· December, 2009

Stories about Freedom of Speech from December, 2009

South Asia: Looking Back At 2009

The year 2009 is ending and its time to retrospect how the year has been for the South Asian region. In a two-part review we will look back at some of the major events which took place this year in the South Asian countries seen through the eyes of the citizen journalists.

31 December 2009

Caucasus: 2009 Blog Review

If the Armenian and Georgian blogospheres attracted most interest during 2008 after one disputed presidential election in the former and an albeit short war with Russia in the latter, Azerbaijan was the undoubted focus in 2009. In particular, youth activists quickly embraced both new and social media to spread their message online.

31 December 2009

Azerbaijan: Business as usual

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on new charges made against imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, 2009 recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom award. The blog...

31 December 2009

China: Cui Weiping tweets elite views on Liu Xiaobo

Many Chinese public intellectuals take flack for keeping quiet on major social issues. Beijing Film Academy professor Cui Weiping has sought to change that by tweeting her peers' views on the recent sentencing of China's most prominent democrat.

29 December 2009

Trinidad & Tobago: 500

Trinidadian bloggers comment on the country's record murder rate – Jumbie's Watch: “The message is clear. We’re screwed.” B.C. Pires: “Not even when Mr Manning and Mr Panday achieve Trinidad's...

29 December 2009

Cuba: Show of Support

Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense reports on “the arrests over the past several days of numerous activists attempting…to show their support for political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who has been...

29 December 2009

Palestine: Twitter accused of silencing Gaza tribute

Twitter has been accused of attempting to silence tributes to Gaza one-year after an Israeli onslaught devastated the Palestinian enclave. Pro-Palestinian and human rights activists used the influential Twitter to express support for the besieged territory. Tweets using the hashtag #Gaza flooded in on December 27th, peaking at number 3 on Twitter's top ten Trending Topics list.

29 December 2009

India: Perils Of Making Democracy Accessible

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was caught up in another controversy as he tweeted to his approx. 542,000 Twitter followers a personal opinion on the recent...

29 December 2009

China: Tweeting in support of Iran

Twenty-four hours later and #CN4Iran remains in heavy constant use by Chinese Twitter users speaking out in support of protests now underway across Iran. The #CN4Iran hashtag has since been...

28 December 2009

Iran: When Rage Overcomes Fear

Iranian protesters poured into Tehran and several major cities in defiance of the Iranian government on Sunday, as large crowds gathered for Ashura, a major religious observance.

27 December 2009