The dance between democracy, climate change and WikiLeaks

Dear reader,

It’s been a while since I last wrote here. You know, I’ve been reading a lot in the meantime: history books, fiction books, and a journalistic report about the ten conflicts that, according to Internazionale, are shaping our present and will affect our future as a species.

Wars.

The last chapter involves the Amazon rainforest. As a species, pretending we are all part of a gigantic body, we know very well that it represents our lungs.

The book was really well-written; it provides a perspective from the victims’ point of view, and not just theirs. Wars, after all, are a terrible thing: even when they’re over, their ghosts keep screaming in memories.

While I was reading it, my days lingered in pessimism.

You know, I’ve written before that I still have hope for the future, but I feel like I am witnessing the decay of the human species during my lifetime. Am I?

Luckily, another thought came to my mind: I knew those wars are happening and I still know it; therefore, I can dislike it and express it.

At least that, you know?

All thanks to the brave journalists who were and are in the battlefields just to let us know what’s happening.

The bad news is that, thanks to what Julian Assange did with WikiLeaks, we also know how that doesn’t always happen: sometimes, it takes a while until an information reaches the public, us.

Statistically speaking, we can guess that some of that information never spreads out.

Unfortunately, this problem also involves climate change. You can learn more from the journalist Ajit Niranjan in his Twitter’s thread here.

People like Julian Assange shouldn’t be kept in a cage. They should be free. In a world wrapped in lies, telling the truth is a value.

The last time WikiLeaks published something was in 2021.

In my humble opinion, those journalists are doing us a favor, to everyone.

Some of us humans are lucky and privileged to live in a democracy.

Or at least, we are supposed to. We work, or we try to. We pay taxes, or we try to.

Since we’re called to vote occasionally, it’s our right to know the truth about what those who represent us are doing. I don’t mean everything about them, but actions performed ignoring the climate crisis or actively denying and fueling this disaster should be of public domain. We’re talking about 11 and a half years left now before climate change crosses the line becoming irreversible.

We have no time for any kind of propaganda. We’d like laws regarding climate action. Concrete climate action.

So far, WikiLeaks was the only popular source that published these kinds of documents: the truth behind the scenes.

In my opinion, every government that calls itself “democratic” should support the existence of a website like WikiLeaks: neutral, outside of the circle of power. Reliable to a citizen. Pure information.

There should be more WikiLeaks everywhere. After all, how can we be a democracy if we’re fed lies all the time?

I guess, anyway, that people willing to say the truth and expose those who are worsening the situation at everyone else’s expense will keep existing. This is my hope.

A society that has no knowledge of the truth is not free. Freedom and democracy are strongly connected.

Freedom, democracy, truth: either way, we try and shape a society founded on these pillars, or we accept that everything will forever go on as usual.

As a citizen, maybe I should accept that I have no power over it. As an artist, I cannot.

About Julian Assange, I hope he knows that there are people thankful to him and his team.

I hope he knows that many of us have signed to ask for his freedom.

If telling the truth to the citizens is espionage, then the word “espionage” isn’t properly used. This is journalism.

Some kind of journalism requires bravery.

Journalism is not a crime.

You’re free to ignore all of this, but remember: historically speaking, at least here in Europe, when journalism wasn’t free, democracy was long gone.