Oh dear. Yesterday the Washington Post reported that al Qaeda successfully seized a strategic airport, sea port and al-Dhabah oil export facility in the south of Yemen after skirmishes with Yemeni troops.
According to officials who remained anonymous, al Qaeda combatants engaged one of the largest Yemeni infantry brigades on the outskirt of Mukalla, successfully driving the brigade away.
Apparently the military leaders in charge of the brigade fled at the sight of the combatants, and didn’t put up much of a fight. The fragmentation and multilateral war in Yemen is an ideal environment for al Qaeda to gain territory.
Al Qaeda also sprang one of its high-up officials from the Al Mukalla city prison after cleaning out the city bank. Al Qaeda’s principal rivals, the allegedly pro-Iranian Shiite Houthi rebels currently engaged with the Saudi Government, are too preoccupied to worry about the recent al Qaeda advance.
Essentially, the Saudis continue slaughtering innocents while allowing al Qaeda to run rampant and gain ground. The U.S. continues its support of the Saudi slaughter of the rebels, and at the same time U.S. drone strikes took out several al Qaeda members, including a high-ranking official, the New York Times reported. Uncle Sam is knee-deep in the game, and he isn’t fooling anyone.
This development in the Yemeni kerfuffle is big news, and certainly The President is losing some sleep over this one. One obvious reason being that it will indubitably lead to more instability in the already chaotic Middle East, and it’s safe to say that as this thing progresses, it’s ciao to cheap oil.
But wait. This thing keeps getting better and better. Today, Bloomberg reported that Yemeni loyalists to exiled president Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi have successfully wrestled control of yet another oil field in order to prevent it from falling into al Qaeda’s grasp, or Houthi hands at that.
As Yemen slumps further and further into degeneracy, and Saudi Arabia continues to blow the Houthi’s to smithereens and in the processes facilitating the advance of al Qaeda, this thing has the potential to get even crazier. It’s just a matter of time before the U.S. sticks its nose even deeper into the Yemeni chaos, delivering another solid dose of democratic drone therapy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin likened the U.S. to the post-WWII Soviet Union during his annual question-and-answer, saying that the West must respect Moscow’s interests if it wants to normalize diplomatic relations.
Putin spoke about, “certain big powers,” saying those powers “don’t need allies, they only need vassals.” He added that Russia would “never accept that role.”
“After WWII we tried to impose our development model on whole Eastern European nations, and that ended in nothing good — that wasn’t good, and we’ve got to admit it,” said Putin. He continued,” By the way, this is what the U.S. is doing across the entire world.”
When asked whether Russia had troops in Ukraine, Putin replied, ”No,” and also said that despite any friction with the West, “We don’t see anyone as enemy, and we don’t recommend anyone to see us as enemy.”
He added that Russians should not expect any further sanctions to be imposed by the West, insisting that the Ukraine crisis would end soon, and also insisting that Russia’s economy could remain strong for its people.
Even though Putin made the comments mainly in regard to the U.S. interfering in the Ukraine crisis, he was also asked if his friends exploited his kindness and his response was, “Not only friends!”
Why would he say that? Did he refer to people who are not his friends? I don’t know what he was insisting on, since he claims to have no enemies.
Although I agree with Putin on how the U.S. is acting — pushing its beliefs on the rest of the world — he also needs to stop.
In Putin’s annual Question-and-Answers he tried to get off the subject of this crisis by answering easier question, by moving to the subject of how much sleep a child should get per night or recalling how he took former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to a Russian banya (sauna). In my opinion, he should have been much more prepared to answer the tougher questions if this was an annual event in Russia.
His answers should have been more clear — then again so should every politicians — and less contradicting of each other, using both “big powers don’t need allies” and “we don’t see anyone as enemy,” for example. But overall his interview was very confusing and the president didn’t stay on the more important topics for long. He should have been more prepared. Some of the statements he made I could say that I agreed with, but others just didn’t seem appropriate because of his own actions.
In Ngaba, Tibet — the scene of many self immolations by Tibetans protesting Chinese rule over the past several years — a man in his forties or fifties self immolated Wednesday beside a shrine he had set up which included photos of the Dalai Lama, the Tenth Panchen Lama, and his family, as well as the traditional butter-lamps and flowers of the Tibetan Buddhist practice.
