ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

“World Press Freedom Index 2024”

By Leave a Comment

 

 

"World Press Freedom Index 2024"

In a summary of a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), “World Press Freedom Index 2024”,  has stated that more than 50% of the global population resides in countries classified as having a “very serious” press freedom situation, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index. This alarming statistic highlights the dire circumstances faced by journalists, with individuals in these regions often risking their lives and freedoms to report the news. Presently, 36 countries—up from 31 in 2023—are marked in red on RSF’s press freedom map, indicating severe restrictions, including five of the world’s ten most populous nations: India (159th), China (172nd), Pakistan (152nd), Bangladesh (165th), and Russia (162nd).

Recent elections in these countries have underscored the extent of press freedom violations, with governments exerting control over information and resorting to violence against journalists. For instance, China remains the world’s largest jailer of journalists, while Russia has introduced laws to suppress dissent ahead of its own elections. In Bangladesh, journalist safety deteriorated amidst political turmoil, and Pakistan’s media censorship intensified during election campaigns. In India, disinformation campaigns and harassment of journalists have escalated as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term.

RSF emphasizes that the coming year poses risks for information freedom, as 76 countries with a combined population of 4.1 billion are set to hold elections, creating fertile ground for government manipulation of news. The situation is already tense in other populous nations like Mexico and Indonesia, highlighting a worrying trend for media freedom worldwide.

The report calls on the 36 countries categorized as having severe press freedom issues to address and rectify these obstructive practices.

 

Links:

Porn Laws by Tim Clarke

By Leave a Comment

Porn LawsIn the Court proceedings against Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960, the jury was invited by the prosecution to consider whether “It is a book that you wish your wife or servants to read?”

Unfortunately, there are many people in this ostensibly more enlightened age who would share these sentiments, the  Hungarian Parliament and Russian Parliament for example, and they are not all Christian fundamentalists.  Indeed, some would claim to be progressive and liberal, Belfast Men Against Pornography is a group of “right-on” or “politic-all-correct” individuals who say they are ‘opposed to’ pornography because it is a key element in the oppression of women and it works on men by manipulating our sexuality.

The notion that porn exists because people (women and men) derive a great deal of pleasure from it is of no consequence to this group.  they have made their minds up that they, self-appointed ‘representatives of the social good, what material is or is not fit to be seen by all of us.

Their policy aims are to “increase awareness of the harmful effects” of porn on men and to “campaign to end the production, distribution and sale of pornography here (*remember this was pre the internet explosion).

With friends like that, you may well ask, who needs H.M. Customs and Mary  Whitehouse!

The two men from the group who attended the NIGRA meeting attempted to draw a distinction between (harmful) pornography and ‘erotica’.  the latter was defined as “sexually explicit material premised on equality”.

Their argument was not particularly convincing – one said that porn “degraded women” by portraying them as “objects to be dominated”, but was unable to substantiate this claim.  He became defensive when challenged on this point, and said something about “some feminists” he knew who found porn “offensive”.  It soon became evident that BMAP’s definition of pornography was fairly wide-ranging and would include most, if not all SM material.

It has always been my contention that the only legitimate purpose for which state power can be exercised over an individual against her or his will is to prevent harm to others.

BMAP maintain that porn has “harmful effects” on men as it (non-Gay porn) tells us that women” want to be dominated”.  Whilst some such material undoubtedly exists, it is simply not possible to legislate against heterosexism by attemp6ting to impose a ban on people’s fantasies.

I am not suggesting that women and young men should not be legally protected against exploitation.  People who work in the ‘sex-industry’ should demand fair pay and decent conditions for their work.  Women who want something more raunchy than Playgirl (*what is the equivalent today I wonder) should make their voices heard, only then will “sexually explicit material premised on equality” become more widely available.

There are enough right-wing groups and clerics campaigning to “end the production, distribution and sale of pornography” without people who claim to be politically progressive demanding censorship, whatever their reasons.

