I gave the following speech at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008 in Budapest today: NGO’s and on-the ground activists: Defending the Voices How can NGOs seeking to advance freedom of expression most effectively work with on-the-ground free speech activists to combat censorship? As a journalist, author and blogger living in Sydney, Australia, the…
Showing all posts tagged Saudi Arabia
Killing “them”
Who is really assisting the killing of the world’s Third World population? Yes, the United Kingdom: A controversial deal with Saudi Arabia catapulted Britain to the top of the world arms export league last year, as UK firms won a record …£10bn in orders from overseas, official figures show. The figure amounts to a third…
The Left should oppose repression
I’ve spent most of my professional life skewering the unhinged tendencies of the Right (not least debunking its support for Israeli violence). Sadly, some on the Left are equally ideological and blind to their own propaganda. Western support for Cuba remains fairly strong on the Left, despite the vast evidence that Fidel Castro ran a…
How not to progress democracy
Washington is dedicated to… human rights, we’re constantly told (well, yes, as long as energy reserves and arms sales are sorted first). Exhibit one: A group of Democratic senators wants to make a massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia contingent on getting cheaper oil, reports AFP. “We are saying to the Saudis that, if you…
Iraq, the Kurds and where to from here
I was recently interviewed by Peshawa Muhammed of the Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper, the publication of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Iraqi Kurdistan (Noam Chomsky was also interviewed recently.) The article ran on May 4: Peshawa Muhammed: Five years on, how do you assess the current US policy in Iraq? Which option do you think…
In bed with Mugabe
My following article appears in today’s ABC Unleashed: The recent rigged election in Zimbabwe has highlighted the impotence of the international community. Bloggers and activists continue to emphasise the need for President Robert Mugabe to relinquish his hold on power, a position shared by Washington. But not unlike the Burmese uprising in 2007 that saw…
The Saudi godfather is back
Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan has been released from prison after more than four months away from family and friends. He is a friend and colleague (more on Fouad here.) The father of Saudi blogging is back, but I wonder how willing he will be to continue writing critically in his repressive regime.
Thanks for the oil
Welcome to Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East (thanks to a rare report on the country by Human Rights Watch): The authorities essentially treat adult women like legal minors who are not entitled to authority over their lives and well-being. Saudi women are similarly denied the legal right to make even…