Category Archives: Freedom

Credit: Paul Schenkel | The News Herald

Freedom senior Jaylan Martin recently signed to play football at Guilford College in the fall. Flanking Martin on the front row are his parents, Bobby (left) and Tomra. Pictured on the back row are (from left) Freedom defensive coordinator Forrest Blake, athletic director Joey Davis, head football coach Mike Helms and principal Dr. Ken Prichard.

Freedom senior Jaylan Martin almost quit football in his first year on the Glen Alpine pee wee team. He and his family are certainly glad he didnt now, as the defensive back recently committed to play for Guilford College next year.

Its paying off now, thats for sure, said Bobby Martin, Jaylans father who insisted he stick with the sport and helped coach many of his sons youth teams on the gridiron.

We are excited for him, added Tomra Martin, Jaylans mother. Were glad he made the decision and thought this would be a good fit for him.

Martin (5-8, 170), a three-year varsity football player who also lettered in basketball and track as a Patriot after moving up from Table Rock Middle, earned All-South Mountain 2A/3A Conference honors in football and track. He was also named Freedoms 2010-11 Male Athlete of the Year, was a second team All-Burke County football selection in 2011 by The News Herald and was named Burke County Football Player of the Week by The News Herald for his efforts against Burns, which included two non-offensive touchdowns of more than 75 yards.

Martin ended his senior campaign with 41 tackles and 24 pass breakups for a stingy Freedom defense that allowed just 85.3 passing yards per game and 13.4 points.

Martin said shortly after his fathers pushing him to give football one more try as a youngster, he set a goal to one day play in college.

Ive been thinking about this day since I started playing, he said. Im glad I didnt (quit). By the next year, when I was playing kids more my own age, I started scoring and feeling more at home on the field. It was worth it.

Martin said a member of the Quakers coaching staff initially came down to talk to him during basketball season. He visited the Greensboro campus twice afterwards, including taking in the teams spring game.

View original post here:
Freedom DB Martin going to Guilford

Metropolitan Opera Archives

The Metropolitan Operas 1991 production of The Magic Flute, with sets by David Hockney. For excerpts from The Magic Flute

That great eccentric of the Enlightenment, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who put into his private notebooks just about everything that came into his head, once jotted down: Whoever decreed that a word must have a fixed meaning? He was perhaps the first to recognize the psychic constraint involved in the perception of meaning and the attempt to make it firm.

In his discussion of humor, Sigmund Freud deals with this laconically by a profound reflection. The mechanical structure of psychoanalytical theory is now rightfully laboring under some discredit, but Freuds literary genius gave him insights that are still valuable. After treating at length the kind of humor that allows a safe and neutralized outlet for the taboo expression of sexual desire and of social aggression, he arrives finally at pure humor, the jokes that are innocent of repressive fantasies, but just simple word games, silly puns that are only a form of play. (I can remember a superannuated example from my junior high school days: Why do radio announcers have such small hands? Wee paws [we pause] for station identification.)

To explain our delight in such foolishness, Freud invokes the lallation of very small children, who sit and repeat long strings of nonsense syllables (ba, da, mamow, bow, wowetc.) at great length for their own amusement. Learning a language, being forced to attach a meaning to a sound, is a burden to the child, who, in reaction, strings together senseless rhyming noises as a form of escape. Even for adults understanding speech is not devoid of effort, and can be a source of fatigue. With a silly play on words, there is a split second when a word suspended between two incompatible senses briefly loses all meaning and becomes pure sound, and for a lovely moment we revert to the delighted state of the child freed from the tyranny of language. Of all the constraints imposed on us that restrict our freedomconstraints of morality and decorum, constraints of class and financeone of the earliest that is forced upon us is the constraint of a language that we are forced to learn so that others can talk to us and tell us things we do not wish to know.

We do not learn language by reading a dictionary, and we do not think or speak in terms of dictionary definitions. Meaning is always more fluid. Nevertheless, we are hemmed in, even trapped, by common usage. Senses we wish to evade entrap us. The greatest escape route is not only humor, but poetry, or art in general. Art does not, of course, liberate us completely from meaning, but it gives a certain measure of freedom, provides elbow room. Schiller claimed in the Letters on Aesthetic Education that art makes you free; he understood that the conventions of language and of society are in principle arbitrarythat is, imposed by will. They prevent the natural development of the individual. The clash between the imposition of meaning and freedom has given rise to controversy in ways that Schiller could not have predicted.

