· July, 2006

Stories about Freedom of Speech from July, 2006

Uzbekistan: Revoked Licenses

The Long and Winding Road has a report on Uzbek pop musicians losing their licenses to perform in public after a journalist accused their lyrics of not being authentic Uzbek poetry and them of being bad musicians.

DRC: Post-Election Roundup

  31 July 2006

“A Peaceful Election” Congolese at the polls. Photo by Federico, courtesy of Extra Extra. By and large, the voting has ended in the DRC, according to The Salon: With the exception of the three towns that had to continue/report the voting for today, due to numerous arsons (Mbuji-mayi, Mweka and...

Zimbabwe: Morgan Tsvangirai speech

  31 July 2006

Eddie Cross on Zimpundit posts in its entirety the speech given by former union leader and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to a National Convention held by Churches in Zimbabwe Saturday to debate the crisis in the country, and the way forward.

Power of Blogs

  31 July 2006

Desipundit on the global impact of the Indian blogosphere: "while it is true that it’s only a small part of Indian population that is online, and even smaller number accesses blogs, when it comes to the online world, Indian blogs are windows, potholes and doors into India."

Iran: Batebi was arrested

According to Ikna, Ahmad Batebi, activist student was arrested again [Fa]. Batebi had already spent six years in jail to participate in a student protest movement. His wife is going to start a hunger strike in front of United Nations office in Tehran.

Russia, Ukraine: Stories About Words

Below is the translation of three stories about words: in the first one, they are being banned; in the second, they offend; in the third, there aren't enough of them. LJ user plushev, a Russian radio journalist, writes (RUS) about the government's attack on the name of the controversial National...

Nepal: Another Round Of Talks

  28 July 2006

The seven party alliance in power and the Maoists are gearing for yet another round of peace talks. Their last round that resulted in an eight point agreement came under much fire from various quarters.

DRC: Last Minute Campaigning and Complaining

  28 July 2006

As Sunday's presidential election approaches, and the campaign period closes today, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bloggers chronicle last minute campaigning and complaining by some of the 30 or so candidates and other actors. Candidates’ Backgrounds Prince du Fleuve du Congo continues a debate with Christian Geraud about Joseph Kabila...

China: spoofing culture

  27 July 2006

Lyn Jeffery in Virtual China blogs about spoofing culture in Chinese internet sphere and translates an article from QQ discussing whether spoofing can prevent social tragedies. Spoofing is a popular subculture that deconstructs serious themes to entertain people with comedy effects.

Martinique, France: Tribu Ka Suspended

  27 July 2006

France's Council of Ministers recently decided to dissolve Tribu Ka, a Black nationalist French group, accusing it of anti-semitism. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy claims the group posted a graphic of a chimpanzee holding a star of David on their website. Martinique's Le Blog de [Moi] agrees (Fr) that Tribu...

Malaysia: Online Freedom

  27 July 2006

Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit Siang is asking the Prime Minister to give assurance that online media would not be censored in Malaysia. The call comes after the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers made negative comments about blogs and online media in general.

China: century China

  27 July 2006

The famous mainland Chinese BBS websites Century China forum and lifeweek BBS were closed down almost at the same time (25 of July 2006). The later is set up by Joint publishing company which focuses on the publication of intellectual thinking. Mongee in Soho Xiaobao feels very pity about the...

China: blogging

  27 July 2006

wzp in ofblog has an evaluation of the impact of blogging in China and describes 2005 – 2006 summer as the hottest year. He claims that blogging has smashed the monopoly of hegmonic discourse and changed the tragetory of journalism (zh) . However, after the summer, winter follows (zh) ,...

Somaliland, Somalia: Journalistic criticism

  26 July 2006

Guest-blogging on the Voice of Somaliland Diaspora, Faysal Diriye launches an attack on journalistic standards among Somali Web sites which he describes as Siadist. “Cheap shot journalism! Too subjective, too emotional, and as boring as hell! They often shed more tears than thunder clouds could spill,” he writes.

China: Cameras, drunks and forced website closures

  26 July 2006

Kimbo Hu/Hu Defu, a well-known Taiwanese aboriginal folk musician gave a performance at a small bar in Beijing this past weekeknd. In attendance were many prominent bloggers, and here is Ycul blogger Reading Storeroom‘s account of the show, along with the problems he sees as more and more Chinese purchase...