Read by Jennifer Tan
My name is Radha Mila. I am – I was a journalist. You may have heard my voice before: my programme was an illegal broadcast called Beyond the Truth. In it, I denounced the leader of my country and spread anti-government propaganda in response to the news reported by the official channels. I believed I was serving my country and my people in doing this. I now recognise that I was wrong.
I am speaking to you now by courtesy of the President of the People’s Free Republic, and with his kind permission, to undo the damage I have done, and tell you the truth. I wish to recant the lies and slurs I broadcast previously. I now recognise that my activities were not in my own interests or those of my fellow countrymen. I wish to atone for my past errors and give my heartfelt thanks to the President and the Democratic Council for the opportunity to make amends.
In a previous programme I alleged that the President had a number of mistresses, many of whom were of foreign extraction, whom he used to move money and valuables out of this country and into various safe houses and bank accounts around the world. I have now had the opportunity to meet with the President and his esteemed wife Mrs. President, and they have assured me separately that this is not correct. The President has only one mistress, the respected actress named in my original broadcast, and she is a native of our country. Mr. President is a patriot and a father to his people, but he is still a man, with a man’s needs.
Mrs. President confided in me that she and the respected actress get along famously, and often take tea together. Mrs. President added further that she is grateful to the respected actress for taking some of the burden of Mr. President’s marital demands from her: a man with the cares of the state on his shoulders cannot be expected to behave as other men, nor limit himself to only one woman. The cars, house, jewellery and designer clothes of the respected actress have all been earned by the sweat of her own brow. They are the rewards due to a talented artiste of international standing, not the spoils of a gold-digging whore, as I previously implied.
Further to that, I would like to state that I am now satisfied that Mr. President’s own cars, houses, and overseas holdings are all entirely above board, and purchased with the salary he earns as a servant of the State. He points out that this salary is far below what other world leaders of his standing, such as the American President, receive. He adds that he does not resent this, but accepts it humbly; the honour and privilege of serving his country is his true reward: but a leader must be respected, and it is the way of the world that wealth commands respect. He does not make the rules; but he must abide by them.
Should a President drive around in a second-hand car? Should a President live in a tenement block, in a stinking slum? Mr. President reminds me, and I remind my listeners, that he lived in a tenement block as a child, and reached his present position by hard work and selfless dedication. Mr. President’s early life, as portrayed in that very fine biographical film Leader!, in which the aforementioned respected actress plays Mrs. President, was extremely hard, and so he understands the sufferings of his people, perhaps better than they do themselves. He has fought for his freedom, and ours, and thrown off the yoke of the colonial oppressors. For this he should be thanked, not scorned: every medal on his uniform has been paid for in blood.
My audience with Mr. President was extremely agreeable. There were no other persons present, except for the security detail which protects Mr. President from the threats posed by mad, violent and counter-revolutionary assassins. There were guns in the room, but they were not trained on me. Mr. President’s own weapon is only for display. He showed it to me, up close, so that I could admire its workmanship. I was not threatened, nor was I restrained during our interview. I have not been coerced.
Mr. President is a wise and forgiving man: therefore he offered me a chance to take back my lying words and tell the world how things really stand in the People’s Free Republic. The so-called “protests” have been badly misconstrued: the crowd was praising the President, not denouncing him, and it was terrorist infiltrators in the police who opened fire on those demonstrators who unfortunately died. These rogue elements have been ruthlessly weeded out. There is no dissent. There is no unrest. There is only peaceful demonstration from now on. And if many thousands of people should wish to march in gratitude for the peace and prosperity we currently enjoy, so be it!
Let me be quite clear: torture is not commonplace, nor is imprisonment without trial, nor summary execution. As for so-called “disappearances”, they happen every day, in every country in the world. If people wish, for whatever reason, to leave the People’s Free Republic, they may do so. If they do not leave a forwarding address for their friends or family, that is their right. Far be it from the State or Mr. President himself to interfere.
One last thing: Mr. President is an avid follower of the international news, as any great statesman must be. He is aware of the discussions at the UN concerning the People’s Free Republic. He is wise to the imperialist ambitions of certain Western so-called “democracies” concerning our country. He is not a man to be trifled with: invasion or infringement of the Republic’s sovereignty will mean war, and it will be the people who suffer. He will weep for them, but it is they who will die.
So I implore you, if you are listening, whoever and wherever you are, do not intervene. It is not needed. It is not wanted. It will not work. I am speaking from an undisclosed location: undisclosed even to me. It may be in the capital, perhaps in the secure Presidential Broadcasting Suite beneath the Palace of the Republic; I cannot tell. I can only guess. For my own safety, I was not permitted to see where we were going when I was driven here. I am grateful to the President for his thoughtfulness in this matter.
I cannot be found; I cannot be “saved”; so do not attempt to aid me. My family is safe and well. They have not been threatened or held to ransom. Our home was not invaded; my husband and children were not taken away. If they had been, they would not have been put in the holding cells beneath the Ministry of Justice. They would not have been beaten or starved; such human rights abuses are beneath the dignity of a President of the People’s Free Republic. I would certainly not have been made to watch.
I am speaking freely and speaking the truth: there is no bar to my freedom; no threat to my life; no gun to my head. And so I implore you again, do not send help.
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Do Not Send Help by Anna Clair was read by Jennifer Tan at the Liars' League Might & Right event on Tuesday 8th November, 2011 at the Phoenix, Cavendish Square, London.
Anna Clair was born in Southampton in 1979, never to return. She spent her early years moving around Europe and developing her obsessions with books and clothes. She occasionally writes fashion articles for various print and web publications. Anna’s fiction has been previously published by Pulp.Net, and like everyone else, she’s writing a novel.
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