Honest Government Ad | Julian Assange / American Empire
Dear Patrons, here's the latest Honest Government Ad!
After election day was announced last Thursday, I started working on an honest election ad for our dear Government. But then news broke that Julian Assange had been arrested and the US Government had unsealed a grand jury indictment against him for the work he did with whistlebelower Chelsea Manning in 2010. I wasn’t planning to make a video about this, but after seeing the sheer avalanche of bullshit that followed in the media, I just had to.
So I decided to put the election video on hold for the weekend, and make a super-fast Honest Government Ad about this.
What ensued was the usual sleepless frenzied mayhem that's required to write, record, film and edit an HGA in 3 days!
It's been nuts, but I love being flexible and responsive to breaking stories - it's so important for shaping the discourse around issues. Of course the only reason I can possibly do that is because of the financial backing you all give us here on Patreon. So thank you for making these fast-response videos possible!
Ellen and Lucy really had fun making this HGA: it's the first time we’ve had multiple characters in one video so they really got to put their acting and accent chops to work!
And to get an authentic Spanish accent for the Ecuadorian Government, we convinced our Colombian neighbour Maria-Paula to get in the booth - much to her bewilderment. (I swear to god this is the most home-made show ever)
I hope you like how it turned out!
I'll catch you again soon for our next video: I'm going to get back to work on the election HGA – but first: sleep...
Giordano
* If you're looking for a bullshit-free analysis of what's going on with the US indictment against Julian Assange, check out the articles I've pasted in the YouTube video description.
LINKS:
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1efOs0BsE0g
Facebook video: https://www.facebook.com/thejuicemedia/videos/257626418365963
Twitter video: https://twitter.com/thejuicemedia/status/1117714882625822720
Comments (21)
It's really a moot point, since the UK or Sweden will send him to the US, anyway, irrespective of the reasons Sweden gives to drag him over there. Julian has already had a personal interview with a Swedish lawyer and "In legal victory for Assange, Swedish court rules against extradition By Oscar Grenfell 4 June 2019 The Uppsala District Court yesterday ruled against a bid by Swedish state prosecutors for the country to formally detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange" (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/06/04/swed-j04.html)
This makes the point I've been trying to avoid, better than I can: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/left-blinkered-claims-julian-assange-sexual-assault" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/left-blinkered-claims-julian-assange-sexual-assault</a>
I agree that Assange should answer to the Swedish allegations - no disagreement from me there. What the author of that article fails to say is that Assange was in the Embassy because he had legitimate fears of being extradited to the US if he went to Sweden - not because he didn't want to answer the allegations. In fact Assange offered to be questioned in the Embassy, but the Swedish prosecutor refused - thus allowing the warrant to expire. But to repeat: now that he has been arrested I do agree that the priority is for him to answer the Swedish allegations; rather than be extradited to the US.
You realise that "News of the World" actually shut down as a consequence of the attacks by the UK government on journalism? I think that's a little more serious than one journalist being extradited. And I'm sure you don't want to start down the path of asking the government to decide what's "real journalism" any more than I do. You might consider shutting down the offending publication (wikileaks!) "a slap on the wrist" but I don't. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal</a>
Nobody was criminally charged for the phone hacking scandal and yes, closing down one publication in Murdoch's vast media empire is a slap on the wrist - he has dozens of others. Assange on the other hand is facing prison and possibly a life sentence in a US maximum security prison. You're comparing apples and pears - these two things are not the same
Why didn't you do a video defending the Murdoch media when they were being persecuted for hacking in the UK? If Assange can break the law "for journalism" why can't Murdoch? Rap News 13 is the closest you come but that uses Murdoch as the forces of evil... <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal</a>
Hi Moz! Interesting point you make. To answer your question, I didn't defend Murdoch for two reasons: 1) WikiLeaks exposed state secrets in the public interest (ie they benefit society). Murdoch publishes corporate propaganda and tabloid trash and the 2013 "hacking scandal" was directed towards private individuals, not a State power. That's why Assange is being prosecuted whereas Murdoch just got a slap on the wrist. In other words, they are not the same thing. 2) I don't think what WikiLeaks did constitutes "breaking the law": Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald have both written about this quite persuasively (I've pasted the links below). <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/04/11/the-u-s-governments-indictment-of-julian-assange-poses-grave-threats-to-press-freedoms/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://theintercept.com/2019/04/11/the-u-s-governments-indictment-of-julian-assange-poses-grave-threats-to-press-freedoms/</a> <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/assange-arrest-charges-taibbi-821107/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/assange-arrest-charges-taibbi-821107/</a>
Good piece Giordano and team, (the Authorised tag was great). The finished piece exceeded my expectations after listening to the preview audio, great job. Such an important piece but, alas, the somnambulent public has has probably already bought into the puppet theatre and he faces a bleak future. Keep up the good work to wake them up to the real issues and threats.
Thanks Mark - glad the video exceed expectations! It's very much a visual experience; the audio previews are just a hint of what's to come ;)
Lots of fun with this one Giordano and nice to see a more reasonable angle on what's happening with his case. :) Oh - the Authorised tag was a LOL moment, well done!
Thanks Peter! Glad you liked the Authorised By line - inspired by the one you suggested for the ABC video ;)
Once again, a top piece. I am worried though that people do not see the implications of this attack on press freedom
Thanks, John! Alas I share your concern - that's why I wanted to make this video, to help shape the discourse in the right direction
This one is worth my Patreon sub by itself!
Thanks so much for being one of our top Patrons, David! I sent you an email yesterday welcoming you on board - pls let me know your preferences for those rewards! :)
Hahaha 😂 You guys are great!! So funny that we almost forget it’s real!!
"So funny that we almost forget it's real" should be our tagline :D
Phew! Man that is seriously gong to piss some people off, which why I will be posting it on Social Media as soon as I finish writing this. The Truth hurts Bitches.
I hope so
Great video, and a good excuse to go back and binge the episodes of Rap News with Assange (as well as the rest of the series). Crazy to think how long ago that was now, the past few years have really flown by. Keep up the ace work, Giordano!
Yes! Making this HGA did bring back some fond memories of the good old days when we spoke a lot about WikiLeaks - gosh it all feels like such an innocent time now!