WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange recently announced at the Frontline Club in London that WikiLeaks will be suspending its publishing activities temporarily as a result of the financial blockade. Assange stated that “œIn order to ensure our future survival, we are forced to suspend all publishing operations to direct all our resources to fighting the blockade and raising funds.“
The blockade, which has cost WikiLeaks a loss of $15 million in revenue and brought a stop to about 95% of its donations is due to the lack of financial support from major US financial institutions such as MasterCard, Visa and PayPal that WikiLeaks claim are due to increased political pressure from Washington.
WikiLeaks said in a statement that “The blockade is outside of any accountable, public process. It is without democratic oversight or transparency.”
Kristinn Hrafnsson, an Icelandic investigative journalist and WikiLeaks frontman, added that the financial blockade “œwasn‘t an attack on WikiLeaks, but an attack on freedom of speech.“ WikiLeaks has over 150 pending publications and the company requires $3.5 million to see it through for another year. Unless the blockade is lifted, the website will not be able to continue.
Assange also added that WikiLeaks has been surviving on cash reserves for the past year and that the company is creating new ways to give money to WikiLeaks including SMS payments and bank-to-bank transfers.
source: thenextweb
