Yet another taste of US-backed “democracy” in the West Bank. Armed, funded and backed by Washington and the international community. This is not a just Palestinian future: A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars…
Showing all posts tagged blogging
Hope, Votes and Bullets; documenting Iranian resistance
A wonderful new book has recently been released, Hope, Votes and Bullets (here’s an internet preview of the striking pages). It documents, through wonderful imagery, graphics and text, the millions of Iranians who took to the streets in 2009 during a period of intense political upheaval. The internet was integral to spreading the word. There…
Online dissent is being crushed (and we don’t feel fine)
My 2008 book, The Blogging Revolution, documented the rise of web censorship across the world and those fighting against it. Tragically, the problem is only getting worse in Asia and rest assured many Western web multinationals are involved: Governments across south-east Asia are following China‘s authoritarian censorship of the digital world to keep political dissent…
Hungry for a kinder regime
My following book review appeared in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald: THREE FAMINES Tom Keneally Knopf, 324pp, $49.95 History is littered with catastrophic examples of government-induced disasters. A new book by the University of Hong Kong’s Frank Dikotter, Mao’s Great Famine, claims that 45 million people were killed between 1958 and 1962. Mao achieved this by…
How to receive a White House pat on the head
Here’s a lesson for progressive and Leftist writers and bloggers. If you want White House approval (God knows why you would, if independence is valued) then don’t be too critical, praise the wonders of Barack Obama and bask in the glow: The vice president told Democrats to “stop whining.” The president told them to “buck…
Countless Iranian names whose lives are changed forever
A moving tribute to “Iran’s interrupted lives”, the countless young Iranians imprisoned, beaten, tortured and killed in the name of a perverse Islam.
Hoder sees the darkest side of Ahmadinejad’s brutality
The outrage of imprisoning Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan for 19.5 years, the longest sentence ever given for anybody in his position. A profoundly insecure and undemocratic regime has shamed itself before the world.
Hearing the calls from Hoder deep inside Iran
Years ago, in Budapest, I briefly spent time with Iranian blogger Hoder, currently held in Iran and facing the death penalty. It’s a tragic case and highlights the immorality of large sections of the Islamic Republic elite. I was sent the following information via Facebook yesterday and it adds some details to a story that…
“Relationships with Palestinians make present the terrible things done in our name”
While most Israeli Jews are sleep-walking through their lives, mostly oblivious to Palestinians and the occupation, there are notable exceptions. The invaluable Israeli blog Promised Land gives the story. If only there were more Israelis like this: Poet Klil Zisapel was one of twelve Israeli women that took a group of Palestinian women and children…
US-led “peace talks” going the way Israel hopes (ie. nowhere)
My following article appears today on ABC Unleashed: The resumption of self-described peace talks between Israel, Washington and the Palestinian Authority produced headlines across the world last week. The public was told that each side was pessimistic about the prospects of finally sealing a deal after decades of stop-start negotiations. The stated goal was a…