“He was protesting against Chinese policies in Tibet,” a source from Ngaba told Radio Free Asia. “His body was taken away by police.”
Another of RFA’s sources was quoted, “He had received [religious] recognition for his vow not to harm others in personal disputes — a vow that he took in honor of all those who have sacrificed themselves in self-immolation protests for the cause of Tibetan freedom.”
The man’s name was Neykyab, according to Tibetan sources, who also said that the man was related by marriage to another Ngaba man who self immolated in Lhasa May 27, 2012.
The self immolation is the 139th within Tibet in protest of Chinese rule. It is the 141st self immolation for the cause, as self immolations have taken place in neighboring Nepal and India as well.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans paid tribute to the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster today in central Seoul, one year after the ferry sank, causing the deaths of 304 people April 16, 2014.
The Sewol ferry was heading to Jeju Island from Incheon International Port Passenger Terminal, carrying 476 passengers. Of those, 325 were high school students on the way to a field trip. The 6,800-ton vessel suddenly started leaning to port when it was passing Jindo Island. Within 10 minutes, the overloaded ferry capsized and sank in the sea near the southwestern province.
Two hundred fifty students were killed among the 304 victims, after listening to an announcement on the ship warning that “students shouldn’t move.” There were only 172 survivors, including 73 students and the captain of the ferry, and nine bodies still remain missing. The disaster was recorded as South Korea’s worst maritime tragedy.
The ferry captain, Lee Jun-Seok, was sentenced to 36 years in prison for abandoning his ship and passengers. Fourteen other surviving crew members also faced jail terms of five to 30 years.
The 73 students returned to school in June, 71 days after the tragic incident.
The families of the victims are continuing to make demands for a transparent investigation after salvaging the ferry.
“We won’t forget,” written in the Seoul City Hall area.Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South KoreaHigh school students pay a tribute at a memorial for the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul.People waiting to pay a tribute at a memorial for the victims.Nine victims, including students and teachers, whose bodies have not yet been found.People write letters to the victims, deeply asleep in the sea.Yellow Ribbon Campaign: “A small move makes a big miracle.” It became a symbol of solidarity with the victims. This campaign spread rapidly to social media.
The clock is ticking on the Greek debt agreement, and the smell of impending default fills the air. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the Greek government is prepared to forego €2.5 billion worth of payments due to the IMF in the next couple months, effectively plunging the nation into default.
The southern European nation could potentially be the first domino to fall in the dissolution of the eurozone. The default would send a serious tremor through Europe’s short-lived economic union, and the ECB is poised to cut off the cheap money spigot, leaving the Greek financial sector high and dry fomenting greater economic tumult.
Today the Financial Times reports that German finance minister Wolfgang Shäuble shot down any inkling that there might be an accord between the leftist Syriza government and its creditors. Further, Standard & Poor, a rating agency, announced that as a result of the junk status of Greek bonds, Greece is probably not going to be able to pay anybody back, let alone the IMF.
The gloom and doom factor here is that Greece is nearly incapable of paying out pensions and salaries for public sector workers, and as a leftist government, the decision to sell out the people to pay off the IMF is risky. With that being said, and due to the fact that the Germans wash their hands of this whole nasty thing, all that is really left to do is wait for the smoke to clear.
The question still remains of whether or not the Greeks will stay in the eurozone or if the “Grexit” will ensue. Public opinion in Greece indicates that an immense amount of Greeks, or 82 percent support Greece remaining in the monetary union.
With the Germans turning their backs on the “radical” Syriza government, and the ECB preparing to cut off the cash, all that that the cradle of democracy can do is to accept the honor of being the first deadbeat nation in the developed world.
The ballad of the Greek bust is an unprecedented story for the 21st century, and anybody not paying attention to this thing is missing history. The aftermath of this Greek financial tragedy has the potential to rock and roil the very foundations of the global financial system, and no doubt a great transformation is on the horizon.
SEOUL, South Korea — Nongovernmental organization Justice for North Korea (JFNK) launched a street campaign last Saturday in Insadong Street, Central Seoul to bring attention to the North Korean crisis.
