Julian Assange left Belmarsh Prison in the UK yesterday after reaching a deal with the US Justice Department. The WikiLeaks founder agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents, effectively admitting to violating US Espionage Law.
The deal must be approved by a judge during a hearing scheduled for 9.00 am local time (Tuesday evening GMT) on Wednesday in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, chosen for its proximity to his native Australia. Assange is expected to receive credit for the five years he has already served and likely won't face additional jail time. Once the hearing concludes, he will be free to return to Australia.
Assange launched WikiLeaks in 2006, gaining notoriety with the release of a video showing a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad and, in 2010, and with the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with a large cache of diplomatic cables - one of the largest security breaches in US military history.
He was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant for sexual assault charges, which he denied. The charges were dropped in 2019. In the meantime, fearing extradition to the US, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 and stayed there for seven years.
In 2019, under President Donald Trump's administration, Assange was indicted on 17 charges under the US Espionage Act for releasing documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst who was also prosecuted under the Espionage Act. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was released after President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017, allowing her release after seven years in jail.
Removed from the embassy in 2019 and jailed for skipping bail, Assange has been in Belmarsh high-security prison, fighting extradition to the US. His charges sparked outrage among free speech advocates, who argued that as a publisher and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, he should not have faced charges typically used against government employees who leak information. While his supporters are pleased with the recent developments, they are concerned about the broader implications for journalists. Admitting guilt under the Espionage Act for obtaining and disclosing national defense information could indeed set a precedent for prosecuting journalists engaged in similar activities.
Stella Assange, who mentioned her husband would seek a pardon after accepting the charge, expressed serious concerns for journalists and national security reporters about the guilty plea's ramifications under the Espionage Act.
The late designer Vivienne Westwood was a fervent campaigner for Assange's release. Known for her support of various causes such as free speech, climate change, and equal rights, Westwood often incorporated these themes into her fashion collections. The late designer, who died at 81 in December 2022, often appeared in public or on the runway wearing garments with slogans that appealed for his release.
In 2012 Westwood designed the "I am Julian Assange" T-shirt, donating the proceeds to WikiLeaks. Westwood’s S/S 17 menswear show was dedicated to Assange, while in 2020, she staged a protest dressed in a canary yellow ensemble, locking herself in a giant birdcage with a banner reading "I am Julian Assange" set outside London's criminal courthouse where Assange was fighting extradition (he faced up to 175 years in prison if he were extradited to the US and found guilty). Westwood's yellow outfit in that occasion was a nod to the "canary in the coal mine" metaphor.
Westwood and her husband, Andreas Kronthaler, who is also the creative director of the Vivienne Westwood brand, designed Stella Morris's wedding dress when she married Assange in prison in 2022. The lilac dress featured a veil embroidered with colored messages from friends.
In January 2023, Assange was denied permission to attend Westwood's funeral, a decision that deeply disappointed the designer's family.
A strange coincidence occurred since Julian Assange was released just as Vivienne Westwood’s personal wardrobe was auctioned at Christie's.
The auction, titled "Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection", is divided into two parts: a live auction that took place today, June 25, and that included rare pieces, and an online sale that started at the beginning of the months and is running until June 28 and that features a wide range of more affordable (at least for what regards the starting price...) designs. This isn't the first time Westwood's designs from her wardrobe went under the hammer at Christie's (another auction was held in 2001), but this is different as the items, selected by Andreas Kronthaler, were finalized in the weeks before the designer's death.
This auctions featured over 200 lots, including rare pieces like a navy blue two-piece from the "Witches" collection (A/W 1983-84) with a revealing sheer panel around the knicker line.
The "Witches" collection was the first presented in the Cour Carrée du Louvre, the official ready-to-wear show space for Paris Fashion Week, and it was the last collaboration with Malcolm McLaren. It was inspired by the 1978 book "Voodoo and Magic Practices" by Jean Kerboull, a missionary priest in Haiti, and by meeting Keith Haring in New York in late 1982 and also drew on the Hip Hop and breakdance scene in New York (the item sold for £ 8,190).
The auction also included designs from the '90s and 2000s, such as pieces from the "Propaganda" (S/S 2005-06) collection, one of Westwood's most overtly political collections inspired by Aldous Huxley's work. The design featured in the auction, a cotton dress with a printed "Propaganda" panel and apron with a blue and white striped blouse, included the slogan "NINSDOL," which Westwood said stood for "nationalist idolatry, non-stop distraction, and organized lying" (another great seller, it went for £16,380).
Among the most dramatic ensembles there was a rich taupe silk taffeta ball gown from the "Dressed to Scale" (A/W 1998-99) collection that went for £32,760. The auction also featured Westwood's "I am Julian Assange" T-shirt (that fetched £2,394), jewelry and accessories, including a three row faux pearl choker with an oversized "orb" pendant ("Anglomania", A/W 1993-94 collection) and a necklace with a wooden pig - a punk alternative to pearls (Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, A/W 2017-18).
Those collectors or museums who bought the clothes will not just be owning a design from Westwood’s own wardrobe, but they will discover her modus operandi. Westwood championed the idea of buying less, buying better, mending and repairing clothes and many of the items on these auctions were repaired several times.One example is an ice-blue satin scoop necked "Cinderella" dress from the "Gaia the One and Only" (S/S 2011) collection, inspired by ballet costumes and by our planet, which shows signs of many repairs (the dress was the second highest seller, fetching £25,200).
The best sellers of today's auction were "THE BIG PICTURE – Vivienne's Playing Cards" inspired by Westwood's 2017 "Vivienne's Playing Cards for Climate Revolution," a set of playing cards depicting a culture-led economic strategy to save the world.
Before she died, Westwood signed 100 sheets of Hahnemühle Museum Etching paper, with the wish that ten of the most important graphics designed to highlight her messages as an activist would be printed onto these precious large-scale autographed "cards" after her death. The limited-edition playing cards (one of them showing Assange in the "I am Julian Assange" T-shirt) in a linen-covered hand-embroidered box, fetched £37,800, a sum that will be donated to Greenpeace.
Proceeds from the rest of the auction will instead go to The Vivienne Foundation (established to partner with NGOs that aim at creating a better society and halting climate change), Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières, reflecting Westwood's commitment to social and humanitarian causes.
Was Part 1 too expensive for you? Well, there's till Part 2 to check out (starting prices are lower, and there is a wide range of pieces, all very intriguing and original, from dresses and tops to hats) or you can opt for the auction catalogue (£55).
Too skint to buy anything? Don't worry. You are probably embracing Westwood's ethos, following her advice not to buy more clothing, even her own. In fact, not buying anything, but keeping yourself informed and engaging with humanitarian, equality, and rights issues is the most punk thing you can do. The real punk spirit lies indeed in defying indifference, taking action, and being a force of change in the world.
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