The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald nails it: Readers of the American and British press over the past month have been inundated with righteous condemnations of Ecuador‘s poor record on press freedoms. Is this because western media outlets have suddenly developed a new-found devotion to defending civil liberties in Latin America? Please. To pose the question is…
Showing all posts tagged China
Footage of my 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture
I was invited this year to give the 2012 Sydney PEN “Free Voices” lecture on free speech, censorship and war. It was delivered at the Sydney Writer’s Festival in May and in Melbourne in June. ABC published an extract recently. Film footage of the Sydney event is now available. May you be provoked:
My 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture on free speech and why it matters
The following is published today as the lead piece by ABC’s The Drum: The two-hour drive from Islamabad to Peshawar is along a surprisingly smooth road. Mud-brick homes sit amongst lush, green fields. Police checkpoints are set up routinely to stop unwanted visitors. I am asked why I want to see the troubled Pakistani town…
The Indian view of online revolutions
Here’s another (mostly) positive Indian review of my recently released edition of The Blogging Revolution (previous Indian reviews here). This one is by Anuradha Goyal: An Australian Jew goes around five non-democratic countries, 3 in middle east – Iran, Syria, Egypt and two others: China & Cuba, talks to limited people connected on the internet…
Indian embrace of The Blogging Revolution
My book The Blogging Revolution was released recently in an Indian edition. It’s been receiving positive reviews (including this one in Calcutta’s Telegraph). Here’s another one in The Tribune by Abhishek Joshi: The Blogging Revolution by Australian freelance journalist Antony Loewenstein is a striking account of the writer’s investigation of the web’s role in repressive…
Blogging our way to freedom isn’t so easy in 21st century
The following interview appears in the Australian online legal and human rights journal Right Now: Samaya Chanthaphavong spoke to Antony Loewenstein, author of… The Blogging Revolution… about the use of the internet, in particular blogging, as a communicative tool to promote self-representation, democracy and human rights in areas where excessive regimes impose strict censorship over most forms…
The Blogging Revolution gets endorsement in Calcutta
The Indian edition of my book The Blogging Revolution was recently released. Here’s a just published review in The Telegraph from Calcutta: The Blogging Revolution: How the newest media is changing politics, business and culture in India, China, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Cuba and Saudi Arabia By Antony Loewenstein, Jaico, Rs 350 Antony Loewenstein’s book is…
The amazing struggles of Chen Guangcheng
A truly remarkable story that reads like a thriller but reveals a dark side of Chinese repression that we should never forget. The New York Times reports: Injuries suffered in the course of a daring nighttime escape. A covert appeal from underground activists to top State Department officials for humanitarian protection. A car chase through…
For those hoping China will be more benign super-power, think again
Reuters reports: A Chinese telecommunications equipment company has sold Iran’s largest telecom firm a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile and internet communications, interviews and contract documents show. The system was part of a 98.6 million euro ($130.6 million) contract for networking equipment supplied by Shenzhen,… China-based ZTE Corp to the Telecommunication Co of…
Beijing as world leader in pursuing surveillance state
Since the release of my book The Blogging Revolution (latest edition just out in India) the use by China of Western and local security firms to monitor citizens has only grown. This piece in the New York Times signals the depth of the problem: Chinese cities are rushing to construct their own surveillance systems. Chongqing,…