Lloyd B a Sister P groupie?

[Baddaz]

Lloyd B a Sister P groupie?

Thursday, December 13, 2007


Dear Editor,
Based on Lloyd B Smith's latest column, "Portia and the new Jamaica", it seems that he has either fallen victim to marauding brain-eating termites, or he has shamelessly become a Portia groupie.
For Lloyd B, Sister P should not be dispatched to a political museum, but be recycled as president of a future republic of Jamaica. Lloyd B proclaims that in this capacity, Sister P could exercise her messianic qualities to represent "the hopes and aspirations of the poor and oppressed" in a grand mission to "unite this divided nation" and stave off "what could well become an all-out class war in the years to come".
Lloyd B's panegyric to Sister P is undeterred by minor blemishes on her résumé, such as her 30-year reign over one of Jamaica's most notorious garrison constituencies.
Never mind that garrison politics is inherently divisive and oppressive, and tends to trap people in poverty. Of course, let's happily ignore Sister P's 'statesmanlike' diatribe on the night of September 3, 2007, or indeed her failure to honour her prime ministerial promise on the question of human rights.
If Sister P's legacy qualifies her to be Jamaica's president, then the legacies of genuine statesmen/politicians like Carl Rattray and the late Ronald Irvine should qualify them for sainthood.
Whenever Lloyd B recovers from his malady or the high of being a groupie, I hope that critique will again take centre stage in his columns, rather than cheerleading.

O Hilaire Sobers
ohilaire@yahoo.com

[Karl]

Dis bredda O Hilaire Sobers nuh skin-up! Im lick rite lef an centa!

[Muadib]

Lol !

[Willi]

He get licks too...

PUBLICAI Index: AMR 38/020/2001
UA 201/01Fear for safety8 August 2001
JAMAICAO. Hilaire Sobers, human rights activist, journalist, lawyer
Journalist Hilaire Sobers has received a death threat, which appears to come
from a supporter of the government. He is an outspoken critic of the
government’s human rights record, and Amnesty International is seriously
concerned for his safety.
Hilaire Sobers, who is also a human rights activist and lawyer, writes a weekly
column on human rights for the Jamaica Observer. He has been highly critical of
the authorities’ failure to prevent extrajudicial executions by the security forces
and other abuses. On 7 August a letter was delivered to the newspaper’s offices,
which contained a picture of a gunman raping and shooting Hilaire Sobers with
an M16 rifle. It referred to Hilaire Sobers’s work and said, "When we ready wi a
go shoot all a oonu like Perkins, Wignal and all oonu lawyer in a oonu **************** hole...
Fire in a yu ********************." (When we are ready we are going to shoot all of you like
Perkins [a renowned radio journalist], Wignal [a journalist working for the
Jamaica Observer] and all of you lawyers in the arsehole... Fire in your arse). It
also made explicit reference to Amnesty International: "Help! Amnesty. Help Goat
Face Gomes. Wan gunman a dig out mi ******************** hole wid him M16. Wey de insane
Sane deh." (Help! Amnesty. Help Goat Face Gomes [Carolyn Gomes, Director of
Jamaicans for Justice, a human rights non-governmental organisation]. Gunmen
want to shoot me in the arse with an M16...Where's the insane Mr. Sané? (Former
Amnesty International Secretary General Pierre Sané visited Jamaica in
September 2000 and April 2001.)
Hilaire Sobers reported the letter to the police that day. The writer of the letter
appears to be a supporter of the ruling People's National Party (PNP), and
suggested that Mr Sobers was working in tandem with the opposition JLP party,
accusing JLP leader Edward Seaga of being “de biggest teif an gunman in de
world”.
The day before the death threat was delivered, Sobers and representatives from a
human rights organisation, FAST, had gone to Hunts Bay Police Station in the
capital, Kingston, to provide legal assistance to several young men who had been
arrested. Police refused to say why the men had been arrested. When a FAST
member said, "Why is this man acting like a fool?", a police officer grabbed her,
put her under arrest and charged her with using abusive language and
obstructing an officer. She was released a few minutes later on the orders of a
senior officer. Police threatened to hit another FAST member and then threw him
out of the police station. The mother of one of the young men who had been
arrested had come to the police station to find out why he had been arrested and
try to see him: police hit her with their rifle butts and threw her out.
Amnesty International has been receiving increasing numbers of reports of
members of local NGOs campaigning on human rights being threatened and
intimidated, and is concerned at inflammatory comments by members of the
government and others in authority. At a recent funeral of a police officer, the
Minister for National Justice and Security criticised human rights groups for
defending the rights of criminals, implying that they sympathised with gunmen.
Amnesty International fears that such comments may undermine freedom of
expression. For further information, see JAMAICA: Killings and Violence by
Police: How many more victims?
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in English or your own language:
- expressing concern that journalist Hilaire Sobers received a death threat on 7
August;
- urging the authorities to provide him with adequate protection, so he can
continue his legitimate work for the defence and promotion of human rights;
- calling for an immediate, impartial and full investigation into the death threat,
and asking for those responsible to be brought to justice;
- urging the government to adhere to its obligation to guarantee the protection of
human rights defenders so that they can carry out their legitimate work without
fear of threats or reprisals, as laid out in United Nations and Organisation of
American States declarations;
- asking the authorities to publicly recognise the importance and legitimacy of the
work of human rights activists.
APPEALS TO:
The Hon. K.D. Knight
Minister for National Security and Justice
Mutual Life Building
North Tower
2 Oxford Road
PO Box 472
Kingston 5
JAMAICA
West Indies
Fax: + 1 876 906 1713
Telegrams:KD Knight, Minister for National Security and Justice, 2
Oxford Road, Kingston, JAMAICA
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Francis A. Forbes, CD, LL.B.
Commissioner of Police
Office of the Commissioner
101-105 Old Hope Road
Kingston 6
JAMAICA
West Indies
Fax:+ 1 876 927 7516
Telegrams:Francis Forbes, Commissioner of Police, 101-105 Old Hope
Road, Kingston, Jamaica
Salutationear Commissioner
and to diplomatic representatives of Jamaica accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International
Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 20 September 2001.