Chinese Ad Agencies Fuming over Google's Threat to Leave

Google China's headquarters in Beijing (EPA photo)

The first ripples of the advertising quake that can be caused by Google's leaving the Chinese market are starting to reverberate all over that country.

Twenty-seven Chinese ad agencies have sent a letter to Google requesting a meeting with the Internet giant to discuss "the commercial risks of their business move."  

The agencies, reportedly "in unbearable agony and anxiety" over the threatened departure, are complaining that they have been kept in the dark about the whole affair after Google denounced attacks originated in China that compromised its corporate servers.

Over the weekend, The Financial Times, quoting "a person familiar with [Google's] thinking," reported that the company is "99 percent certain" that it will abandon its China operations.

The Times also reports that the Chinese government shot back by stating that it is not prepared to weaken its immense censoring apparatus in exchange for Google to remain in that country.

Meantime, the Chinese ad agencies are in apparent panic.

NewStraitsTimes.com:

A copy of the letter was posted on the website of state-run China Central Television (CCTV).

“The only thing we can do is to wait — in unbearable agony and anxiety,” the agencies said in the letter.

“If Google tells us now that we, our clients, employees and investors have to bear the commercial risks of their business move... we absolutely cannot accept it!” they said.

Google China acknowledged they have received the letter and only added a laconic "we are reviewing it."

We sense in this tug of war Google would not be the only loser. When 27 Chinese ad agencies all at once proclaim the kind of economic catastrophe this move would trigger, the Beijing bosses also ought to be concerned that their Great Firewall is starting to burn their profits.

And we all know the softest part of a dictatorship is its pocket.

China Won't Learn Any Lessons Should Google Leave

How many Chinese censors does it take to unscrew the Google lightbulb? A whole bunch of them, judging by this The New York Times story.

The paper reports that Beijing bureaucrats are warning Google's partners in China that they will have to jump through the usual maze of censoring loops should the Internet giant finally decide to abandon that market.

Speculation has abound that Google is contemplating two options: stopping censoring its website or abandoning its China operations all together, with the Times citing sources that the latter is the preferred alternative since the negotiations with the Beijing censors are not progressing.

Google threatened back in January that it would abandon its China operations after its corporate infrastructure was attacked by parties based out of China. The attacks resulted in unauthorized access to, among others, email accounts belonging to human rights activists in that country.

The New York Times:

The warning was intended to head off a wave of frustrated users should their Internet searches be stymied because of Google’s conflict with the government. Google controls nearly 30 percent of China’s Internet search market.

China’s most popular Web portal, www.sina.com.cn, features the Google search box in the middle of its home page. Ganji.com, another highly popular Web site, displays Google’s search box in its upper-left-hand corner.

This is our take. If you want progress to take place in your country, which is Beijing's mantra, you will need to open your mind to knowledge. Try to keep knowledge in a bottle, and the genie will pop up sooner or later.

Just Google it.

The Word Whisperer

During the US newspaper industry's worst crisis ever, the one additional problem we did not foresee coming was self-censorship in the United States of America.

And this kind should belong in the cartoon section instead of in an official memo coming all the way from the top of that struggling media empire known as Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and 23 TV stations, among others.


WGN-AM is located in the same Chicago building as
Tribune Co. (EPA photo)

And the memo landed like a sack of bricks on the newsroom of one of the corporation's properties, WGN-AM radio station in Chicago.

Tribune Co.'s CEO Randy Michaels, the one who's madly struggling to salvage a media giant loaded with a crushing debt, and shrinking audiences and revenues, personally ordered the station to stop using a list of 119 words.

The stunt apparently came under the guise of making the broadcasting language more "conversational" and avoiding for anchors to sound "like you're reading," as reported by Robert Feder's blog.

Robert gives us the entire list of banned words. But for those of us who witness too many devastating instances of censorship in too many autocratic countries around the world, seeing a US media institution such as Tribune Co. pulling such a cheap imitation truly breaks our hearts.

Mr. Michaels, peek out the window. It's raining red numbers. Please, leave the words alone.

When the Sword Is Mightier Than the Pen

Especially if the pen dares to draw images deemed so disturbing by some that they will cost you a fatwa.



The Irish police, in cooperation with the CIA and the FBI, have stopped a plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks (above), who was targeted by Al Qaida after several of his cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in an irreverent fashion were exhibited at an arts gallery in 2007.

