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ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 05:24 AM Aug 2013

"WikiLeaks has problems with 'democratic processes': Dr Cannold"

<...>

WikiLeaks triggered an angry response last weekend, particularly from the Greens, when it chose to give its first preferences to far-right wing candidates and parties in New South Wales, including the Australia First Party which is headed by a convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi.

<...>

WikiLeaks has problems with 'democratic processes': Dr Cannold

She says internal wrangling over the preference decisions "exposed problems with the capacity of the party to sustain its democratic processes".

"By staying in this role I am implicitly vouching for the worthiness of this party to receive the votes of the Australian people," she said in the statement.

- more -

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-21/wikileaks-senate-candidate-leslie-cannold-quits/4903084


Assange blames Manning, Snowden for WikiLeaks Party chaos

SYDNEY — Julian Assange on Thursday took responsibility for the resignation of a key candidate from his WikiLeaks Party running in Australian elections, blaming his focus on Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning.

The fledgling party is in crisis after its number two candidate for the Australian Senate behind Assange, ethicist Leslie Cannold, said she was disillusioned with its lack of transparency and accountability and quit Wednesday.

She would have likely taken the WikiLeaks founder's place in the upper house in the event the party was successful in the September 7 polls and Assange was unable to return to Australia, his home country.

Other members of the party, which has vowe d to closely scrutinise any government in power, have also walked away, including four of its 11 governing National Council representatives.

- more -

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuimMtdtYu_suiuXzbd6wcuAVLDA?docId=CNG.cc92f361e099a730888da0cdf78b3598.1e1&hl=en

Assange Says Rand Paul Is The Only Hope For America
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023474700

The leak was an attempt to bolster the libertarian brand.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023481343

53 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"WikiLeaks has problems with 'democratic processes': Dr Cannold" (Original Post) ProSense Aug 2013 OP
kick Hekate Aug 2013 #1
I want some of what Assange is drinking: freshwest Aug 2013 #32
It is only because of Assange that we know Manning's 35-year sentence is a strategic victory! struggle4progress Aug 2013 #36
Strategic victory for Assange: $$$. Whistleblowers, including Anonymous: ZERO. What a con job. freshwest Aug 2013 #37
And Anonymous becomes YET ANOTHER group to fall off the Assange wagon Number23 Aug 2013 #46
Money is coming in with each interview, with every web appeal for donations, etc. And sorry that.. freshwest Aug 2013 #48
That's the thing that bothers me the most about the means used Hekate Aug 2013 #39
Agreed and will go to the link. Thanks for more information. freshwest Aug 2013 #41
That Vanity Fair piece is interesting Number23 Aug 2013 #42
Thanks for that analogy of the "monster/and only a bear", Cha Aug 2013 #51
Too many in this country have a similar disdain for Democratic processes. randome Aug 2013 #2
Self-directed movements are better at criticising than creating, in general Recursion Aug 2013 #3
Same reasons Cryptoad Aug 2013 #4
Is he planning to run for office in the U.S.? East Coast Pirate Aug 2013 #5
this was over extremely complicated "preference" deals Swagman Aug 2013 #6
Assange Says Rand Paul Is The Only Hope For America uponit7771 Aug 2013 #7
I think Assange fits the libertarian label and the Skidmore Aug 2013 #8
rubbish Swagman Aug 2013 #10
he explained his views and he may be right ..it's not as Swagman Aug 2013 #11
And some people seem to have a problem with monomania. hobbit709 Aug 2013 #9
Wikileaks Party Lurches .. Right: Preferences Fascists, Mens-righters and Gun-lovers above .. Greens struggle4progress Aug 2013 #12
So many contradictions, or are they? freshwest Aug 2013 #33
I'm just glad that assange is waving his rand/ron paul colors, Cha Aug 2013 #50
There's also the Snowden loving on Bush and the Iraq war, and wanting whistleblowers shot in the ... freshwest Aug 2013 #52
You know, when I read about all of this in the Aussie media I instinctively knew that NO ONE on GD Number23 Aug 2013 #43
War criminals get immunity. A whistleblower gets 35 years. Warren Stupidity Aug 2013 #13
"I think it's great to see the Wikileaks Party stand tall with the neo-Nazi who tried to kill struggle4progress Aug 2013 #24
"Old nonsense?" This is about the current AU election that Assange is fucking up, quite msanthrope Aug 2013 #35
Shhhh.. they do not want to hear about assange "fucking up".. Cha Aug 2013 #49
Rightwing parties get WikiLeaks preferences struggle4progress Aug 2013 #14
Assange's Wikileaks runs into Australian election troubles struggle4progress Aug 2013 #15
WikiLeaks attacked for directing preferences to right-wing parties struggle4progress Aug 2013 #16
Right wing parties over the Greens treestar Aug 2013 #44
WikiLeaks Party risks Abbott controlled Senate struggle4progress Aug 2013 #17
I hate Illinois, er, Australian Nazis! freshwest Aug 2013 #40
He couldn't see the right wing AU First taking over? joshcryer Aug 2013 #18
It's a lame excuse. ProSense Aug 2013 #34
Greens slam WikiLeaks Party's 'hostile' voting preferences struggle4progress Aug 2013 #19
Wikileaks Party scrambles to explain election decisions struggle4progress Aug 2013 #20
DU rec...nt SidDithers Aug 2013 #21
Key WikiLeaks Senate candidate quits due to lack of 'democratic processes' struggle4progress Aug 2013 #22
Leslie Cannold quits as WikiLeaks party candidate struggle4progress Aug 2013 #23
WikiLeaks' campaign for Senate implodes struggle4progress Aug 2013 #25
WikiLeaks 'not a front for the Greens' struggle4progress Aug 2013 #26
Former Wikileaks Party staffer says Assange’s father was the “caller” that led to resignations struggle4progress Aug 2013 #27
Why I resigned from the WikiLeaks party (Daniel Mathews) struggle4progress Aug 2013 #28
WikiLeaks Party falls apart struggle4progress Aug 2013 #29
Cannold quits, Wikileaks haemorrhages struggle4progress Aug 2013 #30
Milne mocks WikiLeaks preference blunder struggle4progress Aug 2013 #31
I LOVE you, Prosense. I posted about this yesterday Number23 Aug 2013 #38
"its first preferences to far-right wing candidates and parties in New South Wales, including the.. Cha Aug 2013 #45
The WikiLeaks party could learn about transparency from the Pirate party struggle4progress Aug 2013 #47
Assange and company are hardliners against government services which Dawson Leery Aug 2013 #53

