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WACA

Here they go again.


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There's a pattern here. First seen exactly three years ago with BJ and DDB. People who wouldn't get the time of day on their own are suddenly rulers of the world.

The rear view mirror tells us a lot about the above two individuals: one outed as a fraud and thief, the other as a supercilious sycophant of the one. Time normally will provide us with answers to the obvious questions, but how time will help provide answers to the following obvious questions remains to be seen.

For there was a tempest in a teapot over Australian 'group voting tickets' used by the WikiLeaks Party in the coming national election 7 September. In a statement today from the WL Party:

The WikiLeaks Party is today releasing, because of its commitment to transparency, the emailed instructions sent last Friday evening to Party members involved in organising the lodgement of Group Voting Tickets ('GVTs') for each of the states in which the Party is running candidates - New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

Their 'preferences' are to be as follows.

  • Victoria - Greens put WLP at #2, WLP put Greens #1 of majors, drop Shooters, FF/Christian groups below majors.
  • NSW - Greens preference WLP at 3, with Pirates at 2, and WLP puts Greens above FF, Shooters and Christian Right.
  • WA - Greens preference WLP at 2 and WLP puts Greens first of major parties and above Christian right and Shooters.

The WikiLeaks Australian Citizens Alliance, where many of the council and other members have long had their home, released another statement. The statement was undersigned by four party members but was evidently the effort of only two.

And the upshot is they're quitting. Two and one half weeks before the elections.

Another Quitter

There's another quitter too. Council member Dan Matthews, who claims to be a personal friend of Assange and claims to be a 'cofounder' of WikiLeaks, wrote an overly 'TL;DR' diatribe of 3,779 words explaining (for those who really had nothing better to do) why he was jumping ship.

A letter to the editor dropped into the inbox within minutes of the story breaking which sums things up perfectly.

It's like they don't know the meaning of loyalty. It's like they don't realise how important this election is. They just throw their toys out of the pram. Dan Matthews claims to be a friend of Assange. But what kind of friend stabs him in the back like that? It's like a political kiss-and-tell - 'ooo the party had to play nice with some people we didn't like!' Welcome to politics.

And I'm not saying he might not have had legitimate grievances. But to do this now??????? A part of me is like good riddance to such rubbish. But I just wish it hadn't happened now. It's worse than pretentious. I can't think of a word. 'Backstabbing'? It's like dumping all the new party's dirty laundry for all the world to see, and it's ironic too, because I can imagine that if Assange had been able to attend more meetings, people would have quit saying that he tried to manage the party too much instead of complaining that he let the party do its own thing - which, after all, is what a party is for. He is the leader, not the nursemaid. Pathetic. It's pathetic.

Some of the wording in the WACA statements is so rich. An example.

So it is with heavy hearts and a deep commitment to the ongoing work of WACA that we must resign from The WikiLeaks Party Campaign team and The WikiLeaks Party National Council as does David Haidon (Victorian volunteer coordinator) and Sean Bedlam (WikiLeaks Party social media team).

Meaning the article in question was written not by the four undersigned but by Sam Castro and Kaz Cochrane. Good show.

One wonders what they'll do now. It's two weeks until the elections. Go on holiday? Then start a new party? WACA in itself was of dubious interest, but with the name Julian Assange on the ticket, people began to notice the WikiLeaks Party.

It would seem that fighting for what one believes is right within the confines and constrictions of a political party would have been the way to go. The smart way to go. Not this.

One might have initially categorised DDB as just another idealist who never compromised in his ideals. History has clearly told another story. But the similarities are still striking.

Postscript: Leslie Cannold

Leslie Cannold is the last from the mutiny. A video clip of an interview with Cannold can be found here.

Several interesting things arise in the above interview.

  • Whoever's getting these people riled up, it's not Julian Assange. Cannold and the others make it clear it's someone within the party organisation in Australia. But they won't say who. Given the data available, it's possible to conclude it's someone not from the National Council but from the local organisations in NSW or WA or both.

  • Cannold blames the time difference between Australia and the UK for not speaking with Assange in the matter. Cannold says her decision had to be made that quickly. Assange commented in an interview at the same link:
    'I went to sleep last night. During the night this whole kerfuffle broke out in Australia. I wasn't aware of it until this morning.'

One would think that if anything went awry in a young party like WLP, and especially if it were happening to Julian's actual running mate, the person most likely destined to take an actual seat in the Australian senate, that she wouldn't collapse simply because there was a time difference between Australia and the UK. Of all the people who could get his ear in this critical juncture, Cannold should be at the top of the list. Yet she didn't even wait for the opportunity. Nine hours tops.

Politics is the art of the possible. It's not about selling one's soul. It's about being happy that one's small party can exert so much power and ultimately carry through one's heartfelt issues. They're acting like complete political idiots.
 - BaalZeBub, Flashback forum

Postscript: WLP Statement on Replacement of Cannold

A statement from the WikiLeaks Party on the replacement of Leslie Cannold with Binoy Kampmark can be found here.

See Also
Red Hat Diaries: Birgitta's Hit & Run
Red Hat Diaries: Jules & The Amateurs

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