Stories about Freedom of Speech from July, 2008
China: Bring your own wifi routers with you!
Re: exorbitant prices for internet access in Beijing's Olympic Media Village, one writer on Andrew Lih's AndrewLih.com: “I just can’t believe that not only do I have to deal with the Great Firewall of China, but also pay through the nose to use it!”
Sudan: YouTube Blocked
Too Huge World reports that YouTube has been blocked in Sudan.
Egypt: Facebook Activists Arrested
A number of Facebook activists have been arrested in Alexandria, Egypt, reports Elijah Zarwan, saying: “Amnesty International has released an urgent action on the arrest of Facebook activists gathered for a mild protest in Alexandria.”
Czech Republic, China: Pre-Olympics Scandal
The Czech Daily Word reports on the problems in relationship between the Czech Republic and China on the eve of the Olympics.
Serbia: Pro-Karadzic Protest in Belgrade
A video and lots of photos from “one of the daily protests in support of Radovan Karadzic that are being organized by Serbian ultra-nationalists” in Belgrade – at LimbicNutrition Weblog.
Serbia: Demonstrators Attack Journalists in Belgrade
Starting with the night when Radovan Karadzic was arrested, nationalist group members and high-ranking officials of the Serbian Radical Party have been gathering in the streets of central Belgrade. Although there were police units nearby, on July 24 the protesters broke several store windows and brutally attacked journalists and cameramen of the "treacherous media." Below are some of the bloggers' responses and other public reactions, compiled and translated by Sinisa Boljanovic.
Cambodia: List of unsolved attacks against journalists
Details are Sketchy provides a list of unsolved attacks against journalists in Cambodia.
Macedonia: More on Discrimination Against Gamers
Filip Stojanovski of Razvigor :-) thinks discrimination against Macedonian gamers is part of a bigger problem: “[…] Regardless if a person considers oneself a gamer or not, I think they should become concerned by the pattern of discrimination labeling group by group as abnormal, wasteful, and dangerous even. And this...
Serbia: New Instructions and Law Regulations on Online Privacy
On July 21, Serbia’s Republican Agency for Telecommunications posted a Document of Instructions for Technical Requirements for Subsystems, Devices, Hardware and Installation of Internet Networks on their official web site. This news didn’t go unnoticed yesterday in Serbian blogosphere and internet community, as many bloggers expressed various opinions as well as disapproval because of the potential abuse of users’ privacy.
Iran: A leftist student and blogger was jailed
According to an Iranian blog, Sostavancheh, Abed Tavancheh, a leftist student and blogger was jailed a few days ago in Arak. He was sentenced to 8 months prison for his political activities.
Serbia: Anglophone Bloggers Continue Discussion of Karadžić's Arrest
From one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, Radovan Karadžić - aka Dr. Dragan David Dabić - has turned into one of the world's most talked about detainees. Below are snippets of some of the discussions that have taken place in Anglophone blogs in the past few days.
China: Can a cop-killer be a hero?
Actually, the majority opinion in the story of Beijing resident Yang Jia who recently rushed into a police building in Shanghai and stabbed and killed six police officers, wounding several others, seems to be on Yang's side. Since then, Yang's mother has mysteriously disappeared, Beijing police have been sent to...
Cuba: July 26
Raul Castro is scheduled to address his fellow Cubans this weekend and speculation is rife about what he might say. Child of the Revolution: “I hope Castro II announces for instance, that free and fair multi-party elections will be held in Cuba within the next 12 months.” Generation Y: “The...
China: Olympic blog shutdown continues
One of China's oldest blog service providers, Sohoxiaobao, has been kept shut down for a week already and looks to stay that way until the Beijing Olympics wrap up in late August.
China: Police Olympics guide to stopping “illegal news coverage”
How many times has the BOCOG promised that foreign reporters will be given full reign to interview and report during the Olympics Games? Davesgonechina at Mutant Palm looks at the somewhat different story that Chinese police are—and have been, for at least two years—prepared to tell. This story was linked...
Cuba: Glorious Future?
Both Child of the Revolution and Ninety miles away…in another country take issue with a series of articles in the Christian Science Monitor speculating about Cuba's economic future: “It is particularly galling that the resourcefulness they all laud as the sign of a changing Cuba is a harsh expedient forced...
Sudan: Where are the big protests?
Heba Aly at the Untold Stories blog by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting describes a small protest she witnessed in Khartoum against the ICC's possible indictment President al-Bashir, and wonders why there were no massive rallies as it had been announced.
New Zealand: Bloggers Union
Kiwiblog writes about the newly launched bloggers union that automatically counts any New Zealand bloggers as its member.
Israel: Favorite Quotes from UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman
“The Palestinians’ real tragedy is that they have not been able to produce a Nelson Mandela. Every single day, Muslims are killed by Muslims. You do not see a single Muslim leader get up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ It’s nearly as if we live in a world where if...
Cuba, U.S.A.: Sharpton Calls for Prisoners’ Release
“When it comes to Cuban political prisoners, any publicity is good publicity”: Uncommon Sense and Balablu Blog draw attention to Reverend Al Sharpton's “call for the release of Cuba's prisoners of conscience.”
South Korea: Community Radio Suspended
Deep dish TV from Waves of Change reposted Mediact's report on the South Korean government policy in suspending the community radio under the excuse of the promotion of a new FM English channel.
