· May, 2007

Stories about Freedom of Speech from May, 2007

Yemen: Censorship of tow opposition news websites

The Yemen's Ministry of Telecommunications has blocked access to tow opposition news websites (www.al-shoura.net and www.aleshteraki.net) because they are reporting about the humanitarian situation and the fighting in the northern province of Sa'ada between the army and Shia rebels. According to aid workers the clashes “led to the deaths of...

Bangla Blogs: Breaking Taboos and a Debate

  24 May 2007

The Bangla blogging platform Bandh Bhanger Awaaj is buzzing with discussions, debates, memes and literatures. Hundreds of bloggers and thousands of readers are keeping this space lively. It is generating a lot of interest among the bloggers and readers with its variety of posts. Recently there was a wave of...

Taiwan and China: Chinese speech

  24 May 2007

ESWN translated a debate over a popular song called Chinese Speech by S.H.E. The song criticized by Liberty Times (pro-independent newspapers) for misleading and corrupting the next generation in Taiwan into thinking that they also use ‘Chinese speech.’

Rising Voices, Helping the Global Population Take Part in the Global Conversation

  24 May 2007

Thanks to the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Global Voices is now starting a new outreach project, Rising Voices, which aims to spread the benefits of citizen media to regions, languages, and communities that are currently underrepresented on the conversational web. Rising Voices will serve as the third arm to Global Voices' triad of amplifying independent voices worldwide, advocating for their right to free speech, and providing universal access to citizen media tools as is described in our founding manifesto.

Malaysia: New Blog Directory

  24 May 2007

Rocky's Bru points to a new project by the leading English newspaper in Malaysia to build a blog directory. The backers of the project herald it as a victory for freedom of speech. Rocky also links to another blogger who is not fully convinced with this idea.

Peru: The War Between Gisela and Magaly

  23 May 2007

Peruvian television has a colorful cast of characters. Among them are Gisela Valcárcel, the former "queen of daytime television" and wife of a top executive at one of Peru's main television stations, and Magaly Medina, who has a popular celebrity gossip program on a competing channel. They also both publish gossip magazines about Peruvian celebrities. The two women have a long-standing feud and have clashed over the years and Peruvian bloggers analyze this battle.

Egypt: Human Rights Council

Egypt's bloggers held their own online protest on the eve of the election of Egypt to the UN Human Rights Council. Bloggers Nora Younis and the Free Kareem and the Free Monem blogs all posted a video stating why the country shouldn't be on the council. Kareem was jailed for...

Belarus: The Opposition's Failure

TOL's Belarus has some harsh words for the Belarusian opposition: “The opposition party leaders will make fools of us for as long as we allow it. All of them should have resigned back in 2001. They had a last chance to rehabilitate themselves in 2006. But now they have seized...

Serbia: Homophobia

Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian homophobia: “[…] Some Serbs consider being gay completely ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, but are absolutely against gays adopting kids, because kids can also become gay (which is, if you look at the beggining of the sentence, completely ok and there’s nothing wrong...

Fijian Freedom bloggers and the military junta

  23 May 2007

It seems that the persecution faced by the anti-military Fijian Freedom Bloggers – who are using blogs to protest against the coup of December 5th, 2006- has subsided following a decision by the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) to stop hunting for anti-military bloggers and abandon its efforts to block the...

China: Internet Police Recruitment

  23 May 2007

Tufeiwan blogs a recruitment ads of 96 internet police in a county level town in Sichuan at a monthly payment of 1,300 yuan per month. Annual expense for internet police for the town would be 1,497,600. In China, there are 2,000 counties, the total expense for annual recruitment of internet...

Arabeyes: What's Happening at the Daily Kos?

Pro-Israel and pro-Palestine bloggers have been battling it out at the Daily Kos for quite some time. And then came Al Nakba, or the catastrophe, as the pro-Palestinian camp refers to it - when Pro-Palestine diarist were allegedly banned from cross-posting their diaries on the DKos. New rules of engagement have since been penned and bloggers' attempts to wave the olive branch may open a new chapter of relations between citizen journalists from the two opposing camps.

Iran:Why we need journals and Journalists?

Arash Hassannia writes[Fa] in Hanouz that journalism is very sick in Iran.The blogger adds a few ordinary employees in Supreme National Security Council can take decision about what journalists should not write in their journals.The blogger says writing about teachers’ and workers’ strikes has become an unforgivable sin.Arash adds even...

China: Harmonizing Property Ads

  22 May 2007

DANWEI puts together and translates reports, commentaries on the recent attempt by Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan in harmonizing property Ads: advertisements should be cleaned up because they revealed a massive wealth disparity and threatened social harmony.

China: Lawsuit Against GFW

  22 May 2007

A Chinese open-source software programmer is suing China Telecom because his website was blocked by the Great Firewall. This trial will be held in Shanghai at 9:00AM (Beijing time, zone of UMT+8:00) May 29th. The place is No. 611 Ding Xiang Road, Pu Dong New District, Shanghai, China.– Via Ya,...