On May 3, regarded by some as World Press Freedom Day, rallies were held in many major Western cities on the demand to Free Julian Assange, showing the hypocrisy and venality of the assertion that the media are “free.” Among the actions to protest the incarceration of Assange were events in New York City (at NBC headquarters), in San Francisco, and in Sydney, Australia, and in India. In Washington DC, a mid-day “funeral procession for press freedom” gathered at the Department of Justice (DOJ), then went to the National Press Building, ending up at the Washington Post.
Diane Sare, US Senate candidate from New York, was among the first to address the crowd at the DOJ. Sare campaign colleague Jose Vega spoke when the procession reached the National Press Club. The moderator introduced Vega as the paragon of “interventionist activism.”
Consortium News website today has video clips of seven of these protest actions. For the Washington DC event, see Sare on minutes 6:33 to 12:12; and Vega from 24 to 30:19.
“Free Assange” activists, including Medea Benjamin, also confronted Sec. of State Antony Blinken and WAPO reporter David Ignatius in the morning at a WAPO event celebrating how “free” the media is.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/05/04/watch-assange-rallies-on-press-freedom-day/
