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Russia: Neo-Nazi Execution Video

Veronica Khokhlova · 22:50

One of the most discussed topics in the Russian blogosphere last week was a graphic video of what appeared to be the execution of two ethnically non-Russian men by masked figures claiming to be members of a Russian neo-Nazi group.

A detailed description of the video can be found in this New York Times' piece by C. J. Chivers (four paragraphs roughly in the middle of the story).

Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog posted an overview of the media and bloggers' reactions and, among other things, wrote this:

[…] Granted, I have not watched it, nor do I intend to. But to me this video’s political resonance says something more about spectacle of violence that inhabits our modern lives rather than anything specific about nationalism or fascism in Russia. As far as I’m concerned the members of “National Socialism/White Power” are merely reproducing what has already become a staple in our media diet. From the “real” videos of Chechens beheading Russian soldiers, Beslan, Daniel Pearl, Abu Ghraib, suicide bombings, and school and workplace shootings (and the media’s obsession over them) to the “fake” torture scenes of shows like 24 and other films, hasn’t the gap between the real and the fake long collapsed, making their distinction merely academic. What is important is the connection between politics and extreme violence, or really the use of extreme violence as political spectacle. […]

Mark MacKinnon wrote about an Ethiopian student he had once interviewed for a story on “what it was like living as a foreigner - a black foreigner - in a time of rising Russian racism and xenophobia.” The blame for the current situation, according to MacKinnon, is on the Kremlin:

[…] For too long, the Kremlin tolerated and manipulated the ultranationalist crowd, allowing people like Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitry Rogozin to spew hatred because it suited their political aims. If the West was truly worried that a Zhirinovsky or a Rogozin might come to power, it would let up in its calls for more openness and democracy and perhaps come to see someone like Vladimir Putin as a least-bad option.

The strategy worked like a charm from a political point of view, but the monsters it created are now out of even the Kremlin's control. […]

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile quoted Anton Nossik, a representative of the company that oversees LiveJournal's Russian segment, on why “no action [has been taken] against the blogger who first posted the video” (RFL/RL story):

“Preliminary censorship is, of course, impossible on the Internet,” Nosik says. “People post what they feel must be posted, and write what they feel must be written. There is a list of things that LiveJournal users agree not to do, but posting pictures of an execution is not on the list. There is a clause forbidding comments that incite ethnic hatred, but whether it applies to this particular video is an open question.”

On his blog, Anton Nossik (LJ user dolboeb) wrote this (RUS) on Aug. 16 about the violent video and the authorities' irrational reaction to it:

[…] [Russian security services] are still more concerned about the fact of the video's publication than about the murder itself. Why? Well, first of all, there's already [a person who has confessed to having posted the video] - so it's now possible to report on the successful completion of the investigation of the crime. As for the murder, it is still not clear who killed who, where, when, why and how to investigate all this. Second, if no one had posted the video, it would have been possible to pretend for a long time that there had been no murder at all. For example, when [Artur Ryno confessed to 37 ethnically-motivated murders], it turned out that most of these crimes were not being investigated. And if [Artur] had held his tongue, no investigation would've begun… Our law enforcement officials are sending a very smart message to the murderers: until you confess to all your crimes like idiots, no one's even going to look for you, let alone punish you.

It's time to call things by their name: we are witnessing the restoration of [Leonid Brezhnev]'s order.

“Let's draw the curtains and shake the car, and then announce that the train is moving.”

In such a paradigm, what's considered a crime is, of course, not the murder, but a report of the murder.

And they'll be trying to catch not the murderers, but those who made their crime public. They'll be catching them and prosecuting, until the topic is banned altogether.

This, according to the logic of Brezhnev times, is the main victory over any kind of trouble - be it catastrophes, epidemics, crime or infant mortality.

But there was no Internet in Brezhnev times. […]

2 comments · »»

Iran: Government celebrates Journalist Day

Hamid Tehrani · 18:16

lingua → zht · zhs

The Iranian government celebrated Journalist Day on August 8, in spite of having arrested several journalists and banned many newspapers in recent months. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said: “The work of journalists is of the same essence of that of the prophets: informing.”

According to Reporters without Borders at least nine of these “prophets” are in jail and many of them are in very bad physical condition and have no access to lawyers.

