Category Archives: Freedom of Speech

COLUMBIA Leonard Riley Jr. knows his First Amendment rights, and his rights to public information, and he knows when theyve been violated.

Dissatisfied with the management policies at the Medical University of South Carolina, Riley and other activists organized a silent protest of the universitys board of trustees meetings last fall. He said they had intended to go to every meeting until their complaints were acknowledged.

But at their second appearance, the trustees abruptly decided that the previous protest had been unruly and distracting. The protesters were provided just five seats and prohibited from displaying their signs, an action that Riley considered a violation of their freedom of speech.

If a public meeting is happening, we have a right to be there, he said this week. This was a violation of my rights under the Constitution of the United States.

The restrictions didnt last long, and Riley, chair of the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment, said the protests will continue until the board gives them an audience.

Rileys experience is just one example of an attempt to infringe upon South Carolinas Freedom of Information Act. The FOI Act outlines citizens access to public information controlled by state agencies and legislators.

After three S.C. Supreme Court decisions last year weakened the FOI Act, state lawmakers have introduced five bills this session intended to strengthen and clarify state laws.

We need to open up the secrets of agencies and local governments to public scrutiny, said John Crangle, chair of the states chapter of Common Cause, a citizens lobby for democracy reform. Thats what we need in South Carolina.

If passed, the bills would designate an office of FOI review; lift legislators exemption from FOI; require an agenda for public meetings; and disclose cause of death from autopsy reports.

Patricia OConnor, chair of the South Carolina Press Associations FOI committee and a journalism professor at Coastal Carolina University, said the bills could set a tone for further strengthening of open government and the FOI bill in South Carolina.

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S.C. legislators debating changes to strengthen Freedom of Information Act

Eddie Griffin Stand Up Comedy Freedom Of Speech (Stand Up Best HD)
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YouTube and Freedom of Speech
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Denmark's Prime Minister calls the deadly shooting on a cultural centre a terrorist attack and says the country is on high alert.

A gunman on Saturday fired shots into a Copenhagen cafe that was hosting a public event on freedom of speech, featuring a Swedish artist who had received death threats for a 2007 cartoon he drew caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad. The Danish police said that one man, age 40, had been killed and three police officers wounded but that the gunman had been unable to enter the Krudttoenden cafe.

The Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said on Saturday that the shooting had been a terrorist attack and that the nation was on high alert.

An image released by police of the suspected Copenhagen gunman.

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Shooting at Copenhagen free speech event attended by controversial artist

Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing a Danish documentary filmmaker and a member of the Scandinavian country's Jewish community. Five police officers were also wounded in the attacks.

Denmark has been hit by terror, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said. We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrator's actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark. They want to rebuke our freedom of speech.

Jens Madsen, head of the Danish intelligence agency PET, said investigators believe the gunman was inspired by Islamic radicalism.

PET is working on a theory that the perpetrator could have been inspired by the events in Paris. He could also have been inspired by material sent out by (Islamic State) and others, Madsen said.

Islamic radicals carried out a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris last month, followed by an attack on Jews at a kosher grocery store, taking the lives of 17 victims.

At a news conference Madsen also said investigators have identified the suspect and that he is someone who had been on the agency's radar. He did not reveal his identity.

Later Sunday, at least two people with handcuffs were taken out by police from an Internet cafe in Copenhagen, Danish media reported. Police spokesman Steen Hansen told the Associated Press that the action was part of the police investigation but declined to give further details.

The Danish Film Institute said the 55-year-old man killed at the free speech event was documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard.

The institute's chief Henrik Bo Nielsen said he was shocked and angry to find out Noergaard was gunned down while attending a discussion on art and free speech.

Noergaard directed and produced documentaries for Danish television, including the 2004 Boomerang Boy about an Australian boy's dreams to become a world boomerang champion and the 2008 Le Le about Vietnamese immigrants in Denmark.

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Shots fired at Copenhagen cafe free speech event, reports say

MEDIA STATEMENT

10 March 2015

Waikato-Tainui: Protect Our Customary Practises And Freedom of Speech

Waikato-Tainui is expressing its disappointment at Maori Televisions decision to remove the haka performance of Te Iti Kahurangi at Te Matatini from online viewing.

