Wednesday 9 November 2016

A Well-Deserved Award And Meeting Biebert

Last night I travelled down to Le Meridien Hotel here in New Delhi for an auspicious awards ceremony. Well, I say awards in the plural but there was only one; and unlike other awards ceremonies there were no other nominations simply because no other organisation even comes close to the winner in this category.

The award was for "The Least Transparent Organisation in the Galaxy" and was won by ... drum roll please ....The World Health Organisation!


This exquisite trophy - made out of $8 worth of reclaimed Lego from a loose Lego shop in Germany - is described by Students for Liberty, who made the award, as follows.
The Least Transparent Organization of the Galaxy Award is a Bricked-Up Door held up by four pillars – one pillar representing the common good, one for superiority, one causes harm as it prevents harm reduction, and one holds the door firmly shut.
In his pre-award speech, Frederik Cyrus Roede announced that, "sadly, the WHO can't be with us tonight" because "they wouldn't reply to our calls or emails". Standard stuff.


It is well-deserved, especially when you see what the FCTC organisers are doing to journalists at COP7. Watch the film below and be amazed and disgusted at the same time.


Last night's award ceremony isn't the only event staged by Students for Liberty during COP7, they also protested in the plenary on Monday morning and their Indian members staged a protest in support of tobacco farmers (whose living the FCTC wants to destroy purely based on ignorant ideology) outside the COP7 venue.

This short 2 minute film explains why and gives you more background of what has been going on at COP7.


As mentioned in my last article, I also met A Billion Lives Director Aaron Biebert last night. We had a good hour long chat about David Goerlitz's Indian visa refusal, how the film is being received and on his future plans amongst other things. Oh yeah, and he called me "a legend", which was nice except aren't legends supposed to be dead?

Biebert is, of course, in India for a special screening of his film tonight at the Ojas Art Gallery up the road. He couldn't have timed it better seeing as the FCTC are today debating what they intend to recommend to member states about e-cigs. So why not tweet the latest trailer on the #COP7FCTC hash tag and let the least transparent organisation in the galaxy know about it. 



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