Several bloggers and journalists shared their feelings about Journalist Day and the difficult working conditions faced by journalists.

Empty places

Heidar Rezai published a photo of an almost empty auditorium where Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was supposed to deliver a speech to journalists. The blogger says [Fa], the president canceled his speech, and says some believe it was because of the empty place. The blogger suggests the timing of the speech was not ideal because many journalists were at work.

Covering neck and legs

Khabarnagar No (means New Reporter in Persian) describes how journalists work in Iran, and how much they must worry about everything. The blogger says [Fa]:

I want to write, but I fear whatever I write can be considered as an offense in the eyes of a responsible or a Ministry. I say I am not writing about politics and I do not write about Orange or Velvet revolutions, I just write about technology and science. They (the authorities) say to be careful not to criticize privatization of Iranian telecoms, filtering of mobile phones, or science education. Just write everything is OK. When I choose a title for my article I should be careful that the title does not make the authorities angry. If I want to publish a photo, then I should cover the neck of foreign women in the photo, and create trousers or a skirt to cover her legs… When we interview somebody, we should ask about the interviewee’s personal life to ascertain that she/he has not gone to disco or drunk champagne… For these reasons a journalist’s life is very difficult in Iran. You can not plan anything for your life, and when your journal gets shut down you cannot pay rent. You should be careful not to go to conferences abroad because you can be accused of spying.

Double Standards

Akbar Montakhabi, who worked at the recently banned Ham Mihan, is upset about Journalist Day, and says [Fa]:

Why do you send an SMS to congratulate us? Maybe because most of independent journalists of this country are jobless? Why is it the moment independent journals make the slightest mistake, they are accused of the worst things? I think we should omit Journalist Day from our agenda because journalists are not at all respected.

The blogger, who worked for 25 different journals in his lifetime, says there is a double standard in Iranian justice since mistakes in government journals are considered “errors” while the same mistakes in reformist journals would be considered an attempt to overthrow political power.

Just sweet words

Mojadleh, who says the priority of his blog is to inform people of the value of Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic and martyrs, criticized [Fa] a recent get together between Ahmadinejad and some journalists. The blogger says all the journalists present were just praising the Iranian president, his works, and his trips. Mojadeleh adds that not a single one of Ahmadinejad’s critics in the media were invited to this meeting.

Revolutionary Guards, terrorism and the CIA

Several Iranian bloggers talked about the recent news that the USA is preparing to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards force as a “foreign terrorist unit”. Some of these bloggers point out that double standards exist in international relations too.

Cyrus Online reports [Fa] that one of the officials of the IRCG said to Jame Jam journal that the USA is fighting against the Islamic establishment and that Americans had already tried several plans but the IRCG makes progress and defends the Islamic Establishment.

Iranian Truth writes:

I have no complaints against listing the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. My complaints are based upon the hypocrisies behind our foreign policy. If we’re going to condemn military agencies as terrorist organizations for their support of terrorism, then for the sake of credibility look beyond the borders of the Middle East. Because this certainly doesn’t create a standard for the US itself can meet. If financing and helping terrorism around the world is sufficient to classify oneself as a terrorist organization despite that organization being an agent of a sovereign entity, then it seems also appropriate to classify Mossad and the CIA as terrorist organizations.

2 comments · »»

China: Blogs deleted, barred and officially backed

John Kennedy · 16:36

lingua → pt · es

Aspiring citizen reporter and veteran blogger Wen Yunchao continues his NetNews This Week blog column following his first week as the new Blog Editor at Chinese web portal Netease, beginning with mention that the Beijing 2008 Olympics blog started by Chinese Sports Illustrated reporter Sohu and Sina blogger Guan Jun (aka Gua Erjia) has been shut down.

