There is much discussion of the crucial role that the Internet is having - through the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well - in spreading the news and in the clot the resentment of the people who are giving birth to revolutions and upheavals that are shaking the North Africa and the Middle East. On the one hand there are those who consider the contribution of the network limited to an outlet perfectly capable of giving body to the voices "against", but that still fails to aggregate consensus around the proposed construction (such as post-and post-Mubarak Ben Ali WOULD BE showing), on the other there are those who points out how the internet and social media in particular, have the undeniable merit of having brought about an public policy dialogue, unthinkable a few years ago in countries ruled by illiberal regimes. Then there are those who highlight the valuable role who are having channels of rapid diffusion of information and images as twitter and youtube in the world to know what is happening in this more complex scenario that has been created in Libya.
However it is clear that to have a clear idea and a measure of how much of the "merit" of the upheaval Maghreb is ascribed to the spread of the Internet at those young people need to wait a long time, in order to have a clearer picture of the scenarios in which these political and social protest movements have brought.
Whatever the revolutions of jasmine will remain historically linked to some stories born on the web, such as that of the thirty Amamou Slim, one of the most popular online activists in Tunisia, in January passed quickly from the bench in a cell Minister's chair for youth policy, or that of his contemporary Wael Ghoneim, online activity (but also manager of Google Middle East) that opening up the facebook page We are all Khaled Said - in memory of a 28 year old died after being brutally beaten by Egyptian police last June 6 in unclear circumstances - and always with coordinating the organization of the social network Some of the demonstrations that marked the Egyptian Revolution, is soon promoted to a leading role in the dissemination via the Internet of resentment of the Egyptian people against the regime. So after the event which was held in Cairo on January 25 not been heard of him : reappeared only after twelve days, which said to have spent blindfolded in an isolation cell. The February 8 made his grand entrance in a square packed Tahir half a million people, but if it has become one of the faces of the Egyptian revolution is mainly due to moving released live television interview a few days after his release, and ends with tears for the many dead comrades in the fighting of those frantic days. It is believed that these frames were among the broadsides decisive that sank the already shaky regime of Mubarak. However, on February 18 to Wael was not allowed to go on stage set in Tahrir Square for the celebrations for the fall of Mubarak: away to maintain order prepared by the Islamic theologian Al-Youssef Qardaoui. And probably, unfortunately, this last episode happened to Wael is significant for what happens in Egypt.
(moving the last seconds of the historic interview with Wael Ghoneim)
For the domino effect they are having riots in the Maghreb There are many others around the world telling us stories of courage and civic activist network, often in the name of democracy and human and civil rights claims end up annoying the power to the point of paying the consequences. Physical consequences. Offline consequences. The site
threatened.globalvoicesonline.org closely monitors the situation of bloggers threatened or arrested (or worse) all over the world: its database currently has 272 names . The (recent) history of some of these brave bloggers can help to understand that pulls air for the freedom of the web and people in those countries.
Asma Al Ghoul is a Palestinian journalist for 28 years who lives in Gaza City. On his blog pursues his battle not just against Israel but rather against the evils of the internal reality Palestinian corruption that is rampant in government and Fatah, the Islamic radicalism of Hamas hiding behind the excuse anti-Israeli culture and fundamentalist religious taboos that degrade women. And all at a price of constant death threats that plague. Obviously it is deployed in support of Egyptian bloggers and the rebels, for which together with other on January 31 took to the streets. That has earned him serious problems with the Palestinian police (Mubarak had not yet fallen, so it could be considered improper expressions in Palestine against the great and near) was kept in barracks for seven hours, season's beatings, since between Asthma is the other things since 2006 has decided not to bring more hijab (Islamic veil).
Luckily Asthma in Gaza is not only and coagulating around her is a young generation of activists online , who knows that eventually fails to make the Palestinian people regain the strength and unity 'intent that the clamp and the Israeli internal feud between Fatah and Hamas have slowly dried up.
In the West Bank in early November 2010, a 26 year old student who signed himself as Waleed Al-Husseini was arrested in an internet cafe by Palestinian security forces after at least three months of investigation: is accused of spreading atheism and insulting not only Islam but all three monotheistic religions. His blog (Proud-To: Proud to be Atheist ) is still online , and wrote the last post is summed up the sum total of beliefs that led him to abandon the Muslim religion in the name of a healthier, humane and rational atheism. Unfortunately for those content Waleed praising a freer life, normal and happy without religion (at least according to him) - also expressed content with some creativity, as with a paraphrase of some verses of the Koran, or a sequence of vignettes on the facebook page -evidently have had too much resonance. For his release was launched a campaign on facebook and online petition.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad is currently regarded as one of the countries enemies of the Internet: the Syrian authorities imposed the blockade on hundreds of sites, and only a few weeks ago have unlocked the ' access to sites such as Facebook, YouTube and even Wikipedia. Above all, unfortunately, there is talk of continuing arrests of hundreds of bloggers and activists of the network. Among these activists persecuted there is also a high school nineteen Tal al-Mallouh , in which blog seemed content to the development of democracy in his country and for the Palestinian cause. E 'was arrested in December 2009, and the parents did not know anything about her until last September, when it was learned that because of what he wrote on his site (especially because it seems an open letter to U.S. President Obama ) had been indicted for " intelligence with the United States", ie pro-American espionage. To this indictment in mid-February Tal was sentenced to five years in prison. Even if a story like that in Italy did not find much space the first arrest and conviction of the high school hours have given rise to protests in half the world ( here site in its support), the indignant demands immediate release of the Syrian government by organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Sans Frontiers, as well as the recent official protest from the Department of State.