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
32. I want some of what Assange is drinking:
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 01:26 PM
Aug 2013
"I made a decision two months ago to spend a lot of my time on dealing with the Edward Snowden asylum situation and trying to save the life of a young man (Bradley Manning)," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuimMtdtYu_suiuXzbd6wcuAVLDA?docId=CNG.cc92f361e099a730888da0cdf78b3598.1e1&hl=en

He used and discarded Manning, typical of this entire cabal, they use and discard people. So in what alternative universe did he help Manning?

Did he send information to the defense team? Make legal motions? Send money?

What an ego!

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
36. It is only because of Assange that we know Manning's 35-year sentence is a strategic victory!
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 06:06 PM
Aug 2013

Let's give credit where credit is due!

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
37. Strategic victory for Assange: $$$. Whistleblowers, including Anonymous: ZERO. What a con job.
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 06:44 PM
Aug 2013

Anonymous “appalled” by WikiLeaks



By Natasha Lennard - Oct 12, 2012

"...We have been worried about the direction WikiLeaks is going for sometime now. In the past year the focus has moved away from actual leaks and the fight for freedom of information and concentrated more and more on Julian Assange and a rabid scrounging for money," the hackers noted.

In an accompanying (and similar) statement posted online, Anonymous added, "WikiLeaks is not – or should not be – about Julian Assange alone." The hackers explained that despite a steadfast belief that the controversial WikiLeaks founder should not be extradited to the United States, they have grown weary of the attention paid to Assange:

"The idea behind WikiLeaks was to provide the public with information that would otherwise being kept secret by industries and governments. Information we strongly believe the public has a right to know. But this has been pushed more and more into the background, instead we only hear about Julian Assange, like he had dinner last night with Lady Gaga. That’s great for him but not much of our interest. We are more interested in transparent governments and bringing out documents and information they want to hide from the public."

The hackers also expressed anger that Anonymous members have faced repression and jail time for materials they supplied to WikiLeaks, while "to this day, not ONE single WikiLeaks staff are charged or incarcerated." They noted that hacktivist Jeremy Hammond could face 20 years in prison for allegedly supplying the Stratfor files — the very documents WikiLeaks put behind a pay wall...

