The Disappearing Of Julian Assange: In My Wallet

In my wallet, I keep a folded print-out of an image of Julian Assange. The photo was taken on October 27, 2021. It is blue, blurry and velvety soft, a photo of the cctv feed of the prisoner’s dock at the moment he suffered a stroke. This is the last known image of Julian Assange. The disappearing of the image of Julian Assange has been slowly taking place since he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy 13 years ago. Internally, he was the most surveilled person on the planet, but publicly, photos were rare. And then, for the last three years, he has been held in a maximum security prison where the taking of images is strictly forbidden. For me, the irony of the last known image of Julian Assange being of his brain mid-explosion is a powerful visual metaphor for how he himself, the idea of Julian Assange, Wikileaks, journalism, a free press, and all he stands for, is being surgically wiped from the public’s consciousness in a deliberate inducement of global aphasia. This is censorship via amnesia. This is the psychological disappearing of Julian Assange. And this is why I carry this photo in my wallet. Because I refuse to forget.