilger) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnpilger\/status\/1469259818779226115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The facts are in and the case is closed: the US and its allies do not care about press freedoms beyond the extent that they can be used to conduct propaganda. The way journalists who offend the powerful are dealt with by the US government and the way they are dealt with by the Saudi monarchy differ only in terms of speed and messiness.<\/p>\n<p>The masks are crumbling. Even when he is silenced, immobilized, locked up and hidden from public view, Julian Assange continues to shine a light on the abusive mechanisms of power. He is arguably exposing them more now than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>As fascism casts off its disguises, it becomes more and more important to highlight the hypocrisy, fraudulence and depravity of the people who rule our world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_____________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>My work is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/05\/24\/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism\/\">entirely reader-supported<\/a>, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CaitlinAJohnstone\/\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue\">Soundcloud<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/CaitlinJohnstone\/videos\">YouTube<\/a>, or\u00a0throwing some money into my tip jar on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/caitlinjohnstone\">Ko-fi<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/user?u=4445783\">Patreon<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/paypal.me\/caitlinjohnstone\">Paypal<\/a>. If you want to read more you can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caityjohnstone.medium.com\/books-by-caitlin-johnstone-a5a5e6f71772\">buy my books<\/a>. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/\">my website<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/\">on Substack<\/a>, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish.\u00a0Everyone, racist platforms excluded,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\/i-permanently-release-all-copyrights-to-all-my-writing-use-any-of-it-however-you-want-9ad929b92d42\">has my permission<\/a>\u00a0to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I\u2019ve written) in any way they like free of charge.\u00a0For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I\u2019m trying to do with this platform,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\/11-things-you-should-know-about-me-and-where-im-coming-from-a6b9ddf9806e\">click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/12\/10\/as-fascism-casts-off-its-disguises\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A British court has ruled that Julian Asange can now be extradited to the US. Caitlyn Johnstone on the irony that the ruling comes on very day that the UN commemorates as Human Rights Day <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":186708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=246921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246922,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246921\/revisions\/246922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/186708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=246921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=246921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=246921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}