Thursday the 22nd of August marked my first personal encounter with the world’s most infamous enigma, Julian Assange – if you can call seeing him speak via video-link a ‘personal encounter’.
Image: The Melbourne Globalist
RMIT University and The Melbourne Globalist hosted a live, interactive video-link conference in RMIT’s Building 80 with the enigmatic political asylum seeker. Attendees had the opportunity to pre-submit questions to Left Right Think-Tank for consideration, and questions with enough merit were asked during the conference.
I chose to submit a question regarding the potential conflict of interest I thought may arise if Assange were elected to the senate.
Most would argue that some level of secrecy is necessary at a government level. WikiLeaks, however, strives for government transparency and accountability. If Assange is elected to the Senate, and, as he has attested in a recent Google+ hangout hosted by Fairfax, he intends to remain editor of WikiLeaks, is this not a conflict of interest? How does Assange propose to maintain the integrity of an organisation such as WikiLeaks, and fulfil his obligations as a Senator if elected?
Unfortunately my question wasn’t selected, and will thus remain unanswered for the time being. Sad face.
The successful pre-selected members of the audience probed the senate candidate on a range of issues, from video game censorship and classification frameworks, to the controversial resignation of WikiLeaks Party senate candidate Leslie Cannold last week, to Assange’s visit from pop icon Lady Gaga.
He answered in measured tones, and, dare I say, was quite pedestrian in his answers. Assange is commonly heralded as a digital whistle blowing revolutionary, so my expectations were admittedly high. What greeted me, however, was more rhetorical than revolutionary. These are just my opinions, however.
The most interesting outcome of the event was Assange’s announcement that, following Cannold’s resignation, Dr Binoy Kampmark – RMIT professor and, coincidentally, my International Human Rights & Law lecturer and tutor – would fill Assange’s place if he were elected to senate and unable to satisfy the requirements of the position.
To view the recording of Assange: The International Enigma, please click here.
For The Melbourne Globalist writer David Thornton’s write-up of the event, please click here.
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