Stories about Freedom of Speech from June, 2009
Macau: An unpopular Chief Executive coming to town
Yesterday Fernando Chui Sai On, Macau's former secretary for social and cultural affairs, announced that he had obtained 286 nominations from the territory's 300-member election committee which implies that he will automatically become the next chief executive of Macau. Different from Hong Kong, Macau has been a very apolitical city...
Morocco: Beacon of Freedom of Speech?
Moroccan blogger Badr Al'Hamry on Agora [Ar], expresses his solidarity with Idriss Shahtan, director of Al Mishaal weekly newspaper, and president of the Khenifra branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights [Ar] who will stand accused of publishing a dossier that is discourteous to a relative of the king...
Brazil: Petrobras Blog Versus Mainstream Media
In the first week of June, Brazil's giant semi-public oil company Petrobras created a free blog on Wordpress. Among the posts publicised during the blog's first days were questions and answers of journalists that were going to be part of their respective newspaper headlines and stories throughout the week. This attitude has been seen as an act of transparency by some bloggers, a threat to journalism by some newspapers and led to heated debate on the power of media and blogging.
Cuba: Welcoming “Granpa”
A new SMS service has increased Generation Y‘s faith in the power of technology: “I’ve known about a page called Granpa (we hope it will be more objective than Granma) that sends news to cell phones located in Cuba. Since we don’t have a paper newspaper to tell us everything...
Trinidad & Tobago: The Outsiders
“We are all begging to be let in. For our voices to be heard. For our opinions to matter. And the father of the nation builds a big tall wall around what is for him and those who support him. Like a club bouncer he gets to say who gets...
Cuba: Prisoners of Conscience
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense refers to a report which claims that there have already been more than 500 political arrests and detentions in Cuba for the year.
Iran: “Iran 2009 vs. Serbia 2000″
Balkans via Bohemia compares the current situation in Iran with the 2000 election in Serbia.
Iran: Ryszard Kapuscinski on 1979
Michael J. Totten quotes from Ryszard Kapuscinski's Shah of Shahs in his post about the situation in Iran.
Iran: Face Book and You Tube were filtered
Several news sites and blogs such as blogger 6819 reports [fa] that Face Book, You Tube and several Iranian news sites got filtered. Iranians used Face Book and You Tube to publish several films and photos about protest demonstration in Iran.
Iran: Storm of protest after election
Thousands of people demonstrated in Tehran, Mashhad and several other major cities in Iran to protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proclaimed victory in the Iranian presidential election on Friday. Two different reformist rivals and their supporters insist there was election fraud at play.
Sri Lanka: The Economist Magazine Censored?
ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) reports that the shipment of the recent edition of the Economist magazine has been held up by Sri Lankan Customs Authority and possibly this article is the reason.
Iran: Several reformist sites got filtered
Several reformist news sites such as Norouznews were filtered today. At the same time international media reports a huge turn out in Iranian presidential election where a reformist candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi, is considered President Ahmadinejad's main challenger.
Kyrgyzstan: Journalists Under Attacks
Elena says that continuing attacks on journalists in Kyrgyzstan have intensified in recent weeks, while investigation efforts obviously are not sufficient enough.
Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter Protest
Rights Action Group T&T republishes a letter to the editor regarding an “imbalanced” news report claiming that an injured baby died as a result of the smelter protests, while This Beach Called Life concocts an imaginary conversation about the protest action between the Prime Minister and Attorney General.
Iran: SMS is blocked
Several news site and blogs such as 3vomiband209 report [fa] that a few hours before Iranian presidential election SMS is blocked in country and several political blogs are not available.
Iran: Woman activist call for unity
On the eve of the presidential election, Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani urges the country's social movements to unite now, while the world is watching.
Brazil: Amplified conversations to fight the Digital Crimes Bill
In another demonstration of cyberactivism and acvistim, Brazilian Internet users are gathering around a cause: to fight Senator Azeredo's Digital Crimes Bill. This legal project, which intends to intervene severely in the way people use the Internet in Brazil is being heavily criticized by Brazil's academic field, left-wing parties and the Internet community.
Africa: Gay and lesbian voices in African blogosphere
Despite being victims of politics and culture of exclusion in Africa, gays and lesbians on the continent have found a space to communicate and assert their rights: blogosphere. Haute Haiku, our new author covering LGBT blogs in Sub-Saharan Africa, points to conversations taking place in gay and lesbian blogs.
USA: Saberi to Ling and Lee: “You are not alone”
Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was imprisoned for four months in Iran, is asked by the CPJ blog what she would say to journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee who were recently sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea.
Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter Not Welcome
“The State wants the people of Trinidad to believe that only a handful of residents of La Brea do not want the smelter. This is not true”: Attillah Springer and Rights Action Group T&T republish a press statement regarding the proposed Alutrint aluminium smelter in La Brea.
China: A leaking dam?
Chinese information activists have been testing and collecting information about the government sponsored filter software, “Green Dam Youth Escort” via blog posts, twitter (search #greendam) and collaborative platforms since the WSJ's news about Beijing government required PC makers to install filter software for all the PCs shipped to China from...
