cross-posted from: https://lemmus.org/post/1242124
Assange, 52, has been in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019 and is wanted in the United States over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.
“Assange is a symbol of free speech which is essential for any genuine democracy,” Raggi, who ran Rome’s city hall between 2016 and 2021, told Reuters.
“He has been deprived of his own liberty for years, in awful conditions, for doing his job as a journalist,” she said.
Other Italian cities have taken similar steps. The northern city of Reggio Emilia granted Assange citizenship last month, while Naples is set to follow shortly.
In the beginning he was a whistle blower. In the end he was a Russian marionette. They used him (like Snowden) to leak US documents. His first interview on cameras was for russia today and given the chance to drop damaging information on the Republican Party, he always choosed to drop the dirt of the democratic party. He got played by the FSB hard and is still in denial about this. He is either a bad faith actor or a useful idiot for russias desinformation campaign.
Assange isn’t a whistle blower. He was a journalist who published information given to him by whistleblowers (like Manning).
Who used Snowden to leak documents?
When the DNC and RNC got hacked, the info came out for both. But what the DNC did pissed off the highly politically engaged - democrats who voted in the primary.
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Its not the country, its the City of Rome.
The Mayor of Rome and majority of the City Council is social-democrat
Ahaha you’re what american to go around teaching about democracy? It’s a miracle they still let you vote like it matters 🤣
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Meloni has still been voted by a minority of people, considering the incredibly low turnout in the last elections. “Fascist” country seems very much pulled from your ass, especially when talking about something started by the previous city government of Rome.
Doesn’t change the fact that Italy voted a fascist to power.
“Italy” did not, a minority of people, who did for all kind of different reasons, did. A subset of those is probably a nostalgic.
Meloni’s party benefited from the fall of the other right wing parties. The core base which is probably what I would call fascists are probably close to the usual % her party was getting few years back: 3-5%.
Anyway, this has nothing to do with “being a fascist country”. Words have meaning, and a fascist country is a dictatorship in which freedom of press does not exist, where minorities and political opposition is systematically repressed, killed, silenced, etc. Thankfully, we are still very far from that.
Italy voted. Italy chose. Doesn’t matter if it was ten people or all the people. Those were your elections. Not voting is a choice.
Sure, but the conclusion is still the same: saying that Italy is a “fascist country” is bs.
How does one get citizenship from a city?
Probably the same way you get an honorary degree in something. Someone prints out a useless sheet of paper and then hands it to you.
A PhD is the promise you’ll do great work. An honorary degree means you’ve already done it.
Or you dropped a couple million in money you inherited from your family.
Great work
This is the best summary I could come up with:
ROME, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will become an honorary citizen of Rome by early next year following a vote this week by its local assembly, the city’s former mayor Virginia Raggi said on Thursday.
Assange, 52, has been in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019 and is wanted in the United States over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.
The motion to make him a citizen of the Eternal City was spearheaded by Raggi, from the left-leaning Five Star Movement, and won cross-party support.
“Assange is a symbol of free speech which is essential for any genuine democracy,” Raggi, who ran Rome’s city hall between 2016 and 2021, told Reuters.
The motion was approved on Tuesday, kick-starting a process that Raggi said she hoped could be completed by Christmas but may take slightly longer.
The northern city of Reggio Emilia granted Assange citizenship last month, while Naples is set to follow shortly.
The original article contains 237 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 31%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
