In the weeks preceding the rally, prominent independent journalists, artists and defenders of democratic rights issued endorsements of the event. Those who lent their support included filmmaker John Pilger, singer-songwriter Roger Waters, civil rights advocate Professor Stuart Rees, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, Elizabeth Vos, editor-in-chief of Disobedient Media, Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, filmmaker Curtis Levy, Terry Hicks and Christine Assange, Julian’s mother.