Naomi Fryers pens the following to a fellow writer, a father, a lawyer, a soldier and a stoic truth-teller unsurprisingly made Crikey’s 2023 person of the year.
DEAR DAVID MCBRIDE,
I write to you today at the suggestion of a campaign shared by Assange activists who have encouraged engaged citizens and human rights allies to show their support to you by writing weekly letters.
Firstly, I write to recognise your plight and repugnance of your current circumstances. I seek to acknowledge how difficult incarceration must be for a father and a returned serviceman who already suffers from the undeniable claustrophobia of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
I seek to reaffirm that while there are deeply regrettable yet credible concerns for your security, safety and welfare in prison, these can be fixed by sheer human will. This means that just for now, we must maintain hope that the old adage is true — where there is a will, there is a way.
Secondly, I pen this letter as a thank you for your bravery and willingness to expose the truth by turning whistleblower against war criminals, child murderers and an insipid culture built upon a deafening code of silence. The aforementioned not only allowed but affirmed senseless brutality and sadism.
It is, of course, counterintuitive that your courage and willingness to stand up against the regimen has unfortunately made you a convenient political scapegoat for deterrence against other would-be truth-tellers. This is a fact that should send a chill up the spine of all those who believe in true and restorative social justice.
Thirdly and finally, I write to let you know that you and your bravery in refusing to be complicit in war crimes has not, is not and will not be forgotten. The full impact, consequences and fallout of the current government's neglect of you – and other whistleblowers in need of protection – remains to be seen.
However, this blight on their human rights record will have very real and likely dire ramifications, perhaps even some of the electoral variety. Further, history will not reminisce kindly on your very political punitive punishment.
Isn’t it ironic?
The irony of your current circumstance and incarceration is likely enough to make Alanis Morissette herself blush. In fact, if not for being tragically real, your story could be a comedic celebration of a kind of theatrical hilarity.
Once upon a time, in a topsy turvy land down under where war criminals were Victorian Cross recipients and by and large roamed free among us – some shoulder to shoulder on commemorative ANZAC day, at the local RSL – democratic transparency and integrity seemed like a notion so truly absurd that it was a true believer's gaolable offence.
Meanwhile, special forces whistleblowers rotted in gaol. In this lofty Vegemite sandwich-munching land down under, servicemen were gaoled for over five years for arguably justifiable theft and unlawful disclosure of Commonwealth documents.
Such a show would have undoubtedly been a box office smash hit with props ranging from yard glass prosthetic limbs to craftily positioned cameras spying outside abortion clinics and special forces secrets in pink lunchboxes bizarrely buried in a suburban backyard.
(Please note: Independent Australia screenwriters are unable to confirm that the pink lunchboxes previously hosted the aforementioned Vegemite sandwiches.)
Depraved jokes aside...
Australians are grateful and indebted to you for serving the public interest
Clearly, some may be going against the government grain with this one but there is resounding gratitude amongst human rights activists that you helped to expose the atrocities of war criminals, undoubtedly in the public interest. Your actions gave a lifeline to honesty and offered hope for the possibility of some kind of redemption. The fact that restorative justice has not been done is a damning indictment against the powers that be.
It is also perplexingly noteworthy that Dan Oakes, the journalist who had the Afghan Files published by the ABC, received an Order of Australia medal for his service to journalism while you, his primary source, were gifted with gaol time.
Needless to say, we are not all as ungrateful as the Australian Government which has reportedly spent more than $2 million of taxpayer funds pursuing your prosecution and, quite frankly, your widely perceived persecution as well. This raises some solid questions about in whose interest the Government is acting.
The current Albanese Government has not only lagged in legislating whistleblower protections, it has also failed to ensure you receive a pardon from Attorney General Mark Dreyfus KC. This is a glaring indicator to other would-be truth-tellers that unveiling corruption and atrocities of the highest order will see you punitively punished by prosecution.
You have not, are not, or will not be forgotten and this matter isn’t going away
With a federal election looming in 2025, the more progressive swinging voters, including human rights advocates and social justice proponents, will be looking for a government willing to “do the right thing” — not just through lip service, but with tangible action. Mark (Dreyfus) my words when I say, your incarceration is a blight on the Albanese Government's human rights record which is not being overlooked.
I would also like to let you know I am making a humble contribution towards your Chuffed campaign in the hope you raise enough funds for legal experts to appeal your sentence. I hope to soon hear the good news of your successful bid for the freedom you so richly deserve after what must be a truly harrowing ordeal.
Being a trooper should be about service, courage, dedication and ultimately doing the right thing while navigating risk bravely. To that end, you are an amazing soldier who has unjustly been hung out to dry. As it stands, yours is a David versus Goliath battle with you attempting to stare down government prosecutors.
It would be remiss of me not to say at this point that regardless of legal and political outcomes, I know which side of history I’d rather be on. And undoubtedly with whom, and for whom, I’d rather go to war.
Naomi Fryers is a writer, author, storyteller and journalist from Melbourne. You can follow Naomi on X (the old Twittersphere) @Naomi_Writes_.
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