The critical problem of the battle between conventional meaning and individual expression was best laid out many years ago in Meyer Schapiros apparently controversial insistence that the forms of Romanesque sculpture could not be ascribed solely to theological meaning but were also a style of aesthetic expression. What that meant at the time was quite simply and reasonably that the character of the sculptural forms could not be reduced only to their personification of theological dogma, but possessed a clear aesthetic energy independent of sacred meaning.

The fallacy that Schapiro was attacking has reappeared recently in musicological circles with the absurd claim that music could not be enjoyed for purely musical or aesthetic reasons until the eighteenth century since the word aesthetics was not used until then. (This naive belief that independent aesthetic considerations did not exist before 1750 without social and religious functions would strangely imply that no one before that date could admire the beauty of a member of the opposite sex unless it could be related to the function of the production of children.) It is true that some thinkers of the eighteenth century would proclaim the fundamental precedence of the aesthetic: Johann Georg Hamann observed with Vico that poetry is older than prose, and insisted that music is older than language, horticulture than agriculture.

We should recall here the extraordinary sixteenth-century controversy about style between the admirers of Cicero and of Erasmus, the former, led by tienne Dolet, believing that style had a beauty independent of the matter of the literary work, and the latter insisting that the beauty of style was wholly dependent on its consonance with meaning. (Dolet was burned at the stake, but not for his admiration of Cicero. Montaigne took the Erasmian position against pure stylistic shenanigans, but foreshadowed some twentieth-century criticism by avowing that when the style was as masterly as Ciceros it could be said to have become its own matter.) The contention that pure aesthetic appreciation was impossible before 1700 not only would make the existence of that controversy as early as the 1500s impossible, but also astonishingly overlooks both the innate aesthetic impulses of any human animal and the most obvious characteristic of every form of artistic endeavorthat at some point it inevitably draws attention away from its meaning and function to the form of expression, or from the signifi to the signifiant, to use the well-known structural linguistic terms that were so fashionable only a few decades ago.

This is most obviously the case when the signifier, the artistic form, so to speak, seems to have developed a sense somewhat at odds with the ostensible signified. Perhaps the most spectacular depiction of freedom in music may be brought up as evidence of this: the greeting of Don Giovanni to the masked guests at his party, Viva la libert! In the libretto, these words are only an invitation to have a good time, but they have often been understood politically. Oddly, the astute Hermann Abert denied the political implication, basing his view on the sense of the libretto. However, Mozart sets this as a call to arms, with trumpets and drums unheard in the work since the overture, and with an evident traditional martial rhythm, while the singers forte shout the words Viva la libert over and over again. In 1789, after twelve years of political agitation since the American Revolution, it is unlikely that anyone missed the political sense.

