My letter is published in The Nation

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Politics with an addendum here which applies to Cathedralites.)

The Nation is America's most respected Liberal magazine.

Recently they published an article "Lap Dogs of the Press" by Helen Thomas, the famed 86 year old journalist who is in the White House press Corps.

I wrote this letter to her, care-off The Nation which published her piece.

Dear Helen,

I have not emailed you for a long time but your stand in the White House and your powerful articles continue to inspire me almost daily. I did not want to wait till your next birthday to send you this one!

Way back in the early 50s, I learnt my basic journalism, when I was less than 10 years old, in the arms and at the feet of my grandfather, the doyen of Kerala, the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.


The late K. C. Mammen Mappillai

Your recent article "Lap Dogs of the Press" certainly took me back to the days when he, and many other journalists, had to spend time in jail under trumped up charges for supporting the Indian National Congress and the Freedom Movement in India.

Gandhi, Nehru, are the well-known "journalists" that may spring to mind, but it was the small fearless newspaper editors and their journalists, like my grandfather, that had to undergo much hardship to educate their readers. Without them and their locally "respected" words, the messages of the freedom fighters would never have been heard by the masses.

Today, this 118 year old newspaper (THE MALAYALA MANORAMA) is the largest circulating one in India since some of the present editors are committed to the well-being of the people who make up its readership.

Thank you for this article which, to me, really raises the primary issue of where our journalists learn journalism, and how they practice it.

Let us hope that a few "journalists", like you, are produced in the years to come!

Best regards

Jacob

I was informed yesterday that The Nation had published an edited version of this letter in their May 8th 2006 issue, which was released online yesterday.

Unfortunately, you have to be subscriber to The Nation to read the letter online.

If it were not journalists like Helen Thomas, who fearlessly question those in power, the world would be headed for a totalitarian fascist society!

Seventh Heaven P.S. There are a few Cathedralites who disagree with me on my views about the illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation on false pretenses.

I value my friendship with even those who disagree with me. But I must stand firm on my principles.

I sent this email to one such Cathedralite who said

"Been meaning to e-mail you before this but my politics are diametrically opposed to yours, so decided not to get into any long dissertations...!!!"

I replied thus:

Dear XXXX,

Everyone is entitled to their own political opinion in a Free World.

On this we can agree to disagree. That is what Cathedral taught me!

The reason I am so committed to my anti-Bush / Blair cause and their continued lies is that I have been working with helping hundreds of Iraqi refugees (as also refugees from Kovsovo, Albanian, etc.) here in Finland as part of my job for the City of Oulu before my retirement.

Every single Iraqi refugee of the Saddam era here in Finland hates Bush and his American supporters even more than me as they have all lost innocent relatives in this illegal invasion and occupation.

I was among the 14 million people around the world, who, before the war, protested on the streets as we knew there was NO Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Even Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice publicly stated one year before the invasion that Iraq had no WMD.

But yet the great lie was promulgated by Bush despite our protests.

If even an idiot like me knew there were no WMD how could Bush claim there was?

I am so committed to the cause that I do not want even a single penny of my money used to kill inncent Iraqis, especially as already more than a dozen close friends in Iraq have been indiscriminately killed by Americans.

I even gave up my writing contracts with my English Publishers as I did not want my money to be used to kill innoicent human beings.

But that is my opinion and I do not expect anyone to agree with me.

By the way, my letter to Helen Thomas (the fantastic 80+ year old White House correspondent who dared to question Bush and was therefore relegated from the front to the back) has appeared in the latest edition of The Nation (dated May 8th 2006). It has appeared on the internet today. (Unfortunately to read The Nation you have to subscribe.)

XXXX, under Bush, America has become the most hated nation in the world from one of the most respected. I do not have to live with that, but sadly, Americans have to. Bush cannot go anywhere without hundreds of thousands protesting his visit!

Compare that with Bill Clinton who has been received as a great statesman in every corner of this world, during and after his Presidency. I am not a Clinton fan, but what a change in just 5 years.

What a tragedy for a nation which was once a great America.

Regards

Jacob

One thing about Cathedralites is that they search for "The Truth".

I hope someone would tell me that "The Truth" in this instance is different from what I have derived my viewpoint.

Remember, I am not a Democrat or a Republican, as I am not an American.

I am swayed by the emotions of those whom I know and who have suffered and are suffering in the present situation.