Bisrat Woldemichael Handiso (1983) is an Ethiopian journalist who worked as an editor for different local newspapers. He was one of the founders of the Ethiopian Journalists Forum (EJF), an independent association made up of largely young journalists who advocate for greater press freedom in his country. In this function he ran trainig workshops and discussions on press freedom, visited journalist in prison and hospital and facilitated medical assistance for them. EJF was accused of being an illegal organisation associated with terrorism. Woldemichael Handiso was persecuted by the Ethiopian secret service and decided to save his life by fleeing to Nairobi, Kenya where he has received refugee status.
This essay tells the sad story of the Ethiopian media which is faced - after a spell of press freedom and freedom of speech - with prosecutoin, often based on false accusations. The victims are brave journalists and media publishers who were detained or fled Ehtiopia, so that they can continue reporting about the government's violation of human rights. The author's main message is that a government which doesn't respect media freedom, blocks a country's development in the broadest sense of the term.
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.
Dutch economist and diplomat Peter de Haan describes the worrying increase of censorship and self-censorship in the world. A rising number of journalists, bloggers, and writers can't any longer write as they please; some flee their home country, others are tortured, incarcerated, or are even killed. This essay depicts what happened during the past decade regarding freedom of expression and censorship in the world and tells the shocking stories of some of its victims.He demonstrates a negative relationship between censorship and economic development. The more a regime clamps down on freedom of the media, the poorer its economic development. Welfare economics pays attention to the role of culture in society: the promotion of culture adds to the well being of citizens. Peter de Haan recalls that culture also promotes - through its inspirational strength - innovation and a society's economic development. Famous economists, writers, and philosophers have argued that there is also a relationship between freedom - including freedom of expression - and democracy. This booklet also provides a long list of international organizations defending freedom of expression and freedom of the media, including information about what they do and how victims of censorship can benefit from them.
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.
Amir Valle (Cuba, 1967) offers a unique analysis of the suppression of freedom of expression in Cuba by Fidel Castro's 'revolutionary' government. From the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 to the 'Raulist Era' of today, he offers a chilling survey of the most significant cases of cultural repression and censorship perpetrated by the longest Communist dictatorship in the world.
From their beginnings in literature and journalism, the author has witnessed first hand the oppressive and painful wounds inflicted by censorship and cultural repression. He is detested by the dictatorship of the Castro brothers for his ethical stance, his intellectual honesty, his knowledge of the reality of political and cultural power in Cuba, and his work as a writer and journalist to reveal the sinister truths Castroism wants to conceal from the world.
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.
Press freedom in Turkey is a hot topic. If a (well known) journalist is detained, prosecuted or sacked in Turkey, the news is covered in full in many Western countries. Nevertheless, many articles and reports reveal only a part of what really happens: they tell the story of the journalist, newspaper or TV broadcaster involved, but not that of the underlying mechanisms. No wonder: these are not easy to explain in a paragraph or two, or in two or three minutes. On the one hand, the lack of press freedom in Turkey is an extremely brief story - it doesn't exist - but on the other it reveals a knot of undemocratic laws, feeble journalistic traditions and huge economic and political interests that are hard to entangle. For the first time this booklet takes the covers off the mechanisms, illustrated with examples to render the Turkish media landscape as intelligible as possible. It has been written by the journalist Fréderike Geerdink. She was a correspondent in Turkey from 2006 to 2015, when she was deported by the Turkish authorities for doing her work as a journalist. Over recent decades, dozens of journalists in Turkey have not survived the lack of press freedom in their country. A number of their portraits have been included in this booklet in commemoration of them.
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.
'State of Nature' and 'State of exception' have become the only two options for the people of Bangladesh recently, where writers, bloggers and publishers are getting killed by Al-Qaeda affiliates and persecuted by the Government. Empowerment of polarizations such as 'secular' verses 'Islamists' have also empowered the ruling regime and Islamist extremist groups. Severe censorship on all kind of media has suffocated freedom of expression. New public spheres that had emerged in the internet era are also in decline under terror, censorship, intimidation, and curfew.Several bloggers, writers, publishers and activists have become victims of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, with most of them killed. As a culture of impunity persists, many have been forced to leave the country, and Parvez Alam is one of them. Parvez is a Bangladeshi blogger and writer who has written several books in his own language on history of Islam, secularism in Bangladesh and political Islam. He is also an activist who worked with several social and political platforms until he had to leave Bangladesh in the face of death threats and being featured in several hit lists. In Disappearing Public Spheres he outlines the major events that unfolded in Bangladesh during the recent years and analyses the rise and decline of internet era public spheres in his country. As a close witness, he writes a history of slow death and transformation of heterotopic spaces where once the internet era revolutionaries of his generation had united and expressed themselves. It is also a personal story, and a history of revolutionary utopia coming to an end. It is a history of death and persecution, censorship and autocracy.
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.
Free speech (Fri Wortu) is not common in Surinam. Sylvana van den Braak shows how, after the military coup in the 1980s, a period began of censorship and dictatorship. Despite democratic elections, the government is still trying, in his own special way, to influence the media. The business community agrees with it. Besides that the small community of Surinam and the relationships pave the way for self-censorship. The truth can only be heard on the street, where the local language Sranan is spoken. Dutch is the language of government and business, and these are not to be trusted. The journalist can make the difference, but journalism has to go a long way when it comes to inform the people correctly.
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.
Este es un libro necesario por la singularidad de su análisis sobre la censura a las libertades expresivas impuesta en Cuba por el gobierno 'revolucionario' de Fidel Castro, desde el triunfo de la Revolución Cubana en 1959 hasta la hoy llamada 'Era Raulista', y por ofrecer un recorrido escalofriante a través de los más importantes sucesos de la represión cultural y la censura perpetradas por la más larga dictadura comunista del mundo. Como afirma en el prólogo el escritor Ángel Santiesteban Prats, también víctima de la censura castrista, este libro es importante además porque lo escribe Amir Valle, novelista cubano de gran renombre internacional, que ha conocido en carne propia, desde sus inicios en la literatura y el periodismo, las heridas opresivas y dolorosas de la censura y la represión cultural.
Amir Valle (Guantánamo, Cuba, 1967), dice Ángel Santiesteban, es "detestado por la dictadura de los hermanos Castro, por su postura ética, su honestidad intelectual, su profundo conocimiento de la realidad del poder político y cultural en Cuba, y por su incansable trabajo como escritor y periodista dando a conocer internacionalmente las siniestras verdades que el Castrismo quiere ocultar al mundo".
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.
Het vrije woord (Fri Wortu) is geen gemeengoed in Suriname. Sylvana van den Braak laat zien hoe, na de militaire coup in de jaren 1980, een periode van censuur en dictatuur begon. Ondanks democratische verkiezingen probeert de overheid nog steeds, op zijn eigen speciale manier, de media te beïnvloeden. Het bedrijfsleven gaat daarin mee. Daarnaast maken de kleinschaligheid van de gemeenschap van Suriname en de onderlinge relaties de weg vrij voor zelfcensuur. De waarheid kan alleen worden gehoord op straat, waar de lokale taal Sranan wordt gesproken. Nederlands is de taal van de overheid en het bedrijfsleven, en die zijn niet te vertrouwen. Wat de journalist schrijft, kan het verschil maken, maar de journalistiek heeft in Suriname nog een lange weg te gaan, met name als het erom gaat het volk juist voor te lichten.
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.
