Julian Assange

• SIGNS of fascism in our times include, among others, the march on and invasion of the Capitol in Washington, the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the attempt to stop the launching of a lifeboat to Hastings and the imprisonment of Julian Assange.

To be sure, under fascism, the bestiality practised on colonised people became the bestiality practised in the imperial heartlands.

The saturation bombing of Guernika marked a beginning of war crimes which were reported and recorded and some eventually central to the Nuremberg trials.

One of the rewards of the defeat of fascism was the restoration of press freedom. Another was the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

However, although there is freedom of the press to report war crimes, its importance must be emphasised. Such coverage is part of a process that is indispensable to civilisation and its prevention a crime in its own right.

Of course, none of the above will qualify for consideration by the Supreme Court in the Assange appeal, but the political objective to strike fear into journalists is an outrage against which the public should demonstrate.

RD WARREN
Broadfield Lane, NW1