For the cause that lacks assistance, the wrong that needs resistance, for the future in the distance, and the good that [BU] can do – George Linnaeus Banks
One of the challenges the BU household has had to manage from inception is the ‘right’ of the BU community to express opinions and share information protected under the cloak of freedom of expression. The BU household has zealously guarded this ‘right’ because the traditional media players in Barbados- with a few exceptions -have relinquished the role it is expected to play in a breathing democracy.
With a few exceptions BU has managed the majority of our battles with lawyers and WordPress away from the public – the main reason, to not betray the code of confidentiality members of the BU household has sworn to honour at any cost.
A recent notification from a local lawyer is interesting because as we always do in an effort to be fair to the aggrieved party is to request copies of the offending BU links for our review. If after a process of review that may or may not include legal support, we will amend, remove or leave the links being questioned. Through the process BU ALWAYS share the reasons for the final decision taken. On a few occasions we have apologised to the parties. In this case, after several weeks have passed, the local lawyer has refused to share the links of concern to his client and instead transmit a veil threat of a legal action to come.
The second event of this week we want to share is the attempt to muzzle BU for sharing comments on Facebook (FB). Obviously the BU household has no control over the comments policy of FB, it is the main reason we have operated from the more protected platform of WordPress. The opportunity to practice freedom of expression on Facebook can be hijacked with ease by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. It is interesting to note the most significant interactions David of BU engages on BU is with Minister Denis Kelllman. We plead guilty to ‘ragging’ him on the issue of the GROTTO because we hold strongly to the view that it is the public’s right to know if it pertains to how taxpayer money is spent.
Let the message go about that Barbados Underground will continue to defend the right of the BU community to freely express itself AND at the same time fairly respond to objections raised by parties who feel defamed in the process. All aggrieved parties are asked to do is click on the Send Confidential Message at the top of this page to share a brief note detailing the concern and links to blogs and comments being questioned.
The silly season is approaching.
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