The terrorist organization issued a fatwa offering $100,000 for his life, with a $50,000 bonus if his throat was slit, after Vilks published his cartoons, including two depicting Mohammed as a dog.

Back in 2007, Vilks told El País newspaper in Madrid, Spain, that, "Islam cannot be exempt from criticism and satire." Ever since then, he cannot sleep in his own home and is constantly changing residences.

The Irish police on Friday arrested seven people, four men and three women, allegedly plotting to assassinate Vilks. According to Irish law, they can remain in detention for seven days before charges are filed against them.

According to an AP report published by The Washington Post, the suspects are Irish citizens of either Yemeni or Moroccan origin, who had been under surveillance since November with the assistance of US anti-terrorist agents.

The plot, of course, brings painful memories of the recent failed attempt to kill Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Vilks told the AP he received the latest death threats in January, shortly after the attack on Westergaard. 

We need to bring back the 2007 prophetic (no pun intended) words of Joergen Ejboel, chairman of the publishing company that owns Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that published another set of Mohammed cartoons that cost him and his organization the harassment of fanatical Islamic groups.

A lot of people will be offended by the truth. Nowadays, it seems that you can hardly say anything before somebody will sue you for anything.

But the truth can never be characterized as defamation. If one claimed to be subject to defamation he has to prove before the court he was defamed, not one of his heroes or icons who lived hundreds of years ago. 

If a cartoon can be legal in one context and a crime in another, then the door is wide open to any group who might come forward and insist that any caricature of their leader or hero amounts to defamation.

(…)

And governments and all kinds of groups with their taboos can ally themselves with one another. If you respect my taboo I’ll respect yours.

If this continues long enough we will witness further limitations on speech, crimping free debate, creative journalism and exchange of information.

Perhaps it's time to come out of the cave and realize we no longer live in the 11th Century but a thousand years later.

Denouncing the World's Worst Jailer of Freedom of Expression

World Press Freedom Committee has joined with other press freedom groups for the release of journalists and writers imprisoned in Iran.
 
In 1978, on the eve of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini told an interviewer: "Our society will be a free society, and all the elements of oppression, cruelty and force will be destroyed."
 
More journalists and writers are now in prison in Iran than in any other country in the world. And there has been a continuing brutal crackdown on press freedom since the disputed elections last summer.
 
In view of this extreme situation, international press freedom groups are launching a joint international campaign that will run from the anniversary of the revolution on 11 February to Iranian New Year on 20 March. This petition will be sent to Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, as well as leading Iranian ministers.
 
We are not only concerned at the scale of arrests and detentions, but at the treatment of detainees. There are very credible reports of torture and solitary confinement.

You can find the petition on Facebook here. And more information about the campaign here.

GNI Announces New Executive Director

The Global Network Initiative (GNI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan Morgan (below) as its first Executive Director.
 


As Executive Director, Ms. Morgan will be responsible for continuing to make GNI a leading voice in defending and promoting freedom of expression and privacy in the information and communications technology industry worldwide. Ms. Morgan comes to GNI at a pivotal time and will be focused on advancing GNI’s goals, including increasing membership, encouraging collective action, overseeing the learning and accountability framework, and acting as a public advocate and spokesperson for GNI.
 
“Technology has the potential to dramatically increase access to information and protect personal privacy. However, increasing demands from governments to limit content, restrict freedom of expression and monitor users represent a worrying threat to human rights,” said Ms. Morgan. 
 
“GNI can lead the way in helping companies make thoughtful and responsible decisions that protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of hundreds of millions of Internet and communications technology users around the world,” Ms. Morgan said. “I am delighted to join GNI and look forward to building its global leadership role as we encourage more companies and their stakeholders to join us in this multi-stakeholder effort to protect freedom of expression and privacy worldwide.”
 
Ms. Morgan expects to begin her role at GNI in May of this year, joining from British Telecommunications (BT), where she was head of corporate responsibility (CR) strategy, policy and business planning.  She played a key role in BT's approach to external reporting and corporate accountability.  She also led work on assessing corporate responsibility risk and opportunity.  Ms. Morgan has more than fifteen years of experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors.
 
