Explained: China And Media Censorship

Natasha Taylor / / Asia

5547607176_bd3c82dc94_bThe BBC have reported that China are making further moves to curb their internet use after calls for more regulation of the internet.

The president, Xi Jinping, has said that he wants a global system to help fight online crime and terrorism, but campaigners for free speech complain it would end in more censorship and surveillance.

But why does China already have so much censorship over internet and the media in the country?

The media censorship that is in place in China is seen as a way of the Communist Party of China keeping their reign in the county. One way of doing this has been to censor all media and internet usage so that they can prevent any unapproved reformist ideas or ideologies that could potentially make people want to change the way the country is run.

The censorship also prevents Chinese citizens from discovering or learning more about the past and/or current failures of the Communist Party that could potentially create or inflame any anti-government sentiment.

China has also blocked any access to foreign governments’ websites. It is though that this has been done in order to prevent citizens from discovering and learning about other systems of governance that are in place around the world, which they may demand for themselves.

There are two ways in which China have implemented media censorship. The first way is known as ‘The Great FireWall’ which is the government simply blocking citizen’s access to foreign websites.  The second way is known as the ‘Golden Shield’ and is a system for domestic surveillance which was set up in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Security

Because the Chinese government are so keen to keep out Western media and have banned popular social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube. and have replaced them with their own sites YouKu and WeChat.

However, in recent years the Chinese government have introduced technology that doesn’t block a whole website, but instead restricts access to specific pages in addition to certain searches on sites such as Google.

According to The Economist, The “Freedom on the Net 2012” report, issued by Freedom House, an American organisation that tracks global trends in political freedom, ranked China as the third most restrictive country in the world when it comes to internet access and that overall, there are thought to be around 100,000 people, employed both by the state and by private companies, policing China’s internet around the clock.

Photo by: MinimalMo

Who Are French Right-Wing Party National Front?

Joshua David Craddock Stoneham / / Europe

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The anti-immigration party has been in the news this week, after predictions that they would take three regional elections in France. The result was unexpectedly poor however, with the party winning no regions. However they still have potential to influence French policy in the years to come. So who are the National Front?

The party was established in 1972 to unify the numerous nationalistic French movements, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Although the group describes itself as neither right or left-wing, political commentators have defined it as right-wing, anti-immigration and eurosceptic. The party was strongly opposed to the introduction of the European Union

National Front has had a fair share of controversy over the years. The founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was often the spearhead of these controversies. Statements calling for the ghettoisation of AIDS sufferers in the 80’s,saying that the French football team had too many non-white players and referring to former French president Nicholas Sarkozy as ‘the foreigner’ in a 2007 election campaign. He has also been convicted of inciting racial hatred 6 time. In 1987, he made a statement that caused him to be fined over 2.7 million Francs when talking about the Holocaust. “I ask myself several questions. I’m not saying the gas chambers didn’t exist. I haven’t seen them myself. I haven’t particularly studied the question. But I believe it’s just a detail in the history of World War II.”

So with such a controversial leader, how did this party gain momentum in regional elections?

The key lies in the change of hands. Since 2011, the president of the party has been Marine Le Pen, the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Herself and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen have been targeting the eurosceptic and anti-immgration southern French regions.

Positioning themselves as a alternative to establishment politics, the leader and her niece have made their ideology more political and economic. Rather than focus more on issues of race and religions, they position themselves as more than simply a racist party.

Although they are against gay marriage, abortions, immigration and European politics, holding the other parties to account and using the Paris attacks along with the refugee crisis as talking points has made them appear more credible to some French citizens.

Results out yesterday show that National Front still have a long way to go, but as tensions over terrorism rise in France, so could too the power of the far-right.

 

Photos by David Oranje, videos From Vice, Financial Times and BBC

What Is Fracking And Why Are People Opposing It?

Natasha Taylor / / Uncategorized

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BBC news have reported that “controversial proposals to allow fracking under national parks will be voted on by MPs next week and it follows a suggestion from the industry-funded Shale Gas Task Force which stated the UK should start fracking “as soon as possible” to find out the economic impact of shale gas.”

However there has been a rise in opposition parties and campaigners coming forward, and they have criticised the lack of a Commons debate. They have also accused ministers of a U-turn as they previously pledged an outright ban on fracking in national parks.

But what is fracking and why is there so much opposition to it?

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth and injecting liquid at high pressures to open up rocks in order to release the gas or oil inside, and the name for the process come from the action of the rock being fractured apart from theses high pressures.

The process, which can be carried out either vertically or horizontally, not only only creates new pathways such gas and oils to be released, but also allows existing channels to be extended.

The extensive use of fracking has prompted environmental concerns after its mass use in the US.

