“Journalism today is not about recording the facts. It ought to be a battle against barbarity and obscurity”, said Greek investigative journalist and award winner Kostas Vaxevanis at this week’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards. Read the rest of his compelling speech here
A Bangladeshi blogger is in critical condition after being stabbed by three unknown attackers on 14 January in Dhaka, the country’s capital. Asif Mohiuddin, 29, is the author of a blog about atheism widely read in Bangladesh. His posts often satirise religion, with one post referring to god as “almighty only in name but impotent in reality.” Press reports have referred to Mohiuddin as a “militant blogger”, although there is no suggestion that his work incited violence. Shortly after the attack, the South Asian Meeting on Internet and Freedom of Expression was held in Dhaka, and participants called on the government to protect journalist’s human rights under the constitution of Bangladesh, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
– Blogger Asif Mohiuddin was stabbed on 14 January
A Nigerian newspaper editor was shot dead on 12 January. Ikechukwu Udendu was killed in the southeastern city of Onithsa by an unknown assailant, who then phoned the victim’s brother to instruct him to collect the dead body. The editor was on his way to supervise the printing of the mothly newspaper Anambra News when he was attacked. Arrests and attacks on the Nigerian media are frequent but rarely resolved. On 26 April 2012, the offices of daily newspapers in the cities of Abuja and Kaduna were bombed.
Last week saw widespread attacks on the media in Greece, after bombs were placed outside of the homes of five journalists on 11 January. Homemade devices were used to carry out arson attacks on Chris Konstas, Antonis Liaros, George Oikonomeas, Petros Karsiotis and Antonis Skyllakos, members of the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers. Anarchist group Lovers of Lawlessness said they committed the attacks in protest against the journalists for allegedly covering the government favourably since the financial crisis began in 2009.
An editor of investigative weekly Alaan Magazine has been charged with defamation in Morocco, after alleging that a government official had ordered champagne to his hotel room during a business trip. Youssef Jajili printed a hotel receipt under Minister of Manufacture and Trade Abdelkader Amara’s name, which charged him for the alcohol while he was away at the expense of taxpayers. Amara denied the claim, saying that someone had ordered the champagne while he was out of the room. Jajili will appear in court on 28 January, and faces one year imprisonment and if found guilty under section 52 of Morocco’s defamation laws. Even though alcohol is widely available in Morocco, it is forbidden to followers of Islam, who make up the majority of the country.
On 15 January, Facebook announced a new format to its search facilities: “graph search”. The new tool will allow users to search for specific content, people, or images on the site. Critics suggest that the move could undermine Facebook’s privacy policy and allow users less control over their personal information, but Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the graph search is “privacy aware,” since the new tool will only search content already shared with the user.
Greek Journalist Kostas Vaxevani after his arrest for exposing alleged tax cheats – Athens – Stathis Kalligeris | Demotix
Index on Censorship and other freedom of expression groups urge the European Union to defend free speech (more…)
It started with an arrest so farcical the facts seem to defy belief. In October, a 27-year-old man on the Greek island of Evia was arrested and charged with “blasphemy and insults against Elder Paisios and Orthodox Christianity” for setting up a satirical Facebook page lampooning a deceased monk held in high regard by pockets of the media and political parties.
The Hellenic police claim the arrest of was prompted by “thousands of complaints” though curiously it came shortly after Christos Pappas, an MP for the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, implored the government to stamp out the “blasphemous” page.
In a play on the Flying Spaghetti Monster meme and the traditional Greek dish pastitsio, the unnamed 27-year old renamed the monk Geron Pastitsios and created a Facebook page complete with made up miracles “Geron Pastitsios” was said to have performed.
When these miracles were repeated verbatim as the acts of Geron Paisios by right-wing politicians and media, the embarrassment was palpable. Embarrassing people might not be illegal, but blasphemy is still on the statute books in Greece.
Golden Dawn members | Demotix
The relationship between the church and the increasingly violent Golden Dawn hit the news again shortly afterwards outside the Athens premiere of Terence McNally’s play Corpus Christi. The Greek Holy Synod condemned the play — which depicts Jesus and the Apostles as gay men — as blasphemous.
At the opening, priests stood side by side with Golden Dawn members. One culture critic, Manolis V from Lifo magazine, claims he was attacked by several bystanders, including one he identified as Golden Dawn’s Ilias Panagiotaros. Throughout the attack, the police did nothing — nor did the watching priests and nuns intervene. Instead the Bishop of Piraeus, flanked by five Golden Dawn MPs, reported the play’s producers to the Hellenic police for “malicious blasphemy”.
In Corinth, a city which has been a hotbed of Golden Dawn activity, the party recently opened up new offices. To mark the opening, Greek Orthodox priests performed a blessing outside their headquarters. Not two months earlier, in August, Golden Dawn were involved in a violent standoff over a migrant centre in the city.
Some priests know from personal experience that your enemy’s enemy is not your friend. Golden Dawn may be socially conservative, but they are also notoriously violent. The Metropolitan Pavlos of Siatista, an important church figure, has came out against Golden Dawn, saying:
We all have to take a clear stand on the Golden Dawn issue … we have to preach the word of God, which has nothing to do with the acts committed by members of Golden Dawn.
The cleric has since reported that his comments have drawn death threats and menacing phone calls threatening to “burn the commie”.
In response, nine bishops across Greece have come out against Golden Dawn stating [translated]: “All men are our brothers”. It’s a small comfort, but at this stage, anything that stops the neo-Nazi party from gaining a foothold in each part of the Greek state is to be welcomed.
Dawn Foster works for the Guardian’s Comment is Free. She tweets at @DawnHFoster