网事一周20070816：开与关

NetNews This Week August 16, 2007: Opening and Closing

博客“北京奥运，我不支持”被删

The “The Beijing Olympics, I don't support them” blog has been deleted

牛博网编辑罗永浩8月16日发文称，牛博网把瓜尔加刚开设的名为“北京奥运，我不支持”的博客删除了。罗永浩在文章里说：“不要老是公开问原因，都是中国人装什么外宾？”瓜尔加试图通过这个博客“让外界知道中国并不只有一种声音。”

On August 16 Bullog editor Luo Yonghao published a post announcing that Gua Erjia's newly-opened Bullog blog “The Beijing Olympics, I don't support them” had been deleted. In his post Luo Yonghao writes: “no need to go around asking what the reason was; we're all Chinese, not some foreign guests.” Gua Erjia had attempted to use this blog “to let the outside world know that China does not only just have one voice.“

《清廉战士》草草收场

Incorruptible Warrior Online hastily dropped

8 月14日上午，《清廉战士》官方网站“中国廉政文化游戏网”突然发布公告：“接有关部门通知，本网站将关闭，相关内容转移到其他网站。”但站方并未公布关站原因。《清廉战士》是由宁波市海曙区纪委、海曙区西门街道党工委等部门联手推出反腐题材网络游戏，在开放注册后，因玩家反映该游戏制作粗糙而沦为网络笑柄，该游戏仅公测一周便早早收场。有网友评论说，网络不是搞政绩工程的地方。

On the morning of August 14, Incorruptible Warrior Online's official website ‘The China Anti-Corruption Culture Gaming Net' suddenly announced: “in accordance with notice from the relevant departments, this website will be shut down, and all related content will be transfered to other websites.” The webmasters, however, did not disclose the reason for the website's closure. Incorruptible Warrior Online is an internet game jointly released by the Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Committee and Ximen neighborhood Party Working Committee of Haishu district in Ningbo city to promote anti-corruption messages. Following its move to open registration, due to players' feedback of the game's crude design and making it the butt of many jokes online, the game only lasted a week. Some netizens say that the internet is not a place for achievements in political projects to be flaunted.

博易澄清关站传闻

AnyP clears up rumors of the website's closure

8月14日，博易网发布了最新的公告，澄清网站关闭传闻。公告称，“博易现由于个别站点内容违反相关法律法规，按上级部门要求进行全面的内容审查，在此期间暂停对外服务。”，并且博易“寻求通过第三方服务商接手的方式来尽快恢复服务，同时也在努力争取博易本身直接恢复服务”。而在8月9日，博易网的创始人张静君在自己的博客上发布消息称，博易由于内容方面的原因博易被取消运营博客服务的资质。已经创办多年博客服务提供商博易在一个月前中止服务，业界对博易的关闭原因有诸多猜测。

On August 14, AnyP released an announcement aiming to clarify on rumors of the website's imminent closure. The announcement read: “due to individual content found on this blog which violates the relevant laws and regulations, in accordance with superior departments' demands, a full-scale and thorough investigation into the material will be carried out, during which time external services will be suspended.” Also stated in the announcement was that AnyP “is seeking to restore service by means of a third-party internet service provider as quickly as possible, at the same time working hard to secure restoration of AnyP's services themselves.” On August 9, AnyP founder Zhang Jingjun wrote on his own blog that AnyP's blog service operations were canceled for reasons related to content. A blog service provider for many years already, AnyP ceased service one month ago, giving rise to much speculation throughout the industry on the reason for AnyP's having been shut down.

“老虎庙”开展“草根报道之旅”

“Tiger Temple” launches “Grassroots Reporting Trip”

8 月10日，博客写手“老虎庙”骑车从北京奥运“鸟巢”出发，开始了他的4省“草根报道之旅”。他将骑车到达山西、内蒙古、陕北、宁夏，以田野调查的方式，考察乡土民情，并通过博客第一时间记录见闻。“老虎庙”表示，他将把行程中的所见所闻用文字、图片和DV视频等方式发布在博客上，并采用手机绑定博客功能，滚动发送消息。但据网友披露，国家宣传主管部门16日发文要求各新闻媒体不要报道此事，对此类行为的报道也不能冠以“公民记者”、“平民记者”等称谓。

On August 10 blogger “Tiger Temple” set out from the Beijing Olympics‘ “bird's nest” on his bike and began his “grassroots reporting trip” which will take him through four provinces. He plans to ride through Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shanbei, Ningxia to carry out a field investigation, observing the opinions of those in the countryside, and through blogging provide live reporting of what he sees and hears. “Tiger Temple” explains that text, photos and video of everything he comes across during the trip will be posted to his blog, as well as live blog updates via cellphone. According to what some netizens have revealed, on the 16th a directive was issued by the Department of Propaganda ordering news media to not report on this, and that any reports that are done are not allowed to make use of terms like “Citizen Reporter”, “Civilian Journalist” etc.