Fracking uses huge amounts of water, which must be transported to the fracking site, at it is said that this comes at an enormous cost to the environment.

The BBC have said that “Environmentalists say potentially carcinogenic chemicals used may escape and contaminate groundwater around the fracking site. The industry suggests pollution incidents are the results of bad practice, rather than an inherently risky technique.”

The carcinogenic chemicals that environmentalists are worried about are a form of radiation that is linked to cancer. They don’t directly affect DNA, however,  it could cause human cells to divide at a quicker rate than normal, and it is thought that this could increase the likelihood of changes in DNA.

Campaigners are also worried that the fracking process in the UK could potentially cause small earth tremors.

They’ve said that fracking is simply distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy, and encouraging continued reliance on fossil fuels.

However, industry experts have said that UK needs to start fracking to establish the economic impact of shale gas that fracking produces. And the government believes that these shale gas have the potential to provide the UK with greater energy security, growth and jobs.

 

Photos by: BBC / Video courtesy of: YouTube

Why The Conviction Rate In Japan Is 99%

Rachel Gascoigne / / Asia

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By most measurements, Japan is a very safe society. The rates for crime and incarceration are low, compared to other rich countries. However, court conviction rates are extremely high, 99% according to this video from The Economist.

In Japan, 48 per 100,000 citizens are in prison, a staggering amount when compared to that of Britain and America.

Conviction ‘guaranteed’

It is quite often said that Japanese criminal courts never acquit anyone, when a person is accused of a crime, they are almost always convicted.

However, the puzzle is what to make of this.

Perhaps Japanese judges convict because Japanese prosecutors bring only true criminals into the courtrooms?

Or perhaps Japanese judges convict because they further their careers by convicting?

It could also have something to do with the interrogation process in which those accused are put under – an interrogation for them to sign a confession of guilt. Where those in question can be interrogated for up to 23 days, with limited access to a defence lawyer.
Guilt confessions underpin 89% of all criminal prosecutions in the country…
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In the courts

Japan court does not have a jury, instead a panel of judges who decide the fate of those accused of crime. 98% of appeals in serious cases fail because they are either dismissed, the requests of retrial are retracted, or the accused pass away.

Japanese prosecutors might do very well at keeping innocent defendants out of the court system, but this could be to do with budget constraints. Perhaps rational prosecutors prosecute only the most obviously and gruesomely guilty, due to lack of funds or time.

With Japanese prisons being draconian, the life of a convict is not one to envy, so perhaps scaremongering its people could be Japan’s answer to reduce crime.

 

There are many reasons to suggest why Japan’s conviction rate is so high, yet not a solid answer yet, however interesting it might be.

 

Photos by: Victor, Moyan Brenn.

Women For Their First Vote In Saudi Arabia

Eduardo Gonzalez / / Middle-East

Women Listening to an MP3 Player Over Coffee

Until the last Saturday only two countries around the world did not allow women to vote: Vatican city (wherein only cardinals can do it) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After last December 12 , there is only one.  Those has been just the third democratic elections in the history of the country, and the first time that women are allowed to vote. That was one of the last desires of the previous King Abdulla, who passed out last January. A total of 979 women were registered as candidates alongside 5.938 men.

According to preliminary results published on national media, at least 17 women would have been elected to municipal councils. The winner women include Salma al-Oteibi in the Mecca region, Lama al-Suleiman and Rasha Hufaithi in Jeddah, Hanouf al-Hazimi in Al Jouf province, and Sanaa al-Hammam and Masoumah Abdelreda in the Ahsa region.

Only 130,637 women were registered to vote compared to 1,355,840 men. Some human rights organizations have reported several barriers faced by women. The centres when they were able to vote (only girl schools), were just a few and they were far from town areas (women are not allowed to drive in the country). In addition, women have faced bureaucratic problems. Despite they are now allowed to have their own IDs, many of them didn’t have it, so they are denied to vote. They also have experienced some troubles by presenting their proofs of residence (which are mandatory to vote). Husbands tend to behold the property on his own and pay the bills. In that cases women need to present evidences of the relationship between them. That documents  are usually in hands of husbands as well. As a result women accounted for fewer than 10% of registered voters.

This is an important and historic step to the nation, but it should not be forgotten that Saudi Arabia still remains as one of the most undemocratic countries around the world. There is not freedom of expression; judges are not independent; although penal code bans torture, this practice together with cases of beheading, stoning, amputations or floggings as legal punishments or penalties have been reported; political parties and opposition are forbidden; certain collectives, (such as  women, LGTB, inmigrants, christians or Shia Muslims) are highly discriminated. There is still a lot to be done.

Photo by: Tribes of the World.