Start with the Truth

New Monthly Webinar presented jointly with Assange Defense

Assange Defense and Stella Assange present a new monthly webinar series, "Start with the Truth".

We just launched our new monthly webinar series streaming only on our YouTube channels: Assange Defense and Stella Assange. Look out for "Start with the Truth" on the first Saturday of every month 8pm GMT | 3pm EST | Noon PST.

Watch it now:

Each month we will be choosing a new topic that illuminates an aspect of Julian’s case. Please leave suggestions for what you would like us to cover in the comments.

The topic for March is, "So, what now?", an overview of Julian Assange's case and recent public hearing on the 20-21 February.

Our panelists this month are:

Marjorie Cohn, a Professor of Law Emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is Dean of the People's Academy of International Law and a member of the National Advisory Board of Assange Defense. She is co-host of the nationally broadcast Law and Disorder radio show and writes a regular column for Truthout.

Kevin Gosztola, the author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange from Censored Press and Seven Stories Press. He publishes The Dissenter Newsletter at TheDissenter.org and has spent the past 10-15 years reporting on Assange, WikiLeaks, the war on whistleblowers, press freedom, and government secrecy, and he was one of the few American reporters to cover the court-martial against Pfc. Chelsea Manning—the source of the documents which Assange has been criminalized for publishing.

Stephen Rohde, a constitutional scholar, lecturer, and writer, having practiced constitutional law for almost 50 years. He has represented a wide array of clients in free speech cases and has vindicated First Amendment rights in state and federal appellate courts. He is a past president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, a founder and Chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, past President of the ACLU of Southern California, Past Chair of Bend the Arc: a Jewish Partnership for Justice, and is on the board of Death Penalty Focus. He is the author of two books American Words of Freedom: The Words That Define Our Nation and Freedom of Assembly and co-author of Foundations of Freedom: A Living History of Our Bill of Rights. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Truthout American Prospect, Truthdig and Ms. Magazine and is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and Los Angeles Lawyer magazine. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia Law School.

This month's priority action is for you to call your reps and urge them to sign on to H.Res 934.

To find your representative, click here.

Read more about H.Res 934 here.

Here’s a phone script you can use:

“My name is [NAME] and I live in [CITY/STATE].

I am contacting you to ask Rep [NAME] to cosponsor H.Res 934, which urges the Department of Justice to drop all charges against Julian Assange.

Press freedom groups, mainstream publishers, and human rights organizations around the world oppose the U.S. prosecution of Julian Assange.

Prosecuting Assange threatens the First Amendment. If Assange is convicted, future administrations could use the precedent to prosecute journalists for doing their job by publishing truthful information.

I believe that journalism is not a crime. I am asking Rep. [NAME] to stand up for press freedom by signing on as a cosponsor of H. Res. 934. Let Julian Assange go free!”

A special thank you to everyone for tuning in and participating in the live chat of our first ever webinar with Assange Defense. See you next month!