If people demand repressive legislation, of which there is enough on the statute book already, they will almost certainly get it (*again, remember, this was written pre the internet explosion of pornography sites, and every time that government attempts to look at this problem it runs away).  Quite how this will promote sexual equality is beyond my understanding.  Laws banning pornography will drive it underground (*the dark web) and suppress a great deal of open, rational discussion about sex and sexual inequalities.

BMAP did not have much to say about lesbian or gay male porn, although they were inclined to the view that most of it is probably OK as it is not premised on”inequality”.

Porn LawsIt is all very well for them to think along these lines, but the fact remains that the advocacy of repressive measures aimed at depriving people of the right to the reading of material of their choice could all too easily result in the targeting of the ‘gay’ community as purveyors of “material likely to deprave and corrupt”.  It is not long since HM Customs used their draconian powers to seize material from gay book shops (In 1984, Customs and Excise, assuming Gays’s The Word, London to be a porn store rather than a serious bookstore and ordered the destruction of imported books without reference to the Obscene Publications Act.)

Sexual equality and ‘Gay’ liberation can only come about as a consequence of the removal of oppressive laws which purport to regulate people’s sexual behaviour, women’s fertility – in short – Gay Liberation means nothing if not the removal of all constraints on consensual sexual activities and the lifting of restrictions on the rights of individuals to look at sexually explicit material, regardless of the opinions of others.

…first published in Upstart (Reasons to be cheerful ) – a paper copy of this magazine is held in the Linenhall Library, Belfast…

 

Links:

Amal Clooney Transcript of UN Speech on Trump and Journalism | Time

By Leave a Comment

Source: Amal Clooney Transcript of UN Speech on Trump and Journalism | Time

I am writing as a community journalist, who in the past along with Sean McGoruan and others have tried to write and reflect about the LGBTQ community in Northern Ireland.  There were times when it felt an uphill struggle, as we fought censorship and bureaucracy, not to mention the establishment.

We wrote about murders, about police sting operations, about AIDS.

Even today we still have to write about homophobia, how the ‘lockdown’ has and is affecting people; but we are lucky now to not have people thrown into prison without trial.  Though I must say that the government’s current stance on ‘gay cure’ therapy beggars belief – is the Prime Minister trying to go back to the days of Margaret Thatcher?

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney’s speech is thought-provoking, and also worrying, because only this morning I re-published on the NIGRA website about  the film ‘

Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge, review: a heart-stopping account of those fleeing persecution

which was shown on BBC TV this week

Take time to read the articles and watch the film, if you haven’t already.  YOu won’t’ be disappointed.

Breach – A Movie Review

By Leave a Comment

BreachName of movie: Breach

Date: 2007

Length (hrs) Approx 1 hr 45 mins

Film genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller

 

 

 

 

 

Characters:

Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen

Ryan Phillippe as Eric O’Neill

Laura Linney as Kate burroughs

 

Breach Breach

Awards: AARP Movies for Grownups Awards 2008 – Best Actor ‘Chris Cooper’

 

Setting: FBI Headquarters, Washington DC

Plot information: Robert Hanssen was a high level FBI agent who spied for Russia for money and other reasons.

When does the movie take place? Approximately 2000-2002

What happens in the movie? The plot is quite simple in that Robert Hanssen is transferred to FBI HQ to head up a new section, but in reality his move is to sideline him and to enable the FBI to monitor more closely his behaviour. To this end O’Neill is brought in as his gopher, but in reality again he is to observe and report on Hanssen’s moves.

What makes the movie interesting? The interesting features of the movie is that there is not action sequences, it is all based around character; and to this end both Chris Cooper as Hanssen, and Ryan Phillippe as O’Neill are brilliant. It is the development of the character of both of these men, of how they are both living double lives, and how eventually both come to the end of the story having moved their personal life in a totally different direction

I was really surprised at Ryan Phllippe’s handling and development of his character of O’Neill (a young, enthusiastic agent who is looking to grow within the agency), and look forward to him doing more work which is character led rather than some of the light weight items he has previously carried out.

