“Call to Bloggers”-a call for you & me
Good lord! Now Amnesty International is taking the stands for bloggers. I think it’s about time, so many places bloggers are getting arrested, jailed, and harassed in the name of law/national security/religion.
Iranian blogger Mr. Sanjari was arrested in early October following his blogging about conflicts between the Iranian police and the supporters of Shia cleric Ayatollah Boroujerdi. One British blogger who resides in got deported from France for his blog on France’s new Armenian law. China sued Google for delivering regulated content in their search engine. More and more in every corner of globe many governments and organizations were using technology to suppress the free flow of information among their citizens. Sites and blogs have been shut down and firewalls built to prevent access to information. Even in country like USA students are condemn for their blogs even worse, by school governing body.
Bloggers are being asked to show their support for freedom of expression by Amnesty International. The human rights group also wants web log writers to highlight the troubles of fellow bloggers jailed for what they wrote in their online journals. The organization said fundamental rights such as free speech faced graver threats than ever before. The campaign coincides with the start of a week-long UN-organized conference that will debate the future of the net.
“Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege - but it’s a right that needs defending,” said Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International. “We’re asking bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with web users in countries where they can face jail just for criticizing the government.” Amnesty wanted bloggers to publicize cases such as this, said Mr. Ballinger, and to declare their backing for the right to free speech online.
The human rights group is also taking its campaign to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) - a group set up by the UN to act as a debating body for national net policies. The first big meeting of the IGF takes place in Athens from 30 October to 2 November. In May 2006, Amnesty International started a campaign that aimed to expose the ways that governments use the net to quash dissent. Co-ordinate via the Irrepressible.info website, the campaign asks websites to use an icon displaying text from censored sites.
Pledges gathered from those backing this campaign will be presented at the IGF. Stand for your voice, this is a call for you & me to make our voice live.
[Source]: Amnesty International
Amnesty International, pledge, blog, blogger, call to blogger, freedom of speech, humanity
October 29th, 2006 at 1:10 am
I had no idea bloggers were getting such flack everywhere! How interesting. Bad, but interesting. I’m glad I checked out your blog.
October 29th, 2006 at 1:13 am
Yes i think it’s time for us to know what’s happening to our fellow bloggers.
Thanks for dropping by.