MediaWatch Polska would like to observe, that in case of Simon Moleke Njie from Cameroon, who was publicly accused of deliberately spreading the AIDS disease among woman having an intercourse with him, all known media ethic rules were broken. The whole story was used in a racist way, as the verdict was given both by the authorities and the media before any trial was conducted. MediaWatch has to declare the existence of institutional racism in Polish media sector. The whole issue was presented in a way that led the media audience to believe that the African black person deliberately spread the disease. Media had no doubt of whom to blame for the disease.

The whole matter is a highly controversial one. There exist however traces showing that the accused person, a poet from Kenya, showed quite humanitarian to other human beings, and even obtained a yearly prize in 2003 for fighting against fascism.

Given the racial hostility in Poland, it is highly probable, that the person, who was accused of deliberate spread of this disease, could have been a victim of institutional racism. Even the person currently accused by Polish media, Simon Moleke Njie, was a victim of institutional racism earlier in his life in Poland. In 2001 he and another black foreigner were attacked on the bus-stop in Warsaw. They had to escape, and took a cab to get to the nearby police station. The policemen standing in front of the station laughed seeing wounds on the head of Cameroonian person, demanded a passport and refused to take any action against the offenders located not more that 200 hundred meters from their office.

In our point of view the whole issue seem to be based on racial prejudices. We doubt that a person who was member of British Pen Club and was earlier honored by the “Nigdy Więcej” Society for her high moral standards, could have been able to commit deliberately such an offence. We have not however analysed the literary works of the accused person, but given her occupation (a poet) we have serious doubts whether a person having such an occupation could have been able to perform such acts.

As our organization is unable to exercise any power in Polish media market due to the fact that the freedom of voice there is only theoretical and our we ask You to perform steps to explain this issue and research whether there exists a case of institutional racism in Polish media market.

Yours faithfully,
Ras Fufu, MediaWatch Polska cooperator

more on this case in Polish media:
 http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=pl&q=Simon+Moleke+Njie&btnG=Szukaj