As
UN Eviction Loomed, Courthouse
News Chimed In, Gallach's DPI
Set Deadline, No Appeal
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Series,
Video
I,
II
UNITED NATIONS,
March 6 – Facing final UN
eviction, did this
audit, trashing Gallach
as it did, offer some
protection? I hadn't spoken
with her. But an African
ambassador who had, on my
behalf he said, read to him
from his notes: they are
looking for some sign, he
said. She mentioned the other
journalists a lot, but
insisted they are not
punishing you.
What kind of sign? I
asked him. He shrugged and
said he would speak to her
again. Through other
channels came other messages:
they don't like your
Periscopes. They don't
like your questions at the
noon briefing. It was even
suggested that I stop going to
the noon briefing for a while.
But what then was I
fighting for? Wasn't it to ask
question for those who
couldn't? Those who couldn't
get in the building, even
people in New York City like
Dan Purcell, in the library
and down by the river? The
UN's cholera victims in Haiti?
Those it was supposed to
protect, in the Congo, Burundi
and Sri Lanka? Most in Rwanda
no longer believed in the UN,
like most in Haiti. Perhaps it
would spread. Maybe I was
fighting to restore access to
an organization which was
dying, which Ban Ki-moon had
effectively killed. The only
effective thing he would have
done.
Courthouse News' piece
came out and I thought
that too might protect me. It
mentioned the incongruity of
South South News, used for
bribery, still having its
office while I'd been thrown
out of mine. My focus now, I'd
decided, was just to not have
my stuff thrown out of the
office until my probationary
pass expired on June 22. Then
I could return, and go from
there.
I was thinking that
would be possible. Another
correspondent told me
Spokesman Dujarric had told
him he didn't think Inner City
Press' office would be given
out. I was biking up to
the New York City pool when I
saw Dujarric, on his own bike.
I pulled up alongside and
said, “Is it true they won't
be giving out my office?”
He turned out, still
pedaling, surprised. I
thought, he'll make a
complaint about this too. And
perhaps he did. But he told
me, he didn't think they'd be
giving it out. I swam
with peace, at least some
peace.
And then I got an email
from MALU:
"Dear Mr. Lee, Further to the
letter to you from Cristina
Gallach,
Under-Secretary-General for
Communications and Public
Information, on 30 March 2016,
we note that you did not
remove your belongings from
the office by the 6 April
deadline as required.
As you have still not removed
your belongings, we wish to
inform you that your
belongings will be packaged on
Saturday 16 April 2016 at
10:00 a.m.
After carefully packaging them
up, your belongings will be
forwarded to [ ] Avenue, Bronx
NY, the headquarters address
for Inner City Press that you
had listed in your media
accreditation application. If
you wish us to forward your
packaged belongings to another
address instead, please let us
know as soon as possible.
We request your presence
during the packing. Please
contact the Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit
(MALU) to make the necessary
arrangements. If you are not
present, the packing and
forwarding will still take
place at 10:00 a.m. on
Saturday 16 April 2016."
So that was it. I paced
around the bullpen. I emailed
it to some in Congress, some
at The Intercept and Guardian.
Some wrote back, some offered
to forward it to others. But
who could stop his freight
train of censorship?
I was standing
with my minder in front of
ECOSOC when Ban Ki-moon came
along. I approached him -- his
guards moved in quickly -- and
I said, “You know they are
throwing me out, evicting me
from my office.”
“That is not my
decision,” Ban croaked,
backing away. His guards got
between us.
“Oh but it is,” I said.
My hands were shaking.
Who killed the UN? Ban
Ki-moon killed the UN.
Because... Bank Ki-moon, is
corrupt. Ban Ki MOON, is
corrupt. Why is he so corrupt?
He's so corrupt Driving around
in his corruption trucks.
These were my chants. But what
would they come to?
***
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