Why is your favourite website not available? Is your blog visible overseas? Use Herdict Web at Herdict.org and you can help answer these questions. Herdict Web is an Internet service that detects signs of censorship or disruption. Read “Herdict—Using the Crowd to Fight Censorship” to learn more. Simply browse Herdict Web and view the reports for your web sites or countries of Interest. Run some of the tests yourself, and help build up a picture of the health of the Internet. You can view the global picture as a Google map, with status reports overlaid on the location of origin. That is a valuable service for this stormy season of Internet interruptions. Several countries are enforcing severe Internet censorship, and some websites have been disrupted by botnets. Be security concious when using your own PC, so that it does not become part of a malicious botnet. Botnets are a source of spam, and some are programmed to send invalid traffic. Due to the huge numbers of PCs in a botnet, this can swamp the targetted web site. Herdict is reviewed at toolness.com and futureoftheinternet.org. Herdict is provided by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The OpenNet Initiative (ONI), which tracks Internet censorship around the globe, is an international collaboration of the Berkman Center and other leading academic institutions.
According to various testimonies in June, 2009, the human rights situation in Cuba continues to deteriorate. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged European leaders to ensure that Cuba releases imprisoned journalists and permits freedom of expression and information. The journalists live in inhumane life-threatening conditions, and no international humanitarian organizations have been permitted to visit. Recent prisoners include Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, director of the news agency Habana Press. In “Alarming Statistics of Human Rights Violations in First Half of 2009“, democracy activists in Cuba report “over 500 political arrests, at least 26 trials and prison sentences of peaceful opposition activists and a high prison mortality rate”. The daughter of one prisoner, Yenysel Díaz Sánchez, pleas for his release from the Castro gulag. Former prisoner of conscience José Gabriel Ramón Castillo testified before the UN Human Rights Council, appealing for justice for the thousands of Cubans who have been repressed and tortured.
This blog post is based on recent online sources as indicated by the hyperlinks.
This blog Thinking Upstream, about ideas and human rights, is based on online news of some of the bloggers and journalists who remain unjustly imprisoned in several countries. As one blogger among many, I hope to draw attention to the people mentioned, urging that we each seek peaceful ways to secure their freedom. They have been hurt by authoritarianism and its cruel repression, and by those who execute that repression or gain from it. I have no experience of the countries mentioned, but am convinced of the accuracy of the news, by the variety of reputable publications, to which I refer in the hyper-links of my posts. I blog about human rights because: all freedoms and rights are fragile, and at risk of being lost, if we are even a little careless. Thinking Upstream is now a PDF file on Scribd.com for easy offline reading, even in places where Friendster is blocked. I used Google Translate to machine-translate it into various languages, also in PDF format on Scribd.com.Thinking Upstream is at: http://cmcallister.blog.friendster.com/. Your comments are welcome.
Journalist Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, one of 22 independent journalists imprisoned in Cuba, is on hunger strike, according to “Cuban journalist in second week of hunger strike.” María Salazar Ferro reports that Rolando went on hunger strike on 15th May 2009 to protest: lack of medical attention, bad sanitary conditions in his cell, cruel treatment, and the fact that he has not been allowed to practice religion. Rolando’s photo is from Imprisoned Journalists in Cuba, which reports that he has been imprisoned in Cuba since 18th March 2003, and is serving a 26 year sentence. Ironically, Cuba was home to Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), one of the world’s best known journalists, and the Hemingway Museum on Cuba is a popular tourist attraction. “Latin America’s Brave New World:Cuba gets a vote of confidence from the OAS” criticises the recent addition of Cuba to the OAS (Organization of American States). Inclusion of a repressive Marxist-Leninist state into the OAS stretches the meaning of the word “democracy”. Organisations which report on threats to journalists and press freedom include the RSF and The World Association of Newspapers, which organises a World Press Freedom Day initiative to draw attention to the role of independent news and information in society, and how it is under attack. In this 11 June 2009 post, “Intervencion en la 11° Sesion del Consejo de los Derechos Humanos“, José Gabriel Ramón Castillo appeals to the UN Human Rights Council for the hundreds of known political prisoners suffering in Cuba.
(This blog “Thinking Upstream” is based on various online news articles and photos that draw attention to some of the bloggers and journalists who remain unjustly imprisoned in several countries.)
Another independent journalist, Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet has been imprisoned in Cuba. “Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 5/17/09“, as reported in the blog Uncommon Sense. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for “disrespect,” one of the Orwellian catch-all “crimes” the dictatorship uses to try to silence and punish those who oppose it, according to this RSF article. The organisation English PEN, supporting writers around the world, protests his arrest, and reports that he was denied a fair trial and access to a lawyer.
