By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
THE Grand Bahama Human Rights Association said yesterday that it would be “anti-democratic” to charge anyone in connection with the song that refers negatively to Prime Minister Perry Christie and his family.
In a statement, the GBHRA said that while the group finds the song in question to be “offensive and derogatory” the police should not interfere with matters of freedom of expression.
The comments came days after police arrested two men in connection with their investigation into the controversial song after it went viral on social media last week. The men have since been released from police custody “pending the results of an investigation” Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander said on Sunday.
The two men have since told The Tribune that they had no involvement with the song.
“The lyrics of the song are indeed shocking, offensive and derogatory,” the GBHRA said.
“However, that is not enough to justify interference with the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by the Bahamas Constitution – much less deprive the singers of their liberty.
“Once again, we warn the authorities that the world is watching. The commissioner of police must ask himself what sort of country the Bahamas would like to portray itself as to the international community. Do we really want to be classed among those dictatorships and authoritarian regimes that prosecute singers for their lyrics, writers for the words they use, or artists for the content of their work? Does the Royal Bahamas Police Force really want to be seen as ‘the thought police’ who crack down on and punish those who exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms?”
The GBHRA also said the individuals mentioned in the song who feel they may have been “libelled or defamed” can seek redress through the civil court.
“While we fully condemn the sentiments expressed in the song, particularly the disparaging references to women and those with special needs, the GBRHA urges the authorities to recognise that individuals who may feel libelled or defamed have appropriate redress through the civil courts.
“Regarding the derogatory sentiments against certain groups in the song, it is appropriate for society to respond in outrage, for activists to speak out in condemnation, for all of us to react in disgust. When commonly held standards of decency and propriety are challenged in modern democratic societies, these must be reinforced by the tide of public opinion – not coerced through force and intimidation,” the statement said.
Comments
John 7 years, 8 months ago
Let common sense prevail especially as the country ventures into silly season.
Alex_Charles 7 years, 8 months ago
the song does open up the artists for Civil lawsuits of defamation, i don't know about criminal libel however. Democracy is a fragile thing.
John 7 years, 8 months ago
Then let those offended take the appropriate actions. If the police asked them to take the song off the airwaves and out of social media then any further should be left to the virtual complainanys
birdiestrachan 7 years, 8 months ago
I agree it is freedom of expression. So I wonder why the Out spoken QC and Fried Bacon where so upset and make a case out of persons expressing themselves in a parade. I guess it is different for the QC.
John 7 years, 8 months ago
To see the things that are posted on the Internet about President OBama and the First Lady and her family and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and other public figures. They say as long as it does not pose a direct threat. But don't believe Uncle Sam doesn't open a file on the poster and keep them on a watch list.
VDSheep 7 years, 8 months ago
These are the days of liberal democracy extremism' where you can say almost anything about anyone ' but when it (extremist liberal democracy) is applied to people of power (politicians especially ' who should be the protectors of that so called democracy card) - they get uncomfortable when the caper is against them. They will send the cultural police or whatever to get you! People aught to realise that democracy is only between politician and by extension the moneyed elites.
Zakary 7 years, 8 months ago
Freedom of speech/expression does not exist, well maybe, not how many would imagine it to exist if it is possible. Freedom of speech is relative for most people, while some special people have absolute freedom of speech (absolute privilege...ahem...parliamentary privilege).
John 7 years, 8 months ago
Well put it this way: Even if you don't respect the person who is prime minister at least respect the office. It is one of the highest in the land . And don't involve people's families in your gripe against them. Freedom of speech abused can be worse than no freedom of speech at all.
Voltaire 7 years, 8 months ago
John, I don't think anyone is defending the song. The question is, is it a criminal offense? The Christies should absolutely go to town on these people in the civil courts and take them for everything they have, shame them in the papers, etc. But to be grabbed by officers at gunpoint and told you are accused of "destabilizing the country"? No man.
licks2 7 years, 8 months ago
This will not stop here. . .IF THOSE PERSONS ARE "DRAGGED" BEFORE THE COURT. . .IT IS THE START OF THE END FOR THIS GOVERNMENT BY PEACEFUL MEANS! THIS TIME THE HURTING USED A SONG. . .AND NOT A GUN. . .FORCE THEM INTO MORE DRASTIC AND FINAL MEANS IS WHERE THIS "WAKO TYPE" ACTION WILL TAKE A PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH SUCH OPPRESSION TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE POINT OF EXTREME MEANS!
THESE POLITICIANS FAIL TO SEE THAT THIS BAHAMAS IS NOT THE SAME ONE THAT THEY "PEED ON" FOR SO MANY YEARS! MR NYGARD SAID JUST AS BAD THINGS ABOUT THE PM. . .NO POLICE WENT FOR HIM!!
John 7 years, 8 months ago
I don't know the circumstances under which the arrests were made, but if I'm sitting in a bar cussing out Perry Christie and his government, I would not expect to be arrested much less charged. That is an environment where politics is discussed even heatedly. But if you publish something so derogatory and so flaming about a public figure, any person for that matter, the police may investigate, just to know your frame of mind and your intentions. Police in this country pull machine guns during a regular traffic stop and some are probably just as verbally abusive and cuss just as much when carrying out their duties as what was done in the song. And unless you have them on camera or recorded of course they will deny it.
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