How do you feel when the movie ended? The movie didn’t bring up any surprises, but it did leave some unanswered ones, especially since watching the movie I have read up on Hanssen.

I would recommend this movie to those who are will to watch and listen, and enjoy character led stories.

On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), for me I would give this movie a 4 out of 5

 

Further reading:

Russian Embassy mocks Europeans as ‘gay pigs’ as warships taunts Bris | Daily Star

By Leave a Comment

RussiaRussian Humour.

As with all reporting, you need to take a step back and try to see if it is balanced.  Lovely headlines do not make for in depth reporting.  Yes, the Russian fleet (or part of it) did sale up the North Sea; however we did know about it, it was a planned sailing, so why the big headlines from the papers.  Secondly, Russia is doing no more today than it has been doing for the last 10 plus years, and whilst the West is in disarray it will continue to do so!
If the UK, which is now going to disconnect from Europe, is worried then it needs a cohesive defence plan, not the piece meal one which it now seems to offer to its voting population.  If we have restrictions due to our balance sheet, then we must be realistic about what we can and can’t do.
For me the worrying thing in Russia, is its backward stepping in terms of LGBT rights, the rights of woman and in particular their right to a free, safe abortion when necessary.  For a country which has as its political background and current leanings Communism, it is very funny (and not funny amusing) on how much the church and indeed now outside American groups seem to be influencing Russian policy!
 
Russian humourSource: Russian Embassy mocks Europeans as ‘gay pigs’ as warships taunts Bris | Daily Star

Lithuania lawmakers refuse to vote for Russian-style anti-gay propaganda laws

By Leave a Comment

Gay Times Logo

by Josh Withey

 

What It’s Like To Be Young, LGBT And Vilified In Russia

By Leave a Comment

huff-post-gay-voices-logo-1
 

Gay Voices Senior Editor, The Huffington Post

Photographer Misha Friedman takes a look inside “The Iron Closet.”

 

MISHA FRIEDMANShare on Pinterest
New Yorkers can get a no-holds-barred look at Russia’s beleaguered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth as part of Brooklyn’s annual “pop-up” photography festival.
Photographer Misha Friedman, whose images have appeared in Time Magazine and The New Yorker, is bringing his exhibit, “The Iron Curtain,” to Photoville, which opened Sept. 10 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Friedman’s photos, presented by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, represent work that the photographer conducted over several years in Russia, he told The Huffington Post in an interview. His work with individual subjects lasted “several days to years,” he said.
Russia’s stance on its LGBT residents came under intense scrutiny last year in the wake of global speculation as to how its controversial “gay propaganda” law would impact foreign athletes participating in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as well as attendees. It also sparked the ire of Elton John, Lady Gaga and Madonna, among other A-list stars.
While the global focus has receded somewhat in the meantime, Friedman said that Russia’s LGBT community is facing more discrimination than ever. In fact, three of the subjects in his “Iron Curtain” photos have since had to leave Russia, he said, because of their sexuality.
“Just because something is not in the news does not mean its not happening,” he said.
Now in its fourth year, the 2014 edition of Photoville runs through Sept. 20, and features more than 70 exhibitions. Head here for more details.
MISHA FRIEDMAN

Russia’s LGBT youth left isolated, victimised by “gay propaganda” law

By Leave a Comment

By REUTERS

PUBLISHED: 01:00, 14 September 2015 | UPDATED: 01:00, 14 September 2015

By Kieran Guilbert
LGBT-Russia.
 