人民日报发文要求官员直面网络时代

People's Daily editorial calls on officials to face up to the Internet Age

8月14日，人民日报发表文章《党政官员要直面网络时代开门纳言》，报道引述中央党校教授沈宝祥的观点，报道认为，面对网络时代的挑战，党政官员迫切需要更新观念，直面民意，创新工作方式。从非典到松花江水污染，再到“黑砖窑”事件，政府对于“危机事件”的处理让人们看到，简单的封、盖、堵越来越失去效力，甚至会适得其反，及时公开信息、引导舆论，才能争取工作的主动。

August 14, the People's Daily ran an editorial calling for Party and government officials to face up to and open the door to the internet age which quoted views from Central Party School professor Shen Baoxiang; the editorial stance was that Party and government officials urgently need to refresh their views in the challenge of dealing with the internet age, directly face public opinion and innovate new approaches to their work. From SARS to the Songhua River pollution, and then to the “black brick kilns” incident, the government approach to crises of closing down, covering up and block can be seen as increasingly ineffective and is even having the opposite effect; only through quickly making information public and leading discussion can the initiative be taken in their work.

“史上最贵博客”

“The most expensive blog in history”

北京一家文化发展公司的老板袁智勇计划花500万来推广自己的博客。他将全国分成六个区域，把北京、上海、天津等五十一座大中城市网吧的电脑桌面设置成写有他博客地址的照片，并将浏览器的首页设置为其博客地址。目前，他手中已经有两千多份与各家合作网站和网吧签订的合同，合作金额从数千元到十几万元不等。有网友戏称其博客是“史上最贵博客”。不过看过他博客的网友却认为内容乏善可陈，为这个博客花上500万只能“极为怀疑他的神志是否清醒”。

The boss of one cultural development corporation in Beijing Yuan Zhiyong plans to spend five million CNY to market his own blog. He is preparing to have a photo of his blog's address set as the desktop image in internet bars of fifty-one mid-size to large cities that will include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and others throughout his designated target six regions of the country, as well as having each computer's Home page set to his blog. At present, he's successfully signed over two thousand contracts with various websites and individual net bars, with the value of these cooperations ranging from several thousand to several hundred thousand CNY each. Netizens are calling his blog “the most expensive blog in history”. However, bloggers who have checked out his blog feel the content to be outdated and lacking in quality, and knowing that five million CNY will be spent on promoting it leaves them “quite unconvinced that he's got his senses about him.”

中国反恶意软件诉讼首次胜诉

China's first successful lawsuit against malicious software

8 月15日，即奇虎网起诉北京阿里巴巴公司不正当竞争案宣判，法院认为，阿里巴巴旗下的雅虎助手干扰奇虎360的正常运行和安装，并且在用户选择“不删除” 的情况下，违背用户指令强行删除360软件，构成了不正当竞争，为非法行为。法院判令阿里巴巴赔偿原告八万元，并且连续七天在官方网站上向奇虎公司致歉。有媒体称这是中国首个反恶意软件的胜诉案，由于国内相关法律缺失，导致此前几个类似的官司均以失败告终。

On August 15 the verdict was delivered in Qihoo's unfair competition case against Alibaba, with the court seeing Alibaba's Yahoo Assistant as hindering Qihoo 360's regular service and installation, and illegally constituting unfair competition in the forced deletion of 360 software through its violation of users' commands to “not delete” [360]. The court ordered Alibaba to compensate the defendant eighty thousand CNY as well as to post an apology to Qihoo on Alibaba's official website for seven continuous days. Some media are calling this case China's first successful lawsuit against malicious software; due to insufficient related laws in China, several similar lawsuits prior to this one ended in defeat.

8 comments · »»

Vietnam: Web Censorship

Caroline Finlay · 09:08

lingua → de · pt · zht · zhs · es

When I began considering posting on Global Voices from Vietnam, the first thought that came to mind was what exactly was I allowed to post? What topics could I cover, and which ones should I avoid?

