In the holiday paradise Vietnam, social media are allowed only to provide and exchange personal information. Bloggers and cyberdissidents who dare to question the government's legitimacy or domestic policies are ruthlessly suppressed.
Political blogger Bui Thanh Hieu (1972) nevertheless uses the Internet to criticize politically hot topics, such as Vietnam's territorial claims within China as well as its handling of land disputes with the Catholic Church. In response to this, Hieu was arrested, his computers confiscated. The license for his Internet café in Hanoi was revoked. Hieu persisted however: his blog was being read by up to 15,000 visitors per day. Because of his commitment, he was arrested and detained on numerous occasions. At the invitation of the city of Weimar, Germany, he was finally able to leave the country. There he finished Speaking in Silence. In this short story he laments, with humour and irony, the behaviour of civil servants of the special judicial, administrative and technological strike force, who control online information.
A publication of the Eva Tas Foundation.
The Eva Tas Foundation encourages publication and promotion of texts that are, no matter where and no matter how, subject to censorship.
The Macedonian authorities use very heavy-handed methods to crush criticism and investigations into political corruption. Free expression is under increasing threat. More than half of Macedonia's citizens are scared to openly express their opinions. Journalists are pushed into self-censorship fearing that telephones and emails are monitored.
The case known as `Likvidacija', Macedonian for `Annihilation' gives a breathtaking example of power abuse as on May 2013 the investigating journalist Tomislav Kezharovski (1965) is arrested by special forces and sued for an article he wrote in 2008. Despite the absence of any evidence that he violated any law, Kezharovski was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. After spending five months in jail, in cramped and unsanitary conditions, and without access to medical treatment, he was released into house arrest pending the outcome of his appeal. As in January 2015 his sentence was reduced to two years, he was arrested again to serve the remaining five months. Widespread domestic and international protests, by hundreds of journalists and activists led to Kezharovski's release. This essay describes from experience about the lawlessness of the system and the unimaginable prison conditions in present Macedonia.
A publication of the Eva Tas Foundation.
The Eva Tas Foundation encourages publication and promotion of texts that are, no matter where and no matter how, subject to censorship.
Freedom of expression in Honduras has been kidnapped. Those who are afraid of the truth attempt to imprison it in the depths of the earth. Kidnapped seeks to expose the problems for freedom of expression in journalism and literature in Honduras, the forms of censorship that have been introduced to conceal the truth, but also the creativity of Hondurans who refuse to be defeated in the face of this oppressive system.
Kidnapped describes how the Honduran state, responsible for protecting this right, essential for democracy, has both in the past and present placed obstacles in the paths of those who decide to defy censorship, with harmful and even fatal consequences.
The Honduran journalist and human rights defender Dina Meza (1963) is active on the field of freedom of writing in different ways. She is currently President of PEN Honduras, part of PEN International, and director of the pasosdeanimalgrande.com digital newspaper which covers freedom of expression issues and the general human rights
situation in Honduras. Dina Meza received Amnesty International UK's Journalism
Under Threat Award in 2007 and the PEN International/Oxfam Novib Freedom of Expression award in 2014. Also in 2014, she was one of Reporters without Borders' 100 Information Heroes and a nominee for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.
A publication of the Eva Tas Foundation.
The Eva Tas Foundation encourages publication and promotion of texts that are, no matter where and no matter how, subject to censorship.
Hoe na de scheiding vorm te geven aan de verbintenis: op zoek naar een nieuw sociaal ideaal.
Bijna de helft van de huwelijken eindigt in een scheiding. Een groot deel van die gescheiden mensen sleept de resten van eerdere huwelijken en relaties met zich mee. Als er gezamenlijke kinderen zijn, blijft de band bestaan, gewenst of niet. Ook kinderloze ex-paren kunnen verbonden blijven, door familie, zaken, sociaal netwerk. De vraag dringt zich op: nu het (officiële en officieuze) huwelijk niet meer voor het leven is, hoe ontwikkelt het nahuwelijk als nieuwe relatievorm zich?
Journaliste Djoeke Veeninga gaat op zoek naar het nahuwelijk als sociaal ideaal. Ze raadpleegt deskundigen, beschrijft haar eigen ervaringen en maakt dubbelinterviews met ex-paren over de wijze waarop zij met elkaar om blijven gaan. Is een goed nahuwelijk mogelijk? Hoe goed is het voor de kinderen? En vooral, wat kunnen wij opsteken van de gelukkige exen?
Uit het Algemeen Nederlandse Woordenboek van het Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (INL): `Nahuwelijk: Gewenste of afgedwongen band die ex-partners na hun scheiding onderhouden, niet alleen vanwege de kinderen, maar ook vanwege zakelijke belangen, familiebetrekkingen of andere sociale relaties. De term kreeg bekendheid door het boek Het nahuwelijk (2008) van Djoeke Veeninga, die het woord optekende uit de mond van de Antilliaanse schrijver en dichter Boeli van Leeuwen (1922-2007).
The EU is in deep trouble. As the eurozone crisis keeps raging on, the European dream lies shattered on the ground. Euroscepticism and nationalism are on the rise, tens of millions are unemployed, Great Britain is heading for the exit door, while Russia flexes its muscles and the Middle East burns.
Is there any hopeful future for the European Union? Are we going to lose the race with the BRICS? Will Europeans ever truly engage with the EU institutes in Brussels?
Next Europe gives some compelling answers to the big questions of our time. `EU Watcher Joop Hazenberg, a young Dutch writer who has been based in Brussels since early 2013, takes the reader on a venture across the globe to gain insight into the position of Europe in the 21st century.
His findings are surprising. The old continent is stronger and richer than we are inclined to think. Though the EU is in a mess, so is the rest of the world. Many of the rising giants will stumble and may even fall before they can do Europe harm. But it is also true that we are no longer the coolest dudes on the planet and that new (and old) dangers threaten our security and well-being.
Based on extensive research and interviews with leading experts, Next Europe soothes the unease that looms over our future. Joop Hazenberg also formulates a bold and strong agenda for reform of the EU. If we want to survive the coming age of uncertainty and tectonic shifts, then the European Union needs a restart. Not only in Brussels, but also in the capillaries of our society.
By acting now, Europe could become, once again, a leading continent. Next Europe is the starting point for a better understanding of our world, whether you are a student, Commission bureaucrat, a voter for UKIP or a Chinese businessman.
