WikiLeaks: not perfect, but more important than ever for free speech

We apparently want our heroes to be mild mannered and non-combative. Photograph: FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/EPA

The secret CIA files appeared just before Christmas. One detailed how CIA operatives could maintain cover, using fake IDs, when travelling through foreign airports. Israels Ben Gurion airport was said to be one of the hardest to trick.

The other document, from 2009, was an assessment of the CIAs assassination program. It raised doubts about the effectiveness of the program in reducing terrorism. Likewise with Israels killing of Palestinians.

In Afghanistan, the CIA discovered that murdering Taliban leaders could radicalise the militants, allowing even more extreme actors to enter the battlefield. The Obama administration ignored this advice and unleashed targeted killings in the country. Unsurprisingly, the insurgency is thriving.

These vital insights into the war on terror were released by WikiLeaks and received extensive global coverage.

Since 2010, when WikiLeaks released Collateral Murder, showing American forces killing Iraqi civilians, there have been multiple covert and public attempts to silence the organisation. Julian Assange has now been stuck in Londons Ecuadorian embassy for two and a half years fighting an extradition order from Sweden over allegations of sexual misconduct. There is an ongoing US grand jury examining the organisations role in publishing war and State Department cables. On Christmas Eve, WikiLeaks revealed that Google had turned over the Gmail account and metadata of a WikiLeaks employee in response to a US federal warrant.

The organisations ability to stay afloat and continue to source and release insightful documents among all this is remarkable.

There is some good news: Visa and MasterCard are being sued for refusing to allow funds to flow to WikiLeaks, and Assanges lawyers are confident that the current impasse with Sweden will be resolved (although the irregularities over the case are deeply disturbing).

But the reality remains that the public image of Assange has taken a beating after years of legal fights, the botched Australian WikiLeaks political party and constant smears by journalists and politicians. We apparently want our heroes to be mild mannered and non-combative. We supposedly need them to be polite and not uncover countless, dirty abuses by western forces. We clearly dont forgive them for not being perfect. Or perhaps we have a limit to how many war crimes we want to hear about with nobody facing justice? Thats hardly WikiLeaks fault. The group has made mistakes, and will make many more, but as a supporter since its 2006 inception, Im struck by its resilience.

WikiLeaks has been warning against the dangers of mass surveillance for years. The 2014 Assange book, When Google Met WikiLeaks, features an insightful essay on the dangers of Googles desire to lead American interventionist foreign policy. The book gained headlines across the world. In the month of its release, the organisation offered new documents on German company FinFisher selling its spying equipment to repressive regimes.

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WikiLeaks: not perfect, but more important than ever for free speech