The media in communist Vietnam is state controlled, and although the internet isn’t as heavily monitored as the ‘net in China, a ministry exists that’s responsible for making sure web content is in line with the Party’s ideals.

There is a legal basis for censorship in Vietnam’s 1992 Constitution , but it’s not without contradiction. Article 69 states, “The citizens shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech…in accordance with the provision of the law.” The “provision of the law” is defined by Article 33, stating, “The State shall strictly ban all activities in the fields of culture and information that are detrimental to national interests, and destructive of the personality, morals, and the fine lifestyle of the Vietnamese.” Enforcement of this portion of the law falls onto the recently formed Ministry of Information (MoI), formerly the Ministry of Information and Culture.

The MoI is aided by Vietnam’s Center for Internet Security (CIS), which also produces antivirus software. The CIS is located in Hanoi’s Technical University, Vietnam’s top university. In a recent interview, director Nguyen Tu Quang stated that the CIS is fully prepared to provide technical support to internet monitors to aid in their “battle” to cut down “dark” websites. He further states that, (translated from Vietnamese)

Dark blogs have a lot in common with dark web pages, but if we don’t keep blogs in check, they could have a much greater influence on society…The problem of monitoring less-than-wholesome websites has been a difficult one….I think blogs and web sites need to be based on a partnership between technology and monitoring so that we can censor and restrict negative content and uphold our strength.”

Regarding his CIS’s role in internet monitoring, Quang feels that,

Now a lot of people are worried that it’s too difficult to find and deal with the owners of illegal blogs. But I’m positive that we can use technology to track down the home addresses of dark weblogs… Our goal isn’t to take down thousands of illegal blogs, but to find a way to prevent them from going up in the first place. If we take measures to punish and admonish bloggers, then the next time someone thinks about putting a picture or article up on the web, he or she will think very carefully.

Blogger Nguyen Tien Trung of Ho Chi Minh City has learned exactly what he can and can’t post. He wrote an open letter to the Ministry of Education reprimanding their political science education in Vietnam, and now web searches for his name from Vietnam lead to some blocked pages, but his Yahoo! 360° blog is accessible.

I can understand why the internet monitors may be a little antsy about Trung; In the August 10th entry he actually uses Ho Chi Minh’s quotes to support of his progressive political views. (Translated from Vietnamese)

Why stage a revolution? Uncle Ho said, ‘peace, independence, unity, democracy and prosperity.’ but perhaps few people understand his far-reaching implication. The first three goals he mentions are peace, independence and unity, then we must continue, without delay, onto democracy and prosperity. Uncle Ho was very wise to put democracy before prosperity. If we don’t have democracy then we can never have true prosperity and development.

In a May, 2007 entry on censorship Trung says,

Master Ho Chi Minh said, ‘the purpose of democracy is to allow the people to open their mouths and speak. Article 69 of the constitution also says that ‘the citizens shall enjoy freedom of speech.’ But in reality that’s not true…

It seems that even those who’ve gained the attention of the MoI can continue to post controversial material, but it’s a dangerous game to play. Trung has mentioned having a government officer constantly parked outside of his house.

The expat blog scene focuses mostly on food or travel, but the best known expat blogger turned actor, Joe Ruelle, recently touched on censorship and in a humorous entry to his Vietnamese language Yahoo! 360° blog.

Everyone knows that blogging in Vietnam has its difficulties. But when I heard that Yahoo and Microsoft joined hands to monitor blogs with software to change ‘sensitive’ words into the names of Vietnamese dishes, I had to wonder…. Blog monitoring methods must be compatible with the internet community and flexible – not like this free range duck that Yahoo! Vietnam put into use yesterday morning. So angry! Tell the directors of Yahoo to get rid of their sautéed pumpkin green software immediately. If not, then I’m going to go to their office and take a rice cake and then go from restaurant to restaurant until all those boiled snails admit their fried rice mistake and Vietnamese pancake out a method that’s more fish sauce.

I have a pretty good idea of where the blog censorship line is, and I won’t even toe it like Trung. I may, however, to take a lesson from Joe and mention a few bowls of rice-noodle soup on my blog every now and then.

7 comments · »»