WikiLeaks

If you are a news-junkie, you have most likely heard of WikiLeaks. You've probably heard of it anyways..

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organization that broadcast sensitive, sometimes classified, information from governments and high-profile organizations to the public. It was launched on October 4th, 2006, by the enigmatic journalist, computer programmer and Internet activist Julian Assange. Their goal is to give important news and information to the public, and they want transparency in governments and organizations, because they believe this leads to less corruption, a better democracy, a better society for all people.

WikiLeaks is a project of "the Sunshine Press" , and the founders of WikiLeaks consists of a mix of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the U.S., Europe, Australia, South Africa, and Taiwan. According to an article on TIME.com, WikiLeaks claims they use the same software platform as Wikipedia, and whistle-blowers can anonymously post documents there. Protecting the whistle-blowers is one of their top priorities. They want anyone, instead of a couple of academic specialists, to be able to post documents, so that everything can be analyzed, interpreted, and explained to the public, without being shushed by authorities. The WikiLeaks staff goes through every document that is posted, and check the credibility of the document before broadcasting it, like any other news agency that get tips from anonymous sources.

- WikiLeaks is important to maintain a free press

I think a free press is extremely important. It is paramount in a democratic nation for making the normal person know what his or her's government or organization is doing. Without a free press, the government would be an entity that the public would not have control over, and it would most likely lead to more corruption. For example, WikiLeaks exposed a multi-million dollar corruption involving Kenyan embassies that swung the vote in the 2007 Kenyan elections by 10% because of the more open view on the Kenyan government, and led to changes in its constitution. Without these sorts of leaks, and this kind of free press, the public in countries like Kenya is walking blindfolded in their government’s deceit.

Without WikiLeaks, many stories like this would never see the light of day, because journalists in regular newspapers often trust the official sources. But like John Pilger said in an article on the WikiLeaks case, WikiLeaks would revolutionize today’s journalism because it forces journalists to rely less on official sources and authorities, as WikiLeaks can prove that they don’t always tell the truth.

I believe that secrecy is on one hand a human right, and to have privacy for one’s own personal matters is essential in most countries. But when it comes to things that involve other peoples’ interest, such as taxpaying, investing, war, etc, I think it is extremely important that we insist transparency to these kinds of establishments.

In 2010, WikiLeaks broadcasted a video called “Collateral Murder” on the internet, showing an Apache helicopter murdering a dozen people, including killing two Reuters journalists, and harming two children in 2007.

The "Collateral Murder" video on YouTube.

This might be disturbing for some viewers.

This made headlines worldwide, and nations around the world wanted answers from the American military. The American military then began an “internet war” against WikiLeaks, and later a man named Adrian Lamo betrayed Bradley Manning and told the U.S. military that Manning was responsible for the leaks. Private Manning has never been charged for this, but he has spent his days in prison ever since, including an empty 6-by-12 foot cell, where he spent 23 hours a day, from July 2010 to April 2011. WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has hired many lawyers who have fought against the unreasonable and inhumane treatment of Manning ever since he heard the news of his imprisonment.

The U.S. has told the media that the reason why Manning has been sent to prison, is that by leaking the material of the Apache killing, he is helping “the enemy” and has betrayed his country. Although I do believe that leaks shouldn't be broadcast if it can lead to innocent people getting hurt or killed, in this situation it didn't harm any innocents, and I believe that after ten years of being at war with Iraq, people deserve to know what exactly they’re doing there. Not only was the U.S. killing innocent civilians, but they also did it in a way that made ordinary people think they were heartlessly killing people in a video game; 

‘Crazyhorse One-Eight’, the soldier operating the helicopter's machine-gun during the “Collateral Murder” video: 

“Come on, let's shoot!” 

“Come on!”

“Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards.”

I firmly believe that the public should know about this kind of breach of the rules of war, especially when the military is not prosecuting the people who do these kinds of things themselves. WikiLeaks is important to keep transparency in governments and high-profiled organizations!