The tagline of RFE/RL (www.rferl.org), my new favourite source of news about Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, is a simple yet powerful mission about something that we take for granted in Canada: freedom to inform and be informed. With journalists and bloggers constantly harassed, imprisoned, and even killed in these regions, access to information rarely comes without a price. Censorship and restricted press is not only hugely detrimental to a country's own citizens, but also to other countries' understanding of its social, cultural, historical, and political contexts. How often do we get to read an article by an Iranian about her reflections on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution? by a South Ossetian about the tensions between Georgia and Russia? by a Tajik about the impacts of migrant labour on families in Badakhshan?
I'll start posting links to particularly interesting pieces from RFE/RL; hopefully you'll find them as eye-opening as I do.
"Freedom of speech is freedom to learn. All education is a continuous dialogue - questions and answers that pursue every problem on the horizon." (William Orville Douglas)