Founder of JFNK and activist Peter Jung and street campaign coordinator Aaron Peterson held the campaign with four volunteers. Three people handed out flyers which explained about the organization and North Korea’s situation briefly in Chinese, English and Korean, while the remaining volunteer helped Jung and Peterson to role-play as an arrested defector, Chinese and North Korean soldiers.
The main purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of human rights violations in North Korea and to protest against China’s repatriation of North Korean refugees.
“The reason why we are role-playing is to give a more specific idea about how North Korean defectors are treated inhumanely, as well as to call on the Chinese government to stop the policy of repatriation. We also collect donations to support the process of bringing them over to South Korea safely,” Peterson explained.
Peter Jung founded JFNK in May 2007, when he staged a demonstration alone against Chinese authorities for 444 days, beginning May 23, 2007. He continued the protest until the first day of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Aug. 8, 2008.
“There are still many defectors who are in need of help. I still contact with them, so I can’t abandon this campaign,” he said.
According to a White Paper published by the South Korean think-tank Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) in 2011, China and North Korea have been cooperating in the strict controls over North Korean refugees near the border under a “Bilateral Agreement on Mutual Cooperation for the Maintenance of State Safety and Social Order.”
The UN Commission’s report states that Chinese authorities started to oppress North Korean refugees more severely by tightening border security and cracking down at the end of 2013. The report condemns China for breaching international human rights and refugee laws, as North Korean refugees’ lives are threatened in their country once they are sent back.
The 1951 Refugee Convention describes a refugee as one who, “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
Despite the international community’s criticism, China has been sticking to its position, considering defectors as illegal immigrants.
Jung emphasized that the South Korean government has to discuss North Korean defectors with China as soon as possible. “If they are forcibly repatriated to North Korea, they will either face the most severe punishment in the political prison camp or be publicly executed. Therefore, the South Korean government should urge the Chinese government to stop it through diplomatic negotiations. Also, the South Korean embassy needs to accept them,” Jung said.
Peterson started to get involved in JFNK two years ago. “I first heard about the North Korean crisis through a National Geography documentary, I was completely shocked — when I watched how North Korean people were brainwashed and isolated from the whole world. This made me become a North Korean activist, because I didn’t feel like enough people knew about what is happening in North Korea,” Peterson said.
The American activist said that he has felt some changes since he began the street campaign. “I can see more and more people are starting to pay attention. Of course, some South Koreans don’t seem to care much, but a lot of them are starting to take pictures of our demonstration and ask for flyers. Most people are very supportive. We would like to see more of that. I’m sure that it will become something that the world leaders have to address in the future,” he said.
Jung and Peterson said that they will not stop this campaign. “We will continue it until North Korean refugees settle down in South Korea or third-party countries, not being repatriated,” Jung said.
The U.S. military is aiding the Saudis by way of searching ships en route to Yemen coming from Iran, in an effort to curtail the supply of arms to the Shiite rebels. The rebel Houthi forces, who destabilized the government and took control of the country in February of this year, blame Saudi Arabia for attacks resultant in 648 civilian casualties since the beginning of the Saudi engagement with the rebels.
Yesterday, Iran called for the installation of a new Yemeni government, which is certain to increase tensions with Saudi Arabia. The U.S. continues to council the King on how to deal with the pro-Iranian Houthi faction in an attempt to regain stability by reinstating Western-backed president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The weird part of this story is that it is no secret that Iran and the U.S. are in bed together in regards to the containment of the Islamic State (IS). U.S. Iranian relations were further strengthened with last week’s nuclear deal, or in other words, Obama’s final swan song in his futile effort to create a lasting legacy as opposed to more global instability.
Nearly 12 years have past since the Bush administration invaded Iraq, toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime, and miring the U.S. in eight years of bloody conflict, but the Bush legacy lives on. Since president Barack Obama assumed office in 2009, not much has changed in regards to U.S. foreign policy, and in all reality, global instability is even worse than it was during the Bush years.
From the Syrian slump into civil war and the rise of the IS, to Libya, the Ukrainian crisis, and now Yemen, the Obama administration is scraping up quite a track record. The Yazidis trapped on the mountain were in trouble, and the U.S. sent in “military advisors”; now the Saudi’s need a hand, and the approval stamp from the U.S. to continue murdering civilians in Yemen. The U.S. supports Iranian foreign policy in one part of the world, while containing it in another, and yes, things are certain to get weirder and weirder. It seems as though the Obama administration has given the Bush legacy the “change” we all voted for in 2009.
Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama made a speech in Japan this week in which he said that he expects to finalize his decision in 2025 about who his reincarnated successor will be. The Dalai Lama will be 90 years old at that time. However, China has reiterated its claim that the government has the sole only authority to choose the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama has lived in exile from Tibet since 1959 when he escaped the country in fear of his life, nine years after China conquered the territory. The Dalai Lama is considered a criminal terrorist and separatist Chinese authorities.
The Dalai Lama, who has been in Japan since early this month, said in an interview with Japanese news Asahi Shimbun that he will participate in further discussion before finalizing his decision. He also said that he will keep close watch on China’s reaction to his offers to resume talks.
The officially atheist Chinese government last month reiterated its claim, however, that the government has the sole responsibility to decide the Dalai Lama’s successor, criticizing the Dalai Lama for not “showing a serious or respectful attitude on the issue.”
Both parties have already picked contrary reincarnations of the Panchen Lama, the “second holiest” monk in Tibetan Buddhism. In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose a 6-year-old Tibetan boy as the reincarnation, while the Chinese government chose a different child. The choice of the Dalai Lama and his family have not been seen since, although the Chinese government later admitted that it was holding the Dalai Lama’s choice in “protective custody” in Beijing at the request of his parents.
A Tibetan nun self immolated April 8, becoming the 140th known self immolation in protest of Chinese rule over the Himalayan region.
The nun, Yeshi Kandro, who was in her 40s, was known to be a serious practitioner of meditation and deeply concerned with Tibetan issues, according to sources of International Campaign for Tibet. Yeshi may have participated in peaceful protests in Tibet in 2008.
Yeshi was from Draggo, Kardze, and she attended Nganggang monastery in the region.
On April 8 she set went to a location near the monastery and the police station in Kardze town. She called for the long life of the Dalai Lama, for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet, and for the freedom of Tibet, and self immolated.
Police extinguished the flame, which was reported to have been particularly intense, with fire extinguishers, and took the woman’s body away.
Yeshi is the 140th person known to have self immolated in protest of Chinese rule over Tibet, and the 138th person to have done so within Tibet. She is the second woman to have self immolated for this cause in 2015.
Mexico is in a deep human rights crisis as a result of its continuing mistreatment of Central American immigrants. The government has started a campaign with the objective of reducing the number of immigrants who attempt to cross the southern border of Mexico.
Thousands of officials from the National Institute of Migration (INM), the federal police forces and even military personnel have been deployed along the southern border, managing to significantly reduce the flow of immigrants who attempt to cross the border in order to reach the United States of America.
The constant presence of checkpoints along the roads and railways has left immigrants without many options apart from displacement. “Now we have to walk for miles and miles to avoid checkpoints,” Alejandro Maldonado, a 49-year-old migrant from Honduras said. He has made the trip four times.
Public transportation is always stopped by the INM and the identity of each passenger is checked. Trains are also halted and immigrants on board are persecuted and apprehended by the authorities.
Despite knowing the risks and dangers involved in riding the Beast (the name of the train which the immigrants use to cross into Mexico), there are still many individuals who are willing to make the attempt. The Beast remains the best way to reach the center and north of Mexico. Though it is the fastest way, it is certainly not the safest.
Several NGOs and religious organizations that offer help and assistance to immigrants have become an oasis on the road for those wishing to obtain the American dream. These shelters provide housing, food, medical care, and legal assistance, and provide what is by far the best treatment that immigrants receive on their journeys.
“La 72,” for example, is a shelter which was set up in honour of the 72 immigrants brutally killed by an organized crime group in San Fernando, Tamaulipas in August 2010. The shelter is located in Tenosique, Tabasco, 80 kilometers away from the Southern border.
The center is run by Fray Tomás González, who has helped to provide safety and rest to thousands of Central-American immigrants for over 20 years. “Every immigrant arriving to ‘La 72’ is allowed to stay for three days to a week or even longer, depending on the condition and status of the immigrants. They are fed three times a day and are encouraged to participate in different activities organized by the volunteers working there. In return, they only have to behave, contribute to the cleaning tasks and the stronger ones are able to help with the maintenance of the shelter,” Tomás explained.
