Pak journalists stage demo in front of White House
WASHINGTON: Pakistani journalists in the United States on Monday organised a demonstration in front of the White House to protest against the imposition of restrictions on the media in Pakistan. According to details, the protesters demanded lifting of restrictions on private TV channels. Senior journalist Shakeel Ahmed said the purpose of the demonstration was to register protest with the US government.
Media must move forward as people want information: Barsamian
KARACHI: Pakistan media enjoyed ‘selective freedom’ as they are not allowed to raise certain issues, said David Barsamian, one of the pioneers of ‘alternative media’ in the US.
Talking to journalists at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Monday, he said that a private TV channel conducted a lengthy interview of him but did not ask a single question about the current situation in Pakistan because under the “agreement” with the government, which allowed its telecast, they were not supposed to ask “certain questions”.
“It tells you something about the atmosphere, which President Musharraf wants to create for the media,” he said, adding that it was a very difficult time but it is also an opportunity for you (journalists) to “move forward” as people expected information.
About media freedoms in the US, he said that the US was very complex country. “There is room for dissent. If you are skillful, you can operate,” said Barsamian who speaks Urdu fluently as he stayed in Delhi for 13 years.
It (freedom) is a “surprising” aspect of US culture but “the situation is much more severe in Pakistan and other countries where journalists have disappeared.” He believed there were many independent voices in the USA, promoting alternative models. He said that the corporate-driven elite media in the USA was increasingly loosing viewers and readership. He said that the number of people preferring alternative media was growing but ‘we don’t have big money.’ He said that around 2-3 million tuned in to the weekly one-hour programme of “Alternative Radio” - Barsamian’s very own radio channel.
About the perceived ignorance of US citizens regarding the world affairs, Barsamian said that the US was an imperialist country dominating the world, which warranted that the “population inside the country must be controlled”. He said that Washington was doing this so people should not know that their dollars were going to support dictators in developing countries. Another reason, he said, is the attitude of arrogance arising from imperialism. The US citizens, he said, had this attitude, “You have to kiss my feet because I am your white master”. Barsamian said that another reason was “sheer laziness”. He pointed out that a certain journalist earned 15 million dollars annually but knows nothing about the world affairs. “At the personal level, the citizens are nice. They may invite you to their homes but they are simply ignorant,” he asserted.
He said the Pentagon was using “radical Islam” to justify its domination of the world after the eclipse of the communist bloc. It is also against Iran for the same reason. Besides, it is turning its guns on China. He said that peace was not good for the “military-industrial complex”. He reminded his audience that the US had sold 63 billion dollars worth of weapons to UAE and other countries last year.
He said that more than one million Iraqis had been killed and a whole generation of Iraqis became uneducated, though Baghdad was once the most modern city of any Arab country. The healthcare system has collapsed and, for the first time, cholera had hit Iraq.
In an apparent reference to unstinted Islamabad support for the US’ “war on terror”, he termed Pakistan as a mere “instrument of US foreign policy”. About Washington-Beijing relations, Barsamian said that the Chinese were a really smart lot of people. They, he said, were not confronting the US through military means but had resorted to economic means by enhancing trade with a whole lot of advanced and Third World countries. He said that the collapse of the US Empire was visible from weakening of the US dollar.
He feared that there might be military conflict between China and the USA over certain points as the former was also surrounded by the military bases of the latter. He said that the influence of Russia should not be underestimated as President Putin was increasingly talking in undisguised, unambiguous language.
Pointing to Latin American countries, he said that these states were providing alternative models by veering away from US control. Sharing his thoughts about two great intellectuals, Eqbal Ahmed and Edward Said, he said both had dedicated their lives to helping the people, focusing on the responsibilities of intellectuals and that they embodied great integrity and wisdom.
He said Eqbal Ahmed advocated finding solutions to problems as for him, constant complaining was ‘very negative and self-defeating’ He said Eqbal also helped us understand the legacy of colonialism. He said Eqbal’s big dream was setting up a university (Khaldunia) for Pakistanis but former premier Benazir Bhutto did not permit it. Eqbal, he said, had a broader perspective while Edward Said’s focus was Palestine.
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