First of all to get the ball rolling, have this YouTube clip of the JFK speech outlining how imperative government transparency is, how governments should not fear the scrutiny of their people. I don’t know why I’m surprised any more that at various points it appears that events and values an beliefs from 10, 20 even 30 years ago are more progressive than I find them in the present. If I had a TARDIS I’d go back in time to see…
Please not that from this point forward, this post contains content that is potentially triggery in content, comments have potential for the same.
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This post is not actually about Wikileaks, but about Assange and the accusations of rape made against him. This is not to in any way detract from the work of Wikileaks, in actuality these points are not related. Let me emphasise that previous item: the points are not related.
BoingBoing are not often my choice of social justice voices or examples. However, on this occasion they draw together several links that specifically underline the core message of this link salad post: “we can support what Wikileaks does and question the timing and handling of these rape accusations, all while simultaneously NOT diving off a cliff into victim-blaming, slut-shaming, or any other shameful treatment of two women who—for all we know—really were sexually assaulted”. I’m including this because it isn’t often that a massively popular, pop culture and quasi mainstream blog takes on something like this and actually doesn’t fuck it up beyond all recognition.
This post {broken link removed} by Kate Harding at Salon is one of the posts that BoingBoing links to above. Harding draws attention to what the determination to smear Assange’s accusers really achieves, what it really shows about the rape culture that society globally embraces.
Larvatus Prodeo blogs further still on the smear campaign against Assange’s accusers, namely that “it’s hard to smear someone… if no one thinks it’s a smear”[dead link]. The scary no-win impact on rape culture is articulated well here.
I feel that at this point it’s appropriate to follow up with Blue Milk’s post on ‘Who hears you when you speak about rape?‘. That through public discourse the barriers to discussing rape and sexual violence are lowered or raised depending on the nature of that discourse.
One of the major things to occur online as a result of the accusations against Assange is the appalling lack of professionalism displayed by two reasonably significant news voices, namely Keith Olbermann and Michael Moore. The response to their unethical and dangerous behaviour was far more than they could have imagined.
The internet as a protest medium? How could that possibly work? These next set of links relate to the #MooreandMe twitter protest cooked up by Sady of Tiger BeatDown and Jaclyn Friedman. The biggest purpose of the campaign was to not be silent, to not let the topic fade from discussion, to not let the fervour for an apology and acknowledgement of wrongdoing die down.
First, Kate Harding on ‘Some shit I’m sick of hearing regarding rape and Assange‘ {link no longer valid so removed}. This post clears up a few of the more ridiculous claims and myths floating around and also underlines how Wikileaks, Assange and the accusations against him are all separate and do not cancel one another out.
The series of posts by Sady at Tiger Beatdown are profound, articulate, emotional and so vitally important. If you missed the entire campaign via twitter, this series of posts gives you some insight into the way in which twitter became a solid platform for protest and activism.
Now there have been other awesome posts and round ups including signal boosts from various people, but perhaps one of the key posts to include here is the one posted at Millicent and Cara Fran looking closely at how #MooreandMe worked, including links to some of the other posts on the campaign.
Finally, just in case you missed the entire point of this, a comic by Fit and the Conniptions: One In Four.
People far more articulate than me have said articulate, heartfelt, intelligent and any number of other type of posts on the subject of Wikileaks, Assange and the accusations of rape against him. If I manage to get together some brain and energy I’d like to write something more about the rape culture impact of this, but unsure that I’ll manage it at this point.