the army and the fourth estate
So, you may have read that Musharraf's taken off his uniform (cue some off-color joke that I don't have the heart to make) and promised that the Emergency will end on Dec. 16th. He condemned the pesky folk who object to his continuing dictatorial rule, and scolded the international community:
I know some people next door who'd object to that characterization, Mr. President. And speaking of objections: tomorrow morning, the Asia Society and CFR are hosting an event entitled "Pakistan Today: The Musharraf Government Makes its Case", featuring several members of a "special delegation" of Pakistani officials. Event info here, webcast link here. I will be there with some fellow travelers to heckle from the peanut gallery.
And once you've washed the bad taste from that out of your mouth, do consider attending or listening to this next Wednesday evening in New York: We Are Not Free--The Future of the Media in Pakistan. The event will feature a screening of Kiran Khalid's new short documentary "We Are Not Free," which looks at the crackdown on broadcast journalism in Pakistan since last spring. I've seen the documentary, and it's a very good short primer on the media crackdown. There's striking footage of the attacks on Geo and Aaj, good interviews with several journalists, some unintentionally amusing segments in which a PTV (government broadcaster) anchor insists that the Pakistani media are perfectly free, and testimony from Supreme Court Bar Association leader Munir Malik--who now lies in a hospital bed after weeks in Attock jail. The film will be followed by a panel featuring Khalid herself, Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Sami Abrahim of Geo TV, Ahmed Rashid by videoconference, and (inshallah) Talat Hussein of Aaj TV via phone from Pakistan. If any readers are planning on attending and want to say hi, drop me an email.
“There is an unrealistic or even impractical obsession with your form of democracy, human rights and civil liberties, which you have taken centuries to acquire and which you expect us to adopt in a few years, in a few months."
I know some people next door who'd object to that characterization, Mr. President. And speaking of objections: tomorrow morning, the Asia Society and CFR are hosting an event entitled "Pakistan Today: The Musharraf Government Makes its Case", featuring several members of a "special delegation" of Pakistani officials. Event info here, webcast link here. I will be there with some fellow travelers to heckle from the peanut gallery.
And once you've washed the bad taste from that out of your mouth, do consider attending or listening to this next Wednesday evening in New York: We Are Not Free--The Future of the Media in Pakistan. The event will feature a screening of Kiran Khalid's new short documentary "We Are Not Free," which looks at the crackdown on broadcast journalism in Pakistan since last spring. I've seen the documentary, and it's a very good short primer on the media crackdown. There's striking footage of the attacks on Geo and Aaj, good interviews with several journalists, some unintentionally amusing segments in which a PTV (government broadcaster) anchor insists that the Pakistani media are perfectly free, and testimony from Supreme Court Bar Association leader Munir Malik--who now lies in a hospital bed after weeks in Attock jail. The film will be followed by a panel featuring Khalid herself, Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Sami Abrahim of Geo TV, Ahmed Rashid by videoconference, and (inshallah) Talat Hussein of Aaj TV via phone from Pakistan. If any readers are planning on attending and want to say hi, drop me an email.
posted by kitabet at 3:46 PM
3 Comments:
"There is an unrealistic or even impractical obsession with your form of democracy, human rights and civil liberties, which you have taken centuries to acquire and which you expect us to adopt in a few years, in a few months."
-- seriously WTF WTF WTF when I heard that. Apart from the fact that his speeches/writings these days look like something his butler's prepared when he's taking time off from the cooking - doesnt he know how ludicrous he sounds? blech
this is happening in NY - sigh. I remember days when I was a fixture at Amsterdam avenue and the ISERP heh - but no way I can attend even if I wanted to now..
hi armchair: there should be audio of the event online now, just follow the link in the post.
--not quite the same as being in NY, but the next best thing ;)
were you at Columbia, then?
aha, thanks - i'll check it out.
nope, not at columbia - but interest in machine learning/statistics and socio economics brought me there a few times :) (was at yale)
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