'Free Assange' Sticker fundraiser (monero.town)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by blake@monero.town to c/monero@monero.town

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I have started a fundraiser using Kuno. You can donate Monero there to get stickers printed which will be handed out at a protest on February 20th in London.

Donate to Sticker fund here:

https://kuno.anne.media/fundraiser/i3gx/

Julian Assange, who has been imprisoned in the UK for over ten years, faces his final court case in England. Having passed through several rounds of kangaroo courts, being faced with no legal charge, he is still held in maximum security prison in Belmarsh, London. Febrary the 20th (and 21st) will see him at the highest court in the land, pleading with the judge to not be extradited to the USA. It has already been shown that, if extradited, he would face cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of the US government and would likely be disappeared and never seen again. Read more about the campaign here: dontextraditeassange.com

I wouldn't usually post a findraiser here but I think it intersects with Monero well. Firstly, Wikileaks were an early adopter of crypto. When they were booted off Paypal in 2011 for posting Afghan War Logs, they began accepting a bunch of cryptocurrencies. Assange has also spoken out on the dissident use of cypherpunk technology at length. I also used Kuno for the fundraiser, which only accepts Monero. The experience was good, it was simple to set up and hopefully works well. I did have to learn about secret view keys which was useful, would recommend the site to others.

Every little helps, even a few minero. I will be getting 100 stickers printed off my own back, it costs 0.26 ish XMR for 100 stickers and the fundraiser is only open for 3 weeks. I appreciate your reading this and hopefully we can make some difference. Will post 'proof of stickers' when the first batch is printed. Will also post any good photos of the stickers in action in London. If you are in the UK and dnoate, direct message me and I will post a sticker or two in the post.

Peace!

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[-] VolunTerry@monero.town 3 points 9 months ago

To the downvoters, I'm curious, are the downvotes because:

A. You are opposed to fundraising for any cause here.

B. You don't think stickers are going to do much to impact the situation or raise awareness any further.

C. You don't think Julian Assange should be free.

D. Other _______________ (fill in the blank).

[-] blake@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

Thanks Terry, The first downvote was within minutes of posting. I suspect that it has more to do with posting it here (context) than it does with Assange (content). I must say thanks to the gang who have upvoted and balanced out the haters!

Either way, I've recieved the first batch of stickers today, will post a photo soon.

Furthermore, I've had communication with Kuno about the fundraiser, to verify my identity and so on. They are a cool organisation and I think I will write them up a little promotional post on Monero.town in good time. I think that fundraising is a great way to open up Monero adoption - it's not just for drugs ;). Plus their code is neat and open source, something we can get behind. I will be donating to their cause in the future!

[-] VolunTerry@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

I'm happy to see Monero adoption increasing and more open source projects utilizing it.

Thanks for the feedback on Kuno. I don't know much about the org. I'll look for any post you make with a more in depth review if you make it.

[-] blake@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

UPDATE:

Thanks so much to our 4 donors over at Kuno (https://kuno.anne.media/fundraiser/i3gx/). You anonymous few are true legends.

We raised 0.502 XMR !!!

That's enough to print over 100 high quality stickers. I have now had them printed and delivered. They will be travelling with me tomorrow to the Royal Courts of Justice in London where they will be handed out to protestors and speakers at the protest.

In all, using Kuno was great - I had communication with staff there and they were supportive and helpful. We had an interesting debate too about anonymous fundraising - which I will put into another thread. I'd recommend using Kuno for random small-scale fundraisers, particularly those which relate to Monero.

Any UK based people here, feel free to DM me an address and I'll send you a sticker.

You can still donate towards stickers and any extra Monero will be donated to the Assange Extradition Fund and Wikileaks. I will close it at the end of the month, or if it reaches its goal.

[-] alphonse@monero.town 3 points 9 months ago

saw your stickers on the day, nice work

[-] blake@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

nice one!

[-] VolunTerry@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

Can you post any thoughts on how the day went? Did you snap any photos of the stickers or anything else? I'd be interested to get some details from you as on-the-ground reports or impressions. The entire Assange and Wikileaks saga has been a wild ride and had a profound impact, and I feel the details and outcome of all this now will also have profound impact moving forward.

[-] blake@monero.town 2 points 9 months ago

Hey Terry, I didn't snap any pics myself. However see pic related of Vincent de Stefano - founder of Assange Defense - wearing one up on the stage at the protest. (1:26 https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=7hrtcOfHhms)

Reflections on the protest: It was a good day, with lots of high energy. It felt like the amount of people turning out (the highest for any Assange court case so far) combined with a large turnout of media (at least 25 separate camera,mic,presenter setups) will have lead to widespread awareness. In this case I think that awareness is key - as the prosecution is political, Assange's freedom will rely on political pressure. Needless to say that his lawyers put forward great arguments on the day. We

I actually got inside the Royal Courts of Justice (and put a secret sticker inside) however, as reported by Kristinn Hrafnsson (Wikileaks editor in chief), the court chose the smallest courtroom (5) for the hearing, meaning only about 20-25 people in the courtroom, with an overflow room for journalists with a dodgy video connection. This meant there were no spaces for public access to the kangaroo court. Julian wasn't in attendance as he broke a rib coughing, having fallen ill in solitary confinement in prison. So I dipped from the courtshouse. I must add the staff were really friendly - even the one that confiscated my fork (from my packed lunch) - the uk fork license meme is too real.

Outside the spirits were generally good. I met a wicked mix of people, and giving out stickers is a great way to chat to a lot of people. I noticed that the crowd was hugely international, not just European. Iraqi guys had a banner, big bunch of Italians and a battalion of French. A representation from South Africa plus Aussies too. Most people were really engaged with the issues and seemed intellectual, compared to other protest i've been to. I also met 3 open bitcoiners (one with a genesis block tee, one with a luminous orange hoodie and balaclava). Didn't meet any overt monero-ers but at least one was in attendance (@alphonse :) ).

Obviously as monero and the fundraiser are anonymous I don't know who donated but wanted to once again express thanks for them helping it happen. Plenty of people put high-qual glossy 'Free Assange' stickers on their phones, lapels and all over London thanks to you guys, I hope each one can prompt at least one conversation in the real world. Lastly;

FREE ASSANGE

[-] VolunTerry@monero.town 1 points 9 months ago

These reflections give some good perspective on the day to someone who wasn't able to be there. It is appreciated.

Happy to hear there was support, and thoughtful engaged support from multiple regions at that.

"One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice."

Cheers for doing your part to shed light on the injustices heaped upon Julian Assange and promoting the cause of true justice being done with your message. Keep up your worthwhile efforts to prompt those conversations.