Stories about Freedom of Speech from April, 2007
Iranian Women's Movement Beyond Gender and Age
Thanks to Kosoof, a leading photoblogger, we can discover some important moments of this movement in photographs from the last two years. Here are six photos chosen to display that in the struggle there is no question of gender or age. We see old and young men and women taking part in the demonstrations as well as female police repressing women activists.
Interview with the Blogger, adam_kesher
Adil Nurmakov is a 28-year old political scientist and a journalist from Almaty, who started as a blogger in 2004. He writes his own Livejournal adam_kesher (ru) and is a regular author on neweurasia. Recently, Adil wrote an open letter to the mayor of Almaty about the situation with the...
Madonna in Malawi, Malawi in global ICT rankings, and Media under attack
News that Madonna was visiting Malawi again sparked rumors that she was going to adopt another child, this time a girl by the name of Grace. While most of the blogs carrying Madonna story are foreign to Malawi, it has been a week swarmed by postings on her benevolence, keeping...
Online Freedom for All: Some cases worth supporting
In my last article, “Lessons from the Free Kareem campaign”, I talked about campaigning and why some jailed and persecuted bloggers and online writers are winning sympathy, while others have difficulty attracting the attention of the public. I also discussed the logic behind the success or the failure of campaigning,...
Thailand: Call to Free Thai Cinema
FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand is urging the National Legislative Assembly and The Thai Government to free Thai cinema from the whims of censorship authorities. “We demand the National Legislative Assembly decree the movies a form of mass media, and that it be liberated from the shackles of state...
Russia: “Protesting the Protesters”
Scraps of Moscow links to a few anti-opposition pieces and observes: “Of course this is not a real, capable, popular opposition. Of course Putin is supported by the majority of Russians, with some justification given Russia's recent economic good fortune. But none of this means that people engaged in a...
Russia: “Extremists”
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the people viewed as “extremists” by the current regime.
Greece: The Roma
Romania International Media Watch links to a blog on discrimination of the Roma population of Greece – The Roma Series, by Devious Diva: “Unfortunately, there is seems to be very little tolerance in the Greek society for Roma people or/and especially for people like DD who have been writing about...
Serbia: Independent Media Under Threat
TOL's Balkanizer writes about “a scary day to be a journalist in Serbia.”
Russia: Gorbachev on Dissenters’ Marches
Near|Abroad comments on Mikhail Gorbachev's negative reaction to the recent Dissenters’ Marches: “The grandfather of Glasnost should probably stick to what he does best at this age, photo-ops.”
Egypt: From Kareem to Mahmood
Egyptian blogger and Muslim Brotherhood member Abdul Monem Mahmood has been arrested for articles he posted online. A blogger argues that he is not getting as much attention as another Egyptian blogger - Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman - who was sentenced to four years for insulting Islam.
Iraq: Saudi Cyber Activist Jailed
“A week ago the Saudi Arabia government closed Islammemo website ..its moderator Soyan Alhajeri in jail, the reason behind this action is still unknown but the only available information is the closure of website and jailing Alhajiri was a request from the Iraqi “Green Zone” government,” writes Iraqi blogger Lady...
China: Chinese Blog Hostings are not Web 2.0
The whole concept of Web 2.0 is to facilitate information flow, dialogue and conversation across the Internet. However, Sina.com, in Mainland China, is not only notorious in their editorial policy which violates the freedom of speech (see open letter to sina.com); yesterday Fang Jung in Mindmeter found out that Sina.com...
China: Chinese Blog Companies are not Web 2.0
The whole concept of Web 2.0 is to facilitate information flow, dialogue and conversation across the Internet. However, Sina.com, in Mainland China, is not only notorious in their editorial policy which violates the freedom of speech (see open letter to sina.com); yesterday Fang Jung in Mindmeter found out that Sina.com...
China: MeMedia Issue 4: Copyright Kills Creation, Life's Precious, Ching Ming Festival
This week comes the fourth issue from the newly-formed MeMedia roundup of all that's hot around the Chinese blogsphere including the upcoming Taiwan Bloggers BoF, copyright discussion in Hong Kong, kickback cost of medicine in China, in memory of the deads in Ching Ming Festival and much more. [技术和互联网 2007...
Russia: Listening In On the Police; St. Pete Rally
Garry Kasparov’s aide, LJ user abstract2001, has posted recordings of the walkie-talkie conversations of riot police officers deployed for the opposition’s Dissenters’ Marches in Moscow on April 14 and in St. Petersburg on April 15. Also, below are some links to photos and text from the rally in St. Petersburg, which ended with the riot police attacking peaceful protesters.
Ukraine: Kyiv Developments
Foreign Notes and Ukrainiana run brief summaries of the recent developments in Ukraine; Abdymok.net posts a picture of riot police near the Central Election Committee: it may appear that Kyiv has begun to resemble Moscow.
China: Cultural Worker License
China Media Project brings into focus a recent announcement by China's top cultural officials announced that the country would institute a new licensing system this year for employment in the cultural sector.
Ukraine: Stanik and Other Mess
As the Constitutional Court seems to be working on the parliament dissolution case, Abdymok.net and Ukrainiana write about Justice Suzanna Stanik's corrupted career. Foreign Notes notes a few other political developments and concludes: “Should all be sorted by Christmas then..”
Russia, Ukraine: Foreign Ministry on Tymoshenko
Over at Publius Pundit, La Russophobe‘s guest-translator guest-translates the response of the Russian Foreign Ministry to Yulia Tymoshenko's article in Foreign Affairs.
Russia, Ukraine: Gevorkyan's Column
La Russophobe‘s guest-translator translates Natalya Gevorkyan's column on Gazeta.ru: “Prison Camp ‘Russia’.”
