KAHIHI

It was the Christmas time and Santa was bound to be around the corner. It was the time to go wishing for gifts from the white-bearded man. But we have to behave good for that.

Perhaps, the name at the bottom in Santa’s list might be that of Julian Assange, co-founder of the whistle-blower website Wikileaks. A man cursed upon right from the most powerful man on earth, the President of America, protested against by those fighting for privacy rights, branded as a terrorist by Sarah Palin, and still among the most admired men. He is a dark knight, the people’s choice for the Times Person of the Year, the messenger.

Standing for all that is good in the world, and hunted down by half the governments, he is a man we were waiting for, a man who stands up for the underdogs. Built on principles and ethics, an intriguing personality with a great philosophy behind his mottos, this man is courage personified.

A young Julian Assange was a part of a hacker group that had one of its mottos as share information. Perhaps a little inquisitiveness, personal experience and a strong sense of right and wrong has made this man we know today. Being one of the winners of Amnesty award and “one of the most influential person” he is still humble. A brain of unparalleled genius is transforming the now rotten field of journalism.

Greenday, the punk rock band asked the world, “Do you know your enemy?” and we didn’t till then. But today when the very basis of democracy is shattered by the bulk of secrets kept from the public we do realize who the enemy is. It is the regime, the very government that we elect and today Wikileaks has called for a change in this regime. The regime which wants to stay by covering their schemes, the wars they got into, the loss in those wars, is brought to open by these messengers. Julian Assange and his people revolted against the honor to obey, they brought down the silence which had been our enemy for so long. The new era for internet freedom has begun and this massive power of the internet is taming all those power-hungry politicos and bringing to the public all the dirty little secrets. 

This simple man, with very simple and straight philosophy, has showed to us the real face of the world’s most powerful democracy and the notorious secrets of other countries. A self-taught hacking expert and a computer-whiz, he is a revolution in the field of journalism, the press. The fourth pillar of democracy which sways public opinion in any direction, was till now a tool used by the governments to mould facts the way they want. We knew, the facts that we saw were not true, we knew there was also the “Other Side of the Story” but we stood silent. When incidents like 26/11 happened we thought we had enough of this silence. We rose up in violence and brought this government to senses that not always would we accept your facts. And this violence is the energy we seek now to bring reform. Wikileaks gave us channel to let this violence flow, a way to ask the government “what’s the truth?”

News supported with documents and material to prove the truth, is the new face of journalism. The sources are hidden but the documents echo the truth. The methods to acquire the documents are known yet “fool-proof”. And all this is the genius of one simple man. The power will now move in our hands when the foreman of control will be brought down, when his effigy will be burned.

But still one question lingers in the mind. Is it ethical?

Is it ok to steal the secrets of a government? And the answer lies in the fact, if we elect the people up there, we give them our trust votes then they should be entrust us about the annual spending, the wars and the losses suffered, the schemes carried out at international level. If not then the Heroes are waiting to spill the beans. It’s a choice upon the regime up there to decide. Either trust us with every step you take or acknowledge the fact that we do know who our enemy is.