AG makes good on promise to take Kaieteur News to court

Thanks for starting this thread, Conscience.

As you know, "Dem boys seh" is political satire, a centuries' old genre of writing designed to poke fun at prominent people.

It is not a hardcore political column, nor is it a news report.

I don't know how the laws of Guyana deal with political satire, but it is permissible and non-actionable in Western democracies.

Of course, in totalitarian states satire can lead to arbitrary arrest, legal prosecution, imprisonment and even execution.

In the US, newspaper and magazine satirists say the darnedest things about politicians without fear of a lawsuit.

Minister Anil Nandalall says the two "Dem boys seh" pieces "(were) calculated to cause, and did cause me, great public embarrassment; held me up to odium and ridicule, and to disparage me as the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Member of Parliament” on both national and international fronts.

But that is exactly the nature and purpose of satire, to make people laugh at their rulers instead of aiming AK-47 rifles and Molotov cocktails at them.

Let us wait and see how the court rules on this case.

The Guyana Times also has the Bell Crier that poke fun at the oppositions.

what them bais saying we have some buggering going on here 

In politics you have to have thick skin.  I attack Obama all of the time.  I call him all sorts of names. Yet I always receive an email from his assistant Cecilia clarifying his positions and wishing me a wonderful day.  In politics personal attacks come with the job. 

guilt can be heavy on the stomach 

The Minister is guilty of something that's the only reason why he wants to sue.

If he ain't do anything then he has nothing to fear. The article cannot do him any harm.

The opposition is a group of Buddhist monks.

really

You should know. You keep defending them all the time.

i do not defend no body,if the opposition commit a crime throw their ass in jail.i do not care which political party rule Guyana as long as they do it in the interest of guyana and the guyanese people,unfortunately the ppp is destroying guyana and as a guyanese it my duty to fight against them 

So whe are you going to start your one man military revolution? Inquiring minds would like to know.

i will love to tell you but if i tell you i will have to kill you

The credibility of the kaieteurnews has been in question many times before, the average citizen no longer refer to the publication as a reliable source of information, its being regarded as the gossip newspaper.

Press freedom under assault by the PPP once again. Imagine this jackass suing a newspaper for publishing a satirical piece. Let's see how the PPP Kangaroo Court rules. They will want to sue the cartoonists next. Morons. 

The journalistic ethnics should always be adhere to, the Kaieteur News should be no exception.

Conscience, Satiricus is a political satire column in the Guyana Times newspaper owned by Dr Bobby Ramroop, close friend of Dr Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP.

The following is the latest piece by Satiricus. It's a perfect example of journalistic ethics, right?

Cry of the Loud

Satiricus was not surprised. As a newshound, with more years in the business than he cared to remember, he’d seen it all – and then some. But yet, he wondered how low even opposition politicians could sink. Satiricus didn’t have anything against opposition politicians as such – but in view of them being on the outside looking in, and all that, he’d noticed they did tend to play fast and loose where ethics and morality were concerned.

Satiricus was fuming at how LinkCon the Loud had been treated by his erstwhile friends Rum Jhaat and RoopNaRain in Parliament. Here it was, LinkCon, the pre-eminent labour leader of his times (well in shouting, at least), had cast aside the interests of his constituents and spent all his time pushing their political cause. Sugar problems? Later for that! Public Servants wages? Try again! But protesting at Linden with the Opposition MP’s?  Count LinkCon in!!

All LinkCon wanted was the $30 million subvention for his private school for the children of labour. So what if governments don’t support private schools. Except, of course, during colonial times when the private schools were all owned by the Church. But then, some said, the Church and the Colonial government were one and the same.

Anyhow it also had nothing to do with the fact that the school was where LinkCon had his air conditioned office (larger than the President’s at OP!) with secretaries and everything. LinkCon was a principled man who would, for instance, never have a company buy him a car when he was bargaining for workers with them. As his private school, LinkCon had not surprisingly decided who was going to be on the Board. Wasn’t this how he’s seen all these businessmen with their fancy suits, do things?

“LinkCon was a businessman for labour, that’s what he was!!” thought Satiricus, as he wiped away a tear from his eye discreetly. And here it was that those backstabbing politicians Rum Jhaat and RoopNaRain had conspired with the lowdown government to place some other labourers on the Board of LinkCon’s school. The damned nerve!!! There were no other labour leaders but LinkCon the Loud. The man straddled the labour field like a colossus – and his stentorian voice didn’t hurt at all.

Just because the government was going to fork out $30 million every year to the school (“Air conditioners don’t run on air, you know,” thought Satiricus.) that gave them the right to interfere. LinkCon knew it was a sell out Rum Jhaat and RoopNaRain. He knew a lot about sell-outs.

And it was not because he’d dropped the representation of bauxite workers, after he found a brand new car that no one wanted to claim one day. He couldn’t just leave it on the road, could he? That would’ve been littering.

“LinkCon might be loud and not too vigorous in reporting ‘found cars’…but he was no litterer,” thought Satiricus.

these ppp low life love to run to the courts but you cannot silents crime