Iranian novelist Yaghoub Yadali responds to Philip Roth’s recent announcement of his retirement with a deeply honest letter addressed to the celebrated author. While Yadali understands Roth’s reasons for calling it quits, he explains why “for an Iranian writer, retirement is meaningless.”
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The Iranian government aggressively blocks online content with an extensive blacklist of URLs and URL keywords. According to an Iran Media Program study, Iran’s digital filter blocks access to pages on one of internet’s most open platforms: Wikipedia. Here’s an infographic that shows key findings.
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Does a new viral YouTube video signal big changes in Iran? Entitled “New Voyager,” the music video, which has strong similarities with the Obama campaign’s “Yes We Can” video, is largely based on president Hassan Rouhani speeches, shows women singing, and portrays Iran’s diverse society.
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Today’s cartoon comes to us from Marian Kamensky (Austria). Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a review of the case against two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band saying that a lower court did not fully prove their guilt.
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On December 4, 2013, PEN PRESENTS: “Who’s Afraid of Free Speech?” brought together writers David Simon, E.L. Doctorow, Masha Gessen, Azar Nafisi, and moderator James Fallows of The Atlantic to address challenges to free expression in the digital age.
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Shezanne Cassim, an American citizen, is being held in a maximum-security prison in the United Arab Emirates after posting a satirical YouTube video. He is the first foreign national to be charged with the country’s draconian cybercrimes decree.
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The widely criticized suspension last week of Bloomberg New’s Hong Kong-based journalist Michael Forsythe sparks discussion of alleged censorship of reporters and articles in China. In this video, James Fallows, Demetri Sevastopulo and discuss the issue with CNN’s Eric Deggans.
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