Daily Archives: September 20, 2014

Earth Censorship
Do you remember the Spanish Flu? That was about 100 years ago. The Earth #39;s human population is much denser now, and more people live in cities. Related video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

By: ThuleanPerspective

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Earth Censorship - Video

The firing of a longtime editorial cartoonist at El Universal newspaper for drawings critical of Venezuelas government caused a protest Friday by former colleagues concerned about censorship of opposition viewpoints.

Cartoonist Rayma Suprani's firing this week reflects the countrys increasing censorship, according to a statement issued by staff at the newspaper.

Long an opposition voice in Venezuelan politics, the editorial page of the 105-year-old newspaper was often critical of Venezuelas socialist government, including President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. The newspaper was acquired in July by interests aligned with the Chavista government. Since then, numerous columnists have left the publication.

Were sorry that [Rayma] is no longer with us and we see [her firing] as one of the major costs that the new ownership is paying for trying to adapt to an editorial line favorable to the government, the staffs statement said.

Suprani sent a message over social media Wednesday saying she was let go because her cartoons made the Maduro government uncomfortable. Her last sketch, published on Sept. 17, showed two fever charts one atop the other. One was labeled Health and tracked a patients normal heart beat. The other was labeled Venezuelas Health and showed a flat line, or cardiac arrest.

Venezuela is suffering from a generally weak economy, inflation running at higher than 60%, a devaluing currency and scarcities of basic food and household items.

Under Chavez and Maduro, Venezuelas socialist government has vigorously attacked or neutralized critics in TV, radio and print media. The critical RCTV station lost its broadcast license in 2007, and Globovision TV owner Guillermo Zuloaga was jailed in 2010 on hoarding charges he said were designed to muzzle him. He later sold his interest in the station.

After Chavez became president in 1999, dozens of once independent community radio stations across Venezuela were forced to close or sell to owners sympathetic to the government. Many independent newspapers have disappeared. El Nacional in Caracas is the only major opposition newspaper.

In another development, actress Maria Conchita Alonso, who now lives and works in the U.S., is being stripped of her Venezuelan citizenship, according to a notice published Wednesday in the governments official gazette.

The notice did not give a reason for Alonsos pending loss of Venezuelan citizenship in a process initiated by the interior ministry. The actress has been a harsh critic of Chavez and Maduro for their socialist policies. Born in Cuba, Alonso immigrated to Venezuela with her family in the early 1960s after the Communist revolution led by Fidel Castro.

Continued here:
Firing of editorial cartoonist in Venezuela raises censorship concerns

Hundreds of defiant Singaporeans protesting censorship gathered in Malaysia to see a documentary banned by regulators in their home country as a threat to national security

JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia Hundreds of defiant Singaporeans protesting censorship gathered in Malaysia on Friday, September 19, to see a documentary banned by regulators in their home country as a threat to national security.

'To Singapore, With Love' poster

The film, "To Singapore, with Love", examines the case of political exiles in the city-state and features interviews with nine former activists, student leaders, and self-confessed communists who fled Singapore from the 1960s until the 1980s and are currently settled in Malaysia, Britain and Thailand.

Organizers estimated 400 people watched the screening, saying most of the audience was made up of Singaporeans who had crossed the border to view the production in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Bharu.

The Media Development Authority (MDA), Singapore's media regulator, on September 10 banned the documentary, saying it provided a "distorted and untruthful" account of the exiles' situation.

It said the film's contents undermined national security because it showed "legitimate actions of the security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimized innocent individuals".

According to the Singapore government, a number of the exiles featured in the film were former members of the Communist Party of Malaya, which had sought to overthrow governments in Singapore and Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s.

Singapore became independent from the Malaysian federation in 1965.

"I am disappointed by the reaction of the MDA, I wish it was otherwise of course...I spent a lot of time making it and really would have liked this film to have been seen (in Singapore)," director Tan Pin Pin told the audience in remarks after the screening.

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Defiant Singaporeans watch banned docu in Malaysia

MERY MOGOLLON AND CHRIS KRAUL

CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/Reuters

FIRED: "I was informed of my sacking from El Universal over this caricature and my awkward attitude over graphic satire, " veteran cartoonist Suprani said via Twitter.

The firing of a longtime editorial cartoonist at El Universal newspaper for drawings critical of Venezuela's government caused a protest Friday by former colleagues concerned about censorship of opposition viewpoints.

Cartoonist Rayma Suprani's firing this week reflects the country's "increasing censorship," according to a statement issued by staff at the newspaper.

Long an opposition voice in Venezuelan politics, the editorial page of the 105-year-old newspaper was often critical of Venezuela's socialist government, including President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. The newspaper was acquired in July by interests aligned with the Chavista government. Since then, numerous columnists have left the publication.

"We're sorry that (Rayma) is no longer with us and we see (her firing) as one of the major costs that the new ownership is paying for trying to adapt to an editorial line favourable to the government," the staff's statement said.

Suprani sent a message over social media Wednesday saying she was let go because her cartoons made the Maduro government "uncomfortable." Her last sketch, published on Sept. 17, showed two fever charts one atop the other. One was labelled "Health" and tracked a patient's normal heart beat. The other was labelled "Venezuela's Health" and showed a flat line, or cardiac arrest.

Venezuela is suffering from a generally weak economy, inflation running at higher than 60 percent, a devaluing currency and scarcities of basic food and household items.

Under Chavez and Maduro, Venezuela's socialist government has vigorously attacked or neutralised critics in TV, radio and print media. The critical RCTV station lost its broadcast license in 2007, and TV owner Guillermo Zuloaga was jailed in 2010 on hoarding charges he said were designed to muzzle him. He later sold his interest in the station.

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'Increasing censorship' in Venezuela, says fired cartoonist