A CONSCIENCE THAT IS NOT FOR SALE

Apr 21, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It was glaring. The headline and accompanying story spoke about the constitutional action filed by media practitioner Enrico Woolford, challenging the grant of radio licences in 2011.
Strikingly, no mention was made of the man who has been relentless in ensuring justice and fair play in struggle to overturn those licences. It was as if he did not exist or that Glenn Lall himself had not filed any action against the said grant of licences.
Stabroek News will eventually be called to explain its role in this ongoing fight for the defence of the right of free expression. It will have to explain why it has been so muted on this issue; so uninvolved given its own direct interest as an applicant for a radio licence.
More importantly, it will have to explain why it has run a story about the litigation filed against the radio licences and has failed to mention that the publishers of Kaieteur News have also filed a civil suit, as is being reported by other sections of the media, including sections that are perceived to be pro-government.
I have warned Glenn Lall to be careful about those with whom he associates in the fight for press freedom. I have reminded him on more than one occasion about the tendency of those with power and money in this country to steer clear of conflict and confrontation with the political elite; of their practice to stay in safe zones and not get their feet muddied.
I have also cautioned him about the historical practice of the political elite to divide those whom they view as against them. During the many protests against the grant of the radio licences, questions were being asked as to why certain forces and agencies were not joining the protests.
I have forewarned Glenn Lall about the inevitable: that the ruling elite will come after him viciously, that the full power of the State will be launched against him and that he must expect to be left abandoned by many of those who have been standing by his side. He has already been vilified publicly.
Glenn Lall has always understood the high price that he will have to pay for his actions to ensure fairness and rightness. He knows that he will lose many friends; he knows that he will face prosecution and victimization and that he will suffer greatly for his principled stand.
But those things have never bothered Glenn Lall. He has already paid a high price for press freedom. When his newspaper was first formed, it did not receive a single government advertisement for ten years, and all because Lall refused to fire his editor, Adam Harris. He made it clear that his conscience was not for sale and he would not, regardless of the price that his business had to pay, allow anyone to tell him what to do.
He later paid a price that still haunts him today: the fire-bombing of his newspaper’s printery and the later massacre of five of his employees. He has been deeply affected onto this day by the latter event, because Glenn is someone who treats the most ordinary of his workers like his own family and the deaths of his pressmen have hurt him deeply and left a gaping wound in his heart.
Having gone through that experience there is nothing that can intimidate Glenn Lall. After he stood up and condemned the excesses of the Jagdeo administration, he came under tremendous pressure. He knows about the surveillance that has been going on for years – the perpetual monitoring of his business. He knows about the threats that have been issued to deal with him. He knows it all and has soldiered on, most times alone, in his fight.
They can do whatever they want to Glenn Lall, he is not going to change. He is one of the most fearless individuals that this country has ever produced and he is someone that will call a wrong a wrong, regardless of the price to be paid.
He has lost many a friend because of the stance that he has taken against what is taking place in government. They thought that he was someone who would sit quietly and accept what was taking place. It showed that they too do not understand him and have never understood what he stands for and what his newspaper is about.
Now the daggers are being pulled; divisions are being foisted and Glenn Lall knows that he is in for a long, bitter fight against a formidable enemy. Whatever happens, Guyana is a better place because of Glenn Lall. His example shows that people can make a difference in changing the worst of systems. Thank you Glenn Lall for being a champion!

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A CONSCIENCE THAT IS NOT FOR SALE

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