Freedom of Speech Roundup

Freedom of Speech Roundup:
In the weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup, Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature. M

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China met last week barring many international news sites from accessing the congress and inciting many protests in reaction to China's policy on Tibet. Photo: Remko Tanis

The Communist Party Returns Beijing to Pre-Internet Age

The New Yorker. To ensure that the 18th Party Congress went smoothly this week multiple international news sites were blocked, and local newspapers were “forbidden from reporting on, commenting on or publishing Hu Deping‘s online article ‘Reform Cannot be Wasted.’” Read here.

Tibetan Self-Immolations Continue in China

Al Jazeera There have been 12 Tibetan self-immolations in the last 10 days, coinciding with the 18th meeting of the Communist Party Congress in China. Read here

Mexico: Risking Life for Truth

New York Review of Books. “It overwhelmed us. We’d come in from a scene where the victims’ mothers were crying, the families were crying, and then we had to sit down and write. Or it would be three in the morning and I’d find myself comforting a reporter who was weeping…” –Rocío Gallegos, news editor of El Diario. Read here.

U.S. Sanctions Iran Over Internet, Media Censorship

The News. In a move designed to prevent the Iranian government from establishing a national internet Washington unveiled sanctions last Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry. Read here.

Azerbaijan: How to Measure Free Speech on the Internet?

Eurasia.net. Some internet users in Azerbaijan hope that the United Nation’s Internet Governance Forum, which was held in the capital November 7-9, will bring attention to the “serious problem [of] content regulation and [governmental] monitoring of email correspondence, social-network content and websites.” Read here.

The Fight to Publish

A lJazeera This mini-documentary follows the struggle of Kazakh journalist Zhanara and the opposition newspaper she reports for: Respublika. Respublika is one of only a few dissenting voices in Kazakhstan, mainly because many of those who do dissent fall victim to violent government oppression. See the documentary and read articles by the filmmaker, Simon Ostrovsky, and Zhanara here.


Video: Al Jazeera Witness.

Amiri Baraka: Walk On To The Freedom Land

Blues.Gr “The two things people just really need are education and employment based on that education.” An interview with poet/ activist Amiri Baraka discusses his involvement as a poet and civil rights activist over the last half century. Read here.

Israel and Twitter: Where does free speech end and violence begin?

GIGAOM An exploration of the Israeli government’s presence on social media like Twitter, Facebook, and youtube, during the recent violence in Gaza with Hamas, and the role these information networks play in moderating the posted information during times of war. Read here.

Google report reveals sharp increase in government requests for users’ data

The Guardian A recently published transparency report published by Google indicates that government surveillance has increased dramatically over the last 6 months. The United States alone has made 7,969 requests for user data between the months of January and June of 2012. Read here.

‘Crushing Eastern Europe’ Behind the ‘Iron Curtain’

NPR An interview with Anne Applebaum about her new book The Iron Curtain. She discusses how the Soviet Union worked to control the Eastern Bloc and the way those countries worked to undermine the Soviet Oppression. Interview here.