Stories about Freedom of Speech from January, 2009
Iran: A conservative site was filtered
Fardanews, a conservative site that criticized Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and conservative Keyhan newspaper over Gaza was filterd. This site was close to Tehran's mayor,Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Russia: Pro-Government Rallies
Window on Eurasia writes about “Moscow’s plan to organize pro-government demonstrations.”
Russia: More on Markelov and Baburova
More on the killings of Markelov and Baburova – at Sean's Russia Blog.
Russia: Anastasia Baburova's Blog
Excerpts from the blog of Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old journalist killed in Moscow last week, translated from Russian – at OpenDemocracy.net.
Poland: Katarzyna Hejna on Feminism
Katarzyna Hejna talks about feminism in Poland – at Polandian.
Latvia: Riga Riots Followup
A followup on the Riga riots: Free Speech Emergency in Latvia reports on “an informal movement of non-violent resistance, called The Penguins (Pingvini).”
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Support for Florence Hartmann
Amila Bosnae writes about the case of Florence Hartmann, journalist and former spokeswoman for Carla del Ponte, who published a book about the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) called “Peace and Punishment” (”Paix et chatiment: Les guerres secretes de la politique et de la justice internationales”, Flammarion,...
Sri Lanka: Journalists Are Fleeing
In Mutiny reports that some of Sri Lanka’s top columnists and media personalities are fleeing from the country fearing for their lives.
Russia: LJ and “the Western Powers”
IZO writes that “the importance of the Russian LiveJournal blogosphere is leading the Western Powers to suck up to the leading bloggers and infiltrate the discussion sites.”
China: Internet In 2008
ESWN translated a local media (Southern weekend) review on major incidents happened in China Internet 2008.
Cuba: Being Responsible
Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez explains why she doesn't feel like a victim, but rather, responsible.
Iran: A leading cultural site was filtered
Haftan, a leading Iranian site covering cultural and art news was filtered by Iranian authorities. Government did not explain any reason for this filtering.
Iran: The news that we don't hear in Tehran
Freekyboard, an Iranian blogger, says [fa] “we are not going to hear the following news in Iran: The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at US President George W Bush is seeking asylum in Switzerland and Saudi Arabia pays one billion dollar to help reconstruct the Gaza Strip.”
Madagascar: Devastating tropical storm makes way for a political one
A few days after passing Madagascar, the official toll from the damages caused by Cyclone Fanele have finally come in. President Ravalomanana president flew to one of the affected areas to assess the extent of the devastation. Cyclone citizen media initiative While the BGNRC (department of risk and disaster management)...
China: Net Nanny, GFW and SEM
Uln explains how the internet censorship in China works through three major tactics, including: Self censorship, Great fire wall's filtering and access control and search engine manipulation.
Russia: Robert Amsterdam's Interview on Echo of Moscow
Robert Amsterdam's interview on Echo of Moscow radio station about the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov – and a translation of LJ user varfolomeev-v‘s response (RUS) to it.
Egypt: Bloggers Divided over Geert Wilders
Amsterdam Appeals Court decided that Geert Wilders, Dutch MP, will be put on trial for his views on Islam. Wilders, and his movie had caused a huge anger wave last year, with both sides denouncing each other. While Perwin Ali thought he deserves to be tried, An Egyptian is blogging for his release.
Cuba, U.S.A.: An Important Introduction
“The man is worth your support, and then some, especially after he was arrested while traveling to Havana to watch your inauguration as a guest of the U.S. Interest Section”: Uncommon Sense would like President Obama to meet Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”.
Hong Kong: LGBT content filtered away
Leslovestudy conducted a research on the filtering of LGBT content (zh, pdf) in Hong Kong private and public filters. I have post a summary of the report at GV advocacy.
China: CyberGhost VPN
GFW Blog introduces a new tool, CyberGhost VPN, for getting around the internet filtering (Great Fire Wall) in China.
Estonia: Arvo Pärt
Robert Amsterdam's Blog writes about “Estonia's most famous contemporary composer Arvo Pärt,” whose latest symphony is dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky – and whose 2006-2007 works are dedicated to Anna Politkovskaya.