If Syria bloggers are doing this lily in Iran even joking: after instances of Shiva Nazar Ahari sentenced to 64 lashes and six years in prison, Hossein Derakhshan sentenced to 19 ½ years in prison for "anti-Islamic propaganda, blasphemy and conspiracy with governments hostile, "and after the death in custody of journalist and blogger Omid Reza Mir Sayaf occurred back in March 18, 2009, now at the heart of cyber-activism is the case of Iran Hossein Ronago , blogger and activist human rights, who was arrested in November 2009, and for over a year in solitary confinement wing of security Evin prison, where he is serving a long sentence of 15 years. Now it seems that Hossein is ill, and has severe kidney problems, and there are fears for his life since the very harsh treatment in prison that is reserved. In its support has been a campaign through a site (in Arabic) and a facebook page .
(Hossein Ronago)
A few weeks before the early release of blogger Azerbaijani Emin Milli Hajizade and Adnan, who had been mobilized for various international organizations and for whose liberation had publicly appealed to the authorities in Baku and the President of the United States Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, the Azerbaijan continues to be a very dangerous place for activists online. Last month, in the middle of riots in Tunisia and Egypt, Savalan Jabbar, a young member (20 years) of the Popular Front Azerbaijan (Apfp) was arrested and sentenced to two months in jail awaiting trial for charges of drug that humanitarian organizations consider specious, since the real reason why Jabbar faces up to three years in prison would be to you posted on Facebook an appeal to hold the "day of anger" in Azerbaijan, along the lines of the protests in North Africa and the Middle East. A few days later another boy dell'Apfp, Elcin Hasanov was summoned by the police, who ordered him to remove a message that he posted on his Facebook page attracted and with whom young people mobilized against Azerbaijanis arrest of Jabbar. Elcin message that is not able to remove. But in his country continues to be dangerous not only to have a blog and write freely, but only update their status on Facebook.
(Jabbar Savalan)
Yoani Sanchez opened in 2007 Generacion Y, the independent blog Cuban most famous and influential, and that gave great fame: because it has won several journalism awards Europeans and Americans, but never withdrew as the government to prevent it from leaving the country, and his articles and posts are translated into 18 languages, and the Time in 2008, has included among the 100 most influential people in the world. For content
strongly critical of the government of Raul Castro access Generacion Y is often subjected to the blocking of the complaint, and Sanchez was often persecuted by official Cuban media repression. In November 2009, during a demonstration against the violence, along with other activists of the network is arrested and beaten by "emissaries" of the Cuban authorities. However it must be said that unlike the other bloggers mentioned in this post, the Cuban journalist enjoys the attention of media around the world, which is not little.
few days ago, Sanchez has warned about a bill that is working very repressive government in Havana and through strict regulations intended to limit access to the internet and the free information it provides. In this regard Yoani Sanchez wonders whether it is high time that the UN should strive to define free access to the Internet as a fundamental human right (possibility, however, was also theorized to be the interesting a previous post).
the wake of riots in the south of the Mediterranean, have taken force many Chinese cyber-activists, so that on February 19 from Beijing President China's Hu Jintao felt the need to reiterate the need to monitor more closely the Internet and guide public opinion. What a coincidence the day after they were blocked all sites that brought about a revolution of jasmine in China, and China on Twitter, search engines, and personal pages on social networks has been banned the very word "jasmine ".
Just take a ride on the site of ' Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy Hong Kong to have an adequate idea of \u200b\u200bthe number of bloggers and activists who were arrested by police for incititato to emulate the Chinese people Arabs who have turned against their own regimes. But this certainly does not mean that China is approaching the time for a popular uprising that spodesterà the Beijing regime, far from it. The great mountain of bloggers and online appeals to China in the real world has given birth to only small mice i have convened meetings attended by a few militants and were rather disappointing , as can be seen through boxun.com - a online community journalism that is one of the most important alternative sources of news in China - which has managed to filter through the censor a video that demonstrates the small event that was held last February 20 in Beijing.
Finally a case beyond a bit 'by others mentioned here, but it deserves a mention because it makes the idea of \u200b\u200bthe type (and size) of the problems of free spirits network for a long time will have to face around the world, especially in certain countries.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn (Jiew for friends) is a Thai webmaster: several months ago on the forum of the portal that she manages and co-founded, prachatai.com (prachatai: free people), have appeared in a dozen comments against the Thai royal family. Despite Jiew it was prudent and he promptly removed the comments, She also came very quickly by local authorities strict orders to remove them, which was followed by the arrest in December 2010. Jiew hours faces up to 50 years in prison , given the extreme severity of the laws that punish the crimes of treason in this country. If it is a fact that most of the Thai media is owned by the military or the State, and then it is a fact that Thailand is a country where press freedom can not be said to be guaranteed - the case Premchaiporn is closely followed by the blogosphere (in defense of the girl you created the blog FreeJiew ) because it is a borderline case because the defendant is not persecuted for something that was written by her, but even for something written by others but for which you are held responsible.
An extreme case but it does not fall outside the core issue of freedom of expression must be guaranteed to anyone who expresses (or can express) online. The list of threatened.globalvoicesonline.com also reported cases in Europe, so it is clear that, given the nature of the web, the arrest or the issuance of a blogger anywhere in the world represents a victory or a defeat not only for the blogosphere, not only for the internet, but for all people who care about the human and civil rights of all men.
on the skin of Jiew and many other bloggers so brave to play a game that concerns us all. Let us remember them.
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