Dissent

Christopher Lydon | Radio Open Source ” Learning from Paris The story of the massacre at Charlie Hebdo has gone everywhere in the past week: into meditations on free speech and blasphemy, into declarations of cultural and actual war, and high-wire geopolitics. It’s a fresh attack, meaning high emotion and demands for ‘moral clarity‘ — […]

Culture

Civilization’s Advance has depended on “Blasphemy” of Thinkers & Mystics

contributors

By Farhang Jahanpour The Wednesday edition of Charlie Hebdo (a week after the barbaric attack by two deranged terrorists on its premises) carried a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad, with a caption “Je Suis Charlie”, with a tear drop on his face announcing, “all is forgiven”. It is not clear who is forgiven and for what, […]

Dissent

Saudis torture jailed Liberal Blogger w/ 1000 lashes for… Blogging

contributors

Human Rights Watch | (Beirut) — More Lashes Pending for Creating Liberal Website, Insulting Religious Authorities King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia should overturn the lashing and prison term for a blogger imprisoned for his views and immediately grant him a pardon. Saudi authorities lashed Raif Badawi 50 times on January 9, 2015, in front of […]

art and photography

‘Cartoonists for Peace’ respond defiantly to Paris Terrorists

contributors

By A. D. McKenzie PARIS, Jan 8 2015 (IPS) – “They are cowards who react to satire by going for their Kalashnikovs.” That was how renowned French cartoonist Plantu described the killers of 10 media workers and two policemen in Paris Wednesday. Drawing for peace – a signature cartoon by Plantu One of the murdered […]

al-Qaeda

Sharpening Contradictions: Why al-Qaeda attacked Satirists in Paris

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The horrific murder of the editor, cartoonists and other staff of the irreverent satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, along with two policemen, by terrorists in Paris was in my view a strategic strike, aiming at polarizing the French and European public. The problem for a terrorist group like al-Qaeda is […]

Books

Fearing NSA, Writers in USA and Worldwide Avoiding controversy, keyword Searches

contributors

PEN America | “Global Chilling” PEN America writes: “Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers is a new report demonstrating the damaging impact of surveillance by the United States and other governments on free expression and creative freedom around the world. The report’s revelations, based on a survey of nearly 800 writers […]

Dissent

Online Freedom of Speech under Siege even in “Democracies”

contributors

By Jillian York | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right to freedom of expression is violated on a regular basis. While in 2014, issues such as terrorism and online harassment generated new discussions […]

censorship

NCIS Egypt-Style: 820 Civilians referred to Military Courts since October

contributors

Human Rights Watch | — (New York) – Egyptian authorities have referred hundreds of civilians to military courts based on an October 2014 decree by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. At least 820 civilians have been referred to military prosecutors in the past six weeks based on the unprecedented extension of military court authority, according to […]