Assange’s Balcony Speech

This afternoon Julian Assange delivered a long-awaited speech from the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in front of an assembled crowd of world media and supporters.  I’m intrigued to see what the press makes of it.  You can watch the speech in full here.

I personally found the speech quite astounding. There were various suggestions as to what he might say about the resolution of his situation, that he might submit voluntarily to the Swedish authorities etc. He is of course under an obligation, as part of the his being granted political asylum by the Republic of Ecuador, to refrain from making political statements. Instead he used the opportunity, from the premises of the Embassy, to drive home a very political message and to describe his personal position in some of the dramatic terms that I have commented on in my last blog entry.

Specifically, the language he used would not be out of place in a political thriller. He spoke in Hollywood terms of police “descending” on the building, “swarming” up an internal fire escape, “after dark”. He spoke in the language of the underdog: a courageous small nation standing up bravely to “threats” and taking a “stand for justice”, a country defending its Constitution, of shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful, of unity in oppression and determination.

Continues.