Stories about Freedom of Speech from November, 2008
Myanmar: Long prison terms for dissidents
Myanmar’s Junta continues to shock the world. This week, dissidents who joined street protests were sentenced to 65 years. A blogger and young entrepreneur was sentenced to 20 years for keeping defaced images of national leaders in his email inbox. A journalist faces a two-year prison term for writing about the deadly cyclone which hit Myanmar last May.
Brazil: Flash mob protest against Digital Crimes Bill
Brazilian bloggers and netizens took to the streets of São Paulo to protest against the Digital Crimes Bill which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable by law and stipulates penalties accordingly, but might end up considering trivial conduct when surfing the Internet as a crime. At a public hearing held in the parliament, the project supporters "ended up sounding silly and unprepared".
Egypt: Blogger Blocks Nawara's Blog
It seems that it is not only third world regimes who block people's blogs. Apparently, Google's Blogspot has decided to join the bandwagon, and has blocked Nawara Negm's Blog (Tahyees [Ar]), without specifying any reasons. Ahmed Shokeir writes here about the incident in Arabic.
Poland: Racist Flyers Given to Children in a Catholic Church
One of the Catholic churches in Poznań, Poland's fifth largest city, generated a lot of online buzz yesterday, when the media published articles about a religious flyer printed by a Catholic weekly Mały Gość Niedzielny and distributed to children. On the flyer's cover, there is a quote from the Bible - “A lamp without oil is dark, a human without a prayer, too.” Right above it is a drawing of a black child, who is saying: “What a pity that the prayer does not brighten the skin.” Sylwia Presley reviews the buzz.
Fiji: “Draconian Prosecution” of press
For the second time this month, Fiji’s military government has threatened to send a newspaper editor and its publisher to prison for publishing a letter to the editor alleged to be in contempt of court.
Egypt: No Manhood for the Manhood Drink!
Egypt has launched a fierce campaign against sexual harassment in the aftermath of the recent events written about here on Global Voices. But people working in the media industry do not seem to get the idea as evidenced by a recent ad campaign.
Egypt: Lawsuit calling for the devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths
Marwa Rakha translates for us today a post about an unusual lawsuit against Al Azhar University in Egypt calling for devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths. "Does Al Azhar have the right to “delete” these hadiths? Did they invent them and now they decided to negate them? So what will they do now with those 25,000 Hadiths? Burn them? Burn the books they are in? Do they have that right?"
Cuba: Castro's New Book
Fidel Castro's new book has not escaped the notice of El Cafe Cubano or Guyanese blogger Propaganda Press.
Serbia: Reflections of a Bosnian Refugee
27-year-old Amila Jašarević fled Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1993 and has since been living in Denmark. On her blog, Amila Bosnae, she describes her first visit to Serbia: “Although our hosts from the different Serbian NGOs did whatever they could to make us comfortable, there was nothing they could do...
Thailand: Australian in detention for lese majeste
New Mandala writes of the case of an Australian writer in detention for lese majeste. The case was also reported by ABC TV's 7:30 Report.
China: Does the secret “Fifty Cents Party” exist?
Wu Mao（五毛）is fifty cents or half yuan in Chinese currency. Wu Mao Dang (五毛党), or Fifty Cents Party, is a derogatory term applied to those pro-government bloggers who are suspected to receive fifty cents for every pro-party post. Does Wu Mao Dang really exist in China, as rumors say? A...
Trinidad & Tobago: Manning & the Media
The furor surrounding the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's recent radio station visit has not abated.
Cuba: Activist Released
Uncommon Sense says that a Cuban human rights activist has been released from prison “after serving 3 years in prison for being a ‘pre-criminal social danger’ because of his human rights work.”
MENA: Blogs and a social revolution
Saudi blogger, Esam Mudeer, clipped from CNN Arabic, an article asking -in light of last week's major events in the Arab world- if Arab blogs might lead a social revolution in the region.
Morocco: Thriving On Fear
A Moroccan About the World Around Him writes about the recent case of Yassine Belassal, the teenager who modified Morocco's motto (God, Country, King) to idolize his favorite soccer team, FC Barcelona.
Bermuda: Avoiding the Issue?
As the UK Foreign Affairs Committee publishes a report containing recommendations for Bermuda to improve its accountability and transparency, Vexed Bermoothes thinks that the Premier is “raising the noise level to avoid discussion of the issues – these are the real threat to Bermuda’s reputation, not the report that calls...
Taiwan: At the Protest Frontline
It seems that many people, especially if you are outside Taiwan, found the recent protest against Chen Yinlin in Taipei confusing. Bob pointed out that in China, some incidents in the protest were interpreted as democratic violence. Such impression is probably a result of the mainstream media report on the...
Trinidad & Tobago: “Radio Raid” Reactions
The fallout over the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's visit to a radio station to complain about critical comments made against him during a newscast appears to have only just begun. Local mainstream media continue to apply pressure, although in typical Trinbagonian fashion, some of the coverage is peppered with humour - but bloggers see nothing funny about what many of them consider to be the Prime Minister's attempts to muzzle free speech.
Cuba: Hurricane Paloma
In the latest installment of the chronicles of the 2008 hurricane season, Hurricane Paloma struck Cuba, destroying hundreds of homes in the process and compounding the damage and economic losses the island experienced two short months ago after Hurricane Ike. Bloggers from both Cuba and the diaspora were monitoring the...
Taiwan: Students Demand to Revise the Parade and Assembly Law!
About 500 students gathered peacefully in front of the Executive Yuan on 11/6 to protest against the current Parade and Assembly Law (集會遊行法). The government abusive use of the law has violated people's rights in protest in the past few days during the visit of Association for Relations Across the...
Morocco: Silenced Speech
Allal El Alaoui remarks upon the recent ruling that required Moroccan magazine Al Massae‘s editor, Rachid Nini, to pay off a fine of 6 million dirhams.