See the original post:
Freedom and Art

Feature Article of Saturday, 21 April 2012

Columnist: Twumasi, Patrick

The call by well meaning Ghanaians to both politicians and civil society groups to eschew the avid patronage of foul language most especially in this electioneering year, smirks of wrong self disposition in communication. The aroma to chronicle some few words to shed light on the most battered vocabulary without deeper understanding to most of its users, Free expression, is so inviting to resist. Freedom of speech originated and thrived among the ancient Greeks. Indeed, any society that promotes and ensures the festering of free expression curbs national strife. The Greeks defined Freedom of speech as expressing what is true and naturally exist. Therefore, in exercising ones natural right to self expression it is enjoined on the fellow to remain fare to his or her self and just to the audience. Hence, to express an idea or opinion which is deficient of truth and lacks natural existence only denigrates reputations and cripples social serenity. Naturally, no man has been called to a state of quietism. Besides, man as a moral being is said to be free. This same agent is considered as freedom, and freedom is man. Therefore, man has choices to make in every facet of life. This has been looked as a burden upon man. Nonetheless, in the execution of this free will to act one needs to take in to consideration the teleology of the actions. The exercise of ones right to free expression should not be to the detriment of fellow countrymen. Recent misguided and empty statements of some country men and women of varied classes of Ghanaian society without an iota of truth laced in there clearly defeat the true meaning of freedom of speech. This nuisance which is gradually creeping into the Ghanaian society with all the boldness should be nabbed in the bud, before we are sank in our own sea of recklessness. Can we be a little cautious, civil and responsible in our utterances? At the turn of the millennium the Communication expert, Hugo de Beuo, stated Freedom of expression is all but very well, but for an opinion to be well grounded you need, information, verifiable facts and contrasting views Therefore, statements made in respect to issues up for discussion, should require commentators and contributors alike to satisfy these three instructive barometers. It is unfortunate the rates at which these regrettable words that hoist the hate flag and hurts sensibilities are spewed with pride, without any display of remorse. Political parties, most often than not, prefer to opt for their communication team members with a tongue larded with brute sense of language to various fora. These Communicators, whether by accident or design defiantly trample on decorous linguistic in such formal fora. As a people, we can deny, deceive and be a deception to ourselves that all is well with the current state of affairs. The most disastrous and bizarre of every human society is to create a weapon which turns to destroy itself. It is a widely accepted view that, in every human society the breath of life is discourse. This definitely requests the use of palatable language which gives life to discussions and refreshing breath to society. Could Social Commentators do the apt opt in their art of word choosing? The 1992 Constitution has enshrined in it general fundamental freedoms. Article 21 clause 1 (a) and (b) stipulates, All persons shall have the right to, freedom of speech and expression, which shall include freedom of the press and other media; freedom of thought, conscience and belief, which shall include academic freedom These freedoms prescribed equally demands for level heads to display high sense of responsibility, though not avidly stated. Thoughts which are aired without any restrictions what so ever due to the grants in the constitution, but has the propensity to polarize society, will amount to the wrong application of a right instrument for illegal purpose. Therefore, one needs to be careful in exercising his or her prescribed freedom which might infringe on the same of others. Despite the press freedom which has been stipulated in the 1992 constitution in article 162, it will be most unpardonable for the gatekeepers to wrongfully apply this found freedom, and also present the dais for similar violations. Media houses owe it a duty to the people of Ghana to restrain volcanic erupting language from their panelist. Again, they should institute measures which will help them bar vitriolic Commentators from appearing on their networks. This they should not compromise. The agitations which went into prompting the last regime to repeal the criminal libel law should not be treated with disdain. We need to vehemently advertise and demonstrate the strident discontent, disregard and adherence to the abuse of freedom of speech with the media leading the way. Failure to banish this inflammatory utterances which has crept into our communicative life, will amount to reducing the denomination of responsible language not tenable in a civilised Ghanaian society in the near future. The false facts that are fed to the Ghanaian population by Politicians who make wild allegations which lack an iota of substance should not be permitted to thrive. If this sticky attitude is not done away with it will soon shove political statements into the bin without any serious perusal. The true meaning of free speech should be sort in whatever form it may be found to the best of our understanding in order to serve as a guide to both Politicians and Civil Society. This will help stem the tide menace of this lurid communicative art. As a people one thing we should learn is, he who the gods wish to destroy they first make proud, and he who spit into the air dirties his own face. These same reckless, irresponsible and empty pronouncements plunged Rwanda into one of the goriest history of humanity after the holocaust. Mistakes of the dead are example for the living.

Patrick Twumasi (0209045931)

See the original post here:
Abuse of Freedom of Speech

Credit: Paul Schenkel | The News Herald

Freedom senior Tyler Triplett recently signed to play basketball for Warren Wilson College next year. Flanking Triplett on the front row are his mother Diana Epps (left) and stepfather Colin Epps. Pictured on the back row (from left) are Freedom principal Dr. Ken Prichard, Warren Wilson head coach Kevin Walden, Freedom athletic director Joey Davis and basketball coach Casey Rogers.

Freedom senior Tyler Triplett was not a starter in the Patriot boys basketball teams 26-3 season that included a trip to the 3A West Regionals.

But illustrating the depth Freedom had last year, Triplett recently accepted a scholarship offer to play for Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa next winter.

