Stories about Freedom of Speech from April, 2012
Cuba: Diaspora Reacts to Ferrer García's Release
Cuban prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released over the weekend. Diaspora bloggers comment on this most recent development.
India: Five Legal Points The Bloggers Should Know
Apar Gupta discusses about the legal concerns of a blogger and five legal points one should know while blogging in India.
India: Protests Against the New IT Rules
In April 2011 the Indian government quietly issued amendments to the IT rules restricting web content that are designated as “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.” The Indian netizens are campaigning against it online and are organizing street protests.
Angola: Youth Demonstration Against Alcoholism Violently Repressed
According to Facebook reports, today's youth demonstration against alcoholism, prostitution and domestic violence (April 28), was violently repressed, informed [pt] the blog Angola Resistente. On April 23, an opinion article [pt] from Makuta Nkondo stated that in a year of elections, the ruling party since 1975, MPLA, organizes “food and drinks...
Syria: Television “Confession” of Activist Ali Mahmoud Othman
Ali Mahmoud Othman, head of the media office of Baba Amr in Homs, was arrested in March. Now an exclusive interview, which many believe is a forced confession following his torture, is due to be broadcast on Syrian state television.
Ethiopia: Netizens Outraged as Ethiopia Steps Up Internet Censorship
Ethiopian bloggers are outraged and expressing their concern on different social media platforms as the Ethiopian government increasingly engages in blocking and surveillance of selected websites, blogs and Facebook pages.
Chinese blind lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng flees house arrest
Chinese blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng has reportedly escaped from his well-guarded house in Dongshigu (Shandong) after more than a year of house arrest. Sources report he entered the US embassy in Beijing. He has put out a video denouncing corruption, exposing abuses and expressing “extreme concern” about the consequences...
Russia: Dombrovsky and Molotov
The Faculty of Useless Knowledge tells a story of writer Yuri Dombrovsky‘s brief encounter with Vyacheslav Molotov, and shares a link to a documentary [ru] about Dombrovsky's life.
Russia: Julian Assange's Debut on RT
Mark Adomanis criticizes the critics of Julian Assange's debut on RT (Russia Today) last week.
Puerto Rico: Student Detained After Performance Deemed “Indecent”
Charlene Jane González de Jesús, a student at the University of Puerto Rico, was detained by state police last Thursday, April 19 at the institution's Río Piedras campus after taking her top off in public as part of a performance art piece in protest of gender inequality. The case has ignited intense debate on blogs and social media networks.
Cuba: Resorting to Hunger Strike
Cuban netizens, primarily from the diaspora, are once again blogging about instances of police abuse in the country and how the island's justice system routinely makes hunger-strikers out of prisoners of conscience.
Malaysia: Occupy Dataran Merdeka and Education Protests
The April 28 Bersih 3.0 sit-down protest is expected to be the major political event of the month in Malaysia but students and Occupy activists have already put forward their demands ahead of time. Students marched in the streets against the 'anti-poor' student loan program while activists launched the Occupy Dataran movement to 'reclaim' democracy in the country
Mexico: Journalists Speak Up in Documentary ‘Forced Silence’
Artículo 19, an organization that defends the right to freedom of expression, launched the documentary "Forced Silence, the State Accomplice to Violence against Journalists." The documentary recounts testimonies from journalists, as well as relatives of journalists who have been assassinated or have disappeared.
Brazil: Journalist and Blogger Executed in São Luís, Maranhão
On the night of April 23, Brazilian journalist and blogger Décio Sá was shot dead in a bar in the most crowded avenue of the city of São Luis, in the northeastern state of Maranhão. He had ties with political figures of Maranhão and his blog was the most accessed in the state.
Portugal: Citizens Prepare Peaceful Protests for April 25
Though peaceful protests are scheduled for April 25 throughout Portugal (a national holiday that marks the end of dictatorship in 1974), mainstream media reported [pt] that “police prepares zero tolerance”. For Miguel Cardima from the blog Arrastão, the news intends [pt] to “insufflate fear” and to “justify violence in anticipation”. In...
Malaysia Prepares for Bersih 3.0 Sit-Down Protest
The Malaysia election reform movement Bersih (Clean) has organized a Bersih 3.0 Duduk Bantah (sit-in protest) on April 28 at Dataran Merdeka. It's the same group which gathered more than 50,000 people in Kuala Lumpur last year in protest against the 'undemocratic' electoral exercise in the country
China: Reactions to TV Ban on Japanese Porn Star, Sola Aoi
Chinese netizens are frustrated by the government's ban stopping Japanese porn star Sola Aoi from appearing in television shows. To show their support, they displayed a slogan at a Guangzhou football match, which has captured imaginations.
Mexico: Human Rights Abuses and the Presidential Elections
The documentary A Schizophrenic State by Charlotte King follows the stories of San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca, two places in Mexico who suffered human rights abuses by the ruling political parties, including a Governor who now would like to become President.
Portugal: Video of Guinea-Bissau coup protest in Lisbon
Youtube user MinisterioDaVerdade published a video of a large parade on Saturday by Guinea-Bissaun residents of Lisbon, and their Portuguese families and friends, protesting the military coup which took place April 12. Marchers occupied the streets of Lisbon's Baixa neighborhood. Signs read “We have a consensus: No to dictatorship” and...
Brazil: Passer by Injured and Arrested by Police in Demonstration
Brazilian blogger Conceição Oliveira reproduces [pt] a Facebook note [pt] from Pedro Urizzi (an actor from São Paulo), who denounces that he was injured and arrested by the Military Police when he was passing by a demonstration against corruption on April 21, 2012, on his way for dinner. The detention...
Panama: President Martinelli's Confrontation with Journalist Generates Controversy
President Ricardo Martinelli called a press conference to clear up the matter of the scandal connecting him with the Italian businessman Lavitola, but he ended up in a confrontation with a journalist, making reference to a past drug problem. Social networks immediately reverberated with shows of contempt for and condemnation of the President's words.
