Corporations
Gone
Wild at
Clinton Global
Initiative,
Barclays Spin,
No Haiti
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW
YORK
CITY,
September 20
-- Held at the
same time as
the UN General
Debate, the
Clinton Global
Initiative is
at once
slicker and
more
sinister.
At
a session on
Disaster
Preparedness
late Tuesday
afternoon,
videos
promoting
Toyota's work
on the Gulf
Coast were
screened,
while media
personality
Riz Khan chose
questions from
Barclays Bank
and Dell
Computers, and
one promoting
UPS.
On
stage Bill
Clinton's head
of FEMA and
Denis O'Brien
of Digicel
said give
money
to established
groups.
Flacking for
Bill Clinton
and the UN,
Denis
O'Brien told
fellow
panelist and
chief UN
humanitarian
Valerie Amos
he had "no
complaint
about the UN,
I saw what you
did in Haiti."
Introduction
of cholera and
sexual abuse
in Port Salut
were not
discussed.
Inner
City Press
had been
shepherded
into the back
of the room.
During the
Q&A,
while
attempting to
ask Amos about
humanitarian
crises on the
agenda
of the
Security
Council, a
staffer came
over and said
"members
of the press
are not
invited to
participate."
Still,
at the
table to which
Inner City
Press was led,
an operative
of Swiss Re
insurance
company handed
out fliers and
offered
interviews
after the
session.
Back
row at
#CGI2011 no
questions
allows, offers
from Swiss Re
(c) MLee
The listened
sponsors were
not only
corporate but
included long
time New York
political
mystery Tom
Golisano --
where's Lenora
Fulani, one
jaded reporter
asked without
answer.
While
defanged
and denied
questions, the
press corps
was well fed,
with free
granola
bars, fruit
and soda, and
wireless
Internet
stronger and
more
reliable than
at the UN. For
a time there
was discussion
of ex
President
Clinton
becoming
Secretary
General,
overriding a
rule that
no national of
a Permanent
Five member of
the Council
can be S-G.
Instead,
Clinton
holds his
corporate
heavy parallel
UN every
September in
Manhattan.
The lobby of
the Sheraton
is full of
hucksters; the
soundtrack is
smooth jazz,
with Fleetwood
Mac in the
wings. Obama
will come
here,
and Hilary and
Chelsea
Clinton. It's
as if the
mis-service of
Haiti
never
happened. But
that's true
back at the UN
too...
* * *
At
UN,
Deby On TNC's
"Hypocrisy, "
400,000
Chadians
"Blocked" in
Libya, "No
Prisoners in
Chad"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 19
-- Chad's
President
Idriss Deby
told Inner
City
Press on
Monday that
there remain
400,000
Chadian's
"blocked"
inside Libya.
He
said the vast
majority had
gone to Libya
to work.
Some had been
recruited to
fight but by
both sides, he
insisted,
Gaddafi and
the National
Transitional
Council.
He said that
going forward
the
international
community
should help
reconcile all
Libyans,
"including
those who
worked with
Gaddafi." Video here, 1st part
of interview.
Deby
accused the
leaders of the
"New Libya,"
the National
Transitional
Council, of
hypocrisy as
many of them
previously
worked with
Gaddafi.
He said there
should be
greater
African Union
involvement in
the New
Libya, and
chafed at
Inner City
Press'
statement that
South Africa
has led on
that issue,
and on that of
African
migrants.
"There
are
other African
countries on
the Security
Council," he
said,
naming Gabon
and then
Nigeria.
Inner
City Press
asked Deby for
his view of
developments
in Sudan. Deby
spoke of
Southern
Kordofan and
"Nil Bleu,"
Blue Nile,
then said that
much remains
to be solved
between North
and South
Sudan.
On
this, Inner
City Press
asked Deby to
respond to reports
that the
publication
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo was
told not to
compare South
Sudan to
Southern
Chad:
"In
the
October 14 to
17 edition of
the local
newspaper
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo, the
publishers
included an
article
comparing
southern Sudan
with southern
Chad. The
prime minister
called the
article
'dangerous'
and asked the
HCC to act on
the matter. On
October 19,
the HCC met
with
journalists
and warned
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo in
particular and
all
media houses
in general to
"observe
ethics rules"
by not
printing
articles that
risked
inciting
hatred,
violence, or
separatist
sentiment."
Deby
said he
didn't know
about the
case. He said
"come to Chad"
to see
the freedom of
the press, and
also said that
"there are no
political
prisons in
Chad." Inner
City Press
began to ask
of
one example --
Ibni
Oumar Mahamat
Saleh --
but Deby
didn't answer
on
it.
Deby and the
author, smiles
on Libya,
other answers
not show
The
interview was
over, and
Inner City
Press left the
Plaza
Hotel. Deby
will speak
before the
General
Assembly on
Friday, after
meeting with
Ban Ki-moon
the day
before. "Mais
vous savez de
tout,"
Deby said. Not
as much as
we'd like to.
Watch this
site.
, 
