Loading
The values of

Committee to Defend Julian Assange

by Emmy Butlin
I was born in 1970, at the heart of the Greek junta 1967-1974. Both my parents were in and out of police stations for questioning, our apartment trashed looking for leaflets and other anti-regime material. As a child growing up my family and society grappled with efforts to return our country to Democratic rule. I learned Democracy cannot be taken for granted and enjoyed participating in my country’s social movements in the 80’s. Leaving Greece for the UK under the new EU Freedom of movement, I was living the dream of a peaceful democratic Europe. Or so I thought. Peaceful for me, but what about the wars like the one in Iraq that our democratic society waged? The WikiLeaks revelations and Julian Assange’s arrest was a wake up call that prompted me to action in defence of a man of tremendous courage and an organisation that promised the hope of a more robust and informed Democracy. A Democracy that can and should have an educated say in public life.
Portrait of Committee to defend Julian Assange for Valid Values, a project about Julian Assange by Richard Lahuis
Clara Campos, Jo Morrisson, Wendy Hijazi, Emmy Butlin