During the cricket, these things happened
Freddie Kissoon column
Kaieteur News
April 10, 2007
CWC in Guyana is over; but while it lasted, it may not have been a good period for the newspapers. Apart from the cricket, which took up the attention of the nation, there was also the entertainment spin-off. And then came Easter.
Now that everything is over, we will settle down to business as usual. But while the cricket was here, a few things happened that have immense sociological implications that Guyanese and Third World people ought to know about. Just in case you didn't devote the same attention to the newspapers during the cricket period, and you may have missed out on these stories, here they are.
During the rage against what appeared on the BBC's Martin Gough's blob, in which he made some ignorant and uniformed comments about Guyana, English football fans went to Italy, where Manchester United was playing, and attacked Italian fans and the police. The police in every major European city where football is played have no tolerance for the hooliganism of the English fans. The Italian police went after them.
I saw a clip on the BBC in which, although some English youths were already pulverised and were slumped on the ground, they were still receiving baton lashes on their backs.
What good timing! When Martin Gough's blob was responded to in the form of a front-page comment on Kaieteur News, mention was made of the danger one can face from these rampaging semi-civilised misfits. This type of behaviour, of course, comes from England, and not a run down city in the Third World.
Imagine what would have been written in the European press if, on the West Indies losing to Australia or New Zealand or England, the locals had beaten up visiting fans. It is very important that the Third World media inform their people about the flaws of European and North American societies, because they can end up believing that their cultures are inferior.
One week after that incident in Italy, one of the world's most talented footballers, playing in the English Premier League, Samuel Eto'o from Africa, made a statement to the press that he does not take his children to see him play because he does not want them to hear the nasty, racist remarks that come from the European fans.
What can be more of a terrible indictment of European society than this? Here is an internationally famous football player whose children cannot see him play because there is no character in the people who go to see the game. These people will use racist remarks against non-white players.
Imagine this is happening not in Nigeria, India or Guyana, but in the supposed cradle of civilisation – Europe.
Next, there appeared some valuable information in a letter in the Stabroek News (April 5, 07) written by Mr. David Casavis entitled. “I interviewed the FBI agent who interrogated Thomas Carroll, the former US visa officer.” Here is what Mr. Casavis told his readers: “Publishing in the United States is not like in Guyana. The process is long, and an author has to convince American publishers that Guyana is not located in Africa.”
Now, readers would recall what I wrote in my March 28 column in response to Martin Gough; “Go to any European and North American airport and you will find literally hundreds of different newspapers and magazines on the newsstand. The mysterious thing is that the average person in Europe and North America does not read these publications, and they remain more ignorant than the average illiterate peasant of the South Asian villages.”
It was no surprise to me when I read from Mr. Casavis that American publishers do not know where Guyana is. One would definitely assume that a publisher in the US would have more than passing familiarity with the countries of South America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is not that Guyanese in the US are an obscure group. Guyanese do make the news, albeit in many negative ways.
Do you mean to tell me that these publishers have never heard about Guyana?
The answer is no, of course. But look who they are? Publishers in the richest country in the world, a country with the most newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, academic journals and television stations in the world.
I am not going to repeat the main points of my March 28 column, but I stress once again that the Third World media must confront the condescending journalism that European and North American writers practise when they visit the developing world. There is the strong possibility that Martin Gough will be more professional, research more, and be less negative about the next Third World country he visits.
Finally, one hopes the Martin Gough controversy opens the eyes of this nation. Look at the people who defended Gough. Was it any coincidence they were all Europeans living in Guyana and writing for the Stabroek News, whose silence on Gough's nonsense is quite remarkable?
Mr. Patrick van Beek tells us that what Gough wrote about Guyana was not done in his capacity as a journalist but on his blob. So, if on your blob you call Guyana a place of foolish, dark-skinned people, you must be judged on that, because it was your personal entry on the internet. Never mind you put it there for people to read.
According to van Beek, a journalist must only be judged on what he writes professionally.
William Walker, in his satirical piece, was cynical but subtly defended Gough. The least said about Bill Cotton the better. He knows very well what I meant about the DDL/Banks DIH connection. That is the circuit in which he thrives when he is in Guyana.
It is left to Stabroek News to tell us at which university John Mair teaches, because in yesterday's SN, he told us he is a university lecturer but conveniently left out the name of the institution. It is left to Stabroek to tell us which prize for journalism Mr. Mair won, and what was the awarding institution.
When a frequent letter writer in the SN wrote that he holds a degree from the University of Warburg, the Stabroek News researched and found that Warburg is a fly-by-night internet college. Now, let us find out the work status of Mr. Mair. I bet he teaches at the University of Sheriff Street, and he holds his classes in the night.
He was given a top prize in journalism by the Guyana Association of Nocturnal Clubbers.