Stories about Freedom of Speech from July, 2007
Kenya: Protesters arrested
Mzalendo reports the arrest of Kenyan activists who are opposing the proposed Kshs 1.4 billion bonus for MPs: “Finally, we URGE Mzalendo users to support the protest in your own small way by letting your MP know exactly how you feel about the proposed gratuity by leaving them a comment...
Estonia: Gay Pride Controversy
Itching for Eestimaa writes about “Estonian journalism godfather Priit Pullerits who recently questioned the need for [a gay pride] parade.”
Arabeyes: Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian Blogger Vanishes
Egyptian blogger Ahmed Saad Domah has vanished, according to the Blogger's Observatory, which has been set up to monitor the arrests and harassments bloggers and online writers in the Arab World face.
South Africa: Is blogosphere a decent place?
Anne writes about a very interesting case for bloggers and net activists, “The 39-year-old man suspected of posing as the male prostitute who blogged about having sex with prominent South Africans has appeared in a magistrate's court in Cape Town on charges of theft and crimen injuria*. The crimen injuria...
China: Released documents implicate Yahoo!
A Beijing State Security Bureau document has been released, writes Rebecca MacKinnon at RConversation, which shows Yahoo! was aware at the time the reason why Beijing authorities wanted access to the content of Chinese journalist Shi Tao's e-mail account, later sent to prison for ten years. And there's more.
Cuba: Opposing Ideas
Child of the Revolution blogs about the opposing views on Cuba held by Bebo Valdes, the Cuban-born jazz musician, and his pianist son, Chucho.
China: Citywide taxi strike
It seems the ten thousand taxi drivers in one Chinese city have all gone on strike, bloggers are making this much clear. Local media appears not to be reporting on the incident, so the reasons for the job action have yet to be made known.
Jamaica: Forrest and Freedom
“This is what I feel writing and self-publishing has given me the right that I was born with–permission to speak.” Forrest Gump helps Jamaican blogger Geoffrey Philp understand the meaning of freedom.
Cambodian Blogger on Blogging
GV's Cambodian author Tharum Bun interviews Borin Ly, an Internet enthusiast and an avid blogger. Borin talks about his blogging experience and his motivations for creating the blog. Cambodia has a very active blogging scene, with more and more young people going online. People who have just started blogging might find Borin's blogging tips handy.
China: WordPress plugin subverts keyword filters
Ryan McLaughlin, a very innovative blogger and long-term resident of China has just released Censortive, a WordPress plugin which converts words into images which fit seamlessly into your blog post, allowing it to subvert keyword filtering. Chinese character support is still being developed. Any suggestions?
Philippines: Anti-Terror Law takes effect
Five months after it was passed by Congress, the anti-terrorism law known as the Human Security Act took effect more than a week ago. The government describes the law as the centerpiece legislation that would deter terrorist activities in the country. However, the Opposition is worried that the law might be used to quell legitimate dissent.
Morocco: The Intellectual Capabilities of Sheep
With temperatures reaching 45 degrees and hardly any big news, what on earth are Moroccan bloggers talking about? Well, for one - sheep!
Kuwait: Shadowman Puzzle
“I understand why cleavage or nudity is usually covered with a black marker, but covering this man completely from head to toe I don’t understand…” writes Lebanese Mark, who lives in Kuwait.
Bahamas, Cuba: Embassy Downgrade?
Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com makes a call for the Bahamas to downgrade their embassy in Cuba.
Hong Kong: Mainstream Media VS Cyber bullying
Erynnyes from Those were the days commented on the recent cyber bullying case and pointed out that the blogger and editor Zhou Li had also made unfair comments on Mr. Nike, as she drew groundless correlation between the uploading of Japanese AV to the increase of youth sex crime. The...
China: Reporter Recieved Death Threat
Pang Jia-ming wrote in his blog that he had received some death threats through mobile text messages and e-mails. According to another blogger, Wang Kei qin, Pang is an investigative reporter from China Economic Times (zh). In order to show support to Pang, Wang reposted Pang's message.
Russia: Berezovsky and Britain
Sean's Russia Blog writes about Boris Berezovsky and the problems of Russia's relations with Great Britain.
D. R. of Congo: Miracle-peddlars, musical hippos and scary lightbulbs
Probably the most consistently interesting Congolese blog is kept by Cédric Kalonji [Fr], whose photographs and commentary bear humorous but often sorrowful witness to the struggles of ordinary life in Kinshasa, the country's heavily populated, run-down capital. Returning from a recent visit to Europe, Cédric found himself wondering whether the...
Malaysia: 70's India and Current Malaysia
South East Asia based Indian blogger Rana find parallels in Malaysia's crackdown on bloggers and Indira Gandhi's muzzling of Indian press in the 1970s.
Hong Kong: Sorry, you have no rights to know
The Television and entertainment licensing authory (TELA) has given out 17 advices in the book fair (one of them is the “Love Mythology”), citizen reporter, Ip Iam Chong from inmediahk.net, called up TELA and Trade and Economic Development Bureau to find out which were the 17 books. It takes him...
Hong Kong: Miss Zhou PK Mister Nike
ESWN has translated the background of the cyber bullying case of Miss Zhou by Mister Nike's fans. Nike is known as the God of Adult Videos.