Te Arataura o Waikato-Tainui chairman Rahui Papa said that while Maori Television had since reversed that decision, the matter had served as a reminder to protect not only the right to freedom of speech but also the age-old Maaori customary practise to openly discuss and debate issues.

What happened today in censoring Te Iti Kahurangi not only impinged on the right to freedom of speech but did not align with an important tikanga that has been practised for generations, said Mr Papa.

Speaking our minds openly is an integral part of Maaori custom and the kapa haka stage is an acknowledged cultural forum for the expression of views and opinions on issues that affect us all, said Mr Papa.

We do not support censorship of that practise in any form and on any platform, said Mr Papa.

Mr Papa said the issue had been robustly discussed and debated at todays poukai at Oowairaka Marae, one of the home marae of kapa haka group Mootai-Tangata-Rau, with speakers endorsing the right of Te Iti Kahurangi to freedom of speech and expressing concern at the decision Maori Television had taken.

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Protect Our Customary Practises And Freedom of Speech

"We are not being allowed to practice freedom of speech and freedom of association. If you do, you end up in prison. There can be torture until you can die.

KOTA KINABALU: UK-based Borneo rights activist Doris Jones, 46, who heads the Sabah Sarawak Union UK, told BBC News Radio Northampton on Friday that she doesnt understand why Malaysia doesnt want to allow Sabah and Sarawak to go from the list of states in the Federation, so that they can stand on their own two feet. Its a big question.

BBC claimed that Jones was leading the campaign in the UK for independence back home on behalf of some people in Sabah and Sarawak. The station did not elaborate.

If they dont let us go, then we have the right to go independent, said Jones who manages the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) Page on Facebook. We are countries which can be on our own like Singapore and Brunei. We are entitled to stand on our own two feet.

She was being interviewed, on repression of human rights and free speech in Borneo, on the eve of a peaceful protest outside the Malaysian High Commission in London. She explained the difficulties of running a campaign at home from the other side of the world.

We are not being allowed to practice freedom of speech and freedom of association. If you do, you end up in prison. There can be torture until you can die.

The rights activist also stressed that Interpol is not after her as made out by the Malaysian Government in the local media but conceded that she may be arrested under the Sedition Act if she returns home. Her family has not been in contact with her since their mobile phones have allegedly been taken away.

I am not stopping the campaign because of their intimidation. Its their way of doing things. Its not that I dont love my family.

SSKM have between 200 and 300 volunteers in Sabah. About 14 of them have since been hauled up but released and may face unspecified charges. Five of them were arrested at a petrol station. They had nothing on them. The first group had only pen and paper with them for people to sign a Petition, said Jones. The goal of this campaign is for us to stand on our own feet.

Jones, who has been abroad the last two decades and led a campaign for the past five years for independence, told the radio station that she was about ten years old when she realised that something was not right about Sabah and Sarawak being in a Federation with the peninsula. We were not allowed to say anything, she said. Racism, discrimination. Theres no democracy.

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Doris Jones vows to free Sabah, Sarawak

Copenhagen attack an affront to one of our fundamental values: Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Photo: Andrew Meares

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has condemned a "brutal" shooting in Denmark as an affront to free speech, also flagging further efforts aimed at securing Australia's borders amid growing concerns about the threat of terrorism attacks on home soil.

Mr Abbott, in a statement issued on Sunday, said the thoughts of all Australians were with the Danish people.

"As with the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris, the Copenhagen attack is an affront to one of our most fundamental values - freedom of speech," Mr Abbott said.

"We stand with the people and government of Denmark in confronting this cynical attempt to undermine that fundamental right."

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Earlier, the prime minister signalled security at Australia's borders would be ramped up.

Mr Abbott, who will deliver a national security statement on Monday week, said the rise of Daesh, or Islamic State, had seen new threats emerge, "where any extremist can grab a knife, a flag, a camera phone and a victim and carry out a terror attack".

Authorities on Friday confirmed police and a prayer hall were among targets uncovered by investigations into two alleged terrorists arrested in western Sydney last week.

A number of items were seized from the home of Omar Al-Kutobi, 24, and Mohammad Kiad, 25, allegedly including a machete, hunting knife and homemade Islamic State flag, as well as a video that allegedly shows one of the men vowing to launch an attack in the name of IS.

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Copenhagen attacks an 'affront to freedom of speech': Tony Abbott