A leader of the European left, Yanis Varoufakis, visted Julian Assange recently at Belmarch Prison. The Greek economist and politician who has served as Secretary-General of Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a pan-European and left-wing political party he co-founded in 2016, called Belmarch “Britain’s Guantanamo.”
Varoufakis said that for the past 3 and a half years, Julian Assange spends 23 hours every day in solitary confinement. And he said that “this is an attempt not to break him but to kill him.”
The Greek politican added: “It’s slow murder of a man who’s not been convicted of anything and not charged with anything except journalism.” He said it was “astonishing that there were people on the left who turned against the Australian political prisoner held in the UK. The noted that newspapers like The Guardian have played a role in his incarceration and vilification.
Varoufakis said that while he is holding on, Julian is not well — emphasizing that “Julian’s soul has been diminished by solitary confinement” and he has been shrunk down to a tiny kernel. He added that he hoped that the campaign for his freedom will allow him to grow his personality again from that kernel.
“This is our duty. If you care for your right to know what your governments do behind your back, in your name all those crimes against humanity being perpetrated. Not only on battlefields and invasions of foreign lands. But also against our environment the secret deals with fossil fuel companies — then you must support Julian Assange.
Yanis Varoufakis pointed out that the mainstream media are part of the cloud capital that “is usurping your mind, my mind, our mind.” He said that in this struggle for humanity’s future “the Independent Media are an essential ally.”
