censorship
Four years on from the 2019 protests and unrest, Hong Kong was finally able to legally restrict the performance and distribution of the movement’s anthem Glory to Hong Kong – a move that its composer foresaw back in 2020. But why is the song controversial, and where did it come from? How did the government win at the appeals court? Was the song already illegal? And how did YouTube seek to comply with the legal ruling? HKFP examines how the government enacted the ban, and how a city – once a bulwark of free expression in Asia – came to insist that a song was a threat to China, the world’s secon...
Hong Kong Free Press
Image by Arzu Geybullayeva Turkey, following in the footsteps of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, and Georgia to name a few, is considering adopting its own version of the controversial foreign agent law. Expected to be submitted to the Grand National Assembly — Turkey's parliament — before the end of the legislative year on July 1, 2024, the package includes a legislative amendment that would introduce criminal penalties for what it calls “foreign influence agents” by expanding the definitions of “espionage” and “spying.” Critics and rights watchdogs say the proposal targets free expression and i...
Global Voices
Massive protests have roiled Georgia since April 8, 2024, when Georgia's ruling party re-introduced the controversial foreign agent bill. But despite the month of public outcry and international condemnation, the parliament approved the bill in its third reading on May 13 and adopted the bill on May 14. Meanwhile, as thousands of Georgians continue to take to the streets, the government said it would create a database of “undesirables” namely, “people involved in or publicly supporting violence, threats, and blackmail during the protests.” There have also been reports of government critics get...
Global Voices
Google has blocked Hong Kong users from accessing pro-democracy protest song Glory to Hong Kong on YouTube following a court order. It comes days after Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said the government was “anxious” for the tech company’s response to the ruling. Last Wednesday, a court banned people from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing” the song with seditious intent. The Court of Appeal sided with the government, overturning last year’s decision by a lower court rejecting the injunction that c...
Hong Kong Free Press
The government is “anxious” to see Google’s response to its request to remove a protest song – Glory to Hong Kong – from their platforms, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam has said. Lam, talking on Commercial Radio on Sunday, said the government had informed Google about an injunction order, after a court banned people from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing” the song with seditious intent. The Court of Appeal sided with the government in its attempt to ban protest song Glory to Hong Kong last Wednesd...
Hong Kong Free Press
The top US diplomat in Hong Kong has called for the release of media mogul Jimmy Lai and other detained activists, sparking a complaint from Beijing’s foreign ministry of interference in China’s internal affairs. US Consul General Gregory May made “unfounded comments” on Hong Kong’s judicial cases in an online seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said in a statement on Thursday. The office said it “strongly opposed and condemned” May’s remarks, which it described as openly supporting and embolde...
Hong Kong Free Press
Collage with President Daniel Ortega and the repression of anti-government protests in 2018, by ProBox. Used with permission. This article was published on ProBox on April 28, 2024. An edited version is republished in Global Voices under a media partnership agreement. In early April 2024, the Ortega–Murillo government enacted a controversial “Peace Law,” which the Nicaraguan civil society actively challenged by contesting the government's narrative and defending the memory of the April 2018 protests on social media. The Nicaraguan Assembly decreed April as the “month of Peace” because April is...
Global Voices
Glory to Hong Kong. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Used with permission. This report was written by Hilary Leung and originally published in Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) on May 8, 2024. An edited version is published below as part of a content partnership agreement with HKFP. A Hong Kong appeals court has sided with the government in its attempt to ban the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”, overturning last year’s decision by a lower court that cited free speech concerns. Three Court of Appeal judges handed down the judgment on May 8, writing that the injunction sought by the authorities was “necessary”...
Global Voices
Days before the premiere of his new film The Seed of the Sacred Fig in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, acclaimed Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging in Iran for national security crimes. He’ll also be subjected to a fine and the confiscation of property. In a statement on X, Rasoulof’s lawyer Babak Paknia said the court found Rasoulof’s films and documentaries to be “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the security of the country.” The filmmaker, 52, has been a target of the authoritarian regime...
Euronews (English)
Jazz May Festival. Author: Donatas Dapkus. CC BY-SA 3.0 International Jazz Day is celebrated on April 30. The date has been chosen at the initiative of UNESCO and celebrated since 2011, under the premise that this musical genre is capable of ‘promoting peace, dialogue, and mutual understanding.’ Independent media outlet ‘Novaya Vkladka’ examined the jazz festivals in different regions of Russia and their fate. Some projects ceased to exist after the start of the Russian war with Ukraine, while others continue to be held, albeit often dependent on local authorities and state grants. Global Voic...
Global Voices
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