http://shetterly.blogspot.fr/2012/08/reporters-without-borders-or-without.html
Reporters Without Borders or Without Scruples?
I always thought Reporters Without Borders was a wonderful thing, because,
you know, *free speech! free press!* Then I did some research. From Reporters
Without Borders -
SourceWatch<
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reporters_without_Borders>
:
Robert Menard, the Secretary General of RSF, was forced to confess that
RSF's budget was primarily provided by "US organizations strictly linked
with US foreign policy" (Thibodeau, *La Presse*).
Doctors Without Borders has a wonderful name; they came up with it in 1971.
Flashforward to 1985 when the unrelated group, Reporters Without Borders,
was formed to— Well, the official story is to fight censorship, but if you
follow the principle of "follow the money," the answer is different. Their
paymasters were the National Endowment for
Democracy<
http://shetterly.blogspot.com/2012/08/national-endowment-for-democracy-should.html>,
the darling of neoconservatives everywhere.
For an organization that claims to be concerned with the safety of
reporters, its priorities are odd. From Diana Barahona: Reporters Without
Borders Unmasked <
http://www.counterpunch.org/barahona05172005.html>:
>From the beginning, RSF has made Cuba its No. 1 target. Allegedly founded
to advocate freedom of the press around the world and to help journalists
under attack, the organization has called Cuba "the world's biggest prison
for journalists." It even gives the country a lower ranking on its press
freedom index than countries where journalists routinely have been killed,
such as Colombia, Peru and Mexico.
>From Spinwatch - Reporters Without Borders Financed by
CIA<
http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/3275/9/>
:
Reporters without Borders mounted a campaign in 2002 characterizing
the trial and imprisonment in Cuba of more than two dozen journalists,
among 75 "dissidents," as a violation of human rights. The Cuban government
insisted that the accused were mercenary agitators paid by the US to pose
as "independent journalists." As Granma reported, "none of them even passed
through a journalism faculty or school of journalism and never wrote a
single line of journalism."
>From The deceit of Reporters Without
Borders<
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7274>
:
RSF establishes their annual index that includes 169 countries. According
to the organization’s figures, 105 journalists were murdered over the year.
Iraq were at least 62 were killed was the most dangerous place, followed by
Mexico (8), Somalia (7), Pakistan (4), Afghanistan (4), Sri Lanka (2) y
Eritrea (2). It would be no surprise if these countries ended up with the
lowest scores. However, with the exception of Eritrea ranking 169th, this
is not the case...
How is it that Eritrea, where only two journalists were murdered, ended up
ranked below Iraq (157), Mexico (136), Somalia (159), Pakistan (152),
Afghanistan (142) and Sri Lanka (156)? Perhaps because that nation is on
Washington’s black list and RSF receives funding from the CIA front
National Endowment for Democracy, NED?
Likewise what is the explanation for Cuba ranking 165 when not one
journalist has been killed there since 1959? Why is this nation ranked
below Iraq, Mexico, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Brazil (84),
China (163), United States (48), Haiti (75), Nepal (137), Paraguay (90),
Peru (117), Democratic Republic of the Congo (133), Turkey (101) and
Zimbabwe (149), where at least one journalist has been killed? RSF explains
that Cuba’s poor ranking is due to journalists being imprisoned. Just
supposing the organization is correct on this point –which is actually far
from being the case-, wouldn’t killing journalists still be more serious
than imprisoning them?
>From UNESCO has withdrawn its patronage of the Online Free Expression Day,
organized by the non-governmental organization, Reporters Without
Borders<
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26215&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html>
:
RSF published material concerning a number of UNESCO’s Member States, which
UNESCO, had not been informed of and could not endorse. Furthermore,
UNESCO’s logo was placed in such a way as to indicate the Organization’s
support of the information presented.
See also:
Media Manipulation and the United Nations; UNESCO Severs Ties to Democracy
Manipulators? <
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8420>
Thoughts from London: Reporters Without Borders or without
scruples<
http://sundaytimes.lk/080504/Columns/thoughts.html>
Diana Barahona and Jeb Sprague: Reporters Without Borders and Washington's
Coups <
http://www.counterpunch.org/barahona08012006.html>
*Part 2: Our spies are journalists, yours are terrorists:*
*Reporters Without Borders and jailed "journalists" in Cuba*
The US arrested the Cuban Five
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five> over ten
years ago. Their crime? Giving Cuba information that was in the public
domain about rightwing organizations and individuals with ties to terrorism
like Luis Posada Carriles <
http://www.counterpunch.org/bond12282006.html>,
CORU<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordination_of_United_Revolutionary_Organizations>
, Alpha 66 <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_66>, Omega
7<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_7>,
and Brothers to the
Rescue<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_to_the_Rescue>.
Anyone who cares about free speech should champion the Five.
Who are the "journalists" arrested in Cuba? From Document - Cuba: Massive
crackdown on dissent | Amnesty
International<
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/008/2003/en/dom-AMR250082003en.html>
:
In what has been labelled by dissident groups as the biggest crackdown in a
decade, at least five dozen people from different provinces across the
country have been detained in a major police operation. Those detained
include journalists, owners of private libraries and pro-democracy members
of illegal opposition parties, including promoters of the Proyecto Varela.
A few of the arrested, like Raúl
Rivero<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Rivero>
and Oscar Espinosa <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Espinosa_Chepe>,
are clearly journalists—which doesn't mean they weren't spies, of course.
No one denies they met in private with James
Cason<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cason>,
a US agent whose resume reeks of spycraft. Whether *Granma* exaggerated the
lack of journalism experience of the people detained, I don't know. Unlike
the Cuban Five, they were accused of working to overthrow a government, but
like the Cuban Five, their work was nonviolent. All of the "Black
Spring<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Spring_(Cuba)>"
detainees have been released. Only one of the Cuban Five has been released
on parole.
It's no wonder Cuba is suspicious of US involvement in its nation. The US
history of secret operations in Cuba is long and ugly. Here's a bit from Human
rights in Cuba <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba> about
the US's last pet dictator there:
Even some of Batista's supporters expressed concern when, in an effort to
combat Castro's forces, police officers were given license to kill those
suspected of organizing a general strike in April 1958. The torture and
murders of civilians including two young sisters in Havana outraged the
public, as did the activities of the CIA-funded Bureau for the Repression
of Communist Activities (BRAC).
Received on Mon Dec 03 2012 - 11:39:21 EST
