Jeremy Corbyn among 'avatar' speakers at virtual event
Brian McGleenon
Fri, 25 August 2023
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have organised a political rally in the metaverse to protest against his extradition.
A pre-recorded virtual avatar version of Assange will address attendees at the protest on Saturday. Also giving speeches via their own virtual avatars, will be Julian's wife Stella, WikiLeaks co-founder Kristinn Hrafnasson and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.
The event, organised by the Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign, will take place within the Wistaverse, located in the Sandbox metaverse, on the Polygon (MATIC-USD) blockchain.
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said the benefit of holding a metaverse mass protest is that, "no matter where you are in the world, you can virtually join this event.”
He told Yahoo Finance UK's The Crypto Mile that this "first of its kind" event would not replace physical protests on the streets of major cities, but would complement the ongoing campaign.
"We have had the metaverse environment designed as a replica of the real Royal Courts of Justice, so that people attending this event will get the idea it would be a good thing to turn up outside the real court on the day that Julian appears," he said.
Rees said he is hopeful they will get thousands of people to virtually attend from across the globe.
"This is a pioneering form of political action, and if it works I'm sure we will not be the only ones to repeat it," he added.
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said the metaverse event would not replace physical protests on the streets of major cities, but would complement the ongoing campaign to free Julian Assange. Photo: Adam Berry/Getty
Assange faces extradition to the US
The rally is part of the effort to prevent the founder of WikiLeaks from being extradited to the US where he could face a 175 year jail sentence for revealing information about the Iraq and Afghan wars through his platform WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks and Assange became the subject of global interest in 2010, when a series of leaks provided by US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning were published on the platform.
The leaks contained 75,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan, and roughly 390,000 army field reports concerning the war in Iraq.
Assange has now served four years in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
A pre-recorded virtual avatar version of Assange will address attendees at the protest on Saturday. Also giving speeches via their own virtual avatars, will be Julian's wife Stella, WikiLeaks co-founder Kristinn Hrafnasson and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.
The event, organised by the Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign, will take place within the Wistaverse, located in the Sandbox metaverse, on the Polygon (MATIC-USD) blockchain.
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said the benefit of holding a metaverse mass protest is that, "no matter where you are in the world, you can virtually join this event.”
He told Yahoo Finance UK's The Crypto Mile that this "first of its kind" event would not replace physical protests on the streets of major cities, but would complement the ongoing campaign.
"We have had the metaverse environment designed as a replica of the real Royal Courts of Justice, so that people attending this event will get the idea it would be a good thing to turn up outside the real court on the day that Julian appears," he said.
Rees said he is hopeful they will get thousands of people to virtually attend from across the globe.
"This is a pioneering form of political action, and if it works I'm sure we will not be the only ones to repeat it," he added.
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said the metaverse event would not replace physical protests on the streets of major cities, but would complement the ongoing campaign to free Julian Assange. Photo: Adam Berry/Getty
Assange faces extradition to the US
The rally is part of the effort to prevent the founder of WikiLeaks from being extradited to the US where he could face a 175 year jail sentence for revealing information about the Iraq and Afghan wars through his platform WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks and Assange became the subject of global interest in 2010, when a series of leaks provided by US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning were published on the platform.
The leaks contained 75,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan, and roughly 390,000 army field reports concerning the war in Iraq.
Assange has now served four years in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
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