Naomi Colvin: I have been obliged to resign from Courage

Naomi Colvin: I have been obliged to resign from Courage

Monday 13 August 2018

“rather unfortunately, I have been obliged to resign from Courage.”

On Thursday afternoon three of Courage’s trustees wrote to me demanding that I inform Barrett Brown that he could no longer be a Courage beneficiary, on the basis of “nasty adversarial remarks” about WikiLeaks. In response, I reminded the trustees that Barrett has consistently and publicly defended Julian Assange’s right to publish, and that he had made clear his willingness to help us campaign on this issue. I also reminded them about what Courage was set up to do:

“Courage supports our beneficiaries because they have spoken out, at great risk to themselves, in order to make the world a better place. I am fundamentally and implacably opposed to excluding anyone from beneficiary status on the basis of their political speech, and still more when that comes out of responding angrily to being baited on twitter.”

Late on Thursday evening, I received another email in which I was told to “sort this matter out tomorrow.” In the circumstances, I was left with no option but to tender my resignation.

Building Courage up into a useful organisation has been a major part of the past four and a half years of my life. I still believe that an organisation that fulfils Courage’s mission would be valuable to have around: we might just have to put together a new one.

  • Naomi Colvin.

To pre-empt a few obvious questions:

  • a. I’ll be fine. But thanks for asking.
  • b. In resigning from Courage on a fundamental point of principle, I am not “turning against WikiLeaks” or “abandoning Julian in his hour of greatest peril”.

I remain absolutely, unambiguously opposed to the withdrawal of Julian Assange’s asylum and the prospect of his extradition to the United States.

I do, however, have acute concerns about the way advocacy on this issue is developing. This is reflected, obviously, in the circumstances that have led to me resigning from Courage, but also in recent comments made by Jesselyn Radack, Bailey Lamon and Davey Heller (I agree with them). I have more to say about the likely consequences of the current trajectory with suggestions for how the situation can be remedied and will put those thoughts in writing.

  • c. Nathan Fuller remains at Courage for the time being and current Courage beneficiaries can contact him with any concerns they have. I will do whatever I can to help from here.

Official website - Courage Foundation

You Can’t Arrest An Idea

Matt DeHart is free

Matt DeHart is free

October 3rd 2019: Matt is transitioning after 8 long years of prison. He will be starting with practically nothing. Many of you know his tragic story. Our (...)

7 October 2019

We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Hammond

We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Hammond

Jeremy Hammond is sharing his new home at the William Truesdale Detention Center with courageous grand jury denier Chelsea Manning. We don’t know why (...)

16 September 2019

Mail to Jail at CCCamp 2019

Mail to Jail at CCCamp 2019

Chaos Communication Camp 2019 - Campaign to support arrested Anons. This years #CCCamp2019 as the 2018 Chaos Communication Congress will have a (...)

12 August 2019

 A message from James Robinson's prison

A message from James Robinson’s prison

We have continued to support him because we believe more in the brother than in the established order.I take credit and full responsibility for the (...)

22 March 2019

Red Cross

We stand with Ukraine

The Russian government’s attack on Ukraine has put millions of innocent lives in danger. We stand with Ukraine to support their freedom and to defend democracy. If you wish to support Ukraine and its people in their time of need, please consider donating to the Red Cross.

Your data is YOUR data

eFoundation is a non-profit organization leading the development of Open Source mobile operating systems that respect users’ data privacy.

Signal

Signal

Speak Freely

Tor Browser

Tor Browser

Tor protects your privacy

NordVPN

Protect all your devices.

Secure, high-speed VPN