UN
Threw Press Into Street 1 Year
Ago, BuzzFeed Chimed In, Of
Gallach &
Cholera
By Matthew
Russell Lee, 4th in a Series
UNITED NATIONS,
February 10 – It was Ban
Ki-moon's UN which used eight
security officers to throw
me onto First Avenue,
without resistance, and break
my laptop. But it was Ban's
head of communications who had
signed the letter.
So I decided that I needed to
try to speak with her.
But
being Banned from the UN, how
to do it? I'd noticed an email
from UNESCO, some event in the
lobby with Irina Bokova, Ban's
wannabe successor. I RSVP-ed
then walked from the 26th
Street NY Public Library to
the UN at dusk.
At the entrance stood a
woman from UNESCO. A UN
security officer came closer.
They checked the list: there
was my name, Matthew Russell
Lee. The security officer
shrugged.
I went through
the metal detector and on into
the lobby, with its
checkerboard floor and
and table stacked high with
crackers, cheese and fruit.
Bokova was a no-show. But I
saw Gallach talking with
Edmond Mulet, Ban's chief of
staff who had overseen the
UN's introduction of cholera
to Haiti while Ban's envoy
there, and had denied it
since. It was time to make my
move.
“Ms Gallach,” I began.
“I think we got off on the
wrong foot.”
She gave a
fake-seeming smile, gesturing
for her factotum Darrin
Farrant to come over. Him, I
knew: he'd been in my meetings
with Gallach's predecessor
Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal,
including when Launsky, out of
character, ordered me to
remove from the door to my
office the Free UN Coalition
for Access sign. This didn't
bode well.
With Darrin
Farrant as a witness, Gallach
said “there are rules and they
have to be followed.”
“What rule did I break?”
This seemed to stump her. You
know, she said, I'm sure you
know.
But I don't. I was just trying
to cover a meeting in the UN
Press Briefing Room--
I know, Gallach cut in, just
like you stood outside the
UNCA ball down on Wall Street
in December.
Now I remembered seeing her
there, even exchanging a few
lines. “You see?,” I told her.
“It's nothing new. I think
UNCA is involved in the UN
corruption scandal.”
Gallach rolled her eyes. I
felt even my chance to plead
slipping away.
Look, I'm a simple person, I
told her. I'm willing to do
penance, physical penance. I
could clean the UN basement,
or move furniture around. I
just need full access back to
do my job.
You should have thought of
that before, she said smugly.
“When?” I asked. “Before I
went into the UN Press
Briefing Room?”
Mulet came back over and
shepherded Gallach away. I
went to where I'd set up my
laptop and searched again on
line. The BuzzFeed
piece was up, quoting
unnamed UNCA officials that
I'd tried to spy on their
meeting. Spying on
journalists? In the UN Press
Briefing Room? It still seemed
so absurd to me that I still
thought it could quickly be
turned around. But that was
not to be. The reporting on
corruption hit a nerve. And
now they would strike back
with impunity. There is no law
at the UN. The First Amendment
stops at First Avenue.
***
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