Oxford in the Cold

'Reminiscent of the witch trials of the 1600s.'

Get It Try It

A demonstration is planned for 23 January 2013 in Oxford. Another one's planned across the corner from Harrods on the same day. The reason? Julian Assange is to speak at Oxford. And this doesn't please the LGBT crowd at Oxford.

The LGBT crowd at Oxford doesn't like the fact that someone accused of rape should be allowed to speak before the university. The leader of the protest has done all in her power to muster forces against Julian Assange.

Shadows from the past come inexorably back to mind. One such shadow is the Billy Butt affair in Sweden where a successful record producer was hounded by the tabloid Expressen and ultimately convicted of the weirdest crimes ever described in a court of law, and for reasons (such as skin colour) which have also gone into the annals. Where Billy, despite repeated attempts to reopen the case after having served a lengthy sentence, found himself denied the appeals on very thin technicalities. The hysteria surrounding the case, whipped up primarily by Expressen openly soliciting feedback from the populace at large, condemned Billy in what can only be described as a travesty of justice and a trial by media (trial by Expressen).

The same holds for the infamous da Costa case. And for the Möller case. Public hysteria whipped up to a frenzy by the tabloid media, and no one accepting responsibility afterwards for the ensuing destruction of societal values.

All of which, according to Jan Guillou, is 'irrevocably reminiscent of the witch trials of the 1600s'.

The media themselves are to blame in all the above cases. But they're not the only ones to blame. Crazed attention-seeking splinter groups also play a significant part. What blame is to be attributed to societal misfits who see their opportunity in trampling on others to further their own agenda?

Christine Assange wrote the following.

1/3 On Jan 23 a gang of rabbid irrational frenzied 'feminists' will protest Julians video speech to Oxford Uni Students #Assange #Wikileaks

2/3 The protests are going to be held at Oxford university & outside the Ecuador Embassy in London. #Assange #Wikileaks

3/3..As they will be chanting smear/feminist vitriol I suggest #Wikileaks & #Assange supporters attend,in silence- carry 1FACT placard each.

Christine regards herself a feminist and puts the epithet in quotes to make it clear she doesn't regard the Oxford group as sharing the same core values. But it's doubtful if any of them share such values anymore.

The following was culled from the Swedish Flashback forum today.

You cowardly creeps. You're so damned afraid of strong women. Your Internet hatred just makes me more confident as a feminist and an even bigger proponent of Valerie Solanas' SCUM manifesto. Her description of you is as true today as when it was written. Equally true is the need to eradicate men. Especially all the pretty little disgusting trolls like you. Nice that it's more than I knew of. Soon Flashback and freedom of speech will be gone! Then the next step is to complete the SCUM manifesto to the letter. For a better world. For a feminist world. Without men!

Which in turn is reminiscent of the impromptu speech at the fateful crayfish party 14 August 2010 where embassy attaché Alexandra suddenly stood up and proclaimed that in 2011 there'd be no men invited to the same party, something that got journalists Johannes Wahlström and Donald Boström to nearly choke on their food.

But that's the way it is today. From 'women's lib' to 'equality between the sexes' to what one sees at Oxford. There's no more talk of equality. That's been reached and surpassed long ago. Women throughout the western world have significantly more education than men. Barring certain undefinable margins of 1.4% or thinner still, women are being paid as much or more than men, all else being equal.

Thereof a reason to end the 'struggle', a prospect that would put a lot of people out of work.

But the Assange saga is not about LGBT rights, even though the Oxford crowd are doing their utmost as their siblings in Sweden to make it appear so.

This isn't about male chauvinists, writes Pär Ström in the foreword to one of his books. If you expect women to work in the kitchen and breastfeed as they stir the kettle, my books are nothing for you.

And yet Julian Assange is being hounded not because of any accusations but because he's 'hetero', the norm the Swedish and Oxford LGBT crowds hate.

And yet Pär Ström was hounded and harassed out of the arena by Maria Sveland and Martin Fredriksson, generally considered the two most notorious fascists in this regard in Sweden. Ström was confronted by the duo at one of his 'pub get-togethers' and told in no uncertain terms what would happen if he didn't shut up. An eyewitness to the confrontation told the story.

They're frightening. Martin has mental health issues, aggressive by default. Ström called for a new pub evening. I think it was in March [2012]. Their group crashed the party. They confronted Ström and the others: who are you, how are you organised, how often do you meet, etc. They ended up threatening Ström, leaving him a sketch of his penis being cut off in the middle.

Ström called it quits after that, made one attempt at a comeback a few months later, but something or someone else got him to go silent for good. And all he did - very much like The Pirate Bay - was to refer to formal university studies on gender equality to point out that the likes of Sveland, Fredriksson, and all the rest were trying to profit by the ignorance of others. Clearly a capital offence, one deserving of castration.

That's how democracy works in their world, folks.

Here's some other aspects of their brave new world.

There are countless examples of other 'lynch mobs' storming sheriff's offices before verdicts have been proclaimed - it certainly furthers one's own agenda.

The Republic of Ecuador granted Julian Assange asylum after a thorough in-depth study of the situation, a study that took several months to complete, after repeatedly approaching Swedish authorities in an effort to resolve the stalemate or at least get a plausible and helpful explanation.

But the Swedes have not been helpful. Or forthcoming. Not ever. They've brazenly lied on so many occasions by now it's not funny. Marianne Ny lied to TIME in the autumn of 2010 (and Swedish websites were scrubbed of the incriminating story immediately). Carl Bildt lied to Jen Robinson's face at Almedalen last year. Staff at Carl Bildt's office (for it seems to be Bildt running the show) have been found out in further lies and ultimately told the curious to - in so many words - 'fuck off'.

Julian Assange remained in Sweden for several weeks in August/September 2010 in an attempt to clear his name. He's not exactly a dummy, and he's understood all along how important that is. But so do the forces now at work behind the scenes to divert attention from the message (war crimes, frat boy games, and canards) to the messenger.

So it's not encouraging to see people who live in a greenhouse of hate coming out to start even more hysteria.

The case - and this article - are not pro-Assange. Neither are they against Assange. They're both about rule of law and presumption of innocence.

Of course, if one follows those fundamental cornerstones of our societies, then there is no way to organise protests against a speech on truth and honesty. And the people behind the hysteria lose out big.

Fiona Phillips used to be cohost of ITV's This Morning along with Eamonn Holmes. The two had been covering a trial in the Midlands. On Friday the not always so gifted Phillips burst out 'glad that trial's over and the verdict's in, I've been wondering all week if the defendant was guilty, now I know'.

The look Holmes gave her was precious.

Otherwise it's not so much a judgement of Julian Assange that awaits as it's a judgement of Sweden in the eyes of the world. Swedish state feminism is being inspected under the microscope, as are Sweden's strange court cases and verdicts based solely on the narratives of the supposed victims, as are the racist and sexist social structures manifested in the tragedies of Billy Butt and others.
 - 酩酊老翁
So what? You can't prove he's innocent either!
 - Emanuel Karlsten
Of course no one's guilty until there's been a verdict. But no one's innocent either.
 - Emanuel Karlsten

See Also
Justice4Assange.com
Assange Defence Fund
WikiLeaks: Support WikiLeaks
The Police Protocol (Translated)
Rixstep: JA/WL (Assange/WikiLeaks)
Rixstep: Assange/WikiLeaks RSS Feed
Radsoft: Assange/WikiLeaks RSS Feed