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/12/anonymous_appalled_by_wikileaks/

http://freeassange.org/flash-news/anonymous-legion-hackers

Number23

(24,544 posts)
46. And Anonymous becomes YET ANOTHER group to fall off the Assange wagon
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 09:49 PM
Aug 2013

His Senate run will keep him in the papers which I guess is the most important thing. To him.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
48. Money is coming in with each interview, with every web appeal for donations, etc. And sorry that..
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 10:09 PM
Aug 2013

I haven't gotten back with you on those figures. If s4p kept files, he might know. It was from one of his links when we were discussing this last winter. About the same time he posted about the Srratfor files and the dustup bertween Assange and his financial partners, not those who helped after the Swedish affair, but put Wikileaks together. High rollers, all of them.

Hekate

(89,977 posts)
39. That's the thing that bothers me the most about the means used
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:10 PM
Aug 2013

Apparently, they use and discard people. Both Manning and Snowden are young and I wager idealistic. My main emotion regarding them is sorrow -- they are young enough to be my sons, or in Manning's case, my grandson.

I hate what is happening to my country, and I want the truth. But if deep down inside themselves Assange and Greenwald think its necessary to break eggs to make an omelet, they can go to hell.

About my country and its intelligence/spy agencies -- I want the truth. "Transparency" we won't get, not in this lifetime, but the current situation is not good and needs to change. We deserve more truth than we've been getting.

I loved the way Kurt Eichenwald framed the NSA scandal on MSNBC today. If people see something and scream "It's a Monster!!1!" the internet and the media explode. Someone else comes along and says, "That's not a monster, it's a bear," but that doesn't gain any traction. They take a closer look and say, "It's a bear in a cage," but that observation is a complete non-story. The internet continues to explode with "It's a Monster!"

After the interview I decided to look up Eichenwald's June 14 article in Vanity Fair: PRISM Isn’t Data Mining and Other Falsehoods in the N.S.A. “Scandal”
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/06/prism-isnt-data-mining-NSA-scandal

Should make for interesting reading.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
42. That Vanity Fair piece is interesting
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 09:01 PM
Aug 2013

Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and other publications have been doing their damndest to try to even out the left wing hysteria over this issue.

Cha

(295,543 posts)
51. Thanks for that analogy of the "monster/and only a bear",
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 02:26 AM
Aug 2013

from Kurt Eichenwald, Hekate.

It's good to know there's someone on tv who isn't hyperventillating about it.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
2. Too many in this country have a similar disdain for Democratic processes.
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 05:40 AM
Aug 2013

Democracy is messy and complicated. It's easier to cheer on the anarchists.

"...its lack of transparency and accountability..." Amateurs.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.
[/center][/font][hr]

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
3. Self-directed movements are better at criticising than creating, in general
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 05:44 AM
Aug 2013

Time and time again we see this.

Swagman

(1,934 posts)
6. this was over extremely complicated "preference" deals
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 06:21 AM
Aug 2013

in the Sept 7 General election in Australia and I reckon Julian is being unfairly blamed.

I expect he will still be elected to the Australian Senate but will he be able to take his seat ?

Skidmore

(37,364 posts)
8. I think Assange fits the libertarian label and the
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 06:25 AM
Aug 2013

notion that no laws need apply, especially to him.

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
12. Wikileaks Party Lurches .. Right: Preferences Fascists, Mens-righters and Gun-lovers above .. Greens
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:20 AM
Aug 2013

August 18, 2013 · by davidjackmanson

Just two days after Wikileaks Party Senate candidate for Victoria, Julian Assange, raised eyebrows by praising US anti-abortion politicians Ron Paul and Senator Rand Paul, the Wikileaks Party revealed a new attempt to appeal to the far Right. In official election tickets lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission, they have said they want the fascist Australia First Party, the pro-shooting-in-National-Parks Shooters and Fishers Party , and the “mens rights activist” Non-Custodial Parents Party to win a seat instead of the Australian Greens. In New South Wales, if you take the easy option and just tick the Wikileaks Party box in the Senate, and if they don’t win, your vote will go to those three right-wing parties before it goes to the Greens ...

The Wikileaks Party has given no more details about this supposed error. However rumours about this preferencing arrangement have been circulating since at least Sunday August 11, when Greens activist and councillor Max Phillips says he was told by a Wikileaks Party member at the Marrickville Markets that the Right-wing preferences were going to happen “because the Greens are our competition” ...

This seems certain to prevent the Wikileaks Party from winning a seat. While their preferences in Victoria aren’t offensive to potential left-wing supporters, that detail is likely to not matter to people angry about the NSW decision, and it’s Victoria where Assange is running ...

