The Middle East suffers from a broad deficit in freedom and human rights compared to the rest of the world, especially regarding women’s rights and freedom of speech. There have been cases of severe infringement upon human rights, sparking popular uprisings in the Arab world and a war in Libya. Restraints on rights include the ability to report and speak freely. People who openly criticize the government are at risk of being thrown in jail. Overall, censorship in the media forces the loss in an individual’s ability to express their thoughts and opinions, halting the movement of ideas. This degrades the lives of many people, including the lives of women. This essay addresses the relationship between censorship and the movement of women’s rights.
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The Internet helped to catalyze and sustain the Arab Spring protests, an example of the Internet’s role in creating community. Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that spread across the Arab world in 2011. During the January Arab Spring protests, the government censored the internet, causing people to rally against them. The Arab Spring acted as a paradigm shift in the online world, and as a result, rules and regulations for the internet became harsher.[4] There are incredibly strict laws surrounding topics reporters may report on due to the fact that authorities who feel threatened by reform efforts or criticism attack freedom of expression viciously. There are restrictive laws, surveillance, and self-censorship that cause free speech to be constricted[5]. Journalists who violate regulations face criminal penalties. Media censorship can hinder a society. As a source of the majority of information available, it could leave a society uneducated. Censorship has been proven to be a dangerous way of silencing those who speak out against the current …show more content…
“Free speech” is not free when it costs you your liberty. Freedom of speech is crucial to the protection, promotion and exercise of all other human rights. This freedom should never be restricted and belongs to all people, regardless of race or ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender identity, religion, or political opinion. This also includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information. In Middle Eastern countries, the lack of movement in ideas causes the rights for women to be strangled, impeding on the progress of the nations as a
The Internet helped to catalyze and sustain the Arab Spring protests, an example of the Internet’s role in creating community. Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that spread across the Arab world in 2011. During the January Arab Spring protests, the government censored the internet, causing people to rally against them. The Arab Spring acted as a paradigm shift in the online world, and as a result, rules and regulations for the internet became harsher.[4] There are incredibly strict laws surrounding topics reporters may report on due to the fact that authorities who feel threatened by reform efforts or criticism attack freedom of expression viciously. There are restrictive laws, surveillance, and self-censorship that cause free speech to be constricted[5]. Journalists who violate regulations face criminal penalties. Media censorship can hinder a society. As a source of the majority of information available, it could leave a society uneducated. Censorship has been proven to be a dangerous way of silencing those who speak out against the current …show more content…
“Free speech” is not free when it costs you your liberty. Freedom of speech is crucial to the protection, promotion and exercise of all other human rights. This freedom should never be restricted and belongs to all people, regardless of race or ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender identity, religion, or political opinion. This also includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information. In Middle Eastern countries, the lack of movement in ideas causes the rights for women to be strangled, impeding on the progress of the nations as a