Monday, January 12, 2015

Hypocrisy Is Abundant In Paris March

Although the overwhelming support for the Charlie Hebdo newspaper is more than amazing for free speech and free press supporters, unfortunately there is trouble in paradise. This past Sunday in France around 3.7 million leaders and citizens marched together in support of the newspaper shooting victims' families.

However, the hypocrisy of some attendants is absolutely undeniable and far-beyond unignorable. Many of the political attendants are either personally responsible, or are direct representatives of those responsible, for the violent and aggressive suppression of free speech and press.

We'll take the time to cover a few;

The Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom: Recently, in act of clear free speech violation, carried out the absolute destruction of documents held in the basement of The Guardian. They then threatened the newspaper with judicial prosecution if they continued to report on controversial surveillance uncoverings of the U.S. and the U.K. The Guardian later reported that the authorities forced them to destroy several documents containing documents that were leaked by Edward Snowden.

Prime Minister Kopacz of Poland: In an act of complete aggression against the mere idea of freedom of speech, Polish authorities raided a local magazine which was posting the conversations secretly recorded between Polish politicians. The authorities declared aim to obtain the recordings and "secure" them. The editors initially refused to give up their computers citing their constitutional rights (via the Polish Constitution) to protect their sources. Their editor-in-chief refused to surrender his laptop, had a brief struggle with an officer who tried to destroy the computer when the editor resisted, and showed what the word "secure" really means for police.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: In Palestine there was recently a journalist jailed for a one year sentence on the charge, the second in 2014, for "insulting" the Authority President by comparing him to a character in a TV show playing the role of a French spy.

Prime Minister Samaras of Greece: In the recent Greek protests (and following riots) police beat and seriously injured two different journalists during the same demonstration.

These are only a few of the many countries who are beyond hypocritical for these actions including The United StatesQatarBahrainMaliNATO (Not a country, but still a participating plaster saint), Saudi ArabiaSloveniaBulgariaGeorgiaTunisiaThe United Arab EmiratesAlgeriaRussiaEgyptIsraelTurkey, and Jordan.

The Reporters Without Borders have expressed their disgust at these events on several occasions, and rightly so. This repulsive show of complete disregard for the freedoms of press and speech are a worrisome trend that we, as citizens, must face.

So I stand with Charlie Hebdo, not in some overly romanticized aspect, but thoroughly in the way of speaking what you desire to speak. That is something we all must be willing to fight for no matter what the price is, because if we don't no one will.

That's all I have to say today, but I'll be back tomorrow.

"How odd I can have all this inside me, and to you it's just words." -David Foster Wallace

No comments:

Post a Comment