Stories about Freedom of Speech from February, 2008
Afghanistan: Refugees Urge BBC to Take Action
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.
Serbia: Anglophone Bloggers on Belgrade Rally, Riots, Kosovo
Below is a selection of the English-language posts about last week's events in Serbia and Kosovo, which appeared on Feb. 21-23.
Morocco: No Justice for Fouad Mourtada
Is creating a Facebook profile of a famous entity a crime? Although it's been done to nearly every major celebrity (a quick search for "George W. Bush" garners over 500 results), but when Fouad Mourtada chose to mimic Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, he was committing a serious crime.
Egypt: Free Khaled Hamza
From Egypt, Hossam Al Hamalawy draws our attention to the arrest of fellow blogger Khaled Hamza. Global Voices Online previously reported the arrest here.
Cape Verde: Journalist is jailed
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
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
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
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
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
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”
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.”
Serbia: Twitter Updates from Belgrade
Mini-updates on Twitter from Belgrade 2.0 blogger Viktor Marković are here.
Ikhwanweb founder and Editor-in-Chief arrested
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
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
As David Thompson praises the Castro legacy, Barbados Free Press says: “A damned shame. We had hoped for better from the new Prime Minister.”
Hong Kong: Indecent and Obscene Classification
ESWN translated Next magazine's feature on how obscene articles tribunal adjudicators classify sexy photos gate.
China: Tiananmen 2.0
Feng37 set up a blog called Tiananmen 2.0. It is a fan blog for Hu Jia and Zheng Jinyan.
Taiwan: Release Netizen!
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
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
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
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.