Today, GNI also announces the formation of its Board of Directors. The GNI Board of Directors consists of eight representatives from companies, four from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), two from the academic community, two from investment firms, and an independent Chair.  All the NGO, academic and investor seats on the Board are filled, and five company seats remain open for companies that join GNI.

Finally, GNI has published on its website a Governance Charter that establishes a formal decision-making and accountability structure for GNI.  The Charter describes how GNI will be governed in order to ensure integrity, accountability and effectiveness. 
 
The Global Network Initiative is a multi-stakeholder group of companies, civil society organizations (including human rights and press freedom groups), investors and academics dedicated to protecting and advancing freedom of expression and privacy in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.  To learn more, visit our website at http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org.
 
For media inquiries, please contact GNI at press@globalnetworkinitiative.org
About Susan Morgan
GNI Board of Directors
GNI Governance Charter

Send in the Clowns

Says the Los Angeles Times, one of the US largest, most prestigious journalistic institutions.

With the Oscars ceremony taking place this weekend, the LA Times seems to have traded places with the Hollywood Reporter by featuring its most screaming front page, well, ever. 



The paper's marketing department worked closely with the Walt Disney Co. to feature an ad of the upcoming movie "Alice in Wonderland," with a full-page face of actor Johnny Depp in the role of the Mad Hatter.

The art work, which according to blogger Sharon Waxman sold for $700,000, was superimposed over a mock page of news, which in turn covered the actual front page of its Friday edition.

And the LA Times brass made no excuses about it, with a spokesperson acknowledging that "Stretching the boundaries was what we were going for."

The dire straits the US newspaper publishing industry is going through is no laughing matter, so much so, the line dividing the editorial and marketing departments in newspapers is becoming increasingly thinner.

It's a rabbit hole of historical proportions.

Monitoring Group Urges the UN to Take a Good Look at Tunisia

To mark the occasion of 8 March 2010, International Women's Day, members of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), of which WPFC is a member, and members of the IFEX Gender Working Group appeal to the UN to raise concerns about the on-going violations of women's rights in Tunisia:

Ms. Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
1211 Genève 10
Switzerland
8 March 2010

Dear Ms. Navanethem Pillay,

To mark the occasion of 8 March 2010, International Women's Day, members of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 20 members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), and members of the IFEX Gender Working Group, wish to draw your attention to the slander and abuse faced by women journalists and activists in Tunisia. While Tunisia has a long history of promoting women's rights since they were enshrined in the 1956 Personal Status Code and later in the 1959 Constitution, during the reign of President Habib Bourguiba, they have not been fully protected by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who seized power in a bloodless coup in November 1987.

We are concerned by the on-going violations of women's rights, as highlighted by the following examples. Since December 2008, pro-government newspapers and websites have increasingly targeted well-known critical journalists, human rights defenders and their relatives with ongoing defamation and insult campaigns, which are particularly degrading to women. The smear campaigns include the portrayal of women in government-backed newspapers and websites as "sexual perverts," "prostitutes," and "traitors on the payroll of foreign governments or groups." Slanderous articles are published, often on a daily basis, targeting particular women. The government has also orchestrated the distribution of fabricated videocassettes and DVDs that aim to humiliate these women and their families.

The women targeted in the pro-government media include journalist Sihem Bensedrine and Naziha Réjiba (also known as Um Ziad) of IFEX member Observatoire de la Liberté de la Presse, de L'Edition et de la Création (OLPEC). Bensedrine is routinely referred to in the government media as a "prostitute" who has collected over a million Euros from donors for personal use. Since early 2009, she has been beaten and searched several times when crossing the border into Tunisia, and was tortured in prison in 2000 and 2001. Réjiba has been targeted with attacks for over twenty years, since she began publishing critical articles about Ben Ali. The two women also run the independent online news journal "Kalima," which is blocked in Tunisia. Their homes and phone lines are monitored and they are constantly followed by plainclothes police.

A Case Study in Censorship, Made in Brazil

Chances are good you have seen the movie "2012," the blockbuster flick that toys with the speculation that that year will mark the end of the world.

All sorts of catastrophes take place in the film by virtue of astonishing special effects.

The destruction is worldwide, including Rio de Janeiro, where the emblematic statue of Christ the Redeemer also succumbs to the cataclysm.



