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.
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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