Assange was never likely to win a seat anyway, even if the Wikileaks Party hadn’t angered people today with their preferences. But now their chance of getting anyone who thinks of themselves as Left to co-operate with their organisation long term is zero. (If Assange is serious about seeing the libertarian right-wing as the wave of the future, perhaps they don’t care). But where are they going to get volunteers to come to long, boring meetings on winter nights? ...


http://ausvotes2013.com/2013/08/18/the-wikileaks-party-lurches-to-the-right-preferences-fascists-mens-righters-and-gun-lovers-above-the-greens/

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
33. So many contradictions, or are they?
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 01:58 PM
Aug 2013

All about the 4th, but not for women having any.

All about peace, but goes with the 2nd solution crowd.

All about saving the planet, but against the Greens, FFS!

Oh, well, you know what they say about making sausage. And it's just too bad if you happen to be on the list of ingredients instead of the guys doing the eating.

And the Rand Paul thing?

How many rights is that guy going to take from us lesser folk to get the grifter version of freedom and liberty, and not a peep about that?

Let's see, personhood bills, national RTL laws, no labor standards, no regulating mines or protecting food, water, air, stuff like that, no birth control and no EPA, etc.

Get rid of and sell off public assets, as in no public parks, hospitals, schools or public healthcare, food or housing assistance, no welfare (that includes Social Security), services like fire departments and no voting rights, laws against discrimination, etc.

And shut down the whole government, Social Security payments, Medicare and Medicaid, if Rand can't repeal Obamacare. Because it's just the right thing to do, you know. The Anglosphere and Assange have had that UHC but it's against freedom and liberty!

In exchange for destroying the USA government, we will get a government such they endorsed, the Christian Right in Australia. Rand has already spoken up for a Christian Nationalist regime, otherwise called a theocracy.

No public schools, or even no schools at all, no redress in court, no right to medical care, a roof over your head or anything else. But you won't pay any taxes or have to follow any regulations ever again, and another plus, no liberals or Democrats will ever vote again.

And if you can't Go Galt with a gun, then FOAD.

Assange's fans like Snowden loved Bush and Ron Paul, but they hate Obama.

I think they could see the writing on the wall and went with Rand. The NRA will now come to his defense and love Assange just as much as they do Rand. Just like Alex Jones, etc.

Can the AFA and the rest of the groups on the SPLC list be far behind?

Deep stuff here. I need to get into my hip waders.

Cha

(295,543 posts)
50. I'm just glad that assange is waving his rand/ron paul colors,
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 02:21 AM
Aug 2013

freshwest.

So much human pretzeling going on defending this dumbshit.. I just want to say.. "spin this"!

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
52. There's also the Snowden loving on Bush and the Iraq war, and wanting whistleblowers shot in the ...
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 03:01 AM
Aug 2013

Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2013, 03:46 AM - Edit history (1)

These guys have proven themselves to be RWers and Koch roaches. At least Greenwald has, if you've looked into the 'Exiled,' his former partners who knew a lot about him.

They revealed it wasn't just some libertarian flirtation for him, he was just loving hanging out with those guys. The pix made me wanna hurl. These guys are 1% shills, they hang with them, live like them and share their views.

It's very apparent, when yu see their focus. It's why they never get down in the lower levels with us and their fights are all for the powerful interests.

They don't see us as any use, unless they wanna toss us in a meat grinder for their gain. They are never the ones that get hurt, just like the royals didn't get hurt when they sent their followers off to fight their battles with other royals for their profits.

It never benefits us to get intl their games, no matter how they package it. Now they want us to be footsoldiers agains their competitors. Also to fight with ourselves and not look UP and smell the damned coffee.

None of these guys have a track record of working on the things Democrats care about, that Obama cares about, minorities, the poor, elderly and disabled.

They are tight with people that want to abuse and kill us off. I'm not gonna fight for them, they don't give a flying fuck about my human rights.

Anyone who falls into their cult is their tool and a fool.


Number23

(24,544 posts)
43. You know, when I read about all of this in the Aussie media I instinctively knew that NO ONE on GD
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 09:04 PM
Aug 2013

would want to talk about any of this.

And DAMN if I wasn't right. The silence in this thread is deafening. Hilarious and totally expected, but deafening.

 

Warren Stupidity

(48,181 posts)
13. War criminals get immunity. A whistleblower gets 35 years.
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:20 AM
Aug 2013

And the authoritarian booster league is talking up old nonsense.