But the Brazilian Catholic Church yelled, "Cut!" and it's threatening to take legal action against the studio, Columbia Pictures, for improper use of the statue's likeness.

The Hollywood Reporter:

A lawyer for Brazil's Catholic Church has gone public with a dispute over the destruction of Rio de Janeiro's famous Christ the Redeemer statue in November's global hit "2012." Seems the church didn't enjoy the scene as much as we did, prompting archdiocese attorney Claudine Dutra to tell the AFP that Columbia didn't get a proper copyright license to depict the country's most famous statue. 

Brazil uses a variation on U.S. copyright law, granting copyright to the author of a work until his death, then to his estate or heirs for another 70 years. Christ the Redeemer was created in 1931 by French artist Paul Landowski on commission from the Rio archdiocese. Landowski died in 1961, and the archdiocese says it holds copyright until 2032.

If they ask us, the potential plaintiffs are cutting this one very thin, especially after the studio did get permission from the estate of the sculptor to use the image in the movie.

And if they ask us twice, we get a whiff of what could happen if the clergy are given ample powers to act against perceived blasphemy, no matter the country and beyond any borders.

And that would be a terrifying movie indeed.

Internet Freedom Gets a Hearing at the US Congress

The US Senate's Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law today held hearings on Global Internet Freedom and the Rule of Law, Part 2, focusing on the role of the American information technology industry dealing with censorship by authoritarian regimes.

The chairman of the subcommittee, Sen. Richard Durbin, had warned the industry he is planning to introduce legislation that would require US Internet companies to take appropriate steps to protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press in authoritarian countries.

Global Network Initiative (GNI) representatives Rebecca MacKinnon, and Nicole Wong, representative of Google, one of the GNI members, testified before the subcommittee.

GNI, of which WPFC is member, believes that the global ICT industry and its stakeholders should make a public and shared commitment to respect user rights in the face of increased threats to freedom of expression and privacy all over the world.

What follows is GNI's full testimony before the subcommittee:

Traditional Western Media Still Struggling

The performance of two stallwarts of traditional Western media shows us all the historic difficulties this industry is struggling with.

In the US, after an elaborate restructuring scheme, Newsweek magazine, one of American journalism's flag ships, seems to be enthralled in a downward spiral that has cost it $28.1 million in 2009, the year the reform started.

Newsweek had tried a new approach that would have followed a similar editorial path to that of The Economist magazine, so far to no avail, regardless of efforts by Newsweek's top brass to paint a brighter picture.

New York Post:

"The fourth quarter was actually our best quarter of the year as we repositioned to a more upscale, news-hungry audience," he said. "We expect to have significantly smaller losses in 2010 than in 2009 and we still expect to be back to break-even in 2011."

The full year included a one-time early retirement charge of $6.6 million for 44 Newsweek employees.

Since Newsweek lowered its circulation -- from 2.6 million to 1.5 million -- it was forced to make corresponding cuts in its ad rates. The company hopes that lower production, distribution and employee costs will eventually enable it to return to profitability.

On the other hand, the BBC, perhaps the most emblematic symbol of Western free media, has signaled "the end to an era of expansion," as the Times of London calls it.

The revered news organization has announced that it will close two radio stations and cut its Internet operations by half. Also, the BBC will significantly reduce its purchase of American-made programming.

Mark Thompson, the Director-General, will admit that the corporation, which is funded by the £3.6 billion annual licence fee, has become too large and must shrink to give its commercial rivals room to operate.

In a wideranging strategic review, he will announce the closure of the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network and introduce a cap on spending on broadcast rights for sports events of 8.5 per cent of the licence fee, or about £300 million.

These are clearly the most transformational times for Western media in a century. We just hope this is the case only for the business model of it, not for its philosophical approach.

A free and independent media is a Western democracy creation that has helped power the advance of democracy the world over. The survival of this concept is critical.

Chalk One Up for the Censors

And this one especially hurts because it comes from one of those countries that should be setting democratic examples not feeding excuses for autocrats the world over.

An Italian court (how come we keep getting bad press freedom news from this most civilized country?) has set a very dangerous precedent for the very viability of the Internet.

The Milan magistrate has sentenced three Google executives to a three-month suspended sentence for hosting a third-party video showing terrible cruelty to an autistic boy.

