Wikileaks and hypocrisy

HYPOCRISY, deceit and two-faced-doublespeak are nothing new in international politics but the extent to which it has been on display since the WikiLeaks release of classified US diplomatic cables has been astounding.

More to the point, what has been very clearly on public display is the vulnerability of the ordinary person to the vagaries of international corporations, vested interests and the ruling political classes. There is a tendency on the part of many people to feel frightened by leaks of this extent, it is a huge disruption in the ordinary functioning of the world. Each of us, in most cases, are trained to adhere to the power structures which we are told to. The school, the family, the Church and so on; the effect of this indoctrination can be difficult to counteract but it can be done if we put our minds to it in a real way. All over the county and country, a mass of untapped potential lies on the minds of the population which could, if tapped, lead to massive change.
What has been laid bare by the WikiLeaks releases is the extent to which governments lie. This will not be news to anyone living in Ireland but reading the releases is an education.
The treatment Julian Assange is being forced to endure is another lesson entirely. No one is arguing that if there is a case to answer in relation to charges in Sweden, he should not face those charges. The bigger picture does raise very interesting questions however. He, as an Australian citizen, was at first vilified by both the American and Australian governments to the point whereby he stated his intention to seek asylum in Switzerland. The Australian administration later softened this position through the statement of their foreign secretary and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who said he would be offered the consular assistance that any citizen in such a situation would.
This radical change in position raises a number of questions. What does it mean to be a citizen and at what point does revealing a state’s dirty laundry become a crime? It can be boiled down to what value does a state put on truth? In reality, western states preach a good game but have little time for truth when it comes to the revelation of their own secrets.
Human rights and press freedom are laudable ideals on paper but dysfunctional retardants to the smooth operation of governments in the modern reality of international relations. Western governments, just as they are to their enemies in the “undeveloped” world.
It is easy to dismiss WikiLeaks as just another activist organisation and not connect it with journalism until you consider the facts. What is a journalist? They take possession of information regarding a politician or corrupt organisation which has been lying to the public for a long time and exposes the truth behind the pronouncements. In a more mundane role, they simply tell the public what is happening. They lay bare the facts, in opposition to those manufactured in self interest. In the case of WikiLeaks, this exercise is not carried out for monitory gain.
What is very much carried out for monitory gain, to the detriment of everything else, is the business of international corporations. As a result of the leaks, we have seen the true colours of Amazon, Visa, Paypal and Mastercard. These giants of the international economic hierarchy have bowed to pressure from governments and blocked payments from individuals to the WikiLeaks group. Frankly, pathetic excuses have been peddled in the media regarding potential criminality on the part of WikiLeaks on behalf of the companies under pressure from the US government. A report from The Guardian’s technology editor Charles Arthur will no doubt bring great comfort to any reader who feels that their support of criminality might be affected by a new sense of decency and law abidance on the part of major international corporation: “While MasterCard and Visa have cut WikiLeaks off, you can still use those cards to donate to overtly racist organisations such as the Knights Party, which is supported by the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan website directs users to a site called Christian Concepts. It takes Visa and MasterCard donations for users willing to state that they are ‘white and not of racially mixed descent. I am not married to a non-white. I do not date non-whites nor do I have non-white dependants. I believe in the ideals of western Christian civilisation and profess my belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God’,” he stated.
Clear battle lines are being drawn in the world at the moment and they lie directly between the governments of Western democracies and the citizens they are meant to serve. The desire to keep the people ignorant of their actions is clear in the reaction of governments to the release of these documents and furthermore, their inherent compulsion to deceive is exposed. A farm animal would scoff at the concept of a special or in any way close relationship between Ireland and the United States when reading the cables regarding Shannon. A grain of salt has as much chance of individually melting all the snow in Antarctica as a Taoiseach has of influencing the US President in a decision. It is difficult to suppress a grin when imagining Enda Kenny visiting the White House and attempting such a feat, the man could fly home on the strength of the sniggers that would greet him.
On a serious note, there are very big lessons to be learned from these leaks and the events which have followed. The masses are to be controlled, kept in the dark and simultaneously pandered to when their votes are needed in the eyes of those in power. Democracy is a myth and free speech is a fallacy. Take to the streets and protest and the police will beat you. Work until you are nearly dead or the state will abandon you. Pay for the economic Russian roulette of your social superiors or you will go to jail for tax evasion. All these things come together in a collage that is a sickening image of what is the modern reality for many millions of people all over the world, living in “western democracies”.