This week’s installment of Call Congress for Julian Assange
You can take action to free Julian Assange from the comfort of your own home. Call the 5 Congressmembers listed below and your own Congressperson, and urge them to save journalists’ right to publish and our right to know.
We have just one week left until what could be Assange’s final appearance in a UK courtroom on May 20, as the High Court will decide whether the U.S.’s so-called “assurances” are good enough to sign off on trampling the First Amendment.
Week of May 13
Please call these U.S. Representatives to co-sponsor H. Res. 934 to drop the charges and extradition of Julian Assange. Remind them that once Julian is extradited, and this could be as soon as May 20, the ability of journalists to expose government crimes will be forever compromised. As Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said last week on the Washington Post’sWorld Press Freedom Day panel,
… I would use this opportunity to encourage the U.S. to drop its charges against Julian Assange. If he is brought here and he is convicted, that will send–that will create a terrible precedent for press freedom everywhere. It’s really important that the U.S. upholds its commitments to press freedom, and that includes dropping the charges against Assange. Governments have to realize that press is not there to make lives more difficult for governments. It’s there so that we can make sure that we are all–we all have access to the information that we need to live freely, safely, and it’s essential that it is protected.
You can reach all of them through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or use the numbers below:
| U.S. Representative | Washington Office Phone |
| Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) | (202) 225-3106 |
| Jim Jordan (R-OH) | (202) 225-2676 |
| Mark Pocan (D-WI) | (202) 225-2906 |
| Andy Biggs (R-AZ) | (202) 225-2635 |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) | (202) 225-3965 |
| YOUR REPRESENTATIVE | (202) 224-3121 |
This week’s script
Here is a sample of the kind of messaging we encourage. Please make it your own but always be respectful:
“My name is ____ and I would like Congressperson ____ to sign on to House Resolution 934 to free Julian Assange.
I am hoping that _______will add (his or her) name to the bipartisan House Resolution 934 to drop the charges and extradition request for Assange.
All major press freedom and human rights organizations are opposed to this extradition. They know that our ability to know what our government is doing in our name and with our tax dollars is essential to our democracy – and that this can only occur with a free press.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, reminded us of this last week on World Press Freedom Day. She said that extraditing and convicting Julian Assange “will create a terrible precedent for press freedom everywhere. It’s really important that the U.S. upholds its commitments to press freedom, and that includes dropping the charges against Assange.”
Protect press freedom! Please sign on to H. Res. 934. Thank you for all your efforts to free Julian Assange!
Once you’ve made your calls this week, encourage friends to do the same, and post about your calls on social media.