The video was posted on May of 2006 on YouTube showing several Turin youngsters insulting and physically attacking an autistic boy while doing the fascist salute. The video garnered about 5,500 hits until Google deleted it on Nov. 7 of that year.

The victim's attorneys eventually withdrew their claim, but Italian judicial authorities decided to move on with the legal cause, alleging that it took Google too long to delete the video even though many users had complained about it.

For the Italian judge to think that a gargantuan website such as Google, with millions of written, audio and video entries in its content would be able to monitor and control every single one of them, no matter how despicable or insulting it may be, he must be convinced that he is living sometime before the rising of the Renaissance.

So fast forward back to the 21st Century and let's hear what Google has to say about this.

The Associated Press:

The judge has decided I'm primarily responsible for the actions of some teenagers who uploaded a reprehensible video to Google video," Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, who was convicted in absentia, said in a statement.

(…)

"We will appeal this astonishing decision," Google spokesman Bill Echikson said at the courthouse. "We are deeply troubled by this decision. It attacks the principles of freedom on which the Internet was built."

Google also stated that they had worked with the Italian authorities to help identify those responsible for uploading the video, one of whom was eventually sentenced to 10 months of community service by a Turin court.

No matter how you slice it, this is a terribly sad story. Those who posted this despicable video and engineered this repulsive abuse of their freedom of expression are wholly responsible for the terrible damage inflicted on this poor innocent boy.

But don't take your anger out on the messenger, however unaware of its role it was. Start thinking about  the social ills that fostered this kind of criminal behavior. Abusing an innocent child because of his mental condition? Giving the fascist salute while filming it? Posting it on the Internet?

Judge, would you please look around you?

The Very Heavy Price of Freedom of Expression

For all those who think press freedom and freedom of expression come with a lifetime warranty, let me give you Exhibit A of the very high price attached to these human rights.

El País newspaper in Madrid, Spain, has published an important interview (available only in Spanish) with Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, one of the authors of the Mohammed cartoons that granted him a fatwa and cost him his very peace of mind, that of his family and at least one very close attempt on his life.

On Jan. 1, a Somali Muslim with Al Qaida links broke into his home in Aarhus armed with an ax and a knife to fulfill the fatwa. Westergaard happened to be at home with his granddaughter. He was able to reach a secure room inside the house with very few seconds to spare. He called the police and the alleged terrorist was finally arrested.

He lives in constant terror, not only for his safety and that of his family, but also for the safety of his fellow cartoonists, editors and writers of Jyllands Posten, the newspaper that published the cartoons in September of 2005, unleashing a firestorm that took the lives of some 200 people in riots in several Muslim countries.

"I drew the cartoon without even remotely thinking that it could trigger this madness," he told El País. "I just used the old anarchist bomb as a metaphor of terrorism; and then I did that face, which is not even that of Mohammed, even though it was interpreted as such. After that I added the inscription in Arabic, 'There is no other God than Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet'. I wanted to explain that terrorists get their inspiration from Islam, that they feed off of Islam."

Other El País quotes by Westergaard:

"For the Danish people all this has been a surprise. Many wonder how all this can be possible. Here we have always helped immigrants and refugees. We have provided housing, education, which is free, including college. Students get about 1,000 euros a month, which they don't have to return."

"The prime minister and the government have provided me their full support. But my fellow cartoonists, my newspaper and myself are disappointed by the lack of support of other artists, of the intellectuals."

"I know that the majority of Muslims are peaceful people. They would not attack me, but quite possibly I think they would be glad if the extremists ever get to me."

"Muslim leaders used the cartoons in an opportunistic way. All those demonstrations were encouraged by the governments of those countries, which are poor and have many difficulties. It was a form of diverting attention from their real problems. It was an escape for people's frustrations."

"I am a person who has fulfilled its duty and that has defended one of democracy's most important principles: freedom of expression. My main support is the common person. When I run into regular people on the street, they encourage me. They tell me, 'Very well done!, Hang in there!'."

From the seclusion of his home, Westergaard continues his work, including an aquarelle painting that raised 20,000 euros for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

His life also feels like the wreck around that very unfortunate Caribbean nation.

The Dalai Lama's Secret Weapon: His Charm and Compassion

And both were in full display today at the ceremony in which he was awarded the prestigious National Endowment for Democracy's Democracy Service Medal at the Library of Congress "in recognition of His Holiness' commitment to advancing the principles of democracy and human dignity."


