At
UNCA, of Lyall
Grant &
Rice, Sri
Lanka &
Expulsion
Links,
Schwarzenegger
Prized
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 19 --
As Ambassador
Susan Rice
entered
Cipriani's on
42nd Street
Wednesday
night,
Cipriani's
security told
a couple also
trying to
enter to wait,
"Susan Rice is
going in."
Inside,
the
UN
Correspondents
Association
was holding a
$250 a plate
dinner and
giving an
award to
Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Inner City
Press, which
in full
disclosure has
been
questioning
UNCA since it
screened in
the UN a Sri
Lanka
government
film denying
war crimes,
treated this
UNCA Ball as a
news event,
standing in
front of
Cipriani's and
asking
questions.
To a
question about
Arnold
Schwartzenegger
as a UN role
model, is it
appropriate,
many entrants
laughed and
asked to go
off the
record. The
majority then
said No, it is
not
appropriate.
German
Permanent
Representative
Peter Wittig,
who to his
credit did not
ask to go off
the record,
said
diplomatically
"I don't know
him well
enough."
Another
Security
Council
Permanent
Representative
was more
emphatic,
saying, "No,
it's totally
inappropriate,
UNCA is a
joke, come
inside and
I'll tell you
more over a
scotch."
After
Inner City
Press obtained
related
documents
under the US
Freedom of
Information
Law, these
three and
other UNCA
executive
committee
members did
not respond to
requests to
explain or
comment on the
documents.
(Nor
have they
answered two
requests to
know the
agenda of
their December
21 general
meeting, or
what they
propose to
vote on, even
as they
purported to
remain in
office past
the December
31 expiration
specified in
the UNCA
Constitution.)
So is
their UNCA a
freedom of the
press
organization?
Why did they
choose Arnold
Schwarzenegger
to receive
their award?
Why did they
award prizes
to their own
Executive
Committee
members, two
of whose media
organizations
have purchased
full page
advertisements
in the UNCA
Ball
publication?
These
questions were
not answered.
Outside, a
habitue
recounted how
at the
previous
night's
Cipriani
event, for the
Humane Society
featuring Mike
Bloomberg, a
woman
incongruously
walked in
wearing a fur
coat. The
crowd stopped
talking; she
left.
Meanwhile
Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador
Palitha Kohona
went in to the
UNCA Ball --
without
answering
Inner City
Press'
question.
If his deputy
General
Shavendra
Silva of the
Sri Lankan
Army, depicted
in the UN's
own report
engaged in war
crimes, showed
up, wouldn't
it be similar
to the lady in
the fur coat?
Except there
would be no
reaction. This
is UNCA.
Press
freedom must
and will be
better
defended at
the UN in
2013.
At a press
conference
earlier on
Wednesday,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
newly launched
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
-- yes, FUNCA
-- asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
ensure that
his Under
Secretaries
General hold
press
conferences
and answer
questions
without
discrimination
or censorship.
This
was a
reference to
USG Herve
Ladsous of UN
Peacekeeping,
who has repeatedly
refused to
answer Press
questions,
about Silva,
cholera in
Haiti and most
recently the
Congolese Army
rapes in
Minova.
On
Wednesday
night, Inner
City Press did
not witness
Ladsous
entering the
UNCA Ball, but
his spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
did go in.
Shouldn't this
be seen like
the lady in
the fur coat
going into the
Humane Society
ball?
But this is
2012's UNCA --
those engaged
not only in
war crimes but
also
censorship are
invited and
celebrated.
But did they
pay $250 for
their tickets?
Ban
Ki-moon
himself
graciously
invited Inner
City Press to
enter. In
truth, it was
cold outside.
But it was
from there
that Inner
City Press
watched the
spoof
"BanFall" film
produced by
CNN's Richard
Roth.
And yes, not
left on the
cutting room
floor but
broadcast was
a segment in
which Inner
City Press
says "UNCA,
you'll never
take me
alive," on the
roof of the
very same Dag
Hammarskjold
Library where
UNCA screened
the Sri Lanka
war crimes
denial film,
with
commentary
from only
Kohona and
Shavendra
Silva.
It is full
circle, and it
is enough.
2013 will be
different.
Watch this
site.