Despite being under house arrest in Britain, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed the Splendour In The Grass festival in Queensland’s Woodfordia.
A pre-recorded 90-second message was played during a panel discussion on Internet control.
“We are becoming the agents of perspective,” Assange said. “This generation is burning the mass media to the ground, we are reclaiming our rights to all history. We are ripping open secret archives from Washington to Cairo. We are reclaiming our rights to share ourselves and our times together.”
Also on the panel were Assange’s mother Christine, his Australian lawyer Grace Morgan and longtime colleague and co-author Dr. Suelette Dreyfus.
Christine Assange later spoke to musicians at the festival about working on a song about her son.
This year’s Splendour was the first in its 10 years to not instantly sell out, some citing the $400-$500 ticket prices. It drew 30,000 nevertheless.
Coldplay, which made a one-off appearance, used its set to sing happy birthday to drummer Will Champion and promised to return for a full tour in 2012.
Co-headliner Kanye West’s set was also spectacular. But some fans felt let down by the non-appearance of Jay-Z whom blogs falsely reported was seen driving onto the site.
Rising Aussie band The Middle East used its set to announce the band is splitting up.