Logline

With calls for his assassination and extradition, what does Assange really stand for?

Short Synopsis

Assange claims that online surveillance is causing a crisis of democracy and a serious threat to civil rights and, as a result, we need greater control of agencies that spy on us. How real is this? What do the experts say? As Assange tries to enter politics what should we expect from him? Through WikiLeaks, he has said that not all national secrets need to be kept from us and some are outright scandals that we should know about. NSA leaks by Edward Snowden confirm what many have suspected. Governments are now collecting our private conversations on a massive scale and passing it on. If it is misused, how could this affect us?

Long Synopsis

The Assange Agenda is a provocative film that has experts looking deeper into the issues that Julian Assange is pursuing in his aim to enter politics. What does Julian Assange stand for? What will he do if elected? Is he symbolic of a much bigger issue?

As the cofounder of WikiLeaks, he has taught us that not all national secrets need to be kept from us and some are outright scandals that we should know about. The Assange Agenda documentary was made to explain Assange’s philosophy, politics and policies as well as the broader context of online surveillance where privacy and piracy meet head on. The internet is an endless network of people, information and knowledge. On the one hand there has never been such vast potential for the collective communication of information and ideas whilst, on the other, our communications have never been so closely monitored.

But as we are finding out, everyone who goes online or uses a telephone is under surveillance. Edward Snowden’s leaks of the NSA activities confirm that governments have been collecting our private conversations ,emails and any online activity on a mind-bending scale.

Are we witnessing the end of personal privacy? Can privacy be protected in the information age? Are we at a turning point in history in which we are choosing between a Big Brother culture or unprecedented levels of exposure publicly and privately?

 

Assange is calling for total accountability and transparency of governments. Is this a desirable outcome for democracy? Is government transparency now necessary because of the potential of surveillance technology? Assange says, the balance of power, between our governments and each of us as individuals, as well as between nations across the globe, is dependent on our decisions about the issues of the information collection, storage and spying.

How will individual lives and the wider world be affected by the decisions we make about these questions as democratic nations?

 

Are WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden high profile forerunners of an unstoppable online exposure of government secrets that may force governments towards greater transparency? If Assange is elected might he lead the world in facing these crucial dilemmas?