CSE | Citizens’ Europe | Ευρώπη των Πολιτών

Bob, this is an e-mail I received (in a mass e-mailing) from Gabriel Shipton, Julian Assange’s half-brother. Mary Kostakidis is a Fortian and I once wrote to suggest to her the idea of trying to mobilise “the old school tie”. She rejected the idea fairly abruptly but with the passage of time it occurs to me that I may have tried the wrong approach. I should have spoken to other Fortians about the idea of supporting her rather than speaking to her about the idea of other Fortians supporting her. In any case Gabriel Shipton’s asking me for money seems equally misguided. I am the last person to be approached as a significant financial donor. I share this message with my friend and comrade Nikos Vakolidis, orthodontist in the northern Greek city of Ioannina. Let’s just discuss it between ourselves for starters, Bob, Nikos has not been abrupt with Gabriel Shipton as I have so perhaps whatever we conclude between ourselves could be conveyed to Gabriel if Nikos wants to oblige in this way.

Take the advice in the p.s. and read the Sydney criminal lawyers’ report.

How is everything else with you?

Best wishes,

Wayne Hall

p.s. I cc fellow Fortian Les Thompson from our year, who lives in France, and invite him to join our discussion if he chooses.

Gabriel writes:

Mary is facing a racial vilification complaint brought by the Zionist Federation of Australia over social media posts she shared on X/Twitter. Last year, she fought to have the case struck out, but the Federal Court denied her request. Now, after a second mediation attempt has ended without agreement, the case will go to trial in the Federal Court starting 30 November 2026.

Stand with Mary — donate now

“Nobody believes that the allegations against Mary are anything but a coordinated effort to silence reporting and criticisms of the behaviour of a foreign power,” said Information Rights Project Founder Gabriel Shipton.

This is why your support matters. Mary now faces a costly, drawn-out battle in the Federal Court.

“Australians have a right to be informed, and the case against Mary Kostakidis is trying to deny us those very rights,” said Gabriel.

Mary has made clear she won’t back down, but legal battles of this scale require resources. We urgently need to raise funds to ensure Mary has the support she needs.

Most supporters give around $30. Combined, your contributions can help Mary access the resources to fight back and help to defend our right to speak freely and stay informed. Will you chip in today?

Donate Now

Thank you for standing up for the rights of all Australians to speak and be informed.

In solidarity, Nevena The Information Rights Project

Bad tempered afterword from Wayne https://main.cse-initiative.eu/?p=1451

Response:

Bob, thank you for getting involved. I am pleased to tell you that my inventive collaborator Nikos Vakolidis responded to my unsuccessful donning of the old school tie not with ridicule or silence but blowing the dust off his own old school tie. Apparently he went to a school in Ioannina called the Zosimaia school, with a history as proud as or prouder than “my” proud Fort Street, who actually sing in their school song (or did in “my day”) “Fort Street’s name rings round the world” (do you mean to say you haven’t heard of “us”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM6GsXP4_3Q

It was only in 1913 that Ioannina was brought by the Greek army out of the Ottoman Empire and into the modern Greek state. I wonder what proud words they were singing in Nikos’ school song!

The “pride in ancestry” habit seems to be catching on so let’s bring Phillip Adams into it. Phillip is an Australian with a hidden Greek name who prides himself on being descended from the Greek revolutionary Anagnostaras and who played a sterling role in defending Julian Assange.

Since Julian Assange’s release from prison but continued imprisonment in unchallenged false accusations, Phillip has prioritized denunciation of Zionism, where he has plenty of company, mostly below the intellectual level he occupied when he was prioritizing defence of Julian Assange. It is still unclear, though, whether Julian Assange thinks that the job of defending him was being done better by Phillip or by, say, Yanis Varoufakis. Phillip gives his opinion on that subject in the link immediately above.

Electoral politics

Posted on March 19, 2026 by admin

https://halva.proboards.com/post/3237

At least the Australian Federal Parliament and all the state parliaments apart from Queensland have bicameral legislatures. The demands of universal suffrage can therefore be met if only one of the two parliamentary chambers is based on universal suffrage. There are many disadvantages to universal suffrage and historically it has not applied everywhere in the parliamentary system. Experience during the COVID “pandemic” suggests that most people want to follow the dictates of what they perceive as authority and in many cases also to target their fellow citizens who are perceived (by “authority”) to be defying authority. It should not be unacceptable to accept this as a fact of life and try to find ways to minimize its negative consequences. Would providing an alternative to voting based on universal suffrage help towards achieving such an objective? Sortition (choosing politicians by means of a lottery) had a part to play in the ancient Athenian democracy and should be included among techniques to be given rational consideration. The most obvious relevant problem would be that it could result in the elevation of inappropriate people. This could be countered by having a court whose task is to identify not who would be appropriate to play a part in public life but who would NOT be appropriate. Citizens who feel they are called upon to be public figures (or propose somebody else for such a role) should be encouraged to state this publicly and then the court (with assistance from input from the general public) should decide who is to be excluded. Experience suggests that the population in any case is much better at saying what they don’t want than at saying what would be a good idea for implementation. The selection of the parliamentarians would then be made by sortition from among the eligible candidates. These candidates would comprise a second parliamentary chamber. The parliamentarians in this second chamber would speak as individuals, would be off limits to journalists and other would-be intermediaries and would communicate directly with the public and with their colleagues. There would continue to be the kind of politics and politicians with which we are now familiar but they would be competing for a mandate with the second chamber. Which chamber would make decisions and which would be advisory would be determined by the outcome of a referendum to be held every five years or other agreed period and there would be no other referenda. The political base of the second chamber would be comprised of people who have indicated that they do not wish to vote for the politicians and candidates in the first chamber and they would not be allowed to do so unless they made a decision to join or rejoin the electorate for the first chamber. This idea was first discussed among people of our acquaintance during the COVID lockdowns by participants in the World Freedom Alliance and is on the record, with further elaboration, at: https://halva.proboards.com/post/2531