Stories about Freedom of Speech from August, 2007
Russia: Xenophobia and Violence
There are 48 comments so far to a post on xenophobia and violence in Russia, over at Sean's Russia Blog. One commenter writes: “It seems to me that the Kremlin gave a green light to the ‘ultra-nationlist’ tendencies of some ethnic Russians by the way it dealt with Georgia and...
Russia: BBC Radio Off Russian FM
As the parliamentary and presidential elections draw near, the BBC's Russian-language broadcasts have been chased out of Russian FM radio. Vilhelm Konnander has more on it.
Belarus: Students and KGB
TOL's Belarus translates a blog entry written by a Belarusian student who was summoned to the KGB and questioned on his studies and life in Lithuania.
Mideast Youth: Unblock WordPress in Turkey
Mideast Youth has just launched a petition calling for the unblocking of WordPress in Turkey.
Turkey: wordpress.com ban inspires firestorm of criticism
Matthew Mullenweg, founding developer of the popular WordPress blogging platform, has received a letter from the lawyers acting on behalf of a Turkish Islamic-creationist, Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya, claiming to be responsible for the blanket ban on blogs hosted on the wordpress.com blogging platform in Turkey. On August 17th, 2007, the Turkish Fatih Second Civil Court of First Instance blocked access to all wordpress.com blogs in response to a suit filed by Adnan Oktar’s lawyers on the grounds that blogs hosted on the platform published allegedly defamatory and “unlawful” statements about their client.
Barbados: What Blogging is About
“Blogs tend to respond quite fast to events as they develop…they seem to…fill a number of gaps in supplying information. I was fascinated to see what has happened to this site over the past week, as the hurricane season got a full head of steam.” Dennis Jones at Living in...
Kuwaiti blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh released!
It has been reported that Bashar Al-Sayegh, the Kuwaiti blogger who has been arrested earlier this week for comment posted by an anonymous on his forum, has been released.
Tajikistan: New legislation
At neweurasia, Madina lists several of the new laws and regulations that were stipulated by the Tajik government recently. Many of them are absurd and remind Madina of an 18th-century caliphate.
Kuwait: Blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh Arrested
Kuwait yesterday joined the ranks of countries with jailed bloggers, following the arrest of Bashar Al-Sayegh. How did bloggers in Kuwait and around the region react? Here's a quick review.
China: Bridge Disaster News Report Banned
The collapse of bridge near Phoenix (Fenghuang) town (a touristic site in Southern China) has leaded to the death of 47 rural workers. It is believed that the disaster was deal to the corruption of local authority. News report has been banned. AHQ Weekly is spoofing the story to protest...
Let Hoder Speak!
Following the suspension of Hossein Derakhshan’s blog (aka Hoder) by the U.S. based hosting company, Hosting Matters, an online petition has been launched by The Eyeranian in support of Hoder’s right to freedom of speech: “Hoder, like all of us, has a right to express his opinion. Opinions expressed in...
Malaysia: Talking Politics with Kids harder than talking about Sex
5Xmom says its harder to talk about politics with kids compared to talking about sex. The blogger offers some suggestions to the parents on balancing their kid's independent thinking and political correctness.
Iran:Award winner writer in trouble
Khabgard reminds[Fa] us that Yaghoub Yadali, an award winner writer, is going to be judged in court because of his novel “The behavior of unrest”. This story was published two years ago with permission of Iranian authorities and won a couple of awards.It seems some people complained against some sentences...
Russia: Neo-Nazi Execution Video
One of the most discussed topics in the Russian blogosphere last week was a graphic video of what appeared to be the execution of two ethnically non-Russian men by masked figures claiming to be members of a Russian neo-Nazi group. Anton Nossik, a representative of the company that oversees LiveJournal's Russian segment, blogs about the Russian authorities' irrational reaction to the video.
Iran: Government celebrates Journalist Day
The Iranian government celebrated Journalist Day on August 8, in spite of having arrested several journalists and banned many newspapers in recent months. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said: “The work of journalists is of the same essence of that of the prophets: informing.” According to Reporters without Borders at...
China: Blogs deleted, barred and officially backed
An eventful week on the backside of the Chinese blogsphere with an entire blogging website desisted, one high-profile blog deleted and another put on the unmentionable list; two web 2.0 companies battle it out in the courts and one novice blogger tries to gain readers the nouveau-riche way.
Mongolia: Media and journalism
Tom Terry, Managing Director of independent station Eagle TV, dissects a UNESCO report on media and journalism in Mongolia, and finds little reason to disagree.
Vietnam: Web Censorship
When I began considering posting on Global Voices from Vietnam, the first thought that came to mind was what exactly was I allowed to post? What topics could I cover, and which ones should I avoid? The media in communist Vietnam is state controlled, and although the internet isn’t as...
Turkey blocks popular blogging platform WordPress.com
The popular, and free, blogging platform WordPress.com has been blocked in Turkey and those who are trying to visit it are seeing this message: “Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.” “I didn’t realize Turkey had...
Russia: Racism
Mark MacKinnon writes about violence against non-Russians in Russia and the Kremlin's “strategy” of making Putin look like “a least-bad option” by not discouraging more radical political views: “…the monsters it created are now out of even the Kremlin's control.”
Cuba: Donation Drive?
Neither Babalu Blog nor Child of the Revolution is impressed by the latest Cuban campaign.