Transparency the German way

Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 4:16 | Posted in Bloggers' rights, Blogosphere, Freedom of speech, Germany | 45 Comments
Tags: Moni, Transparency International

The German chapter of Transparency International is in the middle of a self infected publicity disaster this weekend. A lawyer representing Transparency International – Deutschland e.V has threatened to sue the ass of a young German blogger unless she removes a blog post of hers by Sunday midnight. She received the threatening e-mail less than 48 hours before the dead line.

Moni posted in her blog a couple of weeks ago about a friend, who was fired from her half time job at Transparency International – Deutschland e.V after a test period. She used to work for 20 hours a week for 1000 euros a month (before tax was drawn off her salary). Since that is not sufficient to support her and her three year old child, she also worked as a free lance journalist.

According to Moni, the employer was happy with her friend's performance. As the test period was about to run off, the friend was asked if she could work for 30 hours a week instead of the 20. She would have had to give up most of her assignments as journalist in such case which is why she asked for a sallary that would have payed her 1400 euros a month in cash after the tax. Transparency International – Deutschland e.V thought that was too much, which is why Moni's friend offered to work with the old terms, that is 20 hours a week for 1000 euros a month.

As no agreement was reached, Transparency International – Deutschland e.V decided not to prolong the contract after the test period. According to Moni, her friend was replaced by another person to whom money was not a major issue. The lady is said to have applied for another job at Transparency International – Deutschland e.V but agreed to replace Moni's friend on terms that are apparently more agreeable for the employer. So a well off lady got the job and the single mother was fired.

That is the essence of what Moni posted in her blog. She also commented the moral and ethics of the behaviour of this internationally well known non-governmental organisation. She found that there was a contradiction between the publically announced standards of the organisation and its practical behaviour. Transparency International is known to have voiced issues of moral and ethics in business all over the World.

Moni received an e-mail on Friday and an identical letter on paper on Saturday from a lawyer representing Transparency International Deutschland e.V. The lawyer demanded the blog post to be removed by midnight Sunday the 26th March which is less than 48 hours after the e-mail and less than 24 hours after receiving the snail mail. He threatened to sue Moni unless the blog post was removed and intimated to a large punitive damage claim. The post was said to be untrue and offensive but instead of arguing the case, the lawyer just wrote: "I am sparing myself from going into details of this issue". That is some transparency, is it not?

As could be expected, the case has provoked quite an outrage in the German blogosphere. As I am typing this post, "transparency international" is the top search in Technorati. Also, the web site of Transparency International – Deutschland e.V is hard to access from time to time.

Many of the bloggers are outraged for the ridiculously short notice of dead line which makes it practically impossible for Moni (who does not look like an experienced person judging from her blog profile photo) to consult a counselor. Needless to say that the blogging community is less than amused of the lawyer's intimidating and arrogant language. Many folks are also asking if the World wide Transparency International is aware of and agrees with this odd manner its German branch is promoting its public relations.

I am not a lawyer, just a simple journalist and blogger. That is why I am not going to comment the legal merits of this case although I am very much in doubt that Moni's post would be anything else than excercising her right to free speech. But I dare say without hesitation that a major public disaster has inevitably taken place and is not likely to be prepared easily. I would definitely not want to be in the shoes of that lawyer on Monday morning, neither in those of the former boss of Moni's friend. I would also think twice before switching on my cell phone on Monday if I were any of the two.