LONDON, Sept 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Russian drag artist Yulianna Prosvirnina was revelling in the success of the buzzing gay and lesbian party she had organised in Moscow when a hooded mob burst into the venue.
“They stopped the party and shouted ‘Who wants to be first?'”, the 26-year-old lesbian performer said.
“Then tables started flying, glasses were breaking everywhere and girls were kicked in the stomach. Many people hid and most were so scared, too scared to stand together and defend one another,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Prosvirnina threw the ill-fated party, which saw the club trashed and four people hospitalised, just months after a law banning homosexual propaganda was passed in June 2013.
Activists say it has fuelled anti-gay abuse, discrimination and violence, spawned a “chilling effect”, and victimised young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and deterred them from coming out and seeking support.
The Russian legislation banned the spreading of “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relations” to minors and introduced fines for individuals and organisations that breach the law, which critics describe as arbitrary and hard to implement.
The law is seen by many as one in a series of moves by President Vladimir Putin to crack down on dissent, smother civil society, and draw closer to the Russian Orthodox Church, which has spoken out against homosexuality and is one of the most influential institutions in the country.
Punishable by jail in the Soviet Union, homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993 yet much of the LGBT community remains underground and prejudice runs deep.
The law has only been enforced in a handful of cases, and Elena Klimova, the founder of one of Russia’s only online communities for LGBT youths, Deti-404, where users share stories of attacks and humiliation, was the latest person to be convicted in July and was fined 50,000 roubles (£540).
“We (LGBT people) are treated as subhuman, with no civil or human rights, we are social non-entities, and we are even considered diseased and dangerous to society,” said Prosvirnina, a self-titled drag king who goes by the stage name Iven Batler.

STOKING VIOLENCE

Tanya Cooper, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the gay propaganda law was part of a wider crackdown on civil society and anybody who challenged traditional Russian values.
Since Putin returned to the presidency in May 2012, Russia has adopted laws tightening controls on non-governmental organisations funded from abroad and barring those deemed to pose a threat to its constitutional order, defense or security.
“Activists see the propaganda law as part of a broader crackdown to create a chilling effect and clamp down on those who speak out and have opposing opinions,” Cooper said.
“But LGBT people see the law as an assault on their identity and community, driven by violence and state-sponsored homophobia flowing from television screens, radio stations, newspapers and even celebrities,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A vigilante group “Occupy Paedophilia” has gained infamy for using Russian social media to connect with gay men and lure them into traps, attacking and humiliating them on camera then posting the videos online, where they are shared and “liked”.
In July, a video of two men being harassed, abused and threatened for walking hand-in-hand in Moscow went viral.
Another radical Orthodox group, “God’s Will”, seeks to identify pro-LGBT professionals, expose them and campaign for their dismissal.
Cooper fears the law has not only fuelled but also legitimised anti-LGBT sentiment and violence among the public.
She said victims who muster the courage to report such incidents to the police, and reveal their sexuality, are routinely dismissed and even mocked by the authorities who refuse to take violence against the LGBT community seriously.
“Before the gay propaganda law, LGBT people would not have been openly attacked in broad daylight … but now they don’t feel safe on the streets or even talking to people online.”
“The government has portrayed the LGBT community as a hazard to children while groups like Occupy Paedophilia conflate homosexuality with paedophilia … what kind of message does this send out to young LGBT people across Russia?” she said.
YOUTHS BEAR BRUNT
Activists fear the law has left young LGBT people feeling isolated and neglected in a country with a child and teenage suicide rate three times that of the global average, according to a 2013 report by Russia’s state consumer rights agency.
For LGBT youths living with HIV, the stigma surrounding their sexuality and illness means they face double discrimination and even greater anxiety, said Evgeny Pisemskiy, founder of Phoenix Plus, a Russian NGO for HIV-positive gay men.
He recalled the account of a gay 17-year-old Russian boy whose mother said she should “have got rid of him” before he was born after he was diagnosed with HIV.
“He saw a great counsellor for two months, who helped him and his mother to understand that life was not over … but as a minor today, he would not be able to receive that support under the gay propaganda law,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Although the law has led to a spike in violence and stifled much of Russia’s LGBT community, it has also brought together activists, campaigners and rights groups, according to Anastasia Smirnova, policy officer at LGBT network ILGA-Europe.
“There is more solidarity among civil society now than ever before … and LGBT rights are at the forefront of the human rights agenda. Who knows what change this might bring about?” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. (Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3233229/Russias-LGBT-youth-left-isolated-victimised-gay-propaganda-law.html#ixzz3lnfFWaS9
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Kremlin Shuts Down Russia’s Only LGBT Film Festival

By Leave a Comment

OUT dot com logoBY SUNNIVIE BRYDUM
AUGUST 31 2015 3:32 PM EDT

 

gay-kiss-lgbt-moscow-film-festival

Government officials cited a ‘difficult economic situation,’ but organizers of the film festival see further evidence of the country’s crackdown on LGBT visibility.


