· February, 2008

Stories about Freedom of Speech from February, 2008

Afghanistan: Refugees Urge BBC to Take Action

  25 February 2008

Mohammad posts an open letter of independent writers, journalists, student associations, human rights activists and Afghanistani Diaspora living in the UK to the head of BBC, raising concerns about the recent restrictions introduced by the Afghani Minister of Culture on the use of Farsi language terminology by media in Afghanistan.

Cape Verde: Journalist is jailed

  23 February 2008

A journalist has been jailed this week for taking photographs in Cape Verde, Nós Media [pt] reports. The blogger has learned the piece of news trough a newspaper's website. “Despite the ambiguity of the piece of news, that don't let us really understand the circumstances in which the journalist was...

Serbia: Bloggers Discuss Rally and Rioting in Belgrade

  22 February 2008

Yesterday, Kosovo is Serbia rally was held in Belgrade. According to unofficial sources, 150,000-200,000 people attended it to protest against unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo. The rally went peacefully but was followed by rioting. Buildings of the American, Croatian and Turkish embassies were set on fire. Many people were injured, at least one person was killed. Sinisa Boljanovic translates reactions by several Serbian bloggers who blog at B92's blog portal.

Brazil: While traditional media deals with lawsuits, blogs report

  22 February 2008

Two of the biggest media companies in Brazil are currently involved is court cases that similarly raise the issue of freedom of speech and press even though the media finds itself on opposite sides of the issue in the two cases. Blogs are uniquely pointing out the similarity and contradictions revealed by the connectedness of both situations.

China: Hu Jie

  22 February 2008

Zhai Minglei posted an interview with Hu Jie (zh), a documentary film maker, who lives with the poor with his camera.

Myanmar: To start a radio campaign for Free Burma

  22 February 2008

Burma Sitmone urges fellow Burmese to start a radio campaing for Free Burma, “There are wonderful young and energetic Burmese bloggers who have been posting very relevant and interesting opinion in Burmese language … it would be very lucky if these posts are read by one percent of Burmese staying...

Serbia: Political Unrest, Now and 17 Years Ago

  22 February 2008

Anegdote watched the rioting in Belgrade from his balcony and wrote about how history seems to be repeating itself: “Many people were injured in Belgrade today, and one person died. But that feels like nothing compared to knowing that lunatics are once again politicians and that people are capable of...

Serbia: “People's Protests”

  22 February 2008

Hugh Griffiths writes on his B92 blog about the history of the “so-called ‘people’s protests'” in Serbia – “which are in actual fact not organised by the people themselves, but by those working in state institutions.”

Ikhwanweb founder and Editor-in-Chief arrested

  21 February 2008

Khaled Hamza, Ikhwanweb (Muslim Brotherhood's official English website) founder and Editor-in-Chief was arrested in Cairo yesterday by Egyptian police. Khaled was coordinating the Brotherhood's blogging campaign and has been inspirational for many young Muslim Brothers activists.

Uzbekistan blocks Newsuz.com website

  21 February 2008

It has been reported that the Uzbek-language website Newsuz.com has been blocked in Uzbekistan. “After a series of critical publications on human rights issues, gas supply issues, and price growth, and also analytical publications on the recent elections, we began receiving letters with threats and demands to follow information posted...

Barbados, Cuba: Castro's Legacy

  21 February 2008

As David Thompson praises the Castro legacy, Barbados Free Press says: “A damned shame. We had hoped for better from the new Prime Minister.”

Taiwan: Release Netizen!

  21 February 2008

The Hong Kong sexy photo gate effect has extended to Taiwan. Police has arrested a netizen who shared photos with others under local obscenity censorship law. Portnoy pointed out that the police has no power to define the nature of the photos, and Taiwanese has the right to enjoy pleasure....

Are languages free? Thoughts on the International Mother Language day

  21 February 2008

Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of the Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February’, which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952. The date of 21st February was chosen...

China: Political Mistake

  20 February 2008

Zengying blogs about his experience of making a serious “political mistake” in a local T.V station at the end of the 1990s. It was about a T.V drama which had been shown in the central television station. Eventually he found out that the mistake was the pronunciation of the name...

Afghanistan: Balkh Still Uneasy Over Language

  20 February 2008

Mohammad reports that university teachers, students, cultural activists, writers, poets, journalists and youths dramatic held a protest rally against the information minister in Balkh, a city in Afghanistan. The protesters said they had staged the demonstration against the official persecution of three journalists for using Persian words in their reports.