The upcoming autumn issue of Index on Censorship magazine brings together articles from writers including Amartya Sen, Philip Pullman, Jonathan Dimbleby and Peter Kellner, and covers India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Honduras, Colombia, Afghanistan and Mali. Under discussion are development and free speech; ignored voices; digital media; reporters under fire in South America. Get the upcoming issue of Index on Censorship magazine, due to be published on 20 September, by subscribing here or downloading the iPad app.
A report from China is one of many which looks at groups of people around the world who are ignored, censored or supressed by their governments, and whose voices are not heard or are ignored:
As millions of people move from the countryside to Chinese cities they end up as “invisible members of society”. The article by Jemimah Steinfeld and Hannah Leung looks at the use of hukou, a household registration document, to control society, but also to keep rural migrants as second class citizens, who have little access to state benefits and education as well as poorly paid jobs. Most are afraid to criticise the system because of their status.
Hukou are registered to the place where they are born, restricting those rights if anyone choosing to move around the country. Shanghai, for instance, now has 10 million residents who have moved from the country, and cannot access the same services as official residents.
Also in the upcoming issue:
Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen writes on democracy, the media and free speech
Philip Pullman on copyright and why authors need to get paid
Reports on violent attacks against journalists in Honduras and Colombia
GLOBAL
How a handful of tech employees control the future of free speech online
Seeing the diversity of opinions online, it’s sometimes easy for the average user to forget that freedom of speech is not a universally held value. Not so for global tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google who are increasingly finding themselves setting the standards for online free speech, whether they like it or not. (Think Progress)
BAHRAIN
John Kerry pushes Bahrain on rights, reforms
US secretary of state John Kerry pushed Bahrain on Monday to step up reforms and boost human rights as he met his counterpart from the Gulf kingdom shaken by two years of Shiite-led protests. (Times of India)
CHINA
Opinion: In China, let a thousand blogs bloom
Will suppression or free speech win the battle in China and beyond? (Los Angeles Times)
EGYPT
Egypt’s challenge: Free to speak
Under the Mubarak regime, the state closely monitored all forms of political and religious expression in Egypt. Now all that has changed and millions are watching a proliferation of satellite TV channels. Shaimaa Khalil reports on the new voices in the second part of her series Egypt’s Challenge. (BBC)
HONDURAS
President of Honduras toughens restrictions on freedom of expression in proposed telecom law
The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, has presented the Congress with a proposal that toughens content regulations on the media, including regulation on schedules and punishments for broadcasting violent or obscene content, content that celebrates or defends crime, or content that goes against morals and good behavior, said La Prensa. (University of Texas: Journalism in Americas blog
KUWAIT
Activist in Kuwait jailed for royal insult as regimes take on Twitter ‘threat’
An opposition activist in Kuwait has been jailed for a year for insulting the country’s Emir on Twitter. The sentence was the third jail term handed down since the start of the year for online comments deemed offensive to the Royal Family. (The Times
UNITED KINGDOM
Scientists celebrate UK libel reform
New libel laws for England and Wales should help protect scientific debate, but campaigners worry that legal costs remain a threat. (The Scientist)
UNITED STATES
Mich. Arab festival being moved after religious tensions
After four years of increasing tensions between some Christian missionaries and local Muslims, the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn is being moved from a street that has open access to a public park that could restrict admission to paid attendees. (Detroit Free Press)
GLOBAL
How a handful of tech employees control the future of free speech online
Seeing the diversity of opinions online, it’s sometimes easy for the average user to forget that freedom of speech is not a universally held value. Not so for global tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google who are increasingly finding themselves setting the standards for online free speech, whether they like it or not. (Think Progress)
BAHRAIN
John Kerry pushes Bahrain on rights, reforms
US secretary of state John Kerry pushed Bahrain on Monday to step up reforms and boost human rights as he met his counterpart from the Gulf kingdom shaken by two years of Shiite-led protests. (Times of India)
CHINA
Opinion: In China, let a thousand blogs bloom
Will suppression or free speech win the battle in China and beyond? (Los Angeles Times)
EGYPT
Egypt’s challenge: Free to speak
Under the Mubarak regime, the state closely monitored all forms of political and religious expression in Egypt. Now all that has changed and millions are watching a proliferation of satellite TV channels. Shaimaa Khalil reports on the new voices in the second part of her series Egypt’s Challenge. (BBC)
HONDURAS
President of Honduras toughens restrictions on freedom of expression in proposed telecom law
The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, has presented the Congress with a proposal that toughens content regulations on the media, including regulation on schedules and punishments for broadcasting violent or obscene content, content that celebrates or defends crime, or content that goes against morals and good behavior, said La Prensa. (University of Texas: Journalism in Americas blog
KUWAIT
Activist in Kuwait jailed for royal insult as regimes take on Twitter ‘threat’
An opposition activist in Kuwait has been jailed for a year for insulting the country’s Emir on Twitter. The sentence was the third jail term handed down since the start of the year for online comments deemed offensive to the Royal Family. (The Times
UNITED KINGDOM
Scientists celebrate UK libel reform
New libel laws for England and Wales should help protect scientific debate, but campaigners worry that legal costs remain a threat. (The Scientist)
UNITED STATES
Mich. Arab festival being moved after religious tensions
After four years of increasing tensions between some Christian missionaries and local Muslims, the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn is being moved from a street that has open access to a public park that could restrict admission to paid attendees. (Detroit Free Press)
Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sánchez is having a hard time on her visit to Brazil, facing demonstrations by pro-Castro protesters.
One of the most prominent free-speech Cuban activists, Sánchez arrived in Brazil on Sunday (17 February) for a round of conferences and events in the northeastern state of Bahia and federal capital Brasília.
On Monday 18 February, Sánchez was at Feira de Santana (in Bahia) where she would attend a presentation of a documentary about the Cuban regime, but the violence ofthe protestors caused the event to be cancelled.
The demonstrators accused Sánchez’s blog Generación Y of spreading anti-Cuban propaganda. Some of the protesters went as far as denouncing her as a representative of imperialism and a CIA agent.
Senator Eduardo Suplicy from the ruling Workers’ Party had to intervene and ask for the protesters to ease down their attacks on the Cuban blogger. Security measures have been increased for Sánchez since then.
“I regret the situation got to this point, because I’m a person who uses words, I don’t use guns”, said Sánchez, who nevertheless praised the “freedom” and “plurality” she found in Brazil. In response to protests during her visit, the blogger also said that she was “happy to visit a country where people can speak their minds freely.”
Sánchez is on her first trip abroad after the Cuban government eased travel regulations for its citizens. Before that, she had being denied a travel permit for more than 20 times.
During her 80-day tour, the activist also plans to visit the Czech Republic, Spain, Mexico, United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Peru, amongst other countries.
