freedom of speech

Time Magazine honours our Observer in Cuba

Julien — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:06:12 +0200

Blogger Yoani Sanchez, who's been commenting on Cuba for the Observers since its launch, has been selected by Time Magazine as one of "the world's most influential people". Fidel Castro, on the other hand, didn't quite make it. Read more...

Hailing Hitler on Capitol Hill

Julien — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:11:32 +0200

A group of around thirty neo-Nazis marched through Washington on Saturday to protest against illegal immigration. One man who took part in the rally tells us why he's proud to hail Hitler, while a free speech activist explains why he has the right to say something that, in a European country, could have him put behind bars.

Students openly criticise the Cuban government

Julien — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:45:21 +0100

Seeing Cuban students openly criticise the Castrist regime in front of Parliamentary President Ricardo Alarcón is not easy to imagine. But it's true. And the proof, in this video sent to the BBC by an anonymous source, has now become a huge online hit. Is the nearing end of Fidel Castro's reign bringing about improvements in freedom of speech, or is it a publicity stunt to better outside views of the authorities? Our Observer in Cuba, blogger Yoni Sanchez, gives us her opinion.

This video was filmed on Jan. 19 at the University of Information Technology (UCI). It was supposed to be broadcast only on the school's internal TV channel, but someone anonymously sent it to the BBC. In the auditorium, Ricardo Alarcón is questioned by 200 straight-talking students on domestic policy. They interrogate him on various issues: the double currency on the island (a separate peso for the Cubans and the foreigners); travel restrictions; prohibition for Cubans to stay in tourist hotels; internet controls; and the united vote. Basically, all the subjects that usually irritate the authorities. A few more sceptical observers said that the event was part of a government strategy to facilitate the post-Castro transition, because the questions asked covered topics identical to those of the ‘grand national debate' initiated by Raul Castro. The head of state asked the country to air their concerns before Feb. 24, the date that the Parliament will meet to confirm the removal of Castro from his post, and possibly elect a new president.

UPDATE (12.0207 / 17.00): One of the students, Eliecer Avila, was uncontactable for just over a day, leading to the belief that he has been arrested. He reappeared this Monday in an interview on Cuban television (see in post), where he denounced the way the foreign media ‘manipulated' his statement.

What better than to spy on the guards that spy on you

Julien — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:01:14 +0100

Hu Jia films his jailers passing the time with a game of cards

Last month we publicised the case of blogger Hu Jia, arrested at his home on 27 December for openly criticising the organisation of the Olympic Games. Here we publish an extract from the documentary ‘Prisoners in Freedom City', that he and his wife Jeng filmed in the year before his arrest. This is the direct testimony of a Chinese dissident under 24h supervision by secret police.

Blogger put in prison for criticising the Olympic Games

Julien — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:09:00 +0100

The famous blogger and defender of human rights Hu Jia was arrested on Dec. 27 for criticising the organisers of the Olympic Games. Specifically, he compared the Beijing Olympic Games to those organised by Nazi Germany in 1936. Hu Jia, 34, has been under house arrest since May last year. Accused of 'inciting subversion of state power',a criminal charge usually used against political dissidents, he risks more than ten years in prison. His wife Zeng Zinyan, also a blogger, is now unable to leave the house and is denied access to the telephone or internet. The couple have a baby of hardly more than one month old. Zhang, our regional editor for China, says that with eight months to go until the Olympics, the government is already tightening up on online comment.

Independent Moscow bookstore faces ‘pornography’ charges

Julien — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:40:23 +0100

Times are tough for Russian intellectuals. A Moscow bookstore is facing prosecution for the illegal distribution of pornography. If the case goes ahead, Boris Kupriyanov, the owner of Falanster, a popular bookstore-cum-gathering spot for the city's intellectuals, could face up to two years in jail. Falanster also faces closure.

The charges are based on the sale of several popular books, including Virginie Despentes' Baise Moi and Lydia Lunch's Paradoxia: A Predator's Journey, which have been confiscated and declared "pure pornography". But some of the confiscated books are openly stocked and sold in other Moscow bookstores as well as Russia's online site, ozon.ru.

While reiterating that Falanster is not a political organization, Kupriyanov notes that the number of independent intellectual enterprises in Moscow has been dwindling in recent times.

Ostap Karmodi, one of our observers for Russia, contacted the owner of the bookshop. Post your questions to him on his profile page.

The Lives of ‘Us’ – or how one story of snooping is the same as others

Julien — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:41:37 +0100

Material from Team Observers.

In a country where the media is completely state-owned, this young Cuban blogger is extremely brave. In this post, she talks about the release of the Academy Award-winning German film, ‘The Lives of Others'. Set in Communist East Germany in the mid-1980s, the film tells the story of a Stasi agent assigned to monitor an East-German playwright suspected of subversive intellectual pursuits. The film details the alarming efficiency of the East German snooping machinery, including bugs planted in apartments and around-the-clock monitoring of a suspect's private life.

But for Yoani, the film is not so much about ‘the lives of others' as it is the lives of people she knows - as well as her own - in Castro's Cuba.

Post your questions to Yoani Sánchez.

Demonstrators witness arrest of Russian opposition leader Kasparov

Julien — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:22:00 +0100

By Team Observers with reporting by observer Allena Ponomaryova

Shortly after his speech at a protest rally in Moscow on Saturday, Nov. 24, former chess champion and Russian opposition figure Garry Kasparov was arrested and detained for five days. The next day, the judge declined Kasparov’s appeal and pronounced him guilty of "organising an illegal march against President Putin" and "declining to comply with the policeman's repeated demands to stop". Witnesses at the rally share their videos, pictures and reactions with The Observers.

Post your questions to Allena Ponomaryova on her profile page.

Holocaust denier's Oxford talk sparks debate online

Julien — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:04:00 +0100

Material compiled by Team Observers

Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), was invited to speak at the venerable Oxford Union debating society on Monday, Nov. 26, sparking protests and heated debates across the country. Almost a thousand students turned up to demonstrate against the politician. A group of around 50 managed to break into the building where the debate was to take place and staged a sit-down protest for over an hour. Outside, the crowds chanted, "BNP – off the streets" and "Nazi scum - go home". Griffin was invited along with the controversial historian David Irving, who was imprisoned in Austria for denying the Holocaust. The event has fuelled debate in the UK, which has seen the popularity of the far-right rise since the 2005 London bombings. You can post questions about the issue to our observer David Berry, university lecturer in ethical issues surrounding free speech.

Pakistani students cover protests on campus

Julien — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:27:00 +0100

By Team Observers

Since the declaration of a state of emergency on 03 November, all the privately-owned news channels – Geo, Dawn and Ary – have been blocked by the Pakistani cable operators. But internet users have got together to circulate these prohibited programmes online.