Right 2 Know

The campaign to prevent the South African government from trampling on our basic freedoms through the imposition of odious legislation, is gaining momentum.

Make your opposition to the Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal, known. Join the Right 2 Know campaign here.

These are just some of the individual signatories:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, Prof Kader Asmal, Zakes Mda, Prof. Max Price, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Zackie Achmat, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mary Burton, Mazibuko K Jara, Prof Hoosen Coovadia, Max Du Preez, Andre Brink, Pippa Green, Breyten Breytenbach, Cathi Albertyn, Rhoda Khadalie and Andrew Feinstein

For more international and local Organizations who have added their voice to Right 2 Know, click here. Add your signature not because they have; add it because it’s the right thing to do.

Religious and Political Tyranny Against Press Freedom

I wonder how many people realized that today, 03 May 2010 was World Press Freedom Day. I remember catching a glance at an article about it in an online journal, over the weekend, but did not bother to investigate, until tonight.

The article that caught my attention referred to an organization which champions press freedom, known as Reporters Without Borders; an organization I had not heard of before. As an ardent advocate of free speech and freedom of the press, I consider myself suitably chastised for my ignorance.

Today they released a list of 40 predators of the press; people and organizations that routinely stifle press freedom by means of censorship, harassment, imprisonment, and even kidnapping, torture and murder of journalists. The most startling feature of this list is that it is made up almost entirely of political and religious leaders. More disturbing however is that one religion in particular features very strongly; in fact almost exclusively.

There are also some interesting demographics, with the Middle East (near and far) having by far the most number of freedom-hating dirt-bags on the list, followed closely behind by Africa. Then comes the Far East and China, Central America, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Here is the full list, filtered from the Reporters Sans Frontieres website in no order of significance:

Middle Eastern (including former Soviet Union)

1. Afghanistan – Mullah Mohammad Omar
2. Saudi Arabia – Abdallah ibn Al-Saud
3. Azerbaijan – Ilham Aliev
4. Iran – Ali Khamenei
5. Iran – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
6. Israel – Israel Defence Forces
7. Kazakhstan – Nursultan Nazarbayev
8. Uzbekistan – Islam Karimov
9. Palestinian territories – Armed wing of Hamas
10. Palestinian territories – The Palestinian Authority’s security forces
11. Turkmenistan – Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov
12. Yemen – Ali Abdallah Saleh
13. Syria – Bashar Al-Assad

Africa

1. Swaziland – King Mswati III
2. Zimbabwe – Robert Mugabe
3. Rwanda – Paul Kagame
4. Equatorial Guinea – Teodoro Obiang Nguema
5. Nigeria – Ogbonna Onovo
6. Gambia – Yahya Jammeh
7. Somalia – Al-Shabaab and Hizb-Al-Islam
8. Eritrea – Issaias Afeworki
9. Libya – Muammar Gaddafi
10. Tunisia – Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali

Far East, China and Sub Continent

1. Burma – Than Shwe
2. China – Hu Jintao
3. North Korea – Kim Jong-il
4. Laos – Choummaly Sayasone
5. Nepal – Nepalese armed groups
6. Philippines – Private militias
7. Sri Lanka – Gotabhaya Rajapakse
8. Vietnam – Nong Duc Manh

Central America, Mexico and Caribbean

1. Colombia – FARC
2. Colombia – “Black Eagles”
3. Cuba – Raúl Castro
4. Mexico – Sinaloa, Gulf and Juárez cartels

Europe

1. Belarus – Alexander Lukashenko
2. Spain – ETA
3. Italy – Organized crime
4. Russia – Ramzan Kadyrov
5. Russia – Vladimir Putin

So, there you have a collection of truly despicable human beings and organizations. The Reporters Sans Frontieres website has a write-up on each of these stains on humanity, and I advise reading about each one of them.

On a slightly less depressing note, South Africa has tried valiantly to produce a press-fiend in the shape of Julius Malema, but I think he does have some way to go to match this infamous list. He’s more a source of comedy than villainy.

Bloggers For a Free Press: In support of Sipho Hlongwane’s call

I almost missed the opportunity to join an increasing number of people in speaking out against attempts to muzzle the freedom of the press, by that government lap-dog organization known as the ANC Youth League. Luckily, a friend of mine pointed me to Chris Roper’s site where he supports the call of Sipho Hlongwane, for Bloggers to join in condemnation of any attempt to stifle media freedom in general, but especially the despicable tactics employed by the ANC Youth League.

Here are some extracts from Sipho’s call, but more here at chrisroper.co.za:

I’m sure you’re aware by now of the slander campaign launched by the ANC Youth League’s spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu against journalists they perceive to be against the Youth League. This campaign is especially directed against City Press journalist Dumisani Lubisi. You’ll remember that he was instrumental in exposing Julius Malema’s interests in various companies.

I’ve invited a number of South African bloggers to publish a message to the ANC and the Youth League on Wednesday, condemning the actions of Shivambu and calling on them to distance themselves from such practices. We also reminds the ANC of the vital role played by the press in the liberation struggle.

If you’re a South African blogger and are interested in joining, then drop me an email at sipho.hlongwane@gmail.com. Alternately, you can reach me on Twitter (@ComradeSipho). I’ll fill you in with further details and put you on the SpeakZA mailing list.

If you’re on Twitter, the hashtag is #SpeakZA. Let’s get the word out there.

Let’s put a stop to government and its cronies meddling with our freedoms.