the Seahawk I OP/ED I March 30, 2006
5
Ugandan journalists
prosecuted for criticiz-
g ing government
*?■
Amanda Hutcheson
Assistant Lifestyles Editor
After winning elections on Feb. 23, the
National Resistance Movement political
party in Uganda stepped up its efforts to rid
the country of journalists.
The National Resistance Movement has
been the ruling party in Uganda for years.
Yoweri Museveni has been president of the
country since 1986. During the election, the
government persecuted various journalists
for “promoting sectarianism.”
The editor and a reporter for the Weekly
Observer in Uganda face this charge for
publishing accusations by the opposing party
that the National Resistance Movement was
participating in illegal activity to win the
' election.
The manager of Unity FM radio station
and three others in the station were arrested
for reporting that the National Resistance
Movement bused people to their rallies to
make the party appear more popular and sup
ported than it actually was.
Radio Veritas was ordered to stop
broadcasting by the Acting District Police
Commander and the State Minister of Health.
They were told they had broken the law but
were not told how.
The political editor of The Monitor news
paper was charged with “promoting sectari
anism” and “sedition” for criticizing a gov
ernment plane crash that killed a Sudanese
official.
Since the election, the government has
attempted to remove all remaining journalists
from the country. Blake Lambert, a freelance
writer, was forced to leave when the govem-
jnent would not renew his work permit. The
government claims he was a security threat.
Will Ross, a reporter for the BBC, had
a year-long accreditation decreased to four
months by a new government group, the
Media Centre. Local media have claimed the
Media Centre was created to remove journal
ists the government does not agree with.
“The government waited until the elec
tions were over and most of the foreign
press and observers had gone to kick out
one of the few resident foreign journalists,”
said Jemera Rone, the East African coor
dinator for Fluman Rights Watch, on the
Human Rights Watch website. “But govern
ment attempts to intimidate the media began
before the elections.”
American citizens tend to take for granted
their right to freedom of the press. But this
is not a right afforded everyone. When a
government is suspected of being corrupt, it
is important for the press to be free to report.
Other countries need to pressure Uganda to
stop persecuting local journalists. Ugandan
citizens deserve the right to a free press.
from RUMINATIONS page 4
from 49 to 73 in a single season?
What’s even more disturbing in the midst
of growing accusations surrounding Bond’s
association to BALCO, is that baseball is
creeping up on several major milestones, and
most if not all are worth far more on paper
than all of the home run records Bonds is
sure to own after this season. Folks, it’s been
30 years since Hank Aaron hit his 755th home
run. What about Micky Mantle’s astronomi
cal Triple Crown in 1956, leading the majors
with a .353 batting average, 52 home runs
and 130 RBI, all during an era of sports that
required an individual level of dedication no
longer possible for numerous players without
the advance training facilities, and to a larg
er degree, without performance enhancing
chemicals. Guys like Robin Yount, Buddy
Bell, George Brett, Paul Molitor and coimt-
less others, played the game with unbridled
passion and respect. Thirty years since one
of the all time great pounded his final home
run, should and could dominate the head
lines. Instead, we are drowning in steroid
fodder. Frankly, I don’t care which records
Bonds will break. Ted Williams, may he
rest in peace, was arguably the greatest hit
ter ever to play the game, a well-deserved
label too often overshadowed by a syndrome
known as“Barry Vision.” I don’t share the
opinion with the sports writing connoisseurs
at ESPN that Bonds is the greatest ever. I can
name a few players who would have some
thing to say about that, and I say we honor
those who accomplished these great feats,
for doing it the right way. It’s time to shed a
little light Barry, and help the rest of us help
the game you claim to love.
69 dead in Iraq. I’m not sure how I feel
about this segue, but it’s just far too vexing to
ignore a headline with such thunderous pos
sibilities. I saw, I read, and read again, and
1 cringed. Thirty beheaded victims found
by Iraqi police Sunday, carelessly dumped
on a stretch of road just outside of Baghdad.
Speculation? Could be militias, death squad
or any number of groups apparently attrib
uted to the Shiite party. I won’t stay here very
long, because it pains me to not scream out
in fhistration, but not because of a lack of
objectivity. No matter what your stance is on
the war in Iraq, it’s unmerciful to ignore the
daily reports of terrible violence in a country
literally being tom apart at its seams. I don’t
begin to assume what’s best for U.S. soldiers
or Iraqi citizens and armed forces. Politics
always manage to denigrate and dissolve the
true issue at hand. When will the violence
stop, and will an entire culture, it’s people
having lived through decades of the maca
bre, ever see a sunrise that doesn’t reflect
the blood of innocents painting the crippled
streets crimson? Here’s to finding a way to
co-exist, whether it religion and politics, west
and east or just finding cultures at ease with
being different. I vote no to ethnocentrism.
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