Swedish feminists defend Assange accuser with #talkaboutit campaign

[Loki]

Swedish feminists defend Assange accuser with #talkaboutit campaign

Johanna Palmström, an amazing young Swedish feminist I met in Denmark last year, alerted me to a Twitter campaign that’s started up in defense of one of Assange’s accusers. She’s being smeared and mistreated on Twitter and in Swedish social media spaces, so feminists there have started a campaign, #prataomdet – in English, #talkaboutit. From Johanna:

In the wake of the doubt and skepticism directed toward the women who filed charges against Julian Assange, journalist Johanna Koljonen recently tweeted openly and intimately about drawing lines, gray areas, and crystal clear violations in sexual situations. Hundreds followed Koljonen’s example on Twitter under the hashtag #prataomdet (”#talkaboutit”). As a result of this debate, several Swedish magazines, newspapers and other media outlets are publishing pieces on the subject. Something is going to change. We are going to dare to #talkaboutit.

Find out more about the campaign here, and please consider tweeting your support!

[Loki]

I think it would probably be better for Assange to go to Sweden and get his name cleared, or guilt confirmed. Sweden would be less likely to extradite him to the US. Unless I'm terribly mistaken. Why doesn't he go there?

[SwordoftheVistula]

I think it would probably be better for Assange to go to Sweden and get his name cleared, or guilt confirmed. Sweden would be less likely to extradite him to the US. Unless I'm terribly mistaken. Why doesn't he go there?

Not really, because then the focus would be on the cases he is charged with, which causes some division in his base (feminists vs other liberals).

If he keeps it as it is now, he can keep on portraying himself as a 'hero battling the might of the US'

[Loki]

Not really, because then the focus would be on the cases he is charged with, which causes some division in his base (feminists vs other liberals).

If he keeps it as it is now, he can keep on portraying himself as a 'hero battling the might of the US'

Well, he is likely to be acquitted by the court. And if he does that before the US can officially request his extradition, it could put him in a better position (he would be free to go as he wishes, and he could settle in a country with no extradition arrangement with the US).

[Eldritch]

If the Wikileaks mess is a huge pile of shite, Johanna Koljonen & Co. are the flies. ¨

Next they'll all file applications for four-year grants to write books on the topic. They'll probably get them, too.