If you’re looking for a more gripping story than that of the cowardly accused child-molester Julian Assange and the documents he’s released that will get good people killed*, here’s one for you.
With its ruthless dictator, network of forced labour camps and iron grip of its ruling party, North Korea is the last country one might expect to see a middle-aged woman berating a policeman for demanding a bribe.
But extraordinary video images smuggled out of North Korea, combined with reports of graffiti and posters critical of the regime, indicate a growing willingness among a previously cowed public to speak out and demand change.
Such dissent would once have been unthinkable in the reclusive state, but now hunger and plummeting living standards are now triggering demands for freedom - something that no North Korean has ever experienced.
Evidence of the rising tide of discontent has been captured on film by a small group of “citizen journalists”, who newsgather at great personal risk to themselves. They then carry the footage across the heavily guarded border into China.
This is heroism. This is news. Led by brave people who risk their lives to carry news of their plight to the outside world, the people of North Korea are beginning to push back against the brutal oppression under which they’ve lived for decades. They are revealing the truth of the labor camps, the secret police, the rampant corruption, and the wicked cruelty of their leaders. They indict the rest of the world, which has largely remained quiet about what has been done to them and which prefers to trumpet craven attacks against the freest nation in the world and her allies rather than take on the evil of the North Korean dictatorship.
Watch the video at the link. It will make your heart sore, but perhaps that’s what we need to steel our resolve to bring these tyrants to ruin.
(via mediagazer)
*I won’t link to the Wikileaks story in any venue. I have little respect for any journalist who gives Assange or his craven enablers an ounce of good press. He is a despicable creature who has decided he is above the law and should be shunned, marginalized, and ultimately removed from civilized society.
Tags: Journalism, No More Tyrants, North Korea
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I like this post and will link to it on both twitter and fb. This is truly heroic. But wikileaks is helping to prevent our way of life from turning into N Korea's. Nat'l security and secret info is often used to take away rights and extend the reach of govt even here. TSA, for instance, has secret intel that necessitates putting their hands down your pants. The patriot act allows Uncle Sam to tap your phone or imprison you for as long as they deem necessary without a trial or representation. The terrorists have already won-because we're ready to bend over for a cavity search to get on a plane. We must demand transparency in any matter that infringes on rights. Be fore you attack, know I am both a veteran and a patriot-with a different opinion. That's what makes America great. I'll let folks know about your article.
I appreciate that you're willing to spread the word. But let me toss a few gentle refutations out there.
1) TSA isn't putting their hands up your pants because they have secret intelligence. They're doing it because they'd rather frisk everyone than gather that intelligence and apply it in an intelligent manner.
2) The provisions of the PATRIOT Act aren't at all secret. In fact, we've been debating them for years now. Wikileaks' craven actions do nothing to change that law even a little bit.
3) Do you really believe we are better off now that our diplomats know that they can't give their candid impressions of our friends and enemies to their superiors without those impressions being splattered all over the front page of a dozen newspapers? You and I both know that effective diplomacy relies on thousands of conversations we should never see in public. That's no different than many aspects of our lives, if you think about it. We must be able to have candid private conversations in order to make the public decisions that ensure our nation's strength and security.
4) What rights, exactly, have been infringed upon that Wikileaks has attempted to address? I've not seen a single one and I don't think you have either.
TSA explicitly has argued that they have info that requires the hieghtened security-job security through secret nat'l interest. No doubt they will to make this non-argument when their actions are challenged in court on constitutional grounds-a get out of jail free card. I did not argue that the patriot act's provisions were secret, but what they do to you and how they can keep you away from public and counsel-secrecy that is anathema to our democracy. The diplomats candid expressions should be ours-and candid. Those thousands of conversations aren't generally secrets-How's your daughter? Nice, Susan just got braces. Wikileaks does not have to stand up for a specific right for them to be holding govt, soldiers, and agents accountable. If it needs to be done in secret-aside from a battleground strategy in a genuine theatre of war(not war on drugs and the like) then I probably wouldn't want to be a part of it. The govt that represents me shouldn't either. I have a right and duty to know.
Right, but that information isn't secret information. This new pat-down/super-scanner combo is here because of the underwear bomber and they've said as much.
Here's the thing. You're making a secrecy argument that doesn't apply to the Wikileaks story. They have nothing to do with the PATRIOT Act or the TSA? They have to do with diplomatic communications that can — well, will — damage our relationships with friends and enemies and make us less safe and secure. You say you have a right to those conversations. You're wrong. You don't, not any more than you have the right to nuclear codes or secret service plans or military maneuver information. Some conversations are secret because they must remain to in order for them to be effective. What Wikileaks has done is ensure that our top diplomatic officials won't get honest and candid opinions from personnel in the field. That is unequivocally bad for our country.