The persecution in Israel of the feminist peace group New Profile is a worrying sign of that country’s fear of robust debate. Are they seriously afraid of a few women criticising the state? Clearly, yes. Rela Mazali of New Profile gave a speech on May 14 in a Tel Aviv University public forum titled:”Freedom of…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
You can’t stop the real flow of information
The crusading website Wikileaks scores another win: Today Chief Justice Gordon Ward lifted a gag order which had prevented publishers and broadcasters from mentioning ‘corruption report’ and ‘WikiLeaks’ in the same sentence. The order, first issued on Saturday against 11 media companies, and reissued last night, has lead to bizarre press coverage, where WikiLeaks was…
Iran’s issues are not just their own
Roger Cohen in the New York Times on the Iranian paradox: A succession struggle of sorts has begun in Iran. Rafsanjani, 74, is challenging Khamenei, 70. So is Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president who called Sunday for a referendum on the legitimacy of the election. They are saying Iran is a great and proud…
The tyranny of the web cloud
Jonathan Zittrain writes in the New York Times about the web’s future: Earlier this month Google announced a new operating system called Chrome. It’s meant to transform personal computers and handheld devices into single-purpose windows to the Web. This is part of a larger trend: Chrome moves us further away from running code and storing…
The targeting of Israeli support
Controversy strikes the heart at one of Australia’s leading film festivals: Director Ken Loach has pulled out of the Melbourne International Film festival in protest against Israeli funding. British-based Loach pulled his film Looking For Eric after organisers refused to bow to his demands they reject Israeli government sponsorship. The festival’s executive director Richard Moore…
How afraid are they, really?
The Islamic Republic blocks the whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks. The ugly face of a repressive and paranoid regime.
Being out and proud in the Arab world
The issue of homosexuality in the Arab world is a touchy one, often ignored, shunned or ridiculed. There is progress, but it’s slow and painful: The first gay book to have been ever translated into Arabic after being originally printed in English has run into problems straight off the press.… The book,… Gay Travels in the Muslim…
Nokia should be far more careful
We reported some time ago on the complicity of Nokia in the recent Iranian crackdown. Western multinationals have become pretty good at working with authoritarian regimes (witness Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft in China.) But now a backlash: The mobile phone company Nokia is being hit by a growing economic boycott in Iran as consumers sympathetic…
Film of a true freedom fighter
The rise of a new super-power brings its own challenges, not least trying to dictate what Australians should watch: The Chinese Government has demanded that the Melbourne International Film Festival dump a documentary about an exiled minority leader whom they label a terrorist and blame for instigating this month’s ethnic riots in Xinjiang, which left…
The children don’t need big brother
I’ve written before about Australia’s plans to censor the internet. The country’s communication minister, Stephen Conroy – whom I met some months ago in Sydney and seemed sweet and reasonable as pie but clearly didn’t truly understand the nature of effective public relations or free speech – has been justly awarded an internet villain award.…