The Confusion of the Caribbean Left

Can the rough equivalent of the Greek riots occur in the Caribbean?

Of course! In some ways, mindless, uncoordinated revolt and its cynical manipulation by short-sighted politicians has been with us for some time now.

There is no doubt that the “popular” uprisings in Trinidad in 1970 and the bloody electoral encounters of Jamaica in the 1980s brought together such forces with varying degrees of broader social progress (or regression). I might even add the adventurism of Maurice Bishop and his crew between 1979 and 1983 contained important elements of this phenomenon.

There is absolutely no doubt that public opinion is decisively not in favour of the current government in Greece (though the ruling party won parliamentary elections last year ... by a slim majority).

Recent austerity measures, reports of corruption and nepotism, rising unemployment and the razor-thin parliamentary majority (down to one seat now) have conspired against the government in a substantial manner.

It is not good enough to make the kind of naive students' union assertions I have been hearing in this and several other contexts including the current waves of official thuggery in Venezuela and Zimbabwe. I even heard the opposition leader in Greece (he addressed the Global Forum for Media Development I attended in early December) speak of the street violence as being reflective or the product of "the violence of unemployment."

This kind of metaphorical contortion has been used conveniently by dictators everywhere and is a dangerous linguistic tool that can come back to bite you in the backside. Remember Maurice Bishop? This was certainly a road to Hell paved with good intentions and lots of fancy words. Who is to say Coard et al weren't 'defending' some revolution?

Yes, I saw the older hands in Athens, but they weren't the ones burning and looting, they had someone else do the dirty work for them. Some of my colleagues asked several youngsters what exactly was their cause and all that was regurgitated was the kind of ready-made orthodoxy your some analyses have been spewing uncritically and almost mindlessly.

Europe, as is the case almost everywhere else, needs socialism to address its problems. But they have to find a way to do it that is far less naive and, as a consequence, dangerous.

Caribbean ‘left-wing’ endorsement of everything that sounds ‘progressive’ wherever they are heard is not helping the cause of socialism in the region. The failure of our ‘left’ to roundly condemn thuggery in Venezuela, heartlessness in Zimbabwe and youthful vandalism in Athens will come back to haunt us in time to come.

The Olympics and Censorship

Just thought that this piece by an Aussie columnist captures some of my thoughts on the management of the Beijing Olympics and how international sporting organisations have no qualms in compromising basic principles of governance in favour of the almighty dollar. Read 'ICC' Cricket World Cup 2006 for IOC Beijing Olympics 2008.

Who lied to whom on press freedom?

Jacquelin Magnay

August 1, 2008

THE cosy deal between two of the world's most powerful bodies — the Chinese Communist Party and the International Olympic Committee — to strip away media freedoms reflects badly on both.

While restrictions on internet access are annoying for 10,000-plus of the world's media gathering for the Games, they signify much more than a simple frustration. Unfettered internet access was held up as a prime reflection of China's commitment to "open up" to the rest of the world. Instead, it has shown the reluctance of China's political masters to allow its citizens exposure to global opinion.

We now know that when Beijing bid for the 2008 Games seven years ago promising a new China, they lied. As I write, more than 150 websites are blocked including BBC China and German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, journalists are being harassed and areas such as Tiananmen Square are tightly restricted.

The tenor of the Games started to change a couple of months ago. A few reporters considered "undesirable" to the Chinese authorities were refused entry to the country. Then came the riots in Tibet. The Communist Party abruptly imposed a new layer of bureaucracy on Beijing Games organisers soon after the global demonstrations involving the torch relay.

Executives with Beijing businesses were refused visas and the city emptied of non-locals.
It was then that the International Olympic Committee realised it had lost control of the Games. One of its most senior members, Kevan Gosper, became a pawn.

For months, indeed years, Gosper has been saying that the internet would be freely available and there would be no restrictions imposed on the foreign media. And Gosper should know — he heads the IOC's press commission.

But, critically, he is also the vice-chairman of the IOC Co-ordination Commission for the Beijing Olympics. For seven years, Gosper has been the second most senior IOC official in Beijing.
Hein Verbruggen, the Belgian IOC member and former head of the international cycling union, was the co-ordination commission chairman. It is difficult to believe that a move to restrict press freedom was not signed off by another Belgian, IOC president Jacques Rogge.

Gosper is convincing when he insists that he didn't know of the deal and he had not deliberately misled the global press. Other press commission members also swear they have been completely misled on the issue.

Gosper says: "I am disappointed, but we are dealing with a communist country that has censorship." These are the Beijing Games indeed.

Getting the Youngsters Prepared

Ten young Caribbean journalists are benefiting from the skill and experience of leading regional practitioners under a mentoring programme being executed by the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers (ACM), under the banner of the Caribbean Network of Young Journalists (CNYJ).

