Back home, after an eventful week in the land of Hamlet, and fairy tales, and mermaids, full of stories and excitement, only to chuckle at what is happening in my Wonderland.
What's happening at the Ministry of Misinformation? According to undisclosed sources, the official news agency reported that its Minister will be replaced by Shaikha Mai Al Khalifa. A few phone calls later and some whispers, the story is that the now former Minister Jihad BuKamal, who has been in his job for a year, lost his post for allowing Waad's Ibrahim Sharif to speak on air. Yikes. Does this turn the tables and make a man whose job it is to censor free speech a victim? Is the oppressor oppressed now? And is he the first guardian of censorship to lose his job for allowing someone, anyone, to say something, whatever it may be, unfiltered?
What message are we sending the rest of the world? I see. I get it now. We are telling everyone that we are a country which upholds the law: that anyone breaking the silence and speaking his mind without censorship will be punished - minister or not. Don't you love equality? I do.
I don't know BuKamal, and haven't worked with him but I certainly am happy he no longer has ink on his hands - dirty ink from massacring those newspapers, and books, and publications - and suffocating those dangerous dangerous words and thoughts. As for Shaikha Mai, she is someone I approve of as a Minister of Culture - BUT not Information as I don't believe we need one in a democracy, unless perhaps I am missing something and we really aren't that.
1 comments:
yes, rules are only for stupids. Intelligent needs no rule, it needs only communication. Freedom of speech, yes that's what we need. No ministry of information, that's what it should be! I'm with you!
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