10th
Anniversary of Sikkim ‘Press Freedom Day’
Jigme N Kazi, President of Sikkim Federation
of Working Journalists’ (SFWJ) address on the occasion of the 1st Sikkim Press
Freedom Day function organized by SFWJ
in Gangtok on June 19, 2010.
(On this day, June 19, 2020, I want to share and place on record on what I said
and what we did many years back on issues that are so vitally important to
humanity.)
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“In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to
Versailles a full meeting of the ‘Estates General’.
The
First Estate consisted of three hundred nobles. The Second Estate, three
hundred clergy.
The
Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French
Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of
Commons, said, “Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than
them all.” (Jeffrey Archer in “The Fourth Estate”
Respected Chief Guest, Secretary IPR,
President, Press Club of Sikkim, distinguished guests, members of the Fourth
Estate, and my colleagues in the Sikkim Federation of Working Journalists.
It is our privilege and honour to have the
former Chief Minister of Sikkim, Mr. B.B. Gooroong, who was not only the Press
Advisor to the Chief Minister but was also a journalist once upon a time.
When members of the local media held a
protest rally to voice their concern for protection of Press Freedom in
Gangtok seventeen years ago on June 19,
1993, Mr. Gooroong came all the way down to the Paljor Stadium where we held
the rally and congratulated us and gave us his support.
Sir, you have honoured us once again and
touched our hearts by being here amidst your very hectic schedule.
If 17 years is a long time to remember what
we did on this day on that day and
honour those valiant journalists who risked everything to raise their voice
against suppression of the freedom of press then I believe that even after 50
years the Fourth Estate in Sikkim will remember with pride and look back on
this day and what we did here today.
By being here today to mark the 1st Sikkim
Press Freedom Day celebrations we are
not just honouring those who took part in the Press Freedom Rally on June 19,
1993, we are also, once again, making our stand clear on issues and principles
that guide and govern the Fourth Estate all over the world.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding
fathers of America, once said: “If it were left to me to decide whether we
should have a government without a free press or a free press without a
government, I would prefer the latter.”
Who wouldn’t, particularly when that
government is bent on suppression of free expression, particularly of Press
freedom? Lets face it: the Press and the government are natural adversaries.
Each has its own unique role in society.
What is freedom without a free Press? And
what is the Press without freedom? To be more precise; what is democracy
without freedom, particularly Press freedom? Pansy Takula, one of the advocates
of Press freedom and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to
Information of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights, recently
said,
“We
have reached the point where I think we need constructive dialogue with the
government of this country, where maybe my office, together with media
practitioners and media organizations and governments, can sit around a table
and try and find each other.”
She added, “Free press, in particular, and
freedom of expression, in general (are) very important not only on the African
continent, but everywhere else in the world because without free press you
cannot have democracy. You cannot have
good governance. You cannot have the
rule of law. You know, the media act as
a watch dog against those who are in power.”
In Asia, in India and in Sikkim it is time
that we, the media and the authorities, sit together, sort out our differences
and respect each others role in a free and democratic set-up. When the annual
World Press Freedom Day, a date to celebrate the fundamental principles of
press freedom and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in
the line of duty, was observed in May 3 last month, the Fourth Estate dedicated
this year’s World Press Freedom Day to the “right to know”: the right of all
people, including journalists, to have access to information held by
governments and other public bodies.
The right to know is the right to ask
questions to public institutions and their obligation to reply. The right to
know is essential for the media and the public to enjoy true freedom of
expression, protected by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights since it was adopted in 1948.
My paper, the Sikkim Observer, still has a
column called “People want to know; people have a right to know.” We must all
make our own contribution towards Press Freedom no matter what kind of adverse
situations we may face.
We must believe that in a democratic system
the people are sovereign. The slogan, janta
rajma jantai raja, must be put into practice if we are sincere in what we
profess. In a true democracy the role of
the government is to serve the people and the people have the right to know and
question what is done on their behalf.
There was an emotional ceremony at the White
House recently when President Obama welcomed slain journalist Daniel Pearl’s
surviving family members to witness the signing of the Daniel Pearl Freedom of
the Press Act. Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was brutally
murdered in Pakistan as he was following up some leads on al-Qaeda in early
2002. Four Pakistanis were convicted in Pearl’s murder in July of that year.
According to the New York Times, the Freedom of the Press Act “requires the
State Department to expand its scrutiny of news media restrictions and
intimidation as part of its annual review of human rights in each country.
Among other considerations, the department will be required to determine
whether foreign governments participate in or condone violations of press
freedom.”
On this special day I would like to recall
and place on record on what I said on June 19, 1993 during the Press Freedom
rally held in Gangtok:
“Let me remind you today that media-persons
and media organizations cannot alone ensure and protect the freedom of the
Press. In the final analysis, it is the people who have to come forward and
provide the much-needed protection to journalists and safeguard freedom of the
Press. But we, as journalists, must make our stand very clear. We must stand
firm and resolute in our stand. While our opinions as journalists may differ on
various issues and matters, we cannot and must not allow vested interests or
our own selfish motives to creep in and deprive us of the opportunity to stand
erect and united on the issue of the Freedom of the Press. It is not how many
of us are here today to support the cause of the Freedom of the Press that
matters, but how much faith, sincerity and dedication that we have in the
righteousness of our cause.” (Inside Sikkim: Against the Tide, page 361,
published 1993).
My message was simple and direct: “Today,
we are here to lodge a symbolic protest. But if our voice is not heard and if
the suppression of the freedom of the Press still continue despite the stand
that we have taken here today, we must not be content with mere symbolism. Me
must raise a voice in every village and town in this State. We must raise our
voice in Mangan, in Geyzing, and in Namchi (heaquarters of the three other
district of Sikkim), and if need be, in Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. We
must also raise our voice in the Assembly and in the Parliament, and if need
be, in other international Press forum as well. We must continue to press on
until ten thousand conscious citizens in Sikkim come together and raise their
voice and rally support for Freedom of the Press in Sikkim.”
Three days after our rally thousands of
pro-democracy supporters led by Sikkim Democratic Front stormed the capital on
June 22. Within less than eleven months after the rally the repressive regime
in Sikkim was toppled leading to formation of a new government after the
November Assembly elections in 1994.
The local Press played a notable role in
restoration of freedom, democracy, justice and rule of law in the people’s
struggle for change in Sikkim.
It is, therefore, fitting and proper that
we should remember and honour those who stood their ground in times of crisis
while others faltered.
I want to thank my colleagues in the Sikkim
Federation of Working Journalists and other members of the Fourth Estate for
arranging this function and giving a helping hand to preserve and protect Press
freedom in Sikkim.
My final message to you comes from the words
of President John F. Kennedy who said:
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes
us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival
and the success of liberty.”
