27 July 2010

This is from several open Wikileaks mail lists for the media, volunteers, contributors and recruits.

Wikileaks on Political Bias

We need people at the US Social Forum, June27-July4, Atlanta
6 June 2007

[Deleted],

Here's my personal opinion.

You're absolutely right in your arguments, and do not need to worry. 
We know Wikileaks is bigger than we are and there was a great 
celebration on understanding that other people realized this too (for 
instance the Chinese government), because the idea can't be stopped, 
it's everyone's now.

Naivety is unfailingly attractive when it adorns strength. People 
rush forward to defend and fight for individuals and organizations 
imbued with this quality. Virtuous sophisticates gasp, finding 
themselves marooned on the hot pavement of shifting loyalties. Some 
of us have a childlike naivety. It's not a weakness, it's a great 
strength.

If you're worried about us being visibly captured by by left wingers, 
don't. Outside of the US we have the opposite perceptual dilemma. 
We're viewed too as close to the CIA and US foreign policy positions 
and have received a lot of flack over it (see our Wikipedia page, 
notice the edits from the French IP's). Inside the US, political 
english astutes are familiar with the Pentagon papers and can read 
between the lines. We'll take our torch to all, and whether it lets 
in light or lights up flames depends only on the quantity of occluded 
malevolence left to burn.

You have glimpsed, perhaps, that a substantial portion of Social 
Forum types are ineffectual pansies who specialize in making movies 
about themselves and throwing ``dialogue'' parties for their friends 
with foundation money. They have increased visibility because they 
love cameras. But what can we say? It's easy to wish that the vast 
array of functional cogs in brute inhumanity, mendacity and rapacious 
consumerism the world over would follow their lead, clapping, singing 
and videotaping their way up Mt. Mostly Harmless.

In Africa WL advisors met with many committed and courageous 
individuals -- banned opposition groups, corruption investigators, 
unions, fearless press and clergy. In the US, the portion of serious 
players will be reduced, since this quote from Solzhenitsyn is 
increasingly germane:

"A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an 
outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has 
lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each 
country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, 
in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly 
noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an 
impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. " -- Alexander 
Solzhenitsyn, Harvard University address (1979)

However Freedom House and others sponsored resistance figures from 
central asia and groups like Front Line Defenders gave their show as 
did a dozen dictatorships who sent their envoys. The World Social 
Forum has, become, for better or worse, the world's biggest NGO beach 
party, where everyone who is anyone, or at least anyone with funding, 
is accounted for. It remains to be seen how the USSF plays out, but 
the attendance list suggests the full spectrum. Despite this there 
will be substantial agreement on one political position -- opposition 
to the Iraq war. My feeling is that the USSF be recalled as a 
crucible for the US war opposition.

Wikileaks has concentrated on the most closed governments, since that 
is where it can be of most assistance. However, we now have 
substantial leaks from the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Strategically, WL wants the main stream anti-war movement (upto and 
including the Democratic Party) to swing in behind it when these 
documents are released -- to steal the issue and with it, its 
retributive focus. Technically and organizationally WL can survive 
attacks in the west, but they will certainly slow us down in our 
important work else where. We must be the centre of the journalistic 
vanguard and normalize that position until it becomes an unassailable 
status quo.

WL is a position to be seen as everyone's friend, since we will 
attempt to grant all individuals (and even the most depraved state is 
comprised of nothing else but individuals and their desires) 
knowledge with which to find their way though the world and a branch 
of action -- a freedom! -- they did not have before.

Victory, freedom, truth,
[Deleted]

---
"When truth cannot make itself known in words, it will make itself 
known in deeds." -- Roger Scruton, The New Criterion, Sept 2006, p.22.

On Jun 5, 2007, at 5:00 PM, [Deleted] wrote:

> Wikileaks wrote:
>> We need people to run a WL group at the US Social Forum (http:// 
>> www.ussf2007.org/) June27-July4, Atlanta. Are you interested?
>> The first US Social Form (http://www.ussf2007.org/) will take 
>> place  in Atlanta, June 27 to July 4th this year. We wanted to 
>> send a team  to present there and make contacts with the various 
>> human rights  groups and other interested organizations and 
>> individuals.
>> We had a team lecturing over 4 days at World Social Forum in 
>> Kenya,  Nairobi earlier this year (http://www.wsf2007.org, http:// 
>> wikileaks.org/wsf) and many excellent outcomes arose (and are 
>> still  arising) from our presence there. Additionally the 
>> atmosphere was of  a personally fulfilling nature.
>> This original group can't make it to the USSF. It maybe difficult 
>> for  another group to produce a full presentation, but it would 
>> take  minimal effort for another group of people to develop 
>> contacts and  distribute flyers etc, which is where most of the 
>> value (WL related  and personal) is in the forum.
>> Additionally we have befriended a number WSF organizers (since we  
>> helped organize part of then Kenyan WSF), that we can put you in  
>> contact with for the USSF.
>> If you would like to join a group of volunteers who will organize 
>> or  attend the USSF, let us know.
>> WL
>> ---
>> "Truth comes as conqueror only to those who have lost the art of  
>> receiving it as friend." — Rabindranath Tagore
>> _______________________________________________
>> Volunteers mailing list
>> Volunteers[at]lists.wikileaks.org
>> https://lists.wikileaks.org/mailman/listinfo/volunteers
>
> Ok, you guys need to keep the Progressive/Commie/Socialist agendas 
> and rhetoric to yourselves or you're going to go absolutely nowhere 
> very, very fast. Now, now, don't get your dander up; if I can pass 
> by gross mis-characterizations of the existing world order as 
> "capitalism", or "white supremacy", you can stay calm and listen a 
> minute.
>
> You need to realize that the premise of the WikiLeaks is, like 
> democracy itself, bigger than you or your particular ambitions and 
> agendas, however noble they may be.
>
> If you want to obtain for WikiLeaks the general currency, 
> acceptance, and protections for it as established institutions, you 
> seriously need to lay off from any kind of partisan  or 
> preferential activities yourselves. Let the content speak for 
> itself, and keep the vetting and analysis open to all. Otherwise 
> you not only risk a perception of serious bias, you will be 
> engaging in it, and worse than that, you'll be guilty of,...what's 
> a polite word...misrepresentation.
>
> Beyond that, if you keep yourselves open to whistle-blowers of all 
> stripes and circumstances, including, say, oh, conservative and 
> religious types waking up to the fact that they've been taken for a 
> ride, too, you  might realize not only more material, but a better 
> understanding of the true nature and scope of what you're up against.
>
> Realize I am fighting some cynical misgivings here, similiar to 
> those of Mr. Young, that some of you may know the nature of the 
> beast full well already, and that this whole enterprise could be 
> suspect, an exercise in well-poisoning and disinformation, on the 
> one hand, or possibly fraudulent preaching to the choir, karma-
> whoring, and reputation-leeching on the other. Sorry, but that is 
> the impression that comes across sometimes. Same old political bs. 
> and scams as usual.
>
> What you need to strive for is the same level of objectivity and 
> analytical disinterest as the League of Women Voters. No, even 
> higher. Else I'll be so disheartened that I'll lower myself to 
> government contracting work.
>
> Good Luck,
> [Deleted]
>

_______________________________________________
Volunteers-talk mailing list
Volunteers-talk[at]lists.wikileaks.org
https://lists.wikileaks.org/mailman/listinfo/volunteers-talk