Julian Assange Seeks Crowdfunding For Whistleblower Monument

Julian Assange, the man behind WikiLeaks, has spent the last couple of years (and a handful of months) in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid what would be an unfortunate extradition to Sweden. Using the WikiLeaks Twitter account, he retweeted a crowdfunding drive that is seeking funding to create a whistleblower monument of sorts, which will include a life-size statute of Assange himself, as well as Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

The crowdfunding campaign is for a life-size bronze sculpture called "a monument to courage", and the finished product — should it come to fruition — will show the three aforementioned individuals standing on chairs. A third empty chair will be located next to the trio, the intention being that members of the public can stand on it to show their support.

Part of the work piece has already been finished, which you can check out on the crowdfunding campaign's page. The folks behind the statue are seeking £100,000, of which only about 20-percent has been pledged. Plans are in place to parade the statue "from country to country" to further make a point.

The campaign itself has been organized by British journalist Vaughan Smith, who told The Independent: "I got excited by it because I thought it was some art that suggested, rather appropriately, that these whistleblowers were our true friends rather than the politicians who pretend to be."

SOURCE: The Independent