September 1, 2003
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is Canadafreepress.com’s version of a typical textbook socialist. To our way of thinking, a typical textbook socialist leans heavily on hypocrisy.
Currently making headlines for blaming the United States for lax Iraq security, Annan’s out of the spotlight moves include union bashing at the world’s largest bureaucracy.
How could Annan, the socialist, do nothing when a University for Peace representative delivered an eviction notice to Radio for Peace (RFPI) on July 21?
RFPI had been operating with UN blessings since 1987 on the University of Peace campus in El Rodeo, Costa Rica.
The radio station’s access gate was locked with chains and patrolled by armed guards employed by the university. When radio staff was ordered to vacate the building in two weeks, dozens of students attending ESL classes lost their status in class and in the university cafeteria.
According to RFPI General Manager, James Latham, the unexplained and legally questionable decision to evict the radio station also endangers the livelihood of the station’s employees and threatens to silence the voice of peace on international airwaves.
"This is more than an eviction. This is about the right to free speech," said Latham. "What is most shocking and sad is that this action comes from an international peace organization."
University for Peace co-founder, former Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo Odio, invited RFPI in 1985 to build and manage its own office and studios on the university’s Costa Rica campus. Consequently, RFPI constructed studios and transmitters, and has ever since been broadcasting messages of peace and social justice, as well as daily United Nations programming.
As far as is known, RFPI is the only listener-supported shortwave radio station available.
The University for Peace has been a United Nations mandated university since 1980.
Kyoto architect Maurice Strong is the administrator of the university.
The Committee for the Defense of Radio for Peace International is asking people to write Kofi Annan in support of the radio station at: annan@un.org.
According to RFPI representatives, both sides are currently "in negotiations" regarding the future of Radio for Peace. Radio station management has also secured legal counsel in both Costa Rica and in the U.S.
Meanwhile, milquetoast Annan and company have a monopoly on peace.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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