 

Pictured: Two men kissing at the Side by Side film festival in 2012.

Less than two weeks before Russia’s only LGBT film festival was set to begin, government officials have cancelled the program, reports ThinkProgress.

Citing a “difficult economic situation,” the Kremlin’s “culture committee” rescinded funding from Moscow Premiere, a film festival that, for the past 12 years, has hosted free screenings of films addressing LGBT issues in Russia and abroad.

Moscow Premiere organizers were notified of the abrupt change in plans on Tuesday, just eight days before the festival’s scheduled launch on September 2. That letter from Kremlin officials claimed the cancellation was necessary because “the culture department of Moscow has to limit the use of budgetary resources in 2015,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

However, the funds earmarked for Moscow Premiere have reportedly been shifted to a different, government-approved festival, organized by a Moscow city councilor who is a member of the nation’s ruling United Russia party. The new event, titled the Youth Festival of Life-Affirming Film, will reportedly feature an entirely distinct program, Moscow Premiere organizer and film critic Vyacheslav Shmyrov told a local paper.

“We cannot affiliate to the new festival — not least in terms of our self-esteem,” Shmyrov told newspaper Noviye Izvestia.

“Moscow Premiere is primarily a social festival and a charity project that exists for those people, especially the older generation, who can not afford to go to the movies,” Shmyrov added. “It is mainly a social mission.” Shmyrov does not believe he will have time to salvage any of the films that had been scheduled to screen at Moscow Premiere.

The festival’s cancellation is unfortunately par for the course in a nation that is increasingly hostile to LGBT visibility, amplified by the 2013 passage of a nationwide ban on so-called “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations,” which criminalizes any positive depiction of LGBT identities or issues in spaces that could be visible to minors.

Last year, the International Queer Culture Festival, known as QueerFest, took place in St. Petersburg, despite ominous threats from public officials and reports of physical harassment of attendees. In 2013, St. Petersburg’s Side by Side Film Festival faced bomb threats on its opening night, but ultimately carried on, screening Russian and U.S. films, including the Oscar-winning Milk, about LGBT trailblazer Harvey Milk. Side By Side Film Festival had been cancelled in 2008, with organizers given notice of the cancellation just hours before the festival was scheduled to open, but took place in 2012 and had scheduled events earlier this spring. 

Horror film highlights anti-gay problem in Russia

By Leave a Comment

PYOTR495
 

PYOTR495 needs your help

Introducing PYOTR495, a new genre of horror produced and directed by Toronto based filmmaker Blake Mawson. The short film uses horror techniques to shine knowledge on Russia’s LGBT Propaganda Law and the struggles gay people face every day.
Scored by Berlin techno producer, Konrad Black, the film follows gay 16 year-old Pyotr being baited by an anti-gay ultranationalist group, known for their violent abductions and attacks. Though it has hinted there may be supernatural twists, everything is on the hush as Mawson finalises the film.
PYOTR496 is relying on community support and has currently raised just under $1,500 in a online crowd funding campaign, but still needs help to raise the needed funds for release.
On the funding page, Mawson adds how the film “speaks to anyone who has ever been victimised or discriminated against for being different and to make a statement about the dangerous trend of fear-mongering and inciting hatred in our society.
He added: ”After all – what’s most terrifying? Some blood and gore? Or the hatred and lack of acceptance in our society in 2015?”
Donators have been promised gratitude for their financial support, from shoutouts on Twitter to cast member’s clothing seen in the film.
Check out the trailer below and stay up to date with the production on Twitter.

PYOTR495 – Trailer – Indiegogo from DRIVE-IN/KEEP OUT Productions on Vimeo.
Words Dean Eastmond, @deanvictorr