Leading American dissident historian Norman Finkelstein talks to Haaretz after being refused entry to Israel due to “suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon”: I did my best to provide absolutely candid and comprehensive answers to all the questions put to me. I am confident that I have nothing to hide. Apart from my political views,…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
Taking the low road to jail
Arresting a blogger in Singapore for calling somebody a “stupid Malay.” Welcome to the land of thought crimes.
Don’t let the women be heard
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repression and paranoia continues to worsen: Iranian authorities have blocked access to several websites and blogs of women’s rights advocates and journalists critical of the government, a press report said on Tuesday. The move follows a new directive sent out by a committee tasked with identifying illegal websites to Internet service providers, the…
“Do no evil”, indeed
Clearly not satisfied with assisting the Chinese regime with its internet repression, Google now provides information to Indian authorities: …a 22 year-old Indian IT worker has been charged under two sections of the Indian Penal Code for posting obscene content online, comments made about political leader Sonia Gandhi, and now faces up to five years…
Earthquakes, Twitter and compassion
My following article appears in the Amnesty International Australia’s Uncensor campaign about human rights in China: The horrific Chinese earthquake has focused the world’s attention on human suffering, but censorship issues were never far from the surface, writes Antony Loewenstein. The devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province last week shifted the global focus away from the…
China, 2008
Mr. X, Far Eastern Economic Review, May: Ultimately, to succeed in China, businesses must assume the goals of the Communist Party as their own. One of the first steps into the market for a major multinational is to hire a government-relations director who will interpret China’s policies and articulate the company’s fealty to those policies…
Don’t meet/speak/hang out with dissident Jews
The following article, headlined, “Uni students face heat over Loewenstein debate”, appears in this week’s Australian Jewish News: A decision by Jewish university students to invite outspoken Israel critic Antony Loewenstein held at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has angered some community members. Hillel director Gary Samowitz, 25, said he organised the April…
What comes next?
Is it really the job of a corporate to ban material on the internet? Qantas has defended the adequacy of its internet filters after a man accessed child pornography in its Melbourne Airport lounge. Mark Stephen Heers, 45, of St Leonards, NSW, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday to three counts of…
Being oneself in the Islamic Republic
Gay life in Iran. (The internet provides light in a dark world.)
Welcome to a dictatorial democracy
Blocking internet freedom of speech in Thailand (yet another friendly US ally in the Asia.)