· April, 2010

Stories about Human Rights from April, 2010

Bangladesh: Media In Despair

  30 April 2010

Maskwaith Ahsan at Voice Of Bangladeshi Bloggers discusses about the shutting down of a private TV channel in Bangladesh by the government and issues relating to it.

Russia: The 2009 Killing of Umar Israilov

  29 April 2010

Robert Amsterdam writes about Ramzan Kadyrov's alleged involvement in the 2009 murder of Umar Israilov in Vienna, and links to C.J. Chivers’ New York Times investigative piece, whose opening paragraph has reminded him of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of Vietnam War short stories.

China: The 42th anniversary of Lin Zhao's death

  29 April 2010

Lin Zhao (林昭), a Peking University student, was arrested in 1960 during the Anti-Rightist Campaign launched by Mao Zedong in 1957 and sentenced to death on 29 of April (today) in 1968, 42 years ago at the age of 35. She could have exchanged for her freedom and life by...

Thailand: Online censorship amid protests

  29 April 2010

As Red Shirt protesters in Thailand continue to press their demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister, the government is also doing everything to weaken the protests, including the use of emergency powers to block TV stations, community radio stations, and websites that broadcast “subversive” stories.

Egypt: Gearing up for May 2 Protests

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is urging her readers to mark May 2 on their calendars. A massive sit-in is being planned to call for a higher minimum wage in front of the Egyptian Cabinet. The official minimum wage has been LE35 ($6) for the last 26 years.

China: New Avatar theme song inspired by forced evictions

  28 April 2010

Avatar director James Cameron admits he found inspiration for the film in China, and Chinese viewers saw a common story from today's China being told in the film. Somewhere in between, mashup artists have now imagined a theme song for Avatar as one might have been sung in Chinese.

French West Indies, Haiti: Immigration then & now

  27 April 2010

Indiscrétions tells the story [Fr] of a Haitian girl deported from Guadeloupe by the French customs authority, for allegedly presenting fake identity documents at the airport, while Gwakafwika announces [Fr Cr] a conference about Guadeloupean immigration in Haiti from the 1800s to the 1900s.

Cuba: Journalist Reportedly Detained

  23 April 2010

Human Rights Cuba says that “Dania Virgen García, independent journalist and member of the group who march in support of the Ladies in White, was detained and taken to the Police Station in Guanabacoa, accused of an arbitrary offense without probable cause.”

Russia, Poland: The Truth About Katyn

RuNet Echo  23 April 2010

Steve Bandera of Kyiv Scoop writes about Andrzej Wajda’s 2007 film Katyń, which has been shown twice in Russia in the past few weeks (reactions from the Russian blogosphere are here) – and comments that the truth about the massacre is “only coming out now in the former Soviet Union...

Russia: “The Sirens of Russia”

RuNet Echo  23 April 2010

A Good Treaty posts a YouTube video of a Moscow driver's encounter with a high-ranking official's BMW and explains why “the special road status of the elite is a sore point with the Russian public.” (A few more related links in Russian are here.)

Cuba: Reporting via Twitter

  22 April 2010

“It is true that we broadcast blindly and that we cannot read our readers’ replies or references, but at least we are reporting on the Island in 140 character fragments”: Generation Y says that the Cuban authorities “haven’t noticed that the technologies have turned every citizen into his or her...

Haiti: Part of History

  22 April 2010

The Haitian Blogger republishes an article by Melanie Newton which suggests that what happens in Haiti post-earthquake “is a question of world historical significance.”

Russia: Authorities Inspect Major Social Network

RuNet Echo  21 April 2010

Russia authorities started inspection of the country's major social network Vkontakte.ru, rbcdaily.ru reported. The authorities claim the social network became popular with neo-Nazi, xenophobic and extremist groups. But the inspection can also be an attempt to extract users’ private data.

Azerbaijan: Nationalist propaganda

  21 April 2010

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines recounts being verbally abused by a fellow countryman after co-presenting with Global Voices Online's Caucasus regional editor at a recent conference. The blogger notes that the reason for being cornered and harassed was her belief in tolerance and democracy in Azerbaijan as well as peace...