Stories about Freedom of Speech from November, 2006
Oman Internet Clampdown
Oman has started to ban internet sites, says blogger Muscati. He said Oman's most popular website, the controversial Arabic online forum known as Sablat Al Arab, has been closed down pending an investigation by the public prosecutor's office.
Russia: Berezovsky and Litvinenko's Death
Boris Berezovsky's figure in the background makes Copydude skeptical of some aspects of Aleksandr Litvinenko's poisoning story.
Russia: Unusual Protest
The Turkish Invasion and Very Russian write about today's very unusual demonstration in Moscow. LJ user 50×50 posts photos.
Russia: Litvinenko's Death
Aleksandr Litvinenko, a 43-year-old ex-KGB/FSB lieutenant-colonel and a harsh opponent of the Kremlin, died Thursday night of radiation poisoning in London, where he lived under asylum since 2000. In his deathbed statement read out by his friends, Litvinenko was addressing (and implicating) Vladimir Putin: […] You may succeed in silencing...
China: Videos emerge of clashes between police and students in Jiangxi
Hot on the heels of the Chinese government's claim of a 22.1% reduction in “mass incidents” (read “protests”), here's some more video of “mass incidents” from China, in case you missed this portion of John Kennedy's latest Beijing bulletin: Backing up to China late last month, students at one technical...
Egyptian blogger released
Rantings of a Sandmonkey reports the release of Egyptian blogger Rami Siam, who was in jail for four days “for no crime and without justifiable cause.” Meanwhile, blogger Abdul Karim Nabeel is still in jail for articles he posted on his blog.
Belarus: Nasha Niva Ordeal
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about one Belarusian newspaper's ordeal.
Balkan Blog Roundup: Focus on the Positive
The Balkans need reconciliation, confidence and positivism to change and become the winning region of Europe with happier citizens. You can see that in the inspirational words from the Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian blogospheres. Toshiba posts some thoughts of the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic during his motivational meetings...
Pakistan: An abducted journalist and the Freedom of Press
The Glasshouse on the abduction and release of a BBC Journalist Dilawar Khan, and why freedom of the press is crucial in Pakistan. “As one of those Musharraf derided ‘extremist liberals’ your Blogger believes Press Freedom to be sacrosanct. In a country where you have a historically enfeebled parliament and...
Shock and Tragedy in UCLA, Murder in Iran
According to reports in the media, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a taser and then taken into custody after he failed to exit the CLICC Lab at the Powell Library at UCLA in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he...
Arabisc: Plagiarism, Arrests, Bans and Democracy!
The Arabs are as usual busy this week debating anything and everything, from plagiarism to the arrest of bloggers, and from banning public meetings to embarrising George Bush Senior at a conference held in the UAE. Ahmed from Egypt had always wanted to become a journalist. But because not all...
Egypt: Cairo's women speak out against violence
In the run-up to the annual global campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, addressing a meeting of the Arab Women's Organisation, issued a heartfelt plea: What shall we do to face challenges of discrimination, extremism and religious fanaticism? It's a vexing question...
Ukraine: Orange Revolution 2 Years On
Leopolis writes about the meaning and the second anniversary of the Orange Revolution.
Ukraine: Maidan's Second Anniversary
Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv, Ukraine: two years since the beginning of the Orange Revolution – by Veronica Khokhlova Nov. 22 marks the second anniversary of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, but little orange has been visible on the streets of Kyiv today. A crowd gathered at Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), but...
Esperantoland through Pictures / Esperantujo tra Bildoj
Only one more month until Esperanto Day! If you would like to participate you can sign up here, especially if you would like help with translation. Nur unu monato ĝis Esperanto-Tago! Se vi volus partopreni, vi povas enskribiĝi ĉi tie, speciale se vi deziras helpon je tradukado. Welcome back for...
Ukraine: “Unknown Holocaust”
Cyber Cossack writes about the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 – an “unknown Holocaust” – and links to the “800 pages of documented details on the Holocaust still denied by Russia.”
Lebanon: Campaigns, Politics and Photos
A wide variety of topics were highlighted in the Lebanese blogosphere this week. There are campaigns against sectarianism, child abuse and AIDS as well as minorities speaking out. There are attempts to define the shades of grey in internal Lebanese politics. We also have posts about the media, nice photos...
Arabisc: One Blogger Arrested..1000s More to Go!
There doesn't seem to be a week passing by without Egyptians and its bloggers rocking the boat and taking the virtual limelight in our part of the world. This week the huge ripples in the Nile are being caused by no other than Egyptian Culture Minister Farooq Hosni, who has...
China: year of spoof
Zhao Mu suggests in his blog that 2006 should be the year of spoof in China, spoofs come not only from internet, but also from the government (zh).
China: wikipedia blocked, unblocked and reblocked
The news about Chinese wikipedia has been confusing. On Nov 13, it was widely accessible, on Nov 16, partial inaccessible, on Nov 17, a reblocked was confirmed and appeared more restrictive – Andrew Lih has the most elaborated update.
Hong Kong: from hit rates to narratives
ESWN has some reflections upon his blogging: but at some point, I ought to develop some opinion or the other after recording ten thousand data points…I believe that there is some room for building up narratives from the ground up.