The journalists were ‘paired’ at an orientation workshop hosted by the ACM in Trinidad on May 23-24, 2008.

The pilot project, funded in part by the United Nations Educational Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), will span a period of 12 months. It brings journalists from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago in ongoing contact with each other.

Mentors and their “associates” have been paired across national borders. During the workshop, they explored various means of collaboration and discussed issues such as current journalistic standards in the Caribbean and ways deficiencies can be addressed.

Renowned Trinidad and Tobago journalist/author, Raoul Pantin, also spoke on his career as a journalist. The young associates were given complimentary copies of his autobiographical account as a hostage during the 1990 coup d’etat in Trinidad entitled ‘Days of Terror’ published earlier this year.

Project Manager of the ACM/CNYJ Mentoring Programme, Clare Forrester, said she was “delighted to be a part of this dynamic initiative designed to help sharpen the tools and techniques of young journalists.”

“Unquestionably, this kind of mentoring training can make a huge difference to the credibility of information reported in the media,” she said.

Work has also begun on an Elections Handbook for Caribbean Journalists which, ACM President Wesley Gibbings said, “has the potential to increase the capacity of young journalists to improve the coverage of elections by leaps and bounds.”

Work on the handbook is being led by veteran Trinidad and Tobago journalist/media trainer, Lennox Grant. Other members of the handbook team are Jamaican journalist/media law lecturer, Vernon Daley, Puerto Rican law professor, Sheila Velez Martinez and Gibbings.

Assistance in researching the handbook is being received from the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean (UNIC) office for the Caribbean in Port of Spain. The editorial team met with UNIC Director, Angelica Hunt, on May 23.

Gibbings said the handbook will “reside alongside our climate change handbook as an example of how the ACM has been able to intervene meaningfully in the process of improving the quality of journalism in the Caribbean.”

He said multi-media technologies will be employed in making the handbook more accessible to all Caribbean journalists and to ensure that “in every Caribbean newsroom there will be an ACM Elections handbook.”

Forrester added: “The ACM should be encouraged, applauded and supported by all who are committed to a healthy and credible media climate so crucially important to sustaining a democratic environment and the long-term development of the countries in our region.”

Why World Press Freedom Day is Important

Observance of World Press Freedom Day 2008 establishes the critical link between the untrammelled ability of people to express themselves and to freely access official information, and their empowerment as citizens.

Some of us correspondingly contend that a principal measure of the power of the people is the extent to which the flow of information, news, opinion and analysis is facilitated by an environment that enables free expression and access to information.

The Caribbean region is, through this injunction, challenged by socio-political antecedents to contemplate a process which would have the impact of effectively transferring responsibility for the future from the grasp of a few to the hands of the people.

It is also a time when crime and violence, economic instability, natural disasters, political conflict and changing global circumstances presage continued uncertainty. The urgency to find solutions and to mitigate impacts is apparent, often in unbridled fashion.

The practice of journalism is unique as a professional function reliant on the view that more, not less, free expression and openness is desirable as a pre-condition for social progress, transparency and participatory democracy. This uniqueness is characterised by the manner in which the media serve as a bridge between civil society and the state.

The ACM also concurs with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, that press freedom and freedom of information, are “the founding principles for good governance, development and peace.”
It is true that professional imperfections militate against achievement of the broader social goals but a penalty of silence is unacceptable as a form of redress against perceived harm.

For reasons such as this, the ACM stands alert to interventions that have the impact of restricting, rather than facilitating free expression. Acts of official censorship, prior restraint and self-censorship in the media are condemned as inimical to the broader cause of progress and growth.

The absence of effective Access to Information laws in some jurisdictions also pronounces unfavourably on the degree to which people are empowered to impact on the decision-making process in a way that affects their everyday lives.

Official regulations that seek to bring order to chaotic telecommunications environments are best advised by the view that content restrictions, beyond widely-accepted rules that protect a person’s privacy and character and the security of the state, are not supported by the principles of free expression, as defined by Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, among other hemispheric and international instruments.

The ACM is committed to raising awareness among media professionals on the value of press freedom as a function of freedom of expression with all its attendant benefits to humanity.

We believe professional standards should rise to meet the requirements of such freedom and that a concerted effort to network Caribbean media professionals, improve standards, instil high ethical standards and to insist on adherence to the principle of press freedom is the responsibility of an organisation such as ours.

On World Press Freedom Day 2008, we re-dedicate ourselves to the task of shaping our profession in a manner that best serves the interests of a region in social and economic transition, challenged by changing global circumstances, impaired by a colonial legacy but committed to building a better future.