I think it speaks a lot about Tyler too, said Freedom coach Casey Rogers. He was only here a year, but his willingness to buy into what we did as a team and what we wanted from him, as well as his ability to learn, has helped him continue his basketball career.

Triplett, a 6-4 wing who transferred from Patton, averaged 5.6 points in 2011-12, including a season high of 17 in a home win over rival East Burke in early December. He was one of the Patriots better rebounders and 3-point shooters as well.

Hes a kid obviously we would have loved to have for four years, Rogers added. Hes just scratching the surface of what kind of player he can become. He didnt even play basketball until his 10th-grade year.

Fourth-year Warren Wilson coach Kevin Walden, whose Owls finished 16-9 last season in United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II play, said Triplett would likely stay at the 2 or 3 positions in college.

I first saw Tyler play against Asheville and saw him two or three times after that, Walden said. I liked his athleticism and ability to shoot the ball. What we look for is great people who are great students and great basketball players. He meets all those facets.

And he has things you cant teach. The stuff he needs to improve on is stuff we can easily help him improve. Hes already working on strength.

Go here to see the original:
Freedom's Triplett commits to Warren Wilson

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, announced today that 133 employers have been selected as semifinalists for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The Freedom Award is the highest recognition given by the DoD to employers for exceptional support of their Guard and Reserve employees. This years semifinalists stood out among an impressive pool of 3,236 nominees.

Freedom Award nominations come directly from Guard and Reserve members, or family members acting on their behalf. The Freedom Award provides service members with an opportunity to recognize employers for going above and beyond what is required by law. Employers chosen as semifinalists support their Guard and Reserve employees through a variety of formal and informal initiatives, including developing internal military support networks, providing full benefits to employees fulfilling their military obligations, caring for the families of deployed employees, and granting additional leave to Guard and Reserve employees preparing to leave for or return from deployments.

"The employers selected as Freedom Award semifinalists have distinguished themselves for their support of their National Guard and Reserve employees, and are truly serving our Nation with their extraordinary commitment to these special employees," said ESGR National Chair James G. Rebholz. "Their efforts are to be applauded, and ESGR salutes these patriotic employers for their special care of their Guard and Reserve employees and their families while they serve our Nation in times of war and peace."

ESGR will announce the 2012 Freedom Award finalists next month after a review board comprised of military and civilian leaders selects the 30 most supportive employers from among the 133 semifinalists. The 15 award recipients will be announced early this summer and honored in Washington, D.C. at the 17th annual Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award Ceremony on September 20, 2012.

A complete list of Freedom Award semifinalists from each state is available at http://www.FreedomAward.mil under the Media Tab in the Press Releases section.

About ESGR and the Freedom Award:

The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of ESGR to recognize exceptional support from the employer community. In the years since, 160 employers have been honored with the award. Established as a DoD agency 40 years ago, ESGR develops and maintains employer support for Guard and Reserve service. ESGR advocates relevant initiatives, recognizes outstanding support, increases awareness of applicable laws, and resolves conflict between service members and employers. Paramount to ESGR's mission is encouraging employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian workforce.

For questions or interviews regarding the Freedom Award, please contact Mandi Rumble, ESGR Public Affairs, at 571-372-0704 or by email at ESGR-PA@osd.mil.

Visit link:
ESGR Announces Semifinalists for 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Bank Freedom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PrepaYd, Inc. (OTC PINK :PPDC), today announced that Bank Freedom has a multi-year agreement for the FIS Mobile offering in support of Bank Freedom's mobile application for the underbanked market. FIS is the world's largest provider of banking and payments technology.

Bank Freedom provides financial services, including prepaid debit cards, to underbanked consumers. PrepaYd, Inc. also owns PrepaYd Wireless, a wireless phone provider that offers cell phones to consumers without the requirement of a long-term contract or the ability to prove credit worthiness.

