But what a challenge it was. Can you believe how much the US government has gone through to nail this guy? Quite a lot I'm guessing. But I want to look at it from another angle.
First of all, I have no idea whether the information that wikileaks publishes is damaging or not. Most of the cables that were published just say what we already knew. The only difference is, it is the political establishment that is usually so coy, saying it.
But that isn't my concern. The fact that Saudi wants the US to bomb Iraq isn't that surprising, even if it is damaging, what is surprising is the control that can, and clearly has been exerted on almost every institution that should be resilient to control, for the purpose of protecting freedom and preventing the fascist state.
Ordoliberalism is a school of thought that developed during the Nazi period in Germany. They opposed the Nazis and hated their practices. The hated them so much that they spent alot of their time thinking of ways to make sure that the fall of a republic never need happen again. They'd watched the Weimar Republic go to pot, and they wanted to make sure that sort of thing never happened again. They decided private power, was the cause and as such, this should be limited.
In this case, however, it is not private power being used to manipulate political power, but the other way around. And that has demonstrated some staggering consequences.
So here are a few huge corporations that have given in to the man in black suit from the CIA:
- Amazon;
- 'Swiss bank';
- Paypal;
- Mastercard;
- Visa.
That is before we get on to the Swedish government themselves.
Now these are huge companies. They by rights should be able to stand up to the government, but clearly are even more at risk, as after all, they have more to lose.
This is a scary situation. The only way that Julian Assange can get bail is by cash or cheque, although if a cheque is being used then he'd have to wait until it cleared, which would just leave him in prison for a week. The reason why this is so concerning is that banks, in the name of efficiency have recently decided they want to scrap cheques by 2018. Further, it is the dream of the government to one day banish cash altogether. After all, if this is done, then every transaction can always be monitored... and it would appear, stopped.
So is that it? The government leans on a company and then they stop you having access to your own money? Just think, by Mastercard not letting anyone pay for Julian Assange's bail, they are stopping everyone, you, me, anyone from spending our money. They are dictating what we can use our money for, and not just in the sense of stopping buy crack with my income, I mean buying a man's freedom.
This concerns me.
What happens if a government considers you a dissident? What if they decide that they don't like your hair colour or your accent or your passion for freedom of speech? Does that mean they will lean on the Swedish government to arrest you? What about me? Will they lean on your bank to close your account? Will they lean on your card provider to stop people from helping you? Will they make sure that "that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark" of their approval? That is an unpleasant thought.
I know this all sounds like scare mongering, but let me put it this way, the US is a country that prizes freedom above all others. I would say that in many ways they have it ingrained into them to cherrish their freedom and protect it. Now, if the US cares about freedom so much and yet even their government can act in such a tyrannical way we can learn this: any government can be turned into fascists you just have to piddle them off enough.
So next time you think that getting rid of cash is a good idea because you don't use it anyway, next time you vote laws to your government because they'd never use them irresponsibly. Just remember what I said.
I'm not an anarchist and I not anti authoritarian, but I am, seriously, pro-freedom.
