The slow motion execution of Julian Assange

Critical theorist Walter Benjamin it was who pointed out that ‘There is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.’

Considering that the slow motion execution of Julian Assange, currently a guest of British justice in Belmarsh Prison, is taking place at the behest of a legal system whose adherents boast is a doughty pillar of Western civilisation, Benjamin’s observation is well made.

Because be in no doubt, the founder and former editor of Wikileaks - which since established in 2006 has removed the cloak of democracy from the face of an empire whose high crimes and war crimes would make Genghis Khan blush — has been nailed to a metaphorical cross in the name of nothing more ennobling than vengeance and retribution.

The chilling warning that Assange could die in Belmarsh unless he receives urgent medical treatment — a warning published in the Guardian in the form of an open letter signed by more than 60 doctors — should make every person of conscience and consciousness tremble with rage. Compounding his brutal treatment is the sure knowledge that he is not being forced to suffer in the name of justice, but instead in the name of British subservience to Washington.

In this regard the British state is acting like rogue state, evincing no respect for…