Julian Assange. Rassemblement de la coalition Stop the War à Trafalgar Square, à Londres. 8 octobre 2011. (Flickr)


Quarter to midnight…

It’s high time my friends

That we realize

That the persecution

Of Julian Assange

Is also our own… 

That he is one of us

And a pathfinder

Of some of the crimes

Of these dreadful times

Made in our name…

Hostage of conscience

Detained in the heart 

Of democracies 

Which show by his plight

What they‘re underneath…

*

His persecution

Is a frontal blow

At the foundation

Of our polities

To challenge our rights

Repress our freedoms:

Our right to think free

And to be informed

To speak and to act

To exchange and share

And build together

With our hands, our minds

The warmth of our hearts

And our eyes opened

The world, which we want

To live and love in…

— I say the world, which 

We want to live in

And not just the show

Where we pass and dream…

*

What did he defend?

Oh, very little!

The freedom of speech

Of information

And of a free press

Still independent…

Our right to the truth

And our need to know

What those we elect

Do in our name

Especially when

They use the shadows

To commit their forfeits…

The right of any

Investigator 

To freely inquire

In any matter

Of public concern

And protect their sources

Without reprisal…

The courage and right

Of whistle-blowers

To disclose the facts

That hurt their conscience

And to be protected

By law and justice

If they are attacked…

The duty to protect

Our own privacy

Which is essential

To the blossoming

Of our true being…

The right to fair trial

Not to be deprived

Of one’s liberty

Arbitrarily…

The right not to be

Subject to torment

For having acted in

Soul and conscience…

The right to respect

And to protection

For daring to speak

And stand by the truth…

*

Isn’t it what we 

Do stand for and we

Do every day

In this high office:

Undressing states’ crimes

Exposing their lies

Promoting justice

And hold them to book?

Isn’t it our mission

And the raison d’être

Of our commitment

To keep the light on

Against the dark side?

*

Through Julian’s ordeal

It is our freedoms

That are undermined

The very spirit

Of democracy

Which remains the least

Of the worst regimes

To live and work in

Despite all its faults

Betrayals and filth

Its caricatures

And its perversions…

Its myriad of crimes

Made in our name

With impunity

Without us knowing…

How many countries

Have been torn to pieces

How many people

Were decimated

By this world of ours

That calls itself free?

*

It’s our liberties

That are under siege

Now on borrowed time

For how much longer?

Its is already

A quarter to midnight…

*

He has been paying

Ten years of his life

Deprived of the sun

For exposing the truth

And ignominy

Of brutal powers

And laid bare their words…

*

Rather than silence

Should not our office

Bestow him the price

Of our true spirit?

Let’s not add to his 

Torment, the weight of

Our indifference

And add our disgrace

To his pillory…

*

We have the duty

To firmly oppose

His extradition

Which for sure will sign

His sentence of death

By a law that is

That of the strongest…

*

From a procedure

To a procedure

Those who want his life

In the name of justice

That is not our own

Will keep him confined

The rest of his life

In a cell of shame…

If he does not die

Before, of despair

For having too much

Believed in freedom

In the power of truth

These precious values

That institutions

Are meant to defend…

If he does not put

In act of despair

An end to himself

And to the non-life

That has become his…

*

There are reasons to fear

That he may be found

Lifeless one morning

“Suicided” in his cell

Like those before him

Who have become

Too embarrassing

To the powers that be…

Those who want him

For having unmasked

Some of their secrets

And their many lies

And shaken up their thrones

Have no interest

In a long trial

That would open up 

The Pandora’s box

Of some of their crimes

And make them public…

*

It will be futile

When he will be gone

Across the ocean

Or the river Styx

To cry on his heels

Praise his memory

And beg his pardon

For not having reached

Our hand out in time…

Julian has no need

For crocodile tears…

*

In the lone descent

Of his dark exile

He expects the smile

Of our amity

To lighten his heart

And of our support

Conscious and active

Which only can put

An end to his plight…

Every minute counts

It is already 

A quarter to midnight…

*

This poem my friends

Invites you to join

This plea to demand

To the powerful

Who hold in their claws

Julian’s fragile life 

To release this man

And through his freedom

To defend our own…

This we do not owe  

Solely to him

But also to these

Too precious values

Which we believe in

And which give meaning

And beauty to our lives…

It is now well past

A quarter to midnight…

(April 2022)

Christophe Peschoux is a senior human rights officer and one of the most experienced investigators in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He devoted 42 years, half in the field, to the protection of refugees and people against the violence of states. He is the author of two books and several articles on the history of the Khmer Rouge. He retired from that office last October but not to causes close to his heart.

By Christophe Peschoux

Source: Arretsurinfo.ch, 20 janvier 2024