The Weekly Digest: Burmese Children on Free Speech, and Fighting Impunity in Africa, Latin America

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Video: Burmese Children on Freedom of Expression
For this video, Burmese exiled writer Khet Mar posed two questions to school children living in Rangoon: “Why is it important to say what you want to say?” and “If you could change anything in the world, what would you change?” The video was produced by Arrman, a Burmese video-journalist.

Why fight impunity in Africa and Latin America
To mark IFEX’s International Day to End Impunity, we asked a group of African and Latin American writers who have contributed to Sampsonia Way to write about the importance of fighting impunity in their home countries. We hear from Mesfin Negash (Ethiopia), Tendai Tagarira (Zimbabwe), and Philo Ikonya (Kenya); and from Claudia Méndez Arriaza (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), Israel Centeno (Venezuela), and Martin Solares (Mexico).

“Impunity is not only a denial of justice—it’s a denial of the truth.” – Claudia Méndez Arriaza

Video: Ex-New York Times Freelancer Natasha Lennard on Quitting the Corporate Media in an Occupy Era
A Democracy Now interview with former New York Times freelance reporter Natasha Lennard who helped the newspaper cover the initial Occupy protests. Lennard wrote a piece for Salon.com title “Why I Quit the Mainstream Media.”

Iran Authorities Threaten Radio Farda Listeners Via Texting
The audience for Farda, RFE/RL’s Persian-language service, has to contend with a host of threats from the regime in Tehran, which looks to punish its own citizens for listening to free media. Tehran is upping the ante by making its warnings high-tech and personal.