With FIS Mobile at its center, PrepaYd, Inc. will launch a new mobile application targeted to the underbanked market that combines PrepaYd Wireless' cellular phone service and Bank Freedom's prepaid debit card programs. The new mobile application will enable consumers to manage their finances remotely via a mobile phone including checking balances, paying bills, viewing recent account activity and managing multiple cards. In addition to having transaction alerts sent to the mobile phone, consumers will also have the ability to manage funds via text message including the ability to send payments to other consumers and businesses. The application empowers a population that typically is excluded from the growing trend of mobile financial management because they do not possess a traditional bank account and may not have the credit record typically required for a cellular phone contract. The application will be available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and other Internet-enabled mobile phones.

"We believe to be a leader in the electronic payments industry, you must integrate reliable, robust and secure mobile financial services," said Bruce Berman, CEO, Bank Freedom and PrepaYd, Inc. "We selected FIS because of its ability to design a state-of-the-art mobile financial application that would meet our unique needs."

"More and more consumers are relying on the ability to manage their finances via their mobile phone," said Anthony Jabbour, executive vice president, FIS Financial Solutions Group. "FIS' intuitive, reliable and secure mobile financial services platform will enable PrepaYd, Inc. to expand the availability of these services to an entirely new market segment."

About Bank Freedom and PrepaYd, Inc.

PrepaYd, Inc. is a provider of financial services in the prepaid debit card industry and is in the process of becoming a prepaid wireless phone provider. The company, through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Bank Freedom, offers prepaid debit cards to America's estimated 60 million underbanked citizens. In addition to the underbanked consumer demographic, small and mid-size businesses have found a much needed product with the company's Prepaid Business Expense Card Program. With the diminishing credit card markets, companies need a new way to fund employees' expenses other than through traditional credit cards or cash reimbursements. Through another wholly-owned subsidiary, PrepaYd Wireless, the company intends to offer mobile services to an estimated 110 million consumer demographic. Prepaid Wireless Services is an alternative to the traditional Postpaid Wireless Service Plans provided by major carriers. In addition, PrepaYd Wireless offers mobile phones and wireless plans compatible for mobile financial services.

About FIS

FIS is the world's largest global provider dedicated to banking and payments technologies. With a long history deeply rooted in the financial services sector, FIS serves more than 14,000 institutions in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., FIS employs more than 32,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing and banking solutions, providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that drives financial institutions. First in financial technology, FIS tops the annual FinTech 100 list, is ranked third on the Barron's 500, 426 on the Fortune 500 and is a member of Standard & Poor's 500 Index. For more information about FIS, visit http://www.fisglobal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Read the original post:
Bank Freedom Teams with FIS Mobile to Provide New Mobile Banking Offerings as a Safe and Convenient Alternative for ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

FIS (NYSE:FIS - News), the worlds largest provider of banking and payments technology, today announced that Bank Freedom, a wholly owned subsidiary of PrepaYd, Inc. (OTC PINK :PPDC), has signed a multi-year agreement for the FIS Mobile offering in support of Bank Freedoms mobile application for the underbanked market.

Bank Freedom provides financial services, including prepaid debit cards, to underbanked consumers. PrepaYd, Inc. also owns PrepaYd Wireless, a wireless phone provider that offers cell phones to consumers without the requirement of a long-term contract or the ability to prove credit worthiness.

With FIS Mobile at its center, PrepaYd, Inc. will launch a new mobile application targeted to the underbanked market that combines PrepaYd Wireless cellular phone service and Bank Freedoms prepaid debit card programs. The new mobile application will enable consumers to manage their finances remotely via a mobile phone including checking balances, paying bills, viewing recent account activity and managing multiple cards. In addition to having transaction alerts sent to the mobile phone, consumers will also have the ability to manage funds via text message including the ability to send payments to other consumers and businesses. The application empowers a population that typically is excluded from the growing trend of mobile financial management because they do not possess a traditional bank account and may not have the credit record typically required for a cellular phone contract. The application will be available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and other Internet-enabled mobile phones.

We believe to be a leader in the electronic payments industry you must integrate reliable, robust and secure mobile financial services, said Bruce Berman, CEO, Bank Freedom and PrepaYd, Inc. We selected FIS because of its ability to design a state-of-the-art mobile financial application that would meet our unique needs.

