While opposition viewpoints are rarely presented in Russian newspapers these days (and even less frequently on television), the Internet has remained a place where Russians of all ideological stripes are able to express themselves.
But following the mysterious death of Web journalist Magomed Yevloyev and the prosecution of disaffected bloggers, there are fears that authorities are trying to squeeze shut that remaining outlet for freewheeling debate. ... "Our main goal is that site must live, despite everything. Despite the attempts to block us, to arrest us. The site must live." Alastair Gee, Russia's Dissident Bloggers Fear for Their Lives, The gunshot death of a Web journalist heightens alarm about efforts to muzzle dissent on the Internet, US News and World Report, 9-30-08
Global Media Freedom Update: Russia Now, the USA Sooner than Later? "Despite the attempts to block us, to arrest us. The site must live."
By Richard Power
The murder of Russian citizen journalist Magomed Yevloyev is a very important story.
It carries two chilling warnings.
The first warning concerns the serious turn for the worst in post-Soviet Russia.
There is a lot going bad inside of Russia, and the fallout is going to impact the USA and the Western Alliance in dangerous and unpredictable ways; especially, if the heavy-handed and the war-mongering retain power in Beltwayistan.
The second warning concerns the serious turn for the worst in post-9/11 USA.
The US mainstream news media failed us on the election theft crisis of 2000, the aftermath of 9/11, the ramp-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the election theft crisis of 2004, the ginned-up debate about Global Warming, and the many withering attacks on the US Constitution, the Geneva Accords and other vital documents that define who we are and what we stand for as nation.
It is the progressive blogosphere (amplified in recent years with the rise of progressive talk radio) that has reminded us of who we are and awakened us to the truth of our tragic circumstances.
Without the bloggers you would not know -- or would have already forgotten -- about what happened to Don Siegelmen, Sibel Edmonds and David Iglesias.
Without the bloggers you would not know who Stephen Spoonamore is and why the story he tells is so desperately important to our future.
How far do you think we are from US citizen journalists meeting the same fate as Magomed Yevloyev?
The truth is that we are only a couple of twists of the economic knife away from it, or a second 9/11 away from it.
The progressive bloggers have been the messengers, the bearers of bad news, and you know what happens to the bearers of bad news.
Bloggers are already being caricatured, denigrated and vilified in the MSM (see Hard Rain Journal 12-3-07: David Gregory Meet I.F. Stone and Tom Paine x 10,000 for an example).
Get serious.
Listen to the Thom Hartman Show. You can stream it for free over the web, you can download the podcasts from Air America, and yes, you can tune it in on a growing number of AM radio stations.
Buy a copy of Naomi Wolf's Give Me Liberty for everyone you know who has an open mind and gives a damn; and buy all those copies from Buzzflash.
Follow the brilliant work of Brad Friedman (Brad Blog) and Marc Crispin Miller (Notes from the Underground).
This election is a crossroads.
If the nation turns one way, we will have to follow a very narrow, very rocky, very steep trail down to the beautiful valley of what we once were and could be again.
If the nation turns the other way, we will go straight over a cliff into the abyss.
While opposition viewpoints are rarely presented in Russian newspapers these days (and even less frequently on television), the Internet has remained a place where Russians of all ideological stripes are able to express themselves.
But following the mysterious death of Web journalist Magomed Yevloyev and the prosecution of disaffected bloggers, there are fears that authorities are trying to squeeze shut that remaining outlet for freewheeling debate.
The issue came sharply into focus with the August 31 killing of Yevloyev, the founder of a popular site called Ingushetia.org that reports on human rights abuses in the restive southern Russian region of Ingushetia.
After he landed at the airport in the Ingushetian town of Nazran, a police convoy picked him up. Less than an hour later, he was delivered to the hospital with a fatal bullet wound to his head. ...
Ingushetia.org frequently ranks as one of Russia's most-viewed sites. "We're the only site that talks about what is really going on in Ingushetia," says Roza Malsagova, its editor-in-chief, who oversees five editors and around 10 freelancers. ...
Malsagova, the editor-in-chief [who had to flee to Paris with her children], says that despite her financial difficulties in Paris and her homesickness, Yevloyev's death has only reinforced her sense of purpose. "Our main goal is that site must live, despite everything. Despite the attempts to block us, to arrest us. The site must live." Alastair Gee, Russia's Dissident Bloggers Fear for Their Lives, The gunshot death of a Web journalist heightens alarm about efforts to muzzle dissent on the Internet, US News and World Report, 9-30-08
Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.
For an archive of Words of Power posts on Campaign '08, click here.
For Words of Power's archive of posts on Corporate News Media Complicity, Power of Alternative Media, Propaganda & Freedom, click here.
Don Siegelman,
Thom Hartmann, Marc Crispin Miller, Brad Friedman, Stephen Spoonamore, David Iglesias, Naomi Wolf, Russia, Magomed+Yevloyev, Blogosphere Richard Power,