The Dalai Lama being recognized at the Library of Congress (WPFC photo)

The Tibetan spiritual leader injected common sense, humor and dignity into the controversy surrounding his official visit to the US, including a meeting with President Obama at the White House, which triggered a fit in the hallways of the Beijing regime.

But once again he was able to turn colossal conflicts and controversies into the cleanest bits of wisdom we all could use.

People sometimes, he said, get all excited about tiny pieces of good news, and all overwhelmed by the obstacles life puts in front of us.

"Don't do that," he said to the roaring laughter and applause of the audience packing a Library of Congress auditorium.


His Holiness captivated the audience at the ceremony
(WPFC photo)

But he also tackled the issues that have propelled him into the forefront of a terrible confrontation with the bosses of China's Communist regime.

Before his meeting with US President Obama yesterday, China had warned that the encounter would spell "no room but doom" for the Tibetan cause.

But today, he reiterated his theme about the big chasm between the deferential demeanor of parliaments in authoritarian regimes, such as China, and the rackous nature of congressional debates in democratic nations, such as India.

"I found big difference between Indian and Chinese parliament. In Chinese parliament there is too much silence and in Indian Parliament there is too much noise," he said.  

He, however, insisted on the power of the individual to be creative enough to bring change for an entire society.

"Change must come through people. Protection of individual human rights is very important for the development of the society," he observed.

The ceremony at the Library of Congress, which has organized a comprehensive exhibition of its extensive Tibetan collection, was made possible by the National Endowment for Democracy. It also took place during the holding of the 2010 Human Rights Summit, a gathering of frontline human rights advocates, organized by the Freedom House and Human Rights First.

Lessons of Courage, Determination, Optimism from the Human Rights Frontlines

Frontline freedom of expression activists gave the 2010 Human Rights Summit an earful about the struggle and difficulties they go through on their daily struggle for justice and human dignity.

The testimonies came from the members of the summit's freedom of expression panel, featuring, among others, Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China (HRIC), and Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).


Human Rights in China's Sharon Hom during the summit
(WPFC photo)

Hom made an impassioned plea for the world to stop giving China "a pass" on its dismal human rights record and start keeping the Beijing regime accountable for its repressive ways, especially on the freedom of expression front.

She gave several examples of China's bullying its weight around trying to silence its critics far away from its borders, something this blog has denounced repeatedly as blatant attempts to export censorship.

"China can bully its way around the international community," she said. "But it cannot bully its way into respect."

To Hom, this is of critical importance. The Chinese regime, she insisted, does care about what the rest of the world thinks about it. And to change China's international image as a repressed society, it's employing the most sophisticated PR strategies, to great success.

Then she said today's visit by the Dalai Lama to President Obama at the White House is so very important because its sends a clear message around the international community that Beijing cannot dictate whom the president of the United States can speak with.
 
She asked for technology to be used against China's censoring machine, to fight firewalls with filter busters, and asked for the cooperation of international corporations to help in this effort.

"We should just do it, don't ask permission," she said. "It's so important. Circulate and activate ripples of support."


Gamal Eid at the summit (WPFC photo)

Equally impassioned were the words of Egypt's Gamal Eid, who gave the audience a harrowing rundown of the repressive ways of the leaders of the Arab world.

Country after country, he explained the "absolute lack of democracy" in his region, and after he acknowledged the problems in other parts of the world, he lamented the fact that in his lifetime, he's 46, he has never seen free elections held anywhere in the Arab world.

He gave particular examples of the repressive ways that so successfully silence dissident Arab voices, including Egypt, where, he said, censoring techniques are less sophisticated that those in China or Iran.

"In Egypt they don't block websites," he said. "They arrest and torture bloggers and then they erase their blogs."
 
Eid, however, did have words of hope for his country, predicting that the Internet "is going to triumph over Egyptian oppression."

Paula Schrieffer, Freedom House's director of advocacy, nailed it during the closing remarks of the first day of the summit. She said activists from countries like the US, France or the UK only risk being kicked out of the country that feels uncomfortable with their words. But those who live in those countries and keep fighting for freedom and justice do get to face prosecution, harassment and worst, she said.

To all of them, once more, here goes our most sincere gratitude and admiration.