The Rise of Global Free Speech in the Digital Age

€ 3,66

Social media, texting and the Internet have given oppressed people the power to organize, communicate dissent and help lead revolutions throughout the world. While the Arab Spring in 2011 brought attention to "Facebook revolutions" in Tunisia, Egypt and other nations, the rise of global free speech around the world was happening in many more places for many more years. This collection of PBS MediaShift stories from 2006 to 2013 goes from China to Burma to Russia to Southern Sudan and beyond, looking at how average people used technology and social media to discuss and organize in places where governments cracked down on free expression. The stories also include updates on what's happening currently in those places. Unfortunately, many governments have made Internet and social media censorship their focus, passing new restrictive laws to hinder online speech or block sites wholesale. The good news is that activists and people who want to spread the word now have a global outlet in the Internet, with blogs, social media, YouTube and other tools.