Friday 29 July 2011

Julian Assange Splendour Forum Address 2011


'When I was twelve my family and I lived in Byron Bay. Some days I would try to climb up to the lighthouse.  Earth would overhang the sea cliffs and sometimes a pebble would shift or a gull would cry and I would wonder if I was standing on the overhang.

Later I would look back and see that in fact there had been nothing between me and the waters below. At any given moment I could not see where I was, I could only see where I had been and where I wanted to go. Only with perspective could I understand.

We are all like that. We all laugh at the dorky fashions from ten years ago but we think we are totally cool now. Well we are, but in a more important way. We are becoming the agents of perspective.

This generation is burning the mass media to the ground. We’re reclaiming our rights to old history. We are ripping open secret archives from Washington to Cairo. We are reclaiming our rights to share ourselves and our times with each other, to be the agents and writers of our own history. We don’t know yet exactly where we are but we can see where we’re going. 

The change in perspective that has happened over the last year is what this generation is going to use to  find our lighthouse and when we get there we’re going to turn the fucking spotlight on.

So enjoy Splendour In The Grass. Find each other. Find every perspective you can. You’ll need it in the adventure ahead.'
Via
Illustration: Gary Lord

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