| |
The Demise of the Independent Reformer.
The Independent Reformer was a weekly rebel newspaper.
It was patterned after other Independents in the US -- notably the
Colorado Springs Independent, which you can examine here.
It was originally published as a tabloid-sized hardcopy newspaper -- like all of
the other papers in Belize. Shortly after they began publishing, we picked
up an online version, which had advertising and pictures in Color.
The Indy was published by Trevor Vernon and his wife
Karla. For several years, Karla was a columnist for the Reporter
but she was becoming disillusioned with the trend that Belize was following
in the new Century, and it showed in her writing, so they let her go. She
has published a book of her columns, and it is noteworthy, for looking wistfully
at what Belize used to be, and decrying what Belize has become.
Papers in Belize are generally.handicapped
by the lack of modern presses. Printing is very expensive, and Trevor soon
ran out of resources to continue printing a hard-copy version. The on-line
version was beautiful, but advertisers were dubious, and some of them
(especially the NGOs) quit
paying. Eventually, the Vernons ran out of money -- they had been promised
some big money by backers and it just never materialized.
Meb Cutlack, a noted local columnist, helped start up the Independent
in 2006 but he quit in June 2007. I never found out why, but I suspect that
his life was threatened.
At the same time, a new threat to free journalism was
arising. At least one reporter was murdered. Trevor was very aware
of the dangers that face journalists in Mexico* and he was starting to worry
about his own safety. His nerves started to fray and that showed. He got in some
serious arguments with people on the lists (see below) and some people actually
threatened to beat him up. His home life suffered. Karla had always
had misgivings about remaining in Belize, and she eventually escaped to the US.
Losing its editor sealed the doom of the Indy.
The importance of the Indy. Belize was founded by a
single political party, but it quickly became apparent that there should be an
opposition. .The PUP was defeated by the UDP in 1985, and the parties
continued to swap out every five years until 2004, when the PUP won a second
consecutive term. The general talk was that the parties were really pretty
much alike, stealing whatever they could while they were in power. Every
election saw the start of a few small third parties, but, as in the US, they
really couldn't get a foothold. The PUP, having been reaffirmed in their
policies, continued a program of deficit spending which put the country in
terrible debt. At the same time, monies were being loanedd to cronies and
companies and then the loans defaulted. Half the money disappeared.
Of course, this is obvious to the people, and numerous small third parties were
formed in various parts of the country.
A coalition was needed, and the Indy was trying to facilitate
that. Of course, The Powers That Be could see the threat that the Indy
posed, and they did everything they could to shut it down. They boycotted
this site! (I lost 50 Belizean links in a few weeks.)
The forums and lists represent another source of news, and
potential for facilitating a coalition. There are three of these, and you
can subscribe to them here. I will tell you about
the character of each list on that page, but specifically I note that the
moderator of "belize-culture" does everything he can to squelch any
significant discussion of serious issues in Belize.
Write
me, if you have comments, or if you might like to help Trevor
financially.
Rick Zahniser. (October, 2007.)
* Hundreds of journalists have been murdered in Mexico.
Read Down By the River
And now (Oct 2007) members of the Amandala staff have been threatened.
Read about that here.
.(News story, here today, gawn tomorrah!)
Newer.
When I asked Karla to critique my discussion of the Indy, she did, and then she
sent me a letter. Click here
to read it.
|
