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In reply to the discussion: Defending Assange against sexual assault allegations [View all]BainsBane
(57,771 posts)It is for Assange alone. Whether Assange faces legal proceedings for rape has no effect on Wikileaks and its content. The site is currently running without him. He is one man, an accused sexual assailant with a valid arrest warrant based on probably cause. The inability of some to distinguish policy and principal from an individual or to recognize that people are complicated has led to some bizarre notions. Assange "was dubbed" a terrorist. This is not an undergraduate exercise in post-structuralism. What someone calls him is irrelevant. The fact is he is evading a valid arrest warrant for rape. Full stop. His alleged victims are human beings whose rights allow them to seek justice for the crimes against them. The rest is a function of the inability of far too many to separate wikileaks and freedom of information from one man. Why on earth should exposing war crimes give him a pass on his own alleged crimes of sexual assault? Is your contention that if someone does something you admire they can assault women without consent whenever they feel like it? The fact is his actions at Wikileaks and the sexual assault allegations are separate. Making excuses for him only serves to protect an accused rapist and denies the basic human rights of his victims. I find that horrendously offensive. I believe that as a human being, my rights matter just as much as anyone else. You have put Assange above the rights of the women he is accused of assaulting. No man should be above the law, whether football players in Steubenville or Julian Assange. If the rights of rape victims are to matter at all, no one should be able to conceal themselves from prosecution because some people think him too important.