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
24. "I think it's great to see the Wikileaks Party stand tall with the neo-Nazi who tried to kill
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:51 AM
Aug 2013

an ANC representative in Australia during the anti-apartheid struggle!"

Cha

(295,543 posts)
49. Shhhh.. they do not want to hear about assange "fucking up"..
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 02:17 AM
Aug 2013

even though that's exactly what he's doing.

"Anonymous “appalled” by WikiLeaks"

"...We have been worried about the direction WikiLeaks is going for sometime now. In the past year the focus has moved away from actual leaks and the fight for freedom of information and concentrated more and more on Julian Assange and a rabid scrounging for money," the hackers noted."

h/t freshwest http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3515856

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
14. Rightwing parties get WikiLeaks preferences
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:22 AM
Aug 2013

Assange grouping says Australia First and Shooters party being ahead of Greens on New South Wales Senate ticket is an error
Gabrielle Chan, political correspondent
Sunday 18 August 2013 03.32 EDT

... Australia First's policies include "passive resistance" against refugees, multiculturalism and foreign ownership. The Shooters and Fishers party is running on a platform to increase access to public land and waters for recreational shooters and fishers, as well as reduce Australia's foreign aid budget ...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/rightwing-parties-wikileaks-preferences


struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
15. Assange's Wikileaks runs into Australian election troubles
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:25 AM
Aug 2013

By James Grubel

... Polls show his party is unlikely to attract the 17 percent of the vote needed to win a Senate seat -- including "preference" ballots from other parties under Australia's complex proportional voting system.

If he did win, he would need to return to Australia or his party would hand the seat to the second candidate on its list, Leslie Cannold.

But Cannold has now quit the Wikileaks Party, saying it was undemocratic and suggesting other candidates might also resign ...

The Wikileaks Party said it would review its preference deals. But the preference arrangements had to be lodged with the Electoral Commission last week and it is now too late to make any changes. It is also too late for Cannold to be removed from the ballot papers ...


http://news.yahoo.com/assanges-wikileaks-runs-australian-election-troubles-080408561.html

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
16. WikiLeaks attacked for directing preferences to right-wing parties
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:28 AM
Aug 2013

August 19, 2013
Heath Aston

... The chairman of Australia First, Jim Saleam, is a former neo-Nazi who was convicted in the late 1980s of organising a shotgun attack on the home of an Australian representative of the African National Congress ...

It is understood WikiLeaks have gone into a complex preference deal with micro parties, mainly right-wing, in a bid to get a candidate into the senate ...


http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/wikileaks-attacked-for-directing-preferences-to-rightwing-parties-20130819-2s5ng.html

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
17. WikiLeaks Party risks Abbott controlled Senate
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:31 AM
Aug 2013

Tuesday, August 20, 2013
By Simon Butler

... The Australia First Party (AFP), which says even the One Nation Party is too soft on refugees, wants to suspend all immigration to Australia, deport all refugees that have arrived since 2007 and bring back capital punishment.

The AFP is led by former Australian Nazi Party member Jim Salaem. Saleam was jailed for three and a half years for his involvement in the 1989 non-fatal shooting of the African National Congress representative in Australia, Eddie Funde.

The NSW WikiLeaks Party preferences placed the Socialist Alliance even further down the list behind the Greens. The Socialist Alliance is placed below the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the National Party, The Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party and extreme-right groups such as Family First, The Democratic Labour Party and the Australian Protectionist Party ...


http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/54812

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
40. I hate Illinois, er, Australian Nazis!
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:26 PM
Aug 2013


Okay, a Texas Nazi. Where there's smoke, there's fire. MOAR Ron Paul Racism:

http://www.troll.me/meme/ron-paul-racism/page/1/

They are giving Assange hero Rand's daddy a bad name, that website.



http://thisweekinblackness.com/2013/04/10/accidental-rand-paul-2/

And being mean to Ron's son, those guys are. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Sorta disappointed with the Land Down Under. A real workers' paradise and all of that. Sigh...


joshcryer

(62,265 posts)
18. He couldn't see the right wing AU First taking over?
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:33 AM
Aug 2013

I mean, I think that's pretty silly, myself, the preference process was based specifically on the candidates, and he should've seen, even with a cursory glance, that the right wing fascists were taking over the platform.

I personally don't believe he didn't notice or recognize what it would do to the Wikileaks party. He lives in his own reality where right wing Libertarian nonsense is actually valid.

