· November, 2008

Stories about Freedom of Speech from November, 2008

Cuba: To Choose

“First there were the elections in the United States and now the issue has been revived with what happened on Sunday in Venezuela. It’s as if at the end of...

25 November 2008

Afghanistan: Meeting Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh

Nasim Fekrat, an independent Afghan journalist, met with imprisoned journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh in Pul-e Charkhi prison. He seemed disappointed and desperately waved at me. Only for a few...

25 November 2008

Russia: The Plight of Journalism

As the West continues to turn attention to the Politkovskaya case, Foreign Policy Association's Russia Blog gives focus to the plight of Mikhail Beketov, editor of the obscure Khimki Pravda.

25 November 2008

Syria: A Blogosphere Divided

The Syrian blogsphere has been embroiled in a heated debate over the weekend. It is a debate that is quite reflective of some of our modern disagreements as Syrians, over a wide range of basic issues: identity, religion, state and personal freedom. Yazan Badran gathers the different threads of this controversy here.

24 November 2008

Egypt: First Human Rights Film Festival

Seven films about human rights are being showcased at the first Cairo Human Rights Film Festival, which continues until Thursday (November 27). Marwa Rakha previews blogger reactions on the event.

24 November 2008

Cuba: Hurricane Aftermath

Generation Y takes a road trip to Cuba's Pinar del Rio and is even more convinced that “we have to avoid letting our tendency to forget cover up the situation…we...

24 November 2008

Latvia: Freedom of speech in peril?

Latvian bloggers react to the security police incarceration of two citizens for publicly criticising the government financial policies. Free Speech Emergency in Latvia covers the story, and Marginalia provides links...

24 November 2008

Armenia/Azerbaijan: Journalists Under Attack

Beaten in Armenia and imprisoned in Azerbaijan, journalists in the ex-Soviet South Caucasus know the price of freedom. Some of them are even fighting from prison cells, wrestling state persecution and challenging societal intolerance for dissent. Bloggers tell the story of free speech in the South Caucasus.

23 November 2008

China: Baidu's new scandal.

CCTV reported that Baidu, referred to as China's Google, had accepted money from illegal medical companies and placed their Web links on top of search results. Baidu’s marketing employees were...

22 November 2008

Egyptian Blogger is Missing

From Egypt, Zeinobia writes: “The famous Egyptian MB blogger Mohamed Adel aka Meit is reportedly missing. No one seems to know for sure where he is currently. Of course the...

22 November 2008

Hungary, Slovakia: Tense Relationship

On Nov. 15, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Gyurcsány, met in the border town of Komárno, Slovakia, in an attempt to ease nationalist tensions that have escalated due to Nov. 1 football game violence in Dunajská Streda, Slovakia. Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum has been blogging a lot recently about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, and here are some of the highlights.

22 November 2008

Hong Kong: Protect University Beacon

The Chinese University of Hong Kong is planning to remove the beacon (a symbol of freedom of speech and intellectual exchange) temporarily to build an underground information center. However, there...

21 November 2008

Sri Lanka: Censoring the web and Internet

ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) discusses about a proposed law in Sri Lanka restricting private TV broadcasting: “disturbingly, the proposed regulations are a significant challenge to all bloggers in Sri Lanka,...

20 November 2008

Cambodia's new intellectuals

Vuthasurf uploads an article written by GV author Geoffrey Cain which was published by the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review. The article features young bloggers who are hailed as...

20 November 2008

Brazil: Attempts to censor a documentary about censorship

Gagged in Brazil, a documentary about the relationship between politics, media and censorship in Brazil was taken off the Current TV networks after a political party's complaint. After a full investigation into the sources, the film is back online - but media censorship in Minas Gerais is an old and ongoing issue.

20 November 2008