Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

An opponent to the Venezuelan government waves a flag in front of the police during a protest 28 May 2007, in Caracas, in the aftermath of the closure of private network RCTV (Radio Caracas Television). The United States called on Venezuela’s leftist president, Hugo Chavez, Tuesday to reverse his decision to close the country’s oldest television station.

AFP: US calls on Venezuela’s Chavez to reverse television closure

The United States joins the expressions of concern made by the international community about the May 27 closure of RCTV, Venezuela’s only independent television network with nationwide broadcast coverage,” said State Department spokesman Tom Casey.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, it’s an essential element of democracy anywhere in the world,” he said.

“We’d certainly call on the government of Venezuela to abide by its commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Inter-American Democratic Charter and to reverse these policies that they’re pursuing to limit freedom of expression,” he said.

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez speaks during a meeting with retired people in La Guaira, Venezuela, Tuesday, May 29, 2007. Chavez defended his decision not to renew the license of a popular opposition-aligned television network and warned he might crack down on another critical TV station, accusing it of trying to incite attempts on his life.

But, Hugo Chavez will not reverse course. In fact, he has threatened a second station.

Venezuela’s leftist government accused a leading TV station of calling for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez, El Universal reported Tuesday.

Globovision TV was said to be openly calling for the death of Chavez when it aired the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II accompanied by the phrase, “This doesn’t end here.”

The accusation against Globovision follows the decision by Venezuela to shut down an opposition TV station and replace it with a state-backed network triggered angry protests Monday.

The Venezuelan Social Television started broadcasting shortly after midnight, taking over the frequency previously occupied by Radio Caracas Television.

The state-run broadcast included traditional songs and dances, cartoons, documentaries and a statement from station President Lil Rodriguez — who said that as a self-respecting nation, Venezuela now has a new source of messages of dignity, VOA reported.

But RCTV employees and university students protested in Caracas Monday, calling the station closure an attack on free speech. Bank worker Marycel Montiel said she joined a protest to denounce Chavez’ authoritarian policies, comparing them to measures taken in Cuba.

And the protests continue despite Hugo Chavez’s threats:

Riot police stand guard as university students protest against Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez’s decision to shut down opposition-aligned television station Radio Caracas Television, RCTV, and replace it with a new state-funded channel, in Caracas, Tuesday, May 29, 2007.

Students protest against Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez’s decision to shut down opposition-aligned television station Radio Caracas Television, RCTV.

Will Chavez use deadly force against his own people to stifle freedom of the press?

Fidel Castro is his mentor.

Here is some video from today’s street protest in Venezuela:

Stay tuned……

Previous:

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chavez Closes and Re-Opens Nationalized Venezuelan Television Station

Cox & Forkum: Belly Up

Hugo Chavez Watch: Iran and Venezuela Plan to Fund Projects – To Thwart United States Domination

A woman supporter of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez displays a doll representing Chavez during a demonstration organized by Venezuela’s embassy in Managua, Sunday May 27, 2007. The demonstration was to support Chavez’s decison of not renewing the license to broadcast of RCTV, Radio Caracas Television channel, the sole opposition-aligned TV station with nationwide reach. The writing on the background pro-Chavez sign reads in Spanish ‘Yes to integration, Yanquis ( Americans ) out of our America’.

Venezuelan TV station goes off the air

Venezuela’s oldest private television station went off the air at midnight Sunday as thousands banged on pots and pans in protest against President Hugo Chavez’s decision not to renew the license of the opposition-aligned channel.

If the press disagrees or ridicules your government, then why not take over the press? In a blatant demonstration of government censorship, ala Cuba, and the Soviet Union, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez finds a solution.

Control the press – in this case television.

And when the people protest, stage a counter-demonstration and unleash the police and water cannon to stifle the dissent.

A water cannon sprays demonstrators during a protest against the closure of private network RCTV (Radio Caracas Television) in Caracas, 27 May 2007. Venezuela’s oldest television network has gone off the air at midnight in a move slammed by the opposition as a new push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip on the nation’s media.

Will the print press that is mainly privately owned be the next to go?

Probably, if they criticize Hugo Chavez.

A woman shouts slogans during a protest against the closure of private network RCTV (Radio Caracas Television).

Previous:

Cox & Forkum: Belly Up

Hugo Chavez Watch: Iran and Venezuela Plan to Fund Projects – To Thwart United States Domination

Psiphon

Guardian: Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites

Iran yesterday shut down access to some of the world’s most popular websites. Users were unable to open popular sites including Amazon.com and YouTube following instructions to service providers to filter them.

Similar edicts have been issued against Wikipedia, the internet encyclopaedia, IMDB.com, an online film database, and the New York Times site. Attempts to open the sites are met with a page reading: “The requested page is forbidden.”

Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Mullahs cannot stand the outside criticism of their maniacal government.

But, the New York Times – every friend of America’s enemies?

But, there is a work around.

With some 7.5 million surfers, Iran is believed to have the highest rate of web use in the Middle East after Israel. The net’s popularity has prompted an estimated 100,000 bloggers, many opposed to the Islamic regime. Some blogs are substitutes for Iran’s once-flourishing, but now largely supressed, reformist press.

Last week Mohammed Tourang, head of the information bureau’s cultural committee, warned Iranian websites of stricter rules by announcing steps to stamp out “immoral and illegal” content. He said site owners would be given official reminders to eliminate forbidden material. Special attention would be paid to content judged to be a threat to national unity or insulting to sacred religious texts and symbols. Students and academics say the move limits their ability to conduct research.

The purge mirrors a rising tide of censorship in Iranian publishing which has resulted in the banning of hundreds of books, including western classics. Illegal satellite dishes have also been seized.

Flap’s Blog has not been banned (as of last night) and encourages discourse with Iranians who desire uncensored access to the internet.

What will be next for Iran, book burning?

Michelle Malkin has more.

A new Canadian software tool aims to help people in web-censoring countries like Iran, where this woman was on the internet in a cafe in Tehran in August.

CBC (Via Michelle Malkin): Tool to circumvent internet censorship set to launch

Researchers at University of Toronto plan to introduce a software tool on Friday that aims to help people in countries that censor the World Wide Web.

Psiphon (pronounced sigh-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in a country that censors the internet sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions.

Its creators plan to launch the software at the Protect The Net conference at the university’s Munk Centre for International Studies, where psiphon emerged as a project of Citizenlab. Researchers at the facility examine the relationship between digital media and politics around the world.

“We’re aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia,” a free, user-maintained online encyclopedia, and other information and news sources, Michael Hull, psiphon’s lead engineer, told CBC News Online.

Citing countries such as China and Iran among some 40 countries that censor the internet, Hull said that the way in which access to information is cut off is troubling.

“My problem with it is that there’s no transparency. Someone is making an arbitrary decision and there is no way to appeal it, even if you feel like you’re doing nothing wrong,” he said.

A good concept but Flap is positive that China and Iran are already working on a blocking hack to this software.

Psiphon works by letting people in uncensored countries download the free software to run a secure, encrypted server or node in the private network. The server administrator would pass the connection information to friends and family in censored countries – psiphonites – who could then log in through a web browser and navigate sites without restrictions.

Totalitarian governments fail with free speech discourse and freedom of expression.

Stay tuned……..let’s see if this works.

You can download the software here.

Flap agrees with Michelle: SPREAD THE WORD.

A new Canadian software tool aims to help people in web-censoring countries like Iran, where this woman was on the internet in a cafe in Tehran in August.