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
19. Greens slam WikiLeaks Party's 'hostile' voting preferences
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:34 AM
Aug 2013

Summary: Greens communications spokesperson Scott Ludlam has slammed the decision of the WikiLeaks Party to preference Nationals Senate candidates over the Greens in Western Australia.
By Josh Taylor
August 19, 2013 -- 07:22 GMT (00:22 PDT)

... Australia's compulsory preferential voting system ensures that every vote cast ultimately ends up for a particular candidate who is voted in. This means that a vote for a candidate who doesn't meet the required quota to be elected is transferred to the next preferred candidate ...

WikiLeaks has not commented on the situation in WA, but a similar preferencing arrangement in NSW that sees the extreme right-wing parties of The Shooters & Fishers and Australia First preferenced above the Greens was labelled as an "administrative error" by the WikiLeaks Party yesterday. Ludlam said that the Greens had known the WikiLeaks Party was planning to preference that way last week.

"There's no administrative error. One of our guys was told last week well before this decision got locked away that that was what they were going to do," Ludlam said ...


http://www.zdnet.com/au/greens-slam-wikileaks-partys-hostile-voting-preferences-7000019549/

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
20. Wikileaks Party scrambles to explain election decisions
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:36 AM
Aug 2013

Anger at preference deals
By Richard Chirgwin, 18th August 2013

... individual Wikileaks Party members remained under siege over the preference arrangements. NSW Senate candidate Kelly Tranter posted and then deleted a Twitter post saying that the Greens were punished because they did a deal with the ALP, a party sending asylum seekers “to gulags”. Later, explaining that post, she stated that The Greens “spent weeks talking about the cruelty of the ALP and then do a deal with them”.

The “administrative error” explanation was not deployed in Western Australia. Instead, lead candidate Gerry Georgatos – a disaffected former Green who had once proposed forming a party called The Real Greens – defended the preferencing decision on the basis that it would not affect Ludlam's chances in the election.

“Scott [Ludlam] is effective first preference. Minors no threat. Rest is just hyperbole & disappointing. WikiLeaks WA no deals with anyone”, Georgatos posted on Twitter.

In Victoria, where the Wikileaks Party says there is no mistake, candidates under the right-wing libertarian group The Liberal Democrats – nothing to do with the party of the same name in the UK – rank higher than any mainstream party ...


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/18/wikileaks_party_scrambles_to_explain_election_decisions/

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
22. Key WikiLeaks Senate candidate quits due to lack of 'democratic processes'
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:47 AM
Aug 2013

By chief political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Updated August 21, 2013 19:15:19

... In Western Australia, WikiLeaks has given its preferences to the Nationals ahead of one of WikiLeaks' biggest supporters, Greens Senator Scott Ludlum.

The party blamed the NSW decision on "administrative errors" but Dr Cannold disputes that.

"There were some indications that that was possibly not the case," she told PM ...

Dr Cannold says she understands other members will also quit the party today because of a "collective concern" about the party's processes.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-21/wikileaks-senate-candidate-leslie-cannold-quits/4903084

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
23. Leslie Cannold quits as WikiLeaks party candidate
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:49 AM
Aug 2013

Victoria Senate candidate resigns after party lodged preferences placing rightwingers over Greens
Gabrielle Chan, political correspondent
Wednesday 21 August 2013 04.10 EDT

The WikiLeaks party's number two Victoria Senate candidate, Leslie Cannold, has resigned amid a storm over the party's preferences, which favoured rightwing extremists ahead of the Greens.

Cannold's decision came as Julian Assange's party declared it would issue a how-to-vote card to its supporters to override the lodged preferences.

The party also announced an independent review into the communications and decision-making process around preferences, though it has claimed it was an "administrative error".

Cannold said she discovered the review, promised immediately, would be delayed until after the election and would not be independent. She said it reflected problems with the "capacity of the party" ...


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/21/wikileaks-party-override-preference-deal

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
25. WikiLeaks' campaign for Senate implodes
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 08:08 AM
Aug 2013

August 22, 2013
Deborah Snow, Daniel Hurst

... Three other WikiLeaks council members, Sam Castro, Kaz Cochrane and Luke Pearson and three campaign staff were also resigning late on Wednesday. Dr Cannold tweeted that there had been "5 more #wikileaksparty resignations" in addition to Dr Mathews’. Ms Castro told Fairfax Media she and other members of the WikiLeaks Australian Citizens Alliance had tried for two hours to get a call through to Mr Assange in London on Wednesday evening, and had also tried unsuccessfully to convene a crisis meeting of the Council ...

