Stories about Freedom of Speech from November, 2022
Mexican collective pirating books to make culture accessible is blocked
Since 2019, the Pirateca.com website has provided open access to more than 279 Spanish titles, under the slogan “Books are not stolen, they're expropriated!”
In Turkey, social media platforms become complicit in censoring media and freedom of speech
Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook have become complicit in aiding the state to silence independent voices in Turkey, even at times when content is not political.
China’s zero-COVID policy sparks rare country-wide protests
"...I am the one who jumped from the highrise; I am the victim trapped in the fire. If I am not there yet, I will be the next one."
Undertones: Twitter is a double-edged sword for the Global South
Twitter’s slow or sudden collapse may particularly hit countries with high levels of censorship, disinformation, and political instability.
Rare street protests across China: Is Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy turning people against their government?
Frustration with Xi Jinping's heavily enforced policy of 'Zero-COVID' has turned Chinese people against their government in unprecedented street demonstration now affecting all main cities in a heavily-policed state
Iran's creative resistance: From hugs and kisses to tossing turbans
Despite harsh repression, the nationwide movement for freedom continues in Iran. Protesters have used creative ways in their resistance against the tyranny which shakes the authority of theocrats.
Shallow grave: Putin’s dictatorship is slowly killing Russia's main opposition leader Navalny
Putin’s main critic and the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has survived an assassination attempt, but now the regime is slowly killing him by harshening prison conditions.
‘Handmaid’s Tale’ author Margaret Atwood shuns Russian sanctions, ridicules travel ban
Canadian poet and writer Margaret Atwood was joined by Hollywood actor Jim Carrey in ridiculing the travel ban to Russia imposed on them in latest batch of Kremlin sanctions for Canadians.
Australia’s World Cup team urges better treatment of migrants and LGBTQ+ individuals in Qatar
Australian football players participating in the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar have released a powerful video highlighting human rights abuses for workers and the LGBTQ+ community in the host country
33 years ago, the Velvet Revolution started in the streets of Prague
33 years after the November 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended Communism in Czechoslovakia, the streets of Prague commemorate how students started a protest that changed history.
As we enter an era of Elon Musk's Twitter, is it time for us in civil spaces to find alternatives?
Looking ahead, the rest of us must resume the debate about the enormous power we have bequeathed social media platforms and the overdependence on Twitter by those who work in social justice, governance, human rights, and democracy.
‘We were born in a situation of hellish urgency’: How the Russian Feminist Anti-War Resistance Movement works
This grassroots, spontaneous movement has become the largest network in Russia for anti-war propaganda and assistance to refugees deported and persecuted by the authorities.
Defamation lawsuit against Serbian investigative media outlet KRIK sets a dangerous precedent
Just before Serbian investigative media outlet KRIK received an EU Award for Investigative Journalism, a Serbian court sentenced it for publishing truthful news about a criminal trial.
LIVE on November 24: Disinformation and censorship in Russia
Join us on YouTube live on November 24 for a discussion exploring the convergence of Russia’s rapidly strengthening censorship infrastructure, and its use of disinformation both internally and externally.
Freedom House reveals how Mozambique resists China's influence in the media sector
Freedom House shed new light on China's influence in the communications sector in several countries around the world, including Mozambique.
TikToker Nekoglai was deported from Moscow to Moldova with signs of torture
The “ritual of guilt and shame” has been increasingly used by the Russian police to publicly show the “remorse” and fear of those protesting
Turkey throttles internet access following deadly explosion in Istanbul
"Those who impose a broadcast ban, supposedly so that the public does not panic, are scaring everyone more by suppressing all the media."
‘It is really difficult to see resistance when we don't see pictures of street protests': Interview with Belarusian activist Hanna Liubakova
Famous journalist in exile, Atlantic Council non-resident fellow and media trainer on what the country's opposition media needs to do when there are no visible protests in the dictatorship
Eight months of ‘fakes’ and ‘discreditation’: How the Kremlin’s new laws against anti-war dissent are applied online
Censorship and political repression are not new to Russia, but, in 2022, they reached new heights. Alongside new digital tools, new legislation allows the state to expedite and industrialise the repression of dissidents.
Egypt faces a human rights crisis as COP27 begins
COP27's agenda is at risk of being detailed by the host nation's deteriorating human rights record and crackdown on civic space.
Egypt’s systemic greenwashing is sabotaging COP27 before it begins
While thousands of environmentalists, politicians, and scientists from all over the world converge on Egypt to attend COP27, the government is barring local civil society workers and activists from attending.
