Sadly, many of the countries below that repress bloggers are the same nations I feature in my book, The Blogging Revolution: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just released a list of the ten worst countries in which to blog. Topping the list is Burma, followed closely by Iran, Syria, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam,…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
The right to offend, strip and shout
The issue of internet censorship is one that has long fascinated me. It’s a subject, though, that defies easy definition. People in different countries view the question of governmental censorship very differently. It’s a relief, therefore, to read the results of this new global study that finds almost universal support for an open and free…
Keep praising those brave IDF boys
Here’s the deal. Zionist Labor MP Michael Danby – an elected politician who seems to love Israel like a beautiful woman and challenge anybody who dares damn Zionist ideology – has complained about an ABC TV program that raised the recent Gaza war. War crimes were committed, but Danby and his media mates won’t tolerate…
The Brotherhood is silenced, again
The issue of Egypt’s repression of dissenters and Muslim Brotherhood bloggers gets little coverage in the West. Is this because Egypt is a “moderate and pro-Western” dictatorship? Perhaps. I was interviewed last week by the US radio show, The World, about the detention of blogger Abdel Rahman Fares: [display_podcast]
Don’t regard Iran as the saviour of anyone
The case of journalist Roxana Saberi is shocking: US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, who faces an eight-year jail sentence on charges of espionage, will continue her hunger strike until she is released, her father told AFP on Sunday. “We just had a 15-minute talk with her, and she has lost nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kilos). She…
When the military is king
Civil disobedience is central to any democratic society, though it’s not unusual for authorities to crack down hard on non-violent protests for daring to challenge the rule of the state. For example: Six suspects, one of them a 70-year old woman, were detained for questioning and released Sunday on suspicion that they preached in favor…
We can say what we want
Here’s yet another case of the Zionist lobby in the US causing trouble for an academic who dared criticise Israel: Toward the end of February 2009, University of California-Santa Barbara Sociology and Global Studies Professor William Robinson received notice from the Academic Senate’s Charges Committee that two of his students had filed charges against him.… …
What, bashing Arabs isn’t decent behaviour?
Michael Brull, a blogger with Independent Australian Jewish Voices, continues his increasingly public and necessary battles with Zionist apologists. First up, former head of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, David Knoll, who has a piece in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, showing his supposed concern about racism. Except, as Brull notes: Look Mr Knoll. You…
How much do you know about your mobile phone?
Western complicity in Iranian repression is something I examined in my book, The Blogging Revolution. It’s getting worse: Telecom giant Nokia has spiffy slogan: “Connecting People.” But a new report reveals that Nokia may be helping connect the wrong people: Iranian security agents and grassroots dissidents. It seems Nokia has helped Iran install electronic surveillance…
Denying reality is what they’re good at
The following letters appear in this week’s Australian Jewish News: Jeff Halper in The Sydney Morning Herald (10/04) wrote, “Diaspora Jews need to revalidate Diaspora Jewish culture (that Zionism dismissed as superficial and ephemeral) and find genuine, compelling reasons why their children should remain Jewish. Blindly supporting Israel’s extreme right-wing and militaristic policies is not…