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/wikileaks-campaign-for-senate-implodes-20130821-2sbqc.html

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
26. WikiLeaks 'not a front for the Greens'
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:06 AM
Aug 2013

12:01am August 23, 2013

... Greens Leader Christine Milne went as far as accusing WikiLeaks as "betraying" her party.

The party has rejected that claim, saying it had placed the Greens first among the major parties in all states where it has candidates.

"Milne's comments must be seen as ungracious and part of a hostile attempt to divert voters from the WikiLeaks Party," it said in a statement on Thursday ...

WikiLeaks has both right-wing and left-wing policy goals, it says ...


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/08/23/00/04/wikileaks-not-a-front-for-the-greens

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
27. Former Wikileaks Party staffer says Assange’s father was the “caller” that led to resignations
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:09 AM
Aug 2013

By Terence Huynh on August 22, 2013

Former Wikileaks Party social media captain Sean Bedlam – who is also a member of the Wikileaks Australian Citizens Alliance – has said that he was one of the recipients of the series of calls that led to the mass resignation of Leslie Cannold and six others (including himself), and has revealed the identity of the caller.

In a series of tweets, he has identified John Shipton – the party’s secretary and Julian Assange’s father – as the person who made the calls ...


http://techgeek.com.au/2013/08/22/former-wikileaks-party-staffer-says-assanges-father-was-the-caller-that-led-to-resignations/

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
28. Why I resigned from the WikiLeaks party (Daniel Mathews)
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:14 AM
Aug 2013

I was a member of the WikiLeaks party national council and have been a friend of Julian Assange since university. Here is why I am resigning from my position
Daniel Mathews
Wednesday 21 August 2013 23.19 EDT

... National council meetings have been held at least weekly for several months. Until last Friday, Julian had attended precisely one meeting. He is extremely busy, of course, and has many important things to do. Helping Edward Snowden is surely more important than attending a council meeting. But still, attending one out of the first 13 National council meetings of the party (all of which he could call in to) is a fairly low participation rate in one’s own party, for a man confined to an embassy equipped with a telephone ...

Although Assange had not attended the meeting, after receiving the council’s resolution by email he quickly wrote a long email entitled “NC micromanagement of preferences”, in which he expressed his displeasure with the council in making such requests, and proposed an alternative structure for preference decisions. Negotiations would be done by lead candidates, with no restraints on them, and Assange having a right of veto. He proposed giving the national council a role in rubber-stamping the results of this process.

Thus, one member of the national council was proposing to grant themselves a right of veto and to reduce it to a rubber stamp. Given the eagerness of some to pursue deals even with the far right, I and several others on the national council were keen to retain the national council’s role in these important decisions.

I told the council that the party could have been set up autocratically, but it was not set up that way. It was set up with a reasonably democratic structure, with a governing council with membership and representation from various sectors supportive of, and related to, WikiLeaks. If it could be overridden by the lead candidate when he disagreed, it would be a sham. This received the support of several others on the council, and it thus appeared that the council would not be reduced to a sham ...


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/22/wikileaks-julian-assange

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
29. WikiLeaks Party falls apart
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:19 AM
Aug 2013

By Michelle Starr
August 22, 2013

Ethicist Dr Leslie Cannold and mathematician Dr Daniel Mathews have both announced their resignations from Julian Assange's WikiLeaks Party, citing the allocation of voting preferences to right-wing parties as the reason for their abrupt departures ...

Dr Mathews went into rather more detail on his personal blog ...

Mathews' closing statements, however, were damning for the WikiLeaks Party. "<Assange> really ought not to have set up a party with internal democracy. As his own political self, he has many innovative ideas, influence, eloquence, knowledge and skills," he said. "He is, however, his own man, and not one suited to a party with democratic National Council oversight. I wish him luck and all the best for the election and the future" ...


http://www.cnet.com.au/wikileaks-party-falls-apart-339345249.htm

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
30. Cannold quits, Wikileaks haemorrhages
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:22 AM
Aug 2013

By Evelyn Tsitas - posted Thursday, 22 August 2013

... News of Cannold's decision was carried within hours by the Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, ABC Online, The Australian, the Herald Sun, SBS , and The Guardian.