According to official numbers from the House of Immigrants in Tecum Uman, Guatemala, the flow of immigrants has been reduced to less than 50 persons per week, of which most were young and adult males, compared with 700 immigrants per week in 2011, when children and woman represented over 50 percent of the immigrant population.
Even though the numbers have dropped dramatically, there are still women and children trying to cross into the country with the hope of a better life, the illusion of joining their families or just running away from the poverty and violence that certain communities in Central America are subjected to.
There are very few support services for immigrants in Mexico apart from support homes run by NGO’s and religious organizations.
Another organisation that does exist, however, is in Veracruz state, where a group of women run “Las Patronas.” They gather every day together to prepare food, wrap it up and throw it to the immigrants travelling on the rooftop of the beast.
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The road remains a hostile place full of dangers, where the possibility of being attacked by organized crime, officers from the INM, the Federal Police, or the army is very high. Kidnapping, rape or even murder are examples of the horrendous things that the immigrants face daily.
A 38-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who refused to give his name was brutally beaten after being robed while he was walking to Arriaga, Chiapas.
For many, the American Dream has faded away, which has meant some immigrants have begun to choose Mexico as a second option. They try to find a job and start a whole new life, as described by one of the immigrants I met in the district of Pakal-na in Palenque.
Apparently, the effort of the Mexican State to reduce the flow of immigrants to the country has been successful.
However, it has been the target of strong criticism due to the violent measures used to enforce it and the rising toll it has on human lives — families, women and children included.
The tactics and policies of the Mexican government have been compared to those performed by the Border Patrol further north in the United States which is not by any means an example of success either politically, economically or socially.
Photos and text by David A Córdova M
Immigrants makes the line to receive food from the shelter.Rafts are used to cross immigrants from Guatemala to Mexico in The Suchiate River; A natural border between those two countries.A Honduran immigrant is getting ready to cross the Suchiate river.Immigrants are crossing the Suchiate river in rafts, which are also used to cross merchandise illegally.Rafters from Guatemala are waiting for immigrants or merchandise to cross.Immigrants are having a rest in Pakal-na district in Palenque.Immigrants arriving to Mexico.One of the bedrooms of the Shelter for immigrants “Jesus the good shepherd” in Tapachula, ChiapasA volunteer of the shelter for immigrants “La 72” heals an immigrants feet after walked over 80 kilometers from the border to the shelter.Fray Tomás González giving a speech to the immigrants staying at the shelter.Immigrants help volunteers to put tables and chairs for lunchA father and his 2 years old daughter waits in the tracks for the beast to come.A child walks around the facilities of the immigrant shelter “La 72” a wall with dates of tragedies occurred to immigrants can be seen.Central American immigrants are recovered in the center for immigrant Jesus the Good Shepherd after suffering an accident on the Train “The Beast”.An old immigrant woman smokes a cigarette while she is making crafts to sell and get some money for the travel.A 21 years old immigrant mother holds her child while she is looking for clothes to wear in the shelter for immigrants “La 72”Immigrants waits in the shelter “La 72” for the train to departure.Salvadoran immigrant; He was beaten and robbed of all his belongings during a walking course to ArriagaImmigrant women are washing their clothe before continue their journey north.Immigrants clothes; For most of them, their only belongingsA immigrant child helps to clean the dining hall after being usedA immigrant waits the departure of the Beast in Arriaga, Chiapas.Immigrants are ready to ride the beast in Arriaga, ChiapasImmigrants are waiting in the train tracks in Palenque, Chiapas.Immigrants get’s ready to catch the beast in Arriaga, Chiapas.
You don’t have to look far on social networking or in the pub to find an old punk bemoaning the fact that the kids “have nothing to say these days.” He’s well aware that it’s not the summer of 1976 anymore, but what disturbs him more is that his kids are embarrassed by his somewhat pacified antisocial aggression.
The punks are now parents and the hippies often grandparents. And that’s ignoring the majority who were listening to ABBA or The Carpenters as opposed to the somewhat more media-stoked Jimi Hendrix or The Sex Pistols at their respective times. With a dynamic online petition to stop Kanye West playing Glastonbury as the most recent of many, it’s HIS fans who are in fact upping the social ante, unbearable as he is.