More and more consumers are relying on the ability to manage their finances via their mobile phone, said Anthony Jabbour, executive vice president, FIS Financial Solutions Group. FIS intuitive, reliable and secure mobile financial services platform will enable PrepaYd, Inc. to expand the availability of these services to an entirely new market segment.

About Bank Freedom and PrepaYd, Inc.

PrepaYd, Inc. is a provider of financial services in the prepaid debit card industry and is in the process of becoming a prepaid wireless phone provider. The company, through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries Bank Freedom, offers prepaid debit cards to Americas estimated 60 million underbanked citizens. In addition to the underbanked consumer demographic, small and mid-size businesses have found a much needed product with the companys Prepaid Business Expense Card Program. With the diminishing credit card markets, companies need a new way to fund employees expenses other than through traditional credit cards or cash reimbursements. Through another wholly owned subsidiary PrepaYd Wireless, the company intends to offer mobile services to an estimated 110 million consumer demographic. Prepaid Wireless Services is an alternative to the traditional Postpaid Wireless Service Plans provided by major carriers. In addition, PrepaYd Wireless offers mobile phones and wireless plans compatible for mobile financial services.

About FIS

FIS (NYSE:FIS - News) is the worlds largest global provider dedicated to banking and payments technologies. With a long history deeply rooted in the financial services sector, FIS serves more than 14,000 institutions in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., FIS employs more than 32,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing and banking solutions, providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that drives financial institutions. First in financial technology, FIS tops the annual FinTech 100 list, is ranked third on the Barrons 500, 426 on the Fortune 500 and is a member of Standard & Poors 500 Index. For more information about FIS, visit http://www.fisglobal.com.

More here:
Bank Freedom Teams with FIS Mobile

Editors Note: Richard Fontaine, a Senior Advisor at the Center for a New American Security, is the co-author of Internet Freedom: A Foreign Policy Imperative in the Digital Age. Follow him @rhfontaine.

In its new Enemies of the Internet report, the international watchdog group Reporters Without Borders depicts an Internet under unprecedented pressure from the worlds autocratic regimes. The study lists twelve such enemies, including Iran, North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia, and observes that an increasing number of governments are not content merely to take domestic steps to control online space. Freedom of expression on the Internet, the study notes, is no longer the sole preserve of dissidents, geeks and censors. Diplomats have followed in their wake. Internet freedom has become a foreign policy issue.

The report documents the ways in which the twelve countries and others have established a broad approach to online control. Internet and mobile phone shutdowns have become more commonplace in recent years, famously in Egypt during the Arab Spring but also in countries like Kazakhstan and parts of China. Internet filtering and deep packet inspection is on the rise, and government surveillance of users activity both online and offline is increasing. Governments hack dissident websites, spread propaganda on the web, and sometimes simply arrest problematic bloggers and online activists.

It is clear what many autocratic regimes want in the Internet: a controlled space, one that ideally permits their citizens to use online tools for economic activity and basic communication, but that will not permit the kinds of expression that might undermine government authority. The effort to build such a controlled space is no longer restricted to domestic measures, and for several nations it now comprises a significant diplomatic effort.

Indeed, there are several diplomatic avenues through which Internet freedom may become restricted. FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell recently warned that dozens of countries are pursuing a new treaty to establish, in the words of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, international control over the Internet. The treaty would give governments new power to regulate the Internet via the UNs International Telecommunications Union. If successful, McDowell warns, this effort could upend the bottom-up, private-sector-driven model of the Internet and give way to greater government control over its structure.

In addition, diplomats are wrestling over definitions of terms such as online freedom and security in ways that impact freedom of expression. At an April 2008 U.N. conference that sought to clarify what represents aggression online, for instance, a senior Russian official argued that any time a government promotes ideas on the Internet with the goal of subverting another countrys government even in the name of democratic reform it should qualify as aggression.

Similarly, the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization which includes Russia and China in 2009 adopted an accord that reportedly defined information war, in part, as an effort by a state to undermine anothers political, economic and social systems.

There is push back. A key United Nations official last year issued a major report emphasizing the right of all individuals freely to use the Internet, and earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council held a Swedish-led discussion among member states on online freedom. These instances follow on initiatives by the United States and others to push in various international forums for an expansive definition of the right to online expression.

