One Student's Epic Tweets Call Out the Biggest Hypocrites Marching for Free Speech In Paris

[kpete]

Millions of people took to the streets of Paris and cities across France on Sunday to rally in defense of free speech and against terrorism in the wake of Wednesday's deadly attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The French Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that 3.7 million marched throughout France, making the demonstrations the largest in the country's history.

Adding to the symbolic weight of the demonstrations, more than 40 world leaders joined the start of the Paris march, linking arms in an act of solidarity. But as Reporters Without Borders points out, their policies at home are far from compatible with the solidarity for free speech on display throughout France.

The organization said Sunday that it was "appalled by the presence of leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted such as Egypt (which is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in RWB's press freedom index), Russia (148th), Turkey (154th) and United Arab Emirates (118th)."

"We must demonstrate our solidarity with Charlie Hebdo without forgetting all the world’s other Charlies," Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement. "It would be unacceptable if representatives of countries that silence journalists were to take advantage of the current outpouring of emotion to try to improve their international image and then continue their repressive policies when they return home. We must not let predators of press freedom spit on the graves of Charlie Hebdo."

They're right. In what can only be described as an epic series of 21 pointed tweets, London School for Economics Middle East Society co-president Daniel Wickham points out that many of the world leaders who marched Sunday through the streets of Paris are not the world's biggest advocates for press freedom.



PLEASE READ ON
This is a treasure trove of info:
http://mic.com/articles/108166/one-student-s-epic-tweets-call-out-the-biggest-hypocrites-marching-for-free-speech-in-paris

[Unknown Beatle]

1. Is the US government for press freedom?

I think not. Otherwise they wouldn't be jailing whistleblowers that report what is considered classified information. Chelsea Manning comes to mind as being jailed for exposing war crimes in Iraq. And then there's Edward Snowden that leaked information that the NSA is really trying to become Big Brother. The PTB have a huge hard-on for Snowden, wanting to capture and treat him just like they treated Manning.

The press are just stenographers for the CIAs propaganda.

[Recursion]

2. We didn't do anything against the journalists who printed their stuff

Greenwald, Assange, the Guardian, the NYT, etc.

There also seems to have been no action against the GITMO document leaker (who, remember was not Manning, though they happened around the same time).

[JDPriestly]

3. What about James Risen?

Also, even though we may not agree with her, Judith Miller who was jailed for refusing to identify her source on the Valerie Plame scandal.

The press is either free or it is not.

Our press is not as free as it should be.

Of course, the censorship of our press is more subtle. First, most of it is owned by the very corporations that practically own our government and many stories that would offend our corporations just never make it into the news. And then, to some extent, our politicians trade access for control over the press.

We do have independent news sources. Reanews, Democracy Now, and Pacifica Radio are independent primary sources of news. But they do not have rhe resources or the audience they deserve.

[Recursion]

6. Both were jailed for contempt for refusing to name a source, as has happened for decades

The press is either free or it is not.

Members of the American press seem to have decided that they have an ethical obligation to face the contempt charges that come from not naming sources. That's they're call.

[Octafish]

4. Guy who wrote about Gov. Don Siegelman's persecution was jailed for months.

Roger Shuler, the Legal Schnauzer:

http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/04/05/get-jail/

[Recursion]

5. For contempt because he never showed up to the libel case (nt)

[Octafish]

9. No, he was jailed for writing about GOP corruption.

Alabama Politics Blogger Jailed For Writings On Ex-Governor's Son

By ERIC LACH
Talking Points Memo, NOVEMBER 1, 2013, 4:23 PM EDT

EXCERPT...

The charges stem from a case brought by Rob Riley, a Birmingham attorney and the son of former Gov. Bob Riley (R). Over the past 11 months, Shuler has written blog posts asserting that Riley had an affair with an Alabama lobbyist. Riley has denied the story, and tried to take Shuler to court. Shuler wouldn't cooperate. And he continued to write about the alleged affair, violating a court order in the process.

For years, Shuler has maintained a blog called Legal Schnauzer, to which his wife, Carol Shuler, also contributes. (The blog's tagline is: "The memory of a beloved pet inspires one couple's fight against injustice.&quot A 1978 graduate of the University of Missouri, Shuler worked as a journalist and then for years as an editor for the University of Alabama at Birmingham's publications office. He was fired from that job in 2008, and claimed his firing came as a result of his writing about high-ranking political figures in Alabama. While Shuler didn't have proof, his firing got attention outside Alabama.

"Shuler's problem arose not because he blogged nor because he did so from his workplace, because it's clear he didn't," Scott Horton, a journalist for Harper's Magazine and a lecturer at Columbia University Law School, told Raw Story in 2008. "His problem came from the fact that he wrote critical, well received insights targeting a number of very powerful figures in Alabama, starting with U.S. Attorney Alice Martin and prominent Republicans with which she is aligned, and including a number of major figures in the Alabama media."

Shuler's current tangle with Alabama's forces-that-be began in late January. On Jan. 24, Shuler wrote, citing "sources," that Riley had had an affair with the lobbyist between 2005 and 2007.

"The reports about an extramarital affair, and the ugly repercussions from it, raise new questions about the ethics of a political family that has claimed to be opposed to abortion rights, gambling, and other cultural issues on moral grounds," Shuler wrote.

Shuler mentioned the alleged affair in several posts over the ensuing months. On Oct. 3, he wrote that Riley had filed a lawsuit against him.

"Riley claims our reports are false and defamatory, but he has taken a number of steps to shield the case from public view," Shuler wrote. "The Riley lawsuit explains the swarm of Shelby County sheriff deputies that repeatedly trampled our property and pounded on our door throughout last week. It also explains the fraudulent traffic stop that Lt. Mike DeHart conducted on Sunday afternoon in order to 'serve' me with court papers."

Things escalated from there. On Oct. 4, Riley asked a Shelby County court to hold the Shulers in contempt of court for violating a restraining order -- the court papers served by Lt. DeHart -- that directed them to "cease and desist immediately from publishing ... any defamatory statement about Petitioners, including, but not limited to, any statement that Petitioners had an extramarital affair." (Shuler appears to have represented himself in the case.) By Oct. 22, Shuler anticipated that he might wind up in jail, in a post accusing Riley of having a hand in the court orders issued in the case.

"Jay Murrill, an attorney at Riley's law firm who is representing his boss in the case, appears to have written an order to grant a preliminary injunction and seal the public file, plus an order to hold us in contempt," Shuler wrote. "If granted, the contempt order could subject us to incarceration."

The arrest took place on the night of Oct. 23, in Shuler's garage, according to an account Carol Shuler gave this week to another Alabama blogger. Carol Shuler said she was asleep in the house when the arrest occurred, but later got the story from her husband.

CONTINUED...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/alabama-politics-blogger-jailed-for-writings-on-ex-governor-s-son

[malaise]

7. Let's put it this way

On that Reporters without Borders index, Jamaica(17) has the most press freedom in our entire hemisphere. We have more freedom than Canada (18), UK (33), France (39) and USA (46).
http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

And don't forget that most of the marchers were fine with the bombing of that Al Jazeera station during Bush and Cheney's illegal war and occupation of Iraq.

[alarimer]

8. The whole thing was a massive photo op.

They are not "at the march" but in a closed off street surrounded by security.

Fucking hypocrites.

[mountain grammy]

10. Thanks for posting. I found you this morning as I was about to post this..

The tweets really are epic. I really must subscribe to twitter.