Thus, white punk rebellion, somewhat away from its Trotskyite/anarcho roots has filled out, sat down, and had to accept that only about 10 percent of the movement’s output was listenable in the first place. The rest of it was simply the sound of fury, replaced less by The Arctic Monkeys or Fat White Family and more by Skrillex or Eminem. Punk spirit wears Gucci and Puma, and headbutts you in a Wetherspoons for spilling its pint or looking at its bird.
Johnny Rotten’s main target in 1977 was the older generation, when the music industry was powerful enough to take aim at other demographics or other artists, and thus to become its own media outrage industry. Blur and Oasis’s feud in the mid nineties was the dying ember of this music press flames fanning technique. Now, with digital having decimated the traditional recording industry and deadened neighbours having music venues closed up and down the country, the enemy of music has changed. The enemy is now the lack of imagination of the consumer.
The enemy now is also the corporations who insist on their logos swamping festivals; record company focus groups who insist on legacy artist reissues; a generation of musicians who see it as a career, and think the apex of artistic success is Noel Gallagher; and a public who are so dumbed-down in their listening tastes that a new Muse album is greeted with wild enthusiasm.
The parents and grandparents are more outrageous and rebellious than their progeny, and their ‘cultural revolutions’ didn’t so much fail, as were co-opted into parody. Clever. It’s a relief that Thatcher’s years are gone, sure, we’re just left with the smiling fallout – and that this century’s version of anti-war sentiment is met with Daily Mail choruses of ‘traitor’ for somehow demoralising troops in the middle-east. There is an enemy all right, but it’s not mum and dad – they’re despairing for the passivity, apathy, ignorance and politeness of youth. As long as they’re not chavs. The enemy of music and spirit is big business collaborating with the government, validated by mainstream consumers. Ever get the feeling you’ve been pacified?
In a major victory for free speech, the Indian supreme court slashed the draconian provision in section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Session 66A had infringed the right of speech of Indian citizens since 2000. The IT Act of 2000 gave the Indian government the power to arrest an individual for posting “offensive” content online. Recently, the court struck off section 66A, stating that the definition in the rule book for deeming an act “offensive” is unclear and irrational and clarifying that what is offensive to one individual could seem appropriate to others.
This decision comes amidst a major public discourse in India during the past month, after the Indian government decided to ban the broadcast of the BBC documentary “India’s Daughter” about the 2012 rape of an young Indian girl in Delhi. As a democratic republic, India has been a free society since its independence in 1947, barring the brief emergency in 1975 imposed by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The founding fathers of India placed significant emphasis on freedom of speech when the Indian constitution was written.
The Delhi rape case has transformed India in numerous ways, and particularly on the questions of women’s rights and citizens’ freedoms. The girl Nirbhaya has become a social change icon in the country. But the banning of “India’s Daughter” is viewed by many Indians as a repression of free speech.
Benefits of Section 66A Draconian axing:
The striking of Section 66A means Indians can express their opinion in the written or speech form on almost anything without fearing prosecution. Most important benefit of this draconian removal is the fact that Indians can now fight the government in-case of free speech oppressions. But the sedition law still exists in the Indian Law, any person can still be prosecuted in India for anti-government activities such as hate speech or contempt towards the government establishment. Also, couple of major amendments, section 69A and Section 79 still remain as road blocks for a freer India. Under the Section 69A of the Indian Penal Code the government has power to block any information from the Internet or any electronic resource in-case of communal violence but, the alleged improper content should be submitted to court before the government may take action as per the Section 79.
Remaining Censorships in India:
Still work remains to be done in the quest for free India as Section 66A dismissal statement is still unclear on the point of freedom of “expression” i.e. cartoons, photographs and movies. This imprecision gives the government leverage in prosecuting a print cartoonist or a private filmmaker or an amateur photographer. After all, the law treats freedom of speech and freedom of expression as two different entities though it seems to understand that both are mutually inclusive.
The master of the enlightenment age Voltaire famously defended free speech by stating, though one may not agree about something but one ought to defend to death the right of that being expressed. A similar notion is picking steam in Indian society after the government’s “India’s daughter” documentary ban. The recent pro free-speech judgement from the Supreme Court adds zest in the fight for a freer India.
