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| Things came to a boil on the Somali/Ethiopian border last week, and today it became official. At a glance, both sides seem to be lying through their teeth about the situation, gilding their own feathers while downplaying the enemy.
It's interesting to read about, if for nothing else then as a counterpoint to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which, while still suffering from some spin, seems a haven of free information in comparison. Is that because there are so many more reporters covering Iraq, or because journalists are able to demand more information without fear of reprisals? Perhaps both.
I watched an episode of Stargate SG1 today that really resonated with me. Episode 18 of season 7 (second part of a two-parter. You should probably check out part one too), the one with the journalist doing a documentary on the program. Which of course won't mean jack if you don't watch the show, but anyway. There's a monologue the journalist has that I found really powerful, and it goes well with what has been on my mind all day:
"Why is that camera off? You don't know what you're doing here, maybe I know what I'm doing here! These people are risking their lives for us. I want to see what they're are going through, even if they don't want us to. And I want other people to see it. What do you think they're doing out there, protecting and defending? Secretly? That's the world of Mao, the world of Stalin, the world of secret police, secret trials, secret deaths.
You force the press into the cold and all you will get is lies and innuendo. And nothing, nothing is worse for a free society than a press that is in service to the military and the politicians. Nothing. You turn that camera off when I tell you to turn it off.
You think I give a damn about what you think about me? You serve the people? So do I!"
Merry Christmas to you.
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| My flight to Norway was canceled -- an aviation pleasure I had not encountered previously. After an hour and a half in a queue, intersped with the odd phonecall to a friend trying to rebook my ticket online, I had yet to move very far at all, although I took great pleasure in noticing that the line had tripled in size behind me.
Apart from boredom, one event sticks to mind. I chatted with an American couple who were on their way to Amsterdam for a holiday (and, since the girl was legally allowed to drink in Europe, to go absolutely off their rocker), and at one point it came up that I was studying Journalism.
I told her that I intend to travel, aiming for either the far east or perhaps Africa. She seemed very impressed, as most people do: "That is far away!"
Yes, but where else is there to go? How, she postulated, about America? This caused me, quite involuntarily, to roll my eyes at her. "Boring!"
She seemed somewhat offended by this, as if I'd kicked her cat. Which, I suppose, I did. | |
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| Mengistu Haile Mariam, the deposed leader of Ethiopia who is currently in hiding in Zimbabwe, was found guilty of genocide this week at the end of a 12 year trial by an Ethiopian court.
The Derg government, led by Mengistu, committed to a campaign known as "Red Terror" between 1977 and 1978 which purged tens of thousands of suspected dissidents, including high school students, 5,000 of which are said to have been killed in a single week.
"Members of the Derg who are present in court today and those who are being tried in absentia," Judge Medhen Kiros told the court, "conspired to destroy a political group and kill people with impunity."
Victims were executed by garrotting or shooting, their bodies tossed to the streets.
Mengistu was tried along with 71 other defendants, 25 of them absent. Fourteen were found guilty posthumously, having passed away in the years since the trial began.
The verdict, which carries a death sentence, was passed by two votes to one on the three-judge panel. Of the 72 defendants only one, Corporal Gashaw Gurmesa, was found not guilty.
Mengistu has been an official guest of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe for the past 15 years, and the Zimbabwean government have stated that they have no plans of releasing him to Ethiopia.
"Mengistu applied for asylum and we granted [it to] him," acting information and publicity minister, Paul Mangwana said. "We have no control over the judiciary process in other countries, but we are also a sovereign state and as I am talking now, that position we made has not changed."
However, Mengistu is reported to have recently moved from the capital of Harare to a location much closer to the Zimbabwean border.
He has previously refused to recognise the trial as legal.
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| We went to press today. It's been hard work, but well worth it; my life has consisted of breathing, eating and drinking news room for the past week in preperation for this issue, and now it's done! It feels good.
And just in time to start working on issue four.
I had two news stories in this issue. One about a delegation from Gwanak-gu in South Korea visiting Kingston, and another on the new Government STI campaign. The STI story was a bit weak, but I'm quite pleased with how tbe Gwanak-gu story turned out, and I got some praise for it too, which is always nice -- I'm a sucker for a compliment.
In other news, I have found the coolest, most awesome pub in London. I'm going back there tomorrow night, and maybe I'll get some photos as well. Woo! | |
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| During the summer, I worked for Doctors Without Borders, a medical help organization. They really piqued my interest in the topic, and I've got to admit... I'm hooked. I can't imagine not working in a related area.
So good news for me: Doctors Without Borders has a sister organization, Reporters Without Borders. I knew (abstractly) that it existed before, but I didn't really take notice untill I read today's Independent. The front page was all about bloggers who have been imprisoned for their posts; a topical subject if there ever was one. It focused on four people:
Shi Tao, from China, who's currently serving 10 years in jail for releasing the details of the Chinese government's plans to handle news coverage of the 2004 Tianamen Square anniversary. Disturbingly, it as Yahoo!'s Hong Kong branch that dug and found the links that proved that Shi was the person to leak the details. (Disturbing in the sense that a supposedly independent company acted as -- and this is Reporters without Borders' words -- a "police informant".)
Kianoosh Sanjari, from Iran. He's being held in the "notorious" ward 206 of Evin prison after blogging about other dissidents who were arrested before him. (The blog can be found here, if you can read Persian.)
Quoth Regime Change Iran:
"According to received reports, esteemed activist and blogger, Kianoosh
Sanjari is now officially known to be detained in the notorious ward
209 of Evin prison which is the section belonging to the torturers and
agents of the ministry of intelligence and security. Reportedly, the
prison guards refuse him blankets and continue to reiterate to him
that: “This time we’re not going to let you get away”. He is brought
out of his solitary confinement several times a day under the guise of
being taken to interrogation; however it is for nothing more than
continued beatings and harassment."
Mohammed Abbou, from Tunisia, a lawyer who has been imprissoned since imprisoned since March 1 last year after criticising
Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in an article posted on the Internet. He is serving a four year sentence, The Independent says, after he denounced the torture of political prisoners in Tunisia, and compared Ben Ali to Israels' then prime minister Ariel Sharon.
And finaly,
Nguyen Vu Binh, from Vietnam. Seven years in prison and three years house arrest for "spying", The Independent says. Vu Binh wrote articles, which were posted online, calling for greater political and economic freedoms. The journalist, who previously worked for Tap Chi Cong San, the Communist Newspaper’s magazine, also called for the establishment of a liberal democratic political party.
In every case; Reporters Without Borders were involved. By the way, China (163rd), Iran (162nd), Tunisia (148th) and Vietnam (155th) are all far far at the bottom of Reporters Without Borders' Annual Press Freedom Index, listing 168 countries by how open they are towards freedom of the press.
Throwing in a (well, maybe not quite) random statistic, the United States is in a shared 53rd place, together with Botswana, Croatia and Tonga, part of a regular fall down from 17th in 2002. A legacy of the Bush administration and its war on terror if there ever was one.
So, appart from being a good read, The Independent turned me towards Reporters Without Borders. I'm going to contact them and see if I can get any work with them; even a smidgeon of work experience would be fantastic. I think there's a lot I can learn from this organization. Wish me luck.
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