Michael Hirsh, Newsweek, January 14: A day after George W. Bush gave his big democracy speech and declared the opening of “a great new era ”¦ founded on the equality of all people”—a line he delivered at the astonishingly opulent Emirates Palace hotel, where most of the $2,450-a-night suites are reserved for visiting royals—the president…
Showing all posts tagged internet
Futile censorship
Repressive regimes around the world are continually trying to block citizen’s access to the internet. But trust bloggers to fight back, designing proxies to allow anybody to freely access YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and many others.
Freedom one step at a time
The Independent editorial, January 14: It is hardly a secret that the authoritarian regime of Saudi Arabia detains political prisoners. But the first arrest of a blogger in the kingdom has drawn an unusual amount of international attention. The Saudi government has even attracted some criticism from its long-standing ally, the United States. Fouad al-Farhan,…
What’s that internet thing?
During the current Bush visit to the Middle East, the White House team is blogging. Yes, it’s as exciting and insightful as you’d imagine.
Silencing the small man
Despite the incessant attacks by the Bush administration towards Syria and its leader Assad, the country remains a dictatorship that can get away with this: His name is Tarek Baiasi and he’s 23 years old. He lives in Banyas with his mother and two sisters. His father was detained during the 70s by the Syrian…
Just try and stop it
The revolution continues to be blogged: It may be a far cry from the millions of blogs active in the West, but Morocco’s blogosphere has taken off as the liveliest free-speech zone in largely conservative Muslim North Africa. The Moroccan “Blogoma”, as it is called, is home to at least 30,000 sites. Inspired by bloggers…
Missing the real target
The mainstream media failed fundamentally in the run-up to the Iraq war (something I argued way back in early 2004.) Of course, if you believe, as I often do, that most corporate journalists simply see their job as endorsing establishment power, rather than challenging it, then the acquiscience before Bush administration lies over WMDs was…
Why we blog
The ongoing imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of blogger Fouad al-Farhan continues to generate international headlines. My memories of him from 2007 remain positive. We demand his immediate release. Fellow Saudi blogger Saudi Jeans recalls the reasons why Fouad returned to blogging last year after some months away from the keyboard: Why Do We Blog? 1.…
A blogger against a regime
Wael Abbas, one of Egypt’s leading bloggers and anti-torture campaigners, recently received the 2007 Knight International Award for Excellence in Journalism. It is a rare occasion indeed for a blogger to be awarded internationally for his bravery in the face of government repression: