Vi svenskar vet inte hur bra vi har det.
Faktiskt.
Tidigare den här månaden mördades en journalist på Sri Lanka. Han satt i sin bil på väg till jobbet när plötsligt två personer på MC krossade bilens vindruta och sköt honom i huvudet:
Tidningen Sunday Leader, för vilken Lasantha Wickrematunga var redaktör, specialiserar sig på undersökande journalistik om korruption och maktmissbruk i Sri Lanka. Lasantha Wickrematunga blev ofta utsatt för hot och stämningar. Senast stämde presidentens bror, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, tidningen, som förbjöds att skriva om honom under flera veckor.
Lasantha Wickrematunga visste att han riskerade livet. Han skrev när han ännu levde, en ledare att publicera postumt ifall någon skulle lyckas ta hans liv.
The Sunday leader publicerade den tre dagar efter hans död.
Läs den.
Ta dig tiden. Vidga dina vyer, byt perspektiv.
Ett par utdrag ur texten:
Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.
But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.
People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niem”ller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niem”ller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niem”ller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.
Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Journalistik, Sri Lanka, Yttrandefrihet