Stories about Freedom of Speech from June, 2006
China: Activist news roundup
Arms trading, Tibet, environmental concerns, Chinese president Hu Jintao's recent meeting with American counterpart Bush and Google executive Sergey Brin admitting to censoring search results in China all in Celia's weekly roundup at China Activist Weekly.
Belarus: NGO Leaders on Trial
TOL's Belarus Blog reports on the case of four young NGO leaders who are facing from six months to three years in prison for running an unregistered organization.
Belarus: Neglected Hunger Strike
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about young Belarusian opposition activists on a hunger strike that has gone practically unnoticed inside the country.
United Arab Emirates: Censorship, again!
UAE's ISP has blocked UAE community Blog. It's not clear yet what is the reason. A blogger who goes by the name war_in_iran said that: “They maybe the community was having a bad effect “culturally” on the the innocent youth of this great country.”
Iran: Peaceful Protest
According to Persian Architect, this afternoon, there will be a peaceful protest against anti-women's law in Tehran. The blogger gives a link to the declaration of women's rights activists concerning this protest. Several blogs and many personalities have already backed this peaceful demonstration.
China: Google's China Problem
Google, the largest searching engine service in the world, has become under fire for its incompetence for providing unstable services to Chinese customers, due to the intensified online censorship, or Great Firewall of China, around the 17th anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre. Today, as Julien Pain, Chief of Reporters Without Borders,...
Mongolia: Rejected Press
Luke Distelhorst reports that a Mongolian journalist was turned away from a corporate press conference because that journalist has done a good job reporting on the company in the past.
Russia: G8 Security and Domestic Issues
Domestic politics seems to somewhat interfere with the attempts of St. Petersburg police to provide security for the upcoming G8 Summit (July 15-17). LJ user aneta_spb, a journalist, retells a friend's story (RUS): There's been much noise in the [state-funded] mass media about pre-Summit security, about fighting xenophobes, fascists and...
Belarus: Homophobia
TOL's Belarus Blog highlights homophobic attitudes that seem to be prevalent in the country and are even shared by the otherwise progressive politicians: [Artur Finkievich, a leading “Youth Front” activist] said that if his organization comes to power, they will treat those who has non-traditional sexual orientation as monsters. They...
Poland: Equality Parade to Take Place Saturday
Poland's Equality Parade will take place Saturday; Becca of Boo writes on her plans to participate and also muses about the importance of “standing up for fundamental rights in what should be a modern, European state” at p3. The beatroot and p3 report that the All-Polish Youth decided to cancel...
Russia: Assaulted Activist Wins Lawsuit
Muckraked reports that Ivan Pavlov, the human rights lawyer who was attacked last week, won the lawsuit against Russia’s Bureau of Standards and Measures, which he believes had caused the attack.
China: Yahoo and the law
Chinablawger Kevin Fisher blogs in response to an article from a journalist advocacy group which condemns internet company Yahoo for cooperating with Chinese authorities in imprisoning Chinese journalists: “These Chinese reporters were guilty of things like forwarding a governmental email to foreign reporters. In the case of one Chinese journalist,...
China: DaVinci film pulled
The Chinese government only lets twenty foreign movies make theaters each year, but now it seems those are being blocked too. “Interesting, writes the Black China Hand blogger. “Might it be that the Chinese High Command is linked to the Opus Dei and their plan to eliminate the Priory of...
China: Journalist sues Shanghai
A Shanghai journalist sues the municipal government for denying him an interview, a move which stands to set a foundation for freedom of information law in China. “It is the first time a reporter challenges the government in court,” writes China Herald blogger Fons Tuinstra, “and other media are speculating...
China: New news anchors for a new decade
As with many mainstays of Chinese Communist Party infrastructure, the surreally socialist China Central Television (CCTV) faces an increasingly uphill battle against non-Party competitors. Viewers are increasingly drawn to privately-run television stations which dare to air many stories authorities would rather see ignored. Factor in the growing numbers of—urban, educated—Chinese...
Zimbabwe: Blogs under threat
Zimbabwean Pundit writing on Enough is Enough points to a series of links covering all the Zimbabwean blogs – blogs that would come under threat if the proposed IC Bill goes through
Ethiopia: Blocking cyberland
Carpe Diem Ethiopia has more to say on the blocking of blogs in Ethiopia and the low number of internet users in the country.
The Kannada Context: Hear the nature of voices
The amplification of small sound bytes effects a joyful reverberation in a large room. I got a few mails/comments for my last post, The Kannada Context: Exclusive Identity and Other Stories. I also got to know interesting people. It is nice to see the feedback from a small, yet vibrant,...
Romania: Homophobia and Gay Rights
Cristian of Owlspotting posts a candid reflection on homophobia and gay rights in Romania: “If “Will and Grace” was a Romanian sit-com, Will would either be spending a lot of time in the emergency room, or he would be experimenting with innovative forms of denial.”
Russia: “Asylums for Dissidence”
Sean Guillory discusses an LA Times article by Kim Murphy, which claims that “the Soviet practice of condemning the political dissident to mental asylums continues in the cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in periphery of the Federation. Those seeking to pose an electoral challenge to local...
Russia: Human Rights Lawyer Attacked
Muckraked! writes about a recent attack on a St. Petersburg human rights activist: Ivan Pavlov, director of the Institute for Information Freedom Development, an organization that “takes secretive government agencies and state-run enterprises to court in order to force them to publicly release information about their practices.”
