· August, 2010

Stories about Freedom of Speech from August, 2010

Cuba: Same Old Song

  31 August 2010

The imprisonment of three Cuban dissidents who were during a protest at the University of Havana proves to Uncommon Sense that “despite its release of some dozen members of the ‘Group of 75′ prisoners, the Castro dictatorship has not changed.”

Cuba: Naming Names

  30 August 2010

“After all the hubbub about Cuba agreeing to release 52 political prisoners in jail since the ‘black spring’ crackdown of March-April 2003, there still remain in prisons across the island 21 members of the Group of 75″: Uncommon Sense posts their names.

Cuba: Interrogation

  30 August 2010

Luis Felipe Rojas blogs about his detainment by the Cuban authorities and says: “I think about the path that has brought this country the totalitarian power that is eating away at itself. What will be my next punishment?”

Russia: Bloggers Outraged by Putin's Interview

RuNet Echo  30 August 2010

Recent interview [RUS] of Vladimir Putin to Kommersant newspaper outraged many bloggers. They accuse Putin of a lie [RUS], ignorance [RUS], deliberate substitution [RUS] of the terms “police state” and a “state governed by a rule of law.” Other bloggers condemn [RUS] his attitude towards protesters: “You went out [on...

India: A Message To Pastor Jones

  29 August 2010

Raja Basu from New Delhi is shocked by the heinous plan of Pastor Terry Jones to burn The Quran to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 incident. The blogger has this message to the Pastor: “by instigating people to burn The Holy Quran, you have actually brought yourself down...

South Asia: Bloggers On The ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

  29 August 2010

The recent debate on the planned Islamic Center/Mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, USA has been reverberated in many blogospheres around the world. In this post we will look at snippets of some interesting conversations on this issue by a number of South Asian bloggers.

Turkmenistan: WikiLeaks-like service in demand

  29 August 2010

Turkmenistan is a society so veiled in shadows that one wonders whether its own leaders believe in the government’s propaganda. For this reason, the country desperately needs a service like WikiLeaks to help expose the truth, argues neweurasia’s Annasoltan.

Guatemala: Attack Against a Blog?

  28 August 2010

Luis Figueroa reports [es] that blogger Guillermo Pineda wrote on Twitter, “My blog in WordPress.com was hacked. Anyone knows if I can recover it? #Hacked #Wordpress.” Luis wonders if this is an attack; in June Guillermo received threats [es] both in person and through email.

Russia: Mari Paganism and Charges of “Extremism”

  28 August 2010

OpenDemocracy.net reports: “In their remote forest republic 400 miles east of the Moscow, the pagan Mari people are once again being harassed by the authorities. […] Ethnically kin to the Finns and Hungarians, their profoundly ecological religious worldview challenges Russian-led designs on their republic’s natural resources.”

Madagascar: Radio Soatalily in Toliary Sacked

  28 August 2010

Tomavana posts on twitter [fr] a report that  Radio Soatalily in the town of Toliary (South East of Madagascar) was sacked by 30 members [fr] of the opposition after their meeting was dismantled by police forces. The government also launched “Operation Strike” to curb down banditry and increasing criminality [fr] on the...

Cuba: Double Standard

  27 August 2010

“On one hand they release some dissidents from prison, on the other those who attempt to say ‘I disagree’ get shoved behind bars”: Crossing the Barbed Wire comments on “the double standard policy assiduously practiced by the government as part of its greater foreign policy.”

Cuba: Censorship, Technology and Memory

  26 August 2010

George Gautier writes [es] about censorship in Cuba. He says that technology has helped leak some things, but he hopes that someone is keeping track of everything that is happening in Cuba so that nothing will be lost.

Malawi: Bloggers discuss freedom of speech and 2014 election

  26 August 2010

Malawian bloggers are currently discussing the nomination of Malawian president's brother as the ruling party presidential candidate for 2014 elections and recent arrest of a Presbyterian senior pastor Rev Levi Njombole Nyondo. He is alleged to have uttered seditious words at a funeral service.

Russia: Noize MC's New Song

RuNet Echo  26 August 2010

RFE/RL's The Power Vertical writes about rapper Noize MC's new song: “After spending 10 days in jail for performing a song mocking police at a music festival in Volgograd, the irrepressible rapper has released a new [song and video, RUS] — mocking the police.” Robert Amsterdam's blog calls the new...