You don't have to be Jewish to detect the scent of persecution, but it helps. I am Jewish and the stench of persecution and the howls of the lynch mob in relation to Julian Assange have been sickeningly evident. Calls for his death bear comparison to the fatwa placed upon Salman Rushdie for his words deemed to offend in The Satanic Verses.
Sarah Palin has called for the CIA to hunt the Wikileaks founder down like Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Julia Gillard has given the nudge nudge wink wink about his 'guilt' saying that Wikileaks is 'based on an illegal act' (of those who did the leaking) in the US, while Attorney-General Robert McCLelland has promised to support any law enforcement measures taken against Assange. Ironically the many papers who are republishing the leaks can do so with impunity.
The Australian government does not have an admirable record when it comes to supporting its citizens charged overseas. Consider the cases of drug smuggler Van Ngyen and accused terrorist David Hicks. It threw its citizens to the wolves in the case of the Bali Nine, putting them at risk of the death penalty.
Who is this Assange? Is he a messianic hero, larrikin, renegade, terrorist, or just a very naughty boy? The on again off again sexual assault charges against him seem to have been used to discredit his intent and label him as a spervert. It puts me in mind of the trumped up sodomy charges brought (twice) against the leader of the opposition in Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim (pictured).
You don't need to be brilliant to smell a rat here. Assange has annoyed many powerful politicians and in a very short time has reduced the power of their secrecy, making public fools of politicians and leaders, who are not amused.
So what makes Julian tick? As a psychologist my interest lies in history, as this is frequently re-enacted in our lives. Julian's parents were in travelling theatre and he attended 37 schools. After his parents separated his mother's new partner was involved in the infamous cult of Anne Hamilton-Byrne, from which the family eventually fled and went into hiding for some years.
I encountered Hamilton-Byrne and her brood of stolen children (later revealed to be drugged, starved and abused) at the Melbourne Siddah Yoga Ashram in the 1980s. Her illegally adopted children were eerily obedient and surreal, swathed in white with silvered blond hair that was not unlike the silver hair of the now notorious Assange.
These children were imprisoned in thinly veiled secrecy, lies and corruption. The cult was allowed to thrive for many years until it was finally exposed in 1987 and Hamilton-Byrne and her partner charged with conspiracy to defraud. A police raid released the children still being held there.
From this thumbnail sketch Julian's life emerges as involving dislocation, disrupted attachments, fragmented relationships and possible abuse linked to the cult and his stepfather. He seems to have been in hiding and on the move for much of his life. With his mother, he experienced, then fled from, a cult of abuse, lies and secrecy.
When asked recently about his core values he responded he stated that he was inspired by his father. 'Capable generous men do not create victims they nurture victims. I'm combative, not so big on the nurture but you can nurture in other ways. By policing perpetrators of crime.'
Wikileaks has exposed some shocking secrets and lies about Iraq and Afghanistan, exposed extra judicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumps on the African coast and procedures in Guantanamo Bay. Revelations that make it difficult to maintain a fiction of success and nobility in these 'engagements'. Assange says some secrets are valid, including those of medical records, but some are better exposed and do harm if they are not disclosed.
I can't help feeling that he speaks from the heart and from his own experience.
Ironically the press and governments, by their loud proclamations, have done his work for him, ensuring massive dissemination of the leaked files.
In Greek mythology a hero is one who, despite danger and in a position of relative weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice for some greater good. In this respect Assange could be seen as a hero even if his efforts were shown to be flawed or misguided.
Edmund Burke famously said: 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.'
By exposing the truth and stimulating debate WikiLeaks is at least ensuring that there will be less horse excrement around and a little more truth. That has got to be a good thing.
Lyn Bender is a psychologist and social commentator. She was the manger of Lifeline Melbourne and advocated for asylum seekers after working at Woomera Detention Centre.