Assange’s The World Tomorrow Episode 4: Overthrowing dictators 101
In the fourth episode of The World Tomorrow Julian Assange speaks with two leading Arab revolutionaries in the middle of conflict, Alaa Abd El-Fattah from Egypt and Nabeel Rajab from Bahrain. Alaa Abd El-Fattah is a long time Egyptian blogger, programmer and political activist. His parents were human rights campaigners under Anwar Sadat; his sister Mona Seif became a Twitter star during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, and is a founder of the No Military Trials for Civilians group formed under the post-Mubarak military junta. El-Fattah was imprisoned for 45 days in 2006 for protesting under the Mubarak regime, and released after “Free Alaa” solidarity protests in Egypt and around the world. In 2011, from abroad, El-Fattah helped route around Mubarak’s internet blockade.
Nabeel Rajab is a lifelong Bahraini activist and critic of the Al Khalifa regime. A member of a staunch pro-regime family, Rajab has agitated for reform in Bahrain since his return from university in 1988. Along with the Bahraini-Danish human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, he helped establish the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights in 2002. Rajab is reasonably new to the limelight — becoming a face for the Bahrain uprising of February 14 2011, after the sit-in at Pearl Roundabout. Since then, he has been a public face for the revolution, waging a social media war on Twitter with PR companies working for the regime. After al-Khawaja was imprisoned, he led protests for his release. He has endured beatings, arrests and legal harrassment for engaging in pro-democracy demonstrations. On Saturday 5th of May, he was arrested at Manama airport , and charged the next day with encouraging and engaging in “illegal protests.” Nabeel Rajab remains in detention at the time of broadcast.
Julian Assange’s The World Tomorrow: Moncef Marzouki (E3)
In the third episode of The World Tomorrow Julian Assange speaks with Tunisia’s first post-revolution leader Moncef Marzouki about the West’s double standards in protecting human rights. He is a former human rights activist. During the reign of the previous President he was imprisoned and kept in solitary confinement, which he considers to be torture. Once elected Head of State, he has vowed to put an end to human rights violations in Tunisia.
Marzouki recalls how he was invited to the US to talk about the human rights situation in Tunisia with a man he believed was involved in the Guantanamo controversy. Torture and the West’s double standards on the issue is indeed one of the hottest topics in this episode of the show.
The Gunpowder Plot, 1605 - Roman Catholic Jesuit Conspiracy.
In 1605, young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain’s most notorious traitor.
For those interested in the story behind the Anonymous (Guy Fawkes) mask that has become a political and cultural icon after the release of V for Vendetta
