15 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Several major Ecuadorian newspapers ran the same cover on 10th August, titled “For Freedom of Expression”, in protest against President Rafael Correa’s increasing verbal and legal attacks on independent media. The President devoted 42 minutes of his State of the Union speech to criticism of the press, and during his weekly TV broadcast also urged the public to file lawsuits against what he called the “corrupt press”, name-checking reporter Jeanette Hinostroza for having commented on political negotiations related to appointments within the National Assembly.
15 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Two newspapers critical of the Cambodian ruling party were shut down permanently, while five men were convicted of “provocation” for distributing pamphlets critical of the state last week, according to the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR). The pamphlets discussed the Cambodian government’s ties to the Vietnamese government, accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of selling land to foreign countries and referring to him as a “traitor” and a “puppet of Vietnam.” Newspapers The Water and Fire News and The World News were ordered to stop publishing as of 3 August and had their licenses revoked due to perceived insult to the Ministry of Information.
15 Aug 2011 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
According to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Saudi Arabian listeners have been unable to access their websites. While no official reason has been given for the block, the station believes that it may be linked to a video posted on the Arabic version of the website. The video, posted on 15 July, showed a migrant worker being beaten. Earlier this year, Radio Netherlands Worldwide also reported on the exploitation and deplorable working conditions of domestic workers at the Saudi Embassy in The Hague.
15 Aug 2011 | Americas, Mexico
In a nation already accustomed to a high-levels of crime-related violence, the recent activities of a little known anarchist group have left Mexicans baffled. The explosion of a parcel bomb sent to a nanotechnology professor at the prestigious Tecnologico de Monterrey last Monday injected an element of magic realism to Mexico’s crime wave. Professor Armando Herrera Corral and another professor from the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de Mexico, were wounded when Corral opened a package that contained the rudimentary bomb. The anti-technology group that took credit for the attack, Individuals Tending to Savagery, opposes nanotechnology, the science that seeks to build machines in the size of molecules.
The attack against the Tec is seen as heresy, Mexico is very proud of this prestigious private university that styles itself after the Massachusetts Technology Institute (MIT). In April, the same group sent another parcel bomb to the Instituto Politecnico, a science polytechnic, the intended target was another nano scientist, but was accidentally detonated by a security guard who lost an eye in the incident.
The story took a lurid twist after speculation connected the case to the 5 August disappearance of scientist Yadira Davila Martinez, a genome specialist who vanished in a shopping mall in Cuernavaca, a town located an hour outside if Mexico City. The police have found a dismembered body they believe may be that of Davila Martinez and a final DNA identification is pending. Davila Martinez worked for the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, UNAM, Mexico’s country’s top public university. Her case might just be a coincidence — two drug groups are fighting a turf war in Cuernavaca — but if her case is linked to the anti-technology group, it would bring a dangerous new element to the Mexico’s violence. In the past other anarchist groups placed bombs at ATM tellers in Mexico City, but this is the first rash of serious attacks directed against individuals.
Individuals Tending to Savagery take their cue from Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber in the United States who engaged in a 20 year letter bombing spree against universities and companies he identified as degrading the environment. The attack has terrified the university community in Mexico City. Government officials have called on all institutions to upgrade their security.