But not, officially, by the WikiLeaks Party. The same party, no less, whose Senate candidates jointly issued a statement on 10 August about how the Daily Telegraph's Election coverage undermines Australian Democracy; "when such blatant political positioning is combined with the pitiful facts of the extreme concentration of ownership in the Australian media, we have to be concerned for the health of Australian democracy."

That is the type of statement that may come back to haunt a party less than eager to air its dirty washing in transparent view of everyone. Indeed, on the WikiLeaks Party website, there is a repost and comments of a 2010 talk Julian Assange did with Director of TED Talk Chris Anderson. Assange said, "Can it possibly be true, it's a worry isn't it, that the rest of the world media is doing such a bad job that a little group of activists is able to release more of that type of information than the rest of the world press combined."

Perhaps those who live by these words should be prepared to stick by them during the election. Is it too much to expect an immediate response from the WikiLeaks Party about Cannold's resignation? Or from Assange about his second running mate's sudden exit? ...


http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15383

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
31. Milne mocks WikiLeaks preference blunder
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 11:36 AM
Aug 2013

AAP
August 20, 2013 3:17PM

... Greens leader Christine Milne ... said it was "shocking" Julian Assange's party had "betrayed" WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam by putting him last on their how to vote card, behind conservative candidates, given he was one of their staunchest supporters.

"WikiLeaks has said that their preference arrangements in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia were all administrative errors," she told reporters in Perth.

"One has to wonder how it is possible to make administrative errors with three different sets of negotiations in three states.

"If that is the best they can do, it's not a very good recommendation to be sending anyone from that party to Canberra" ...


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/milne-mocks-wikileaks-preference-blunder/story-fni0xqi4-1226700653344

Number23

(24,544 posts)
38. I LOVE you, Prosense. I posted about this yesterday
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 07:09 PM
Aug 2013

but I was not going to start an OP about it. I don't start OPs in this forum anymore.

This is the post I did yesterday http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=572309

Not only does he have a serious problem with democracy within his organization, but he has been aligning his party with known white supremacists and right wingers. What a shock. The man who admitted admiring Ron Paul and ran from the law rather than face justice is a right winger. Seems everyone with half a clue has jumped the Assange ship. Which would certainly explain his unending devotees in GD.

Cha

(295,543 posts)
45. "its first preferences to far-right wing candidates and parties in New South Wales, including the..
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 09:22 PM
Aug 2013
Australia First Party which is headed by a convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi."

WTH?! That's like asshat saying "rand paul is the only one who can save America". What a fucking joke.

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
47. The WikiLeaks party could learn about transparency from the Pirate party
Thu Aug 22, 2013, 09:49 PM
Aug 2013

The WikiLeaks party seems to be imploding, with candidates and volunteers resigning en masse. Australia's Pirate party, on the other hand, is more transparent and accountable
Asher Wolf
Thursday 22 August 2013 21.38 EDT

... The WikiLeaks party preferenced the extreme right party Australia First above the Greens in New South Wales, and placed WikiLeaks-supporter Western Australian Greens senator Ludlam below the Nationals. While many party members initially claimed their unpalatable choices were an “administrative error”, many have since suggested such claims are a bald-faced lie, especially since Greens staffer Max Phillips had already noted last week that WikiLeaks party’s NSW deputy registered officer Cassie Findlay had informed him of their preferences at least a week before the “error” became public knowledge.

Others, such as Western Australian WikiLeaks party Senate candidate Gerry Georgatis, aren't claiming preferencing decisions are any kind of mistake. In fact, Georgatis seems happy about it, which may have something to do with the fact that he was a previous Greens candidate. Crickey reports he broke with the Greens in 2009, and one may guess, was potentially thrilled at the opportunity to slide the knife in at any cost – much to the horror of party volunteers, who appear to be quitting en masse ...

The answer lies with participatory democracy in party processes. WikiLeaks party’s national council seemed to compromise mostly of a self-elected group of friends and loosely linked acquaintances. They rushed to select potential electoral candidates and create a policy platform in time for the Australian Electoral Council (AEC). The WikiLeaks party national council meetings seem to have mostly been a closed affair – as a result, there possibly wasn’t critical oversight to scrutinise processes and add much needed pressure to ensure the party was run democratically ...


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/23/wikileaks-pirate-party

Dawson Leery

(19,348 posts)
53. Assange and company are hardliners against government services which
Fri Aug 23, 2013, 12:08 PM
Aug 2013

help people. Assange and Snowden are Rand Paul fans. That says enough.

For the record, the Australia First Party = Tea Party.

Assange has no integrity.

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