REVERSAL OF STABROEK NEWS BAN

It is encouraging that the Guyana government has heeded informed national, regional and international opinion on the Stabroek News issue.

The challenge of the advertising boycott highlighted the multi-dimensional nature of press freedom and the conditions that either promote or endanger its development.

It is a cause best supported by constant vigil and dispassionate examination and analysis. At its very core lies the welfare and well-being of Caribbean people at a time of social crisis. It is thus a cause for everyone to embrace, not just journalists and other media workers.

The principles that guide the placement of official advertising are well established.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in its Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, states clearly that, “the arbitrary and discriminatory placement of official advertising … with the intent to put pressure on and punish or reward and provide privileges to social communicators and communications media because of the opinions they express threaten freedom of expression” and must be explicitly prohibited by law.


STABROEK NEWS STORY

Govt resumes advertising with Stabroek News

April 9, 2008

The state through the Government Information Agency (GINA) has resumed advertising with Stabroek News, placing its first order in 17 months yesterday morning.

Stabroek News’ Advertising Manager Patricia Cumbermack said GINA Media Coordinator Karen Persaud telephoned her yesterday morning to make arrangements to start purchasing advertising space in this newspaper once again. No reason for the decision was given to Cumbermack.The first order was for an eight inches by three columns advertisement for the Com-munity Services Enhance-ment Project which is administered by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

Asked for a comment, Editor-in-Chief David de Caires said that a very senior government official had rung him on Friday and indicated that Stabroek News would begin receiving ads from ministries and other agencies starting this week.

“No reason was given for the change in policy,” he said. Nevertheless, he welcomed the change in the government’s position.

Government, through GINA, first withdrew ads from 29 ministries and state agencies in November 2006 citing economic considerations. It placed ads with the country’s two other dailies, the state-owned Guyana Chronicle and the privately owned Kaieteur News as well as the weekly Mirror, which is aligned to the ruling party.

Following this move other government and state-owned entities, which previously advertised independently of GINA also withdrew ads, including the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Office of the Auditor General, the Guyana Sugar Corporation, the Guyana Power and Light and the regional administrations.

Stabroek News objected to this move, contending that the withdrawal of the ads was because of the newspaper’s editorial stance on issues of governance. This newspaper sought to have the ads re-instated but to no avail.

The withdrawal of the ads was widely condemned locally by a number of entities and individuals including the Guyana Press Association, opposition political parties, the Guyana Trades Union Congress, the Guyana Human Rights Association, the Private Sector Commission and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association.

The Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) and regional media houses, as well as international media organisations, including the Inter-American Press Asso-ciation, the Commonwealth Press Union, the International Press Institute, and Reporters Without Borders had asked the government to restore the ads to this newspaper.

The cut-off also saw Stabroek News’ employees picketing a meeting of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers in Georgetown last year. Last month, the Inter-American Press Association wrote to Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington asking for the cut-off to be placed on the agenda of the meeting of Caricom Heads in Trinidad last Saturday.

Efforts by a regional mediating team to end the boycott via an offer to craft a mechanism for the distribution of state advertising also failed.

Bartica Dreams

On February 17, 2008, a well-armed group of thugs stormed the small river town of Bartica along the Essequibo River in Guyana and killed 12 people, including three police officers.

This followed the killing of 11 men, women and children in the town of Lusignan on January 26, 2008.

The brutal and senseless nature of the cold-blooded murders stunned the entire Caribbean region.

About 12 years ago, I had travelled up the Essequibo on an overloaded boat with Duke (now Justice) Pollard, and old man Thompson of Barbados to spend a weekend at Bartica. I always speak of the stark contrast between daytime Bartica and night-time Bartica. The killings there brought this out:


Bartica Dreams

River city once came alive
from Friday dusk to Sunday dusk

Tonight they sleep
while dust,
no, sprinkled gold,
flees the open pyre

We once tied our fears
like infected animals
to the backyard mango tree
and shot them in the head

Tonight they run free
with noisy hoofs -
Pus and blood
painting the loose and fickle clay

Missing you, river city, is not the best way
to describe our pain
Plucked from Heaven
is more like it

We are taken from each other
Souls en route to different futures now

They stole our sleep
Between Mash and Mash
From dusk to dusk
They stole our dreams

What mischief of Paradise has this been
that our love is torn from us by guns?
By muzzles to our heads
By deafening hatreds?

The boatman waits for us to board
But we never came
And he never left
Is this Bartica Dream our endless nightmare?

GRAPHIC MEDIA CONTENT

At about 2.00 a.m. on Saturday January 26, 11 persons, including five children, were murdered as they slept at their homes in the rural district of Lusignan in Guyana. The murderers are still at large.

