Stories about Freedom of Speech from March, 2007
Kuwait: Are Bloggers Such a Threat?
This was the question posed by a Kuwaiti blogger following the sudden axing of a popular television programme The Diwaniya, which was aired on government-run Kuwait Television Channel One (Arabic). The Diwaniya literally translates to a room common in Kuwaiti homes, in which people gather to discuss their everyday lives,...
Russia: NBP Banned Again
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the ban imposed on the National Bolshevik Party.
Egypt: Pressure on to Release Sulaiman
Pressure is mounting on Egypt to release jailed blogger Abdulkareem Nabeel Sulaiman. The latest pressure tactics are an op-ed article in the New York Post and a call to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to raise Kareem's issue in her meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to Free...
China: criminalizing seditious speech
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated the story / interview with Yu Quanyu, the CPPCC member who proposed a law criminalizing seditious speech at this year's congressional sessions, from the most recent issue of Southern People Weekly.
China: Homeowners hold their ground
How does China's landmark, much-blogged about new property law relate to the average citizen? An illustration comes with the decision by two residents of central China's Chongqing Municipality to hold their ground when the land upon which the house they purchased had been sold, then dug up, by a developer...
Part Two: Inside the school of the Egyptian blogosphere
Source: original image from Baheyya (photoshopped), text in Arabic from Misr Digital (Read Part One of this article here) In order to better understand this highly organized Egyptian blogosphere and how bloggers perceive their role in this new, turbulent phase in their country's history, on March 15, 2007, I talked...
Part One: Inside the school of the Egyptian blogosphere
Source: original image from Baheyya (photoshopped), text in Arabic from Misr Digital It is being made clear almost daily that the dynamism of the Egyptian bloggers isn’t just online; the country's activist bloggers are also highly engaged on the street as well. They've been playing an active part in the...
Egypt: Jokes Not Allowed
Egypt-based blogger Issandr El Amrani links to an article which claimed that the State Security banned Kifaya leader Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Meseiri from holding seminar on jokes.
Arabisc: Rebelling Bloggers from Syria to Tunisia
Ever heard of the rebellious bloggers? Well, this is what some bloggers in the Middle East refer to themselves because they are breaking the norm – speaking their minds on blogs without censorship or editing but paying the price for the consequences of free speech later on. Tunisian blogger Sami...
South Korea: what not to post in blog
A blogger posted about his pot-smoking experience in the Netherlands on his blog and got busted for doing drugs overseas – Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole.
China: Book banned prior to printing
Prior to a recent reprinting, ‘A Narrow Escape From Death: My ‘Right-wing’ Life’, a book from retired Xinhua journalist Dai Huang was banned from being published by order of China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), in which Dai recounts the years during which he was cast as a...
Serbia: Neo-Nazis
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian neo-Nazis and their web presence.
Serbia: Milosevic and the Internet
Belgrade 2.0 predicts a new war, over Milosevic: “Even though the online group of Milosevic-haters is by far bigger than the group of his supporters, it seems as if the supporters are louder and manage to create a balance. How long can this go on i wonder?”
Serbia: “Deveti Mart”
Belatedly, a bit of contemporary Serbian history, via Belgrade 2.0: on March 9, 1991, Belgrade became the scene of large protest rallies. “This was the first sign that the citizens were not so satisfied with Milosevic’s rule, already after two years of his reign.”
Chile: Censorship, Victor Jara and Los Tres
In his inimitable style, Tomás Dinges ties together the popularity of Mexican Rancheras and American hits, Chile's feudal history, the oppressive days of the dictatorship, the brutal murder of Victor Jara, and the censorship of video images by the producers of the massive concert recently held by Chilean folk-rock superheroes...
Jordan: Better Press Laws
It seems that there is some good news for Jordan's journalists. “After a little pass and play between the two Houses of Parliament, the Lower House voted to cancel (i.e. remove) the clause that upheld the imprisonment of journalists in the new press and printing draft law after it was...
Arabisc: A Mysterious Bug Gnawing at Middle Eastern Bloggers
Something is amiss on the Middle Eastern blogging scene .. and computers and modern technology are to blame. In addition to trouble with the law in their countries, which are closing in on freedom of speech and expression as I write this, bloggers have another demon to confront. Egypt‘s outspoken...
China: legal base for the real name system
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI sums up a discussion in Liaoning Legal News on whether the “real name registration system” has legal base: Of the real-name systems that have been proposed recently, relevant national laws are only in place for the banking system; real-name systems for mobile phones, online games, blogs,...
China: blogspot blocked again
Jeremy Goldkorn reported that many foreign blog providers have been blocked in the past few weeks. Blogspot is blocked again.
Russia: Politkovskaya's Killers
As the world reads to remember Anna Politkovskaya tonight, La Russophobe posts a translation of a forum thread featuring photos of the Russian journalist's alleged killers following her into the supermarket just off Komsomolsky Prospekt in Moscow.
Sri Lanka: On Web Censorship
ICT for Peacebuilding on the increasing instances of web censorship and the cause for concern. “..my firm belief that technology, though it may not be neutral, will secure and strengthen the work of pro-democracy and pro-rights activists far more than it will aid governments clamp down on them. All it...
