Mandela
Praised
at UN, By
Rwanda Then
Ban, Q of
Colonialism
and Censorship
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 5 --
When news of
Nelson
Mandela's
death reached
the UN, inside
the Security
Council
Argentina was
giving a
speech
about the
International
Criminal
Tribunals for
Former
Yugoslavia and
Rwanda.
Proceedings
stopped for a
moment of
silence.
Rwandan
Ambassador
Eugene-Richard
Gasana came
out to the
stakeout and
told
Inner City
Press of
Mandela, "He
was a great
man." On
November 15,
Gasana gave a
moving speech
in the Council
about the
dignity of
Africa.
As
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, at
first the idea
was that he
would
speak on UN
Television
without taking
questions. But
then reporters
were told he'd
speak in the
Press Briefing
Room. Inner
City Press
went there,
inevitably
wondering if
the UN of
today is
fighting or
perpetuating
colonialism.
Just
that morning,
France was
given a
mandate to
re-enter its
former
colony the
Central
African
Republic, as
it re-entered
Mali less than
a year ago.
When
Inner City
Press asked
French
Ambassador
Gerard
Araud about
this colonial
history and
"FrancAfrique,"
he
denied his
country has
economic
interests in
the CAR. Recently
the
wire service
Reuters,
at and for the
UN the Western
go-to for leaks
both
ways, declared
that
FrancAfrique
is over.
Really?
In
the UN
Briefing Room,
Ban Ki-moon
arrived and
recounted
meeting
Mandela, who
told him there
were many,
many other
fighters for
liberation,
"known and
unknown."
Ban
is headed to
Paris for a
conference on
Africa. Some
might wonder,
FrancAfrique
and ask, What
Would Mandela
Say? Or remember,
why
aren't leaders
like Thomas
Sankara still
alive?
Footnote:
after
that Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said there was
time for
two questions.
Correctly, he
called on
South Africa
Broadcasting
Corporation
first.
But then,
further
propping up
what has
become the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
he called on
the Reuters
reporter who
moved
up to sit in
what is,
absurdly,
UNCA's "Holy
Seat." The
Reuters
reporter, who
as shown here
has spied for
the UN,
made sure
to brand his
softball
question "on
behalf of the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association."
Given
his
and this group's
leadership's
involvement in
censorship,
for
example ordering
down articles
about Sri
Lanka and
conflicts of
interest,
and French
domination of
UN
Peacekeeping
for colonial
purposes, this
said it all
about today's
UN and how
it's covered.
What Would
Mandela Say?
Watch this
site.
, 