The following day, the Kaieteur News newspaper carried extensive coverage of the story which included interviews with the families of the victims and testimonies from those who were injured who had escaped with their lives.

The newspaper also published graphic photographs of the bodies of those slain. One shot showed the intestines of a child spilling out onto the bed on which he lay.

There has been lively debate on the listserv of the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers (ACM) on the issue. Here are my views, followed by the submission of Barbadian journalist, Julius Gittens.

Wesley Gibbings:

This is a very interesting discussion that we perhaps need to bring around the table next time we (ACM) meet as a group.

In the meantime, it would be interesting to receive views from those among us who have served as newsroom leaders and who would have had to confront the issue of how to treat graphic content in our television newscasts and newspapers.

My own view is that in newspapers, photographs and copy come together in a cohesive fashion to tell a story. Photographs fill informational gaps and ensure
the entire story is told. In some instances, it might be the other way around and, perhaps, we are not seeing enough journalistic photo essays. We certainly
have the quality photo-journalists around to do so.

Strict adherence to a notion of “good taste” apart – and we always have the option to determine what constitutes “good taste” as news organisations – we probably need to ask the questions: What does photographic content add to the story that has not already been told in the main body of the text? Do the photographs also provide further proof of an assertion in the story?

There are also decisions to be made about photographic treatment and whether it is necessary, in the context of what is already known and proven, to publish one angle of the shot and not another.

As well, unlike television where there might be some advance warning, the newspaper reader does not have the option not to view the pictures

In my view, if these questions/issues were not considered by the editor of the Kaieteur News, today’s front page would not have been the product of thoughtful, professional journalism.

In the United States, there is a growing body of literature on this subject in the context of the invasion of Iraq. We need to start recording our own well-considered thoughts in books and blogs and listservs like this on an area that poses episodic but important challenges to our understanding of how Caribbean journalism is practised.

Meanwhile, would I, as a newspaper editor, have carried the photographs published in the Kaieteur News?

No!



This now is the submission of Julius Gittens:

This may very well do no one any good either.

One of the insightful, and troubling, aspects of today's newspaper journalism is its portability. Thanks to Internet, we can react with shock, horror and revulsion in our far-flung capitals. Then we go watch the Oscar-nominated No Country for Old Men, which was rewarded with a Golden Globe (an award by Hollywood's foreign press corps). Violence means nothing to us when we are removed from it. I recall being singular in feeling the revulsion and pain by Visnews images of death in the Iran-Iraq and Russo-Afghan Wars of the 1980s but marvel at the entire globe's disgust over Al-Jazeera video of one American G.I. being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. We can now behave like we've never left home or become unofficial citizens of somebody else's country because we can read their all papers, hear all their radio stations and see all their tv stations online, 24-7.

Can the editors and publishers of the Kaieteur News say that such violence means nothing to them, that's it's just a juicy story? Not one of us who write to express our pain of seeing the pictures has a better close-up view of a Guyana that is slowly drowning in a tide of ethnic bloodletting: five of their colleagues were lined up and executed. Kaieteur News reporters have been threatened, not with badge-of-honour death threats, but with promises that the journalists have no illusions about.

So I'm afraid we might very well have to toss out the knee-jerk response that the Kaieteur News folks just wanna sell papers.

Until just the other day, Lusignan qualified for that quintessential tabloid listing as 'sleepy hamlet'. The kids spend most of their spare time practising golf swings with the odd shared seven-iron, when they're not working as caddies at the nearby course, the only one in the nation. Golf has a way of breeding a rather polite, even needlessly deferential lot. They could have been running around with one or two used Kalashnikovs but no, sorry, nothing more lethal than a 3-iron. Plain-speaking, persistent, keen, genteel. Kids.

So in a very local sense, could it be the Kaieteur News folk did what they thought they had to do - reach their readers, fellow Guyanese, for whom the shedding of blood in Buxton or Eccles is, as it is for us, distance learning?

I cannot so easily condemn the Kaieteur News folks, knowing full well the enormous grief and suffering I might go through if the carnage was of my own kin. Or just maybe, as I've known in my own practice to happen, maybe the relatives might order up or keep copies of this edition, just so they could show their friends and foes what bullets at near supersonic speed do to human beings, especially their own flesh and blood.

The violence in Guyana is a complex story. Our understanding of it and the reasons why a bunch of journalists felt they had to violate somebody's breakfast to help others understand it perhaps also needs to be complex.

So, would I as an editor of the Kaieteur News run those photos? I don't know. I don't live in the Guyana of January 2008. Would I try every conceivable way of meeting the public's need or right to know? Hell yes.


Julius P.A. Gittens, MA
PO Box W1167
St John's ANTIGUA, West Indies
See Art of JPA Gittens at www.geocities. com/juliusgittens