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A comment on Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules. Parent comment

Re:Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules by pydry on Friday December 10, 2021 @09:44AM (#29510419)
I think he probably had more of an effect than is obvious. Activism raises the political price to governments of making bad decisions. When the powerful change their position as a result of activism, they always try conceal it - the effect is far in excess of what they let on.

In that light, I always found this story of the 6 scared, cold, humiliated and alone mothers of soldiers protesting outside the White House preventing nuclear war with Vietnam somewhat inspiring.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-har...

(The connection is tenuous, but it's not completely unreasonable.)

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Re:Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules by sharikous on Friday December 10, 2021 @10:27AM (#29510970)
It very much depends on the context. In this particular case the US government managed to establish a deterrence too my making him an example.

So I would say the effect is actually in the other direction. That is less activism of that type, not more.

And the connection is not only tenuous. You are making a very general mild claim based on scant evidence. Your consideration is valid but very weak.

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Re:Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules by Retric on Friday December 10, 2021 @10:33AM (#29511048)
Activism isn’t the point.

Yes, governments make it hard and will go so far as to actually kill people. It’s still a moderating influence and a feedback mechanism before civil war. I may not agree with them or even care about the issue, but I still respect the sacrifice.

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Re:Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules by zepto on Friday December 10, 2021 @10:13AM (#29510804)
In assange’e case, the opposite is true. They were avoiding paying the cost before his leaks. Now the reputational damage is done and so there is less for them to avoid.
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