Active blogger Yoani Sánchez (photo) expresses her joy about the expanding blogosphere in Havana, Cuba. In her blogpost “Arco iris en la blogósfera” (Rainbow in the blogosphere), she reports on the rapid growth of blogging since she started her blog Generation Y in April 2007. In addition to being an inspiration to new bloggers, she enjoys meeting them, and giving technical advice, such as: How to use Wordpress, and how to maintain a regular online presence, where Internet connections are hard to obtain.
In her blog post “Young Pro-Democracy Advocate Edgar Lopez Trapped in Cuba”, Yoani petitions for Edgar Lopez to be permitted to travel to join his family in the USA. Foreign travel is one of the many activities that are restricted in Cuba. The country is also tightening the net on bloggers: “Cuban bloggers, an endangered species? ”. Only official government websites are permitted to register on the “.cu” Cuban domain. Hotels are among the few places where it is possible to get Internet access in Cuba, but access cards are only provided to foreign tourists. Yoani is also under attack from an official state journalist who seems to be severely out of touch with how the Internet works.
The “Petition to help Edgar Lopez” explains that Edgar López has been denied a travel visa because he is a member of a political group that does not support Cuba’s communist party.
Yoani Sánchez is listed as Hero and Pioneer in the Time 2008 Top 100.
Martial arts star Jackie Chan appears to have delivered a verbal sting to freedom lovers everywhere. At an economic conference in China, he proclaimed “I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we are not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.” This English translation of his speech, has shocked many around the world. A CNReviews article “Jackie Chan Said ‘Chinese Need To Be Controlled’, Or Did He?” appeals for more finesse in translating his speech and castigates Westerners for making an instinctive defence of freedom. We were not present at the meeting, so we are limited to discussing the symbolic value of his speech. I compare Chan’s comments to the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog. As a successful actor in the U.S., Jackie Chan has travelled on the frog of freedom and democracy. His films are freely shown in democratic countries, but his latest film Shinjuku Incident has been banned in China. Like the scorpion who stings the frog that gave him a safe crossing, Jackie Chan seems to have attacked the principles of democracy and personal freedom. He specifically criticised Taiwan and Hong Kong where there have been long struggles for less authoritarian control. Perhaps he was not appealing for the Chinese people to be undemocratically “Controlled”, the world he used could have been translated as “Managed”. We wish that he had appealed only for “self control”, an admirable trait of martial artists like Jackie Chan. This verbal attack reawakened my appreciation of personal freedom, and reminds me to take responsibility for my own life.
Pham Thanh Nghien
As reported on their website,”The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN is alarmed by reports that imprisoned writers Nguyen Hoang Hai and Pham Thanh Nghien (f) are at risk of ill-treatment, in poor health, and denied full access to family visits.” The article names five other writers who are still detained. A website, Free Them Now, describes the crackdown on democracy activists in Vietnam, and includes Pham Thanh Nghien’s Open Letter, written before her arrest. Her picture (courtesy of ThanhNienLacViet) is from the website Radio Free Vietnam. The arrests are contrary to United Nations’ Article 19, to which Vietnam is a signatory.
Thai Internet User Suwicha Thakhor
A Bangkok court has harshly sentenced Suwicha Thakhor to ten years in jail for items that he posted on the Internet. This is reported in Ten years jail for “insulting” Thai king, in the Telegraph (UK) newspaper. The controversial Thai law, Lese-majeste (insulting the monarchy), has been used several times this year. Thousands of websites are blocked in Thailand and many more are monitored for critical comments. A restrictive Computer Crime Act makes citizens wary of using the Internet. Strict Internet monitoring enabled Suwicha Thakhor’s anonymous posting to be traced to his home computer. The details of his January 2009 arrest are described by Reporters Without Borders. The article “Thailand: Blogger’s Conviction Shocks Internet Freedom Activists” includes comments from Suwicha’s lawyer, indicating that he has been unfairly punished to set an example to other Internet users.
Reporters Without Borders said on 18 March 2009 that it was deeply shocked at the death in a Tehran prison of blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi and called for the immediate opening of an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy. Mirsayafi was arrested in 2008 for posts on his blog, which has been shut down by Iranian authorities. He told Reporters Without Borders, “I am a cultural and not a political blogger. Of all the articles I have posted online, only two or three were satirical. I did not mean to insult anyone.” The Guardian has a detailed article “Call to prosecute officials after Iranian blogger dies in prison.” Mirsayafi’s photo is from the report “Second Prisoner of Conscience to Die in the Past Two Weeks” at www.iranhumanrights.org.