The United States and likeminded countries will need to become even more active on this front. Developing international norms in favor of Internet freedom is a long-term, global objective. Some countries that currently repress the Internet like China and Iran are unlikely to be moved by any of these diplomatic efforts; statements at the United Nations and policy declarations supporting Internet freedom are highly unlikely to change their current policies.

But promoting Internet freedom is not only a near-term challenge, and current efforts may pay off in the longer run. In addition, many countries have not yet fully developed their own Internet policies or thought through all of the implications of Internet freedom and repression even in the short run including states in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Shaping the behavior of those states should be an important goal of the United States and its partners.

Read more:
Internet Freedom: Diplomats Join The Dissidents, Geeks And Censors

By Father John Flynn, LC

ROME, MARCH 30, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2012 annual report, along with its recommendations to the Secretary of State as to which nations should be included on the list of countries of particular concern or CPCs.

On the list were: Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Nations that trample upon basic rights, including freedom of religion, provide fertile ground for poverty and insecurity, war and terror, and violent, radical movements and activities, commented USCIRF Chair Leonard Leo.

The report, at more than 300 pages long, contained detailed information both on the CPC countries and another group that are on a Watch List for the period from April 1 last year up to the end of February.

In its introduction the report noted that while much attention has been paid to the ongoing economic problems there has been an unnoticed crisis of equal severity regarding religious freedom.

To an alarming extent, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief was being curtailed, often threatening the safety and survival of innocent persons, including members of religious minorities, the report affirmed.

The introduction also criticized the lack of action by the federal government regarding USCIRFs recommendations. Currently only eight countries have been listed by the State Department as CPCs and for two of them, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, Presidential waivers have been granted, meaning that no actions have been taken against them.

Arab Spring

The report examined the consequences of the Arab Spring in Egypt. In general it has led to a dramatic worsening of religious freedom. Coptic Christians and their churches have suffered repeated attacks and instead of defending them military forces have, instead, turned their guns on Christians, the report denounced.

View post:
Religious Freedom at Risk

DALLAS, March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --The George W. Bush Institute this week unveiled the Freedom Collection, a first-of-its-kind living repository documenting the continued struggle for human freedom and liberty around the world. President and Mrs. Laura Bush spoke to an audience of dissidents, freedom advocates and representatives from local community organizations. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, joined them via video teleconference.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120329/CG78930)

"We hear your voice," said President Bush. "And as you stand for your freedom, free people will stand with you."

During her remarks, President Sirleaf sent a message to others fighting for liberty, saying, "Stay the course. Remain courageous. Never give up."

The Freedom Collection, available online at http://www.freedomcollection.org, uses video interviews to document the personal stories of brave men and women who have led or participated in freedom movements from the 20th century to the present day.

"Dissidents and political prisoners remind us that not even prison and oppression can silence the call for liberty," said Mrs. Bush as she introduced a video documentary available on the site entitled "Why I became a dissident."

The Freedom Collection provides inspiration and insight to the current generation of freedom advocates. It helps to combat the feeling of isolation that can be common among dissidents by sharing the stories of those who have gone before in the fight to be free. The Freedom Collection currently contains the interviews of 56 dissidents including former Czech President Vaclav Havel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and many other dissidents from countries like Burma, China, Iran, Syria, East Timor, Cuba and Egypt. New content will be uploaded to the site weekly.

The Freedom Collection also includes a physical archive containing documents and artifacts from major freedom movements, including an early draft of the Tibetan Constitution given to President Bush by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

During Wednesday's launch event, President Bush received a key artifact for safekeeping as part of the Freedom Collection the Presidential Medal of Freedom he awarded to Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet in 2007 while Dr. Biscet was a political prisoner in Cuba. The Medal was presented to President Bush on behalf of Dr. Biscet by Dr. Angel E. Garrido, Vice President of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. Dr. Biscet remains in Cuba, where he continues the fight for freedom.

In a video message, Dr. Biscet said, "I thank you, President Bush, for all your work as President and in your personal life in favor of the freedom of humanity and for being a friend of the Cuban people."

The rest is here:
George W. Bush Institute Launches Groundbreaking Freedom Collection