500 days ago today, WikiLeaks was abruptly cut off from 95% of its funds. 500 days have passed since a cartel of the world's largest financial players Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union instituted a consolidated, extra-judicial financial blockade against WikiLeaks. The financial blockade was imposed at a point at which the public wished to express its support unequivocally through millions of dollars in small donations. The blockade cuts WikiLeaks off from its small donors, the vast majority of our donor base. The financial cartel has so far acted with impunity in an attempt to censor WikiLeaks and curtail our supporters economic rights. The 500th day of the banking blockade coincides with the premiere broadcast of The World Tomorrow with Julian Assange, a groundbreaking new interview programme.
The financial blockade against WikiLeaks is one of a number of strategies to take WikiLeaks down. Recently, individuals who are in no way connected to WikiLeaks other than through their intention to support our project have, on their own initiative, commenced litigation in order to fight for their right to use their money as they choose.
Rights organisations have alse reacted strongly in support of WikiLeaks: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has openly criticized the financial blockade against WikiLeaks, as have the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. Meanwhile, a growing number of alternative ways to beat the blockade have emerged through financial intermediaries who stand by donors' rights to support the organisation of their choice. The anti-trust division of the European Commission (DG-IV) has yet to announce whether it will commence a formal investigation against VISA Europe, MasterCard, and Diner's Club based on the complaint WikiLeaks lodged on the 9th of July 2011 together with DataCell. The European Commission has been deliberating for over nine months now, an unusually long period given that pre-investigations routinely take between three and four months. WikiLeaks has done nothing illegal. The US Treasury has publicly ackowledged that the US has no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks. As it stands today, VISA, MasterCard, and any other banks and financial giants can agree to arbitrarily strangle NGOs or publishers by cutting off their financial lifeline. The precedent effectively puts the present and future of freedom of speech, journalism and activism in peril. These institutions are acting outside of any accountable judicial or administrative process. For the EU, this case is a matter of sovereignty. These companies hold a virtual monopoly of the European credit card market, and they are enacting the stated will of extreme figures within the Washington establishment.
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