From an interview by Time managing editor Richard Stengel with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange:
In fact, we believe it is the most closed societies that have the most reform potential. The Chinese case is quite interesting. Aspects of the Chinese government, Chinese Public Security Service, appear to be terrified of free speech, and while one might say that means something awful is happening in the country, I actually think that is a very optimistic sign, because it means that speech can still cause reform and that the power structure is still inherently political, as opposed to fiscal. So journalism and writing are capable of achieving change, and that is why Chinese authorities are so scared of it. Whereas in the United States to a large degree, and in other Western countries, the basic elements of society have been so heavily fiscalized through contractual obligations that political change doesn’t seem to result in economic change, which in other words means that political change doesn’t result in change.
This doesn’t quite make sense to me.
More about Assange’s thinking and China:
• Gady Epstein on ForbesAssange slams China’s WikiLeaks copycat: ‘Very dangerous to do it wrong’; see also full transcript of interview with Assange by Andy Greenberg.
• Julian Assange and the computer conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government”: a blog post examining some of Assange’s previous writings that explain his motivations.