Whistle Blowers

 Courtesy of RT

Photographer:  Paul Hackett

Supporters of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange 

gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

Julian Assange stepped outside to make a statement from a balcony at the Ecuadorian embassy in London Sunday (full video below). U.K. police reportedly entered the embassy illegally a night earlier, but left, deterred by demonstrators keeping vigil outside.   

In dramatic developments, foreign ministers from countries across South America now back Ecuador's decision to grant the Wikileaks founder asylum with a formal announcement at a Union of South American Nations meeting today, "in the face of the threat" to Ecuador's London Embassy.

After Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino finished reading the final declaration from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit, he joined hands with his fellow foreign ministers and raised them aloft.

The BBC's Will Grant said it was a symbolic but important show of unity in a region which considers the UK government's approach over Mr Assange to have been colonialist and threatening.

Ecuador has described a letter from the British government drawing attention to the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 as "intolerable" and an "explicit threat".

 Courtesy of PressTV

Foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) meet in Ecuador's biggest city Guayaquil on August 19, 2012.

BBC also reports

It is an established international convention that local police and security forces are not permitted to enter an embassy, unless they have the express permission of the ambassador.

That principle was backed by the ministers at the Unasur summit. In their final document, they agreed on a series of general principles, including as "the inviolability of local diplomatic missions and consular offices".

 

Appearing before a cheering crowd, Mr. Assange expressed his appreciation to the many supporters, including Ecuador's President Correa, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, the Ecuadorian People, and the Union of South American Nations - naming each one.  He spoke on behalf of pardoning several whistle blowers including Private Bradley Manning, describing him as a hero, role model, and "one of the world's foremost political prisoners," decrying his captivity and treatment, and calling for his release.  Mr. Assange also called upon the U.S. to do the right thing and to reaffirm the revolutionary values it was founded upon, and to end its war on whistle blowers:

As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of our societies.  We must use this movement to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return and reaffirm the values - the revolutionary values - it was founded on.  Or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world, in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark. I say it must turn back.  I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff, or our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organization, be it Wikileaks or be it the New York Times. The U.S. administration's war on whistle blowers must end.

Courtesy of Musicians For Freedom

 People demonstrate outside the UK’s embassy in Quito, Ecuador. 

Courtesy of BBC

The South American ministers embracing 

after their announcement of solidarity

with Ecuador