World Press Freedom Day: Breaking the Silence

What could have been with a world without freedom to express? It could have been a diversity of prisoners in detentions with no chance to claim the rights to be heard. It could have been a place where there is no room to break the silence and the use of mouth to speak is not possible in which the chain and the mode of communication seems to be weak and built without advocacy.

Real free minds promote democracy with accountability and integrity to disclose facts and truths.  It yearns to outcry the voice of human rights that deliver opinions, knowledge and ideas. It is a way to a free cognition that share values and ideations. It is also an exposition for the love of words and phrases and a passion on the use of language expressed through creative writings and other forms that carry out fascination in self-expression. 

Press freedom is a communication tool and medium that brings out topics, concerns and common issues.  It creates awareness on current events and sends messages and feedbacks that affect the common welfare of the people in one way or another. It also relays stories of different people that bring about inspirations and lessons learned.

Nowadays, the social media and internet plays an important role in the making of the freedom of the press. It provides an efficient and effective approach that enables to deliver news feeds the easiest way possible, reaching the people the most accessible way through social networking like facebook, myspace, multiply and the like; through blogging system like blogger, wordpress, typad and the like; and through search engines like google, yahoo, bing and the like.

Unfortunately, there are several countries which can be enumerated in which, despite the modern vehicles and means to deliver thoughts, still failed to practice the liberty of the press, Inhibited by some social and political concerns and for the others, the freedom of the press would only mean risking lives and conflicting well beings. Yet, there is a bigger population and percentage from different nations globally who believes on the continuity of press liberty and freedom of expression supported by the commoners and by several groups and organizations within the country of origins, worldwide or internationally.

Celebrating today is the “World Press Freedom Day” which is annually being observed every 3^rd of May to inform the international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental.  This is established by the United Nations General Assembly to highlight its importance and to remind the government of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression.

Written By|Azeweht

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Philippines License.

Let Me Be Me!

Illustration was taken from deviantart.com

Let me spell words I can’t define

Let me state phrases in a line

Let me share the real thoughts of mine

Let me sing praises in a rhyme

Let me paint the color of sky

Let me cry till my tears run dry

Let me draw every single line

Let me sketch the meaning of life

Let me reach and stay in cloud nine

Let me play games of lucky nine

Let me dance like no one’s around

Let me walk the whole town around

Let me go, fly and then soar high

Let me climb in a mountain high

Let me sail with the boat around

Let me run and trip all around

Let me talk my own story line

Let me walk the value of life

Let me reach my own bottom line

Let me feel the freedom of life

"LET ME BE ME" 

 written by Azeweht

Saudi Arabia: Revolution of Yearning on March 11th

Photo taken from the article "Saudi Arabia Facebook Group Calls For Protests" of The Huffington Post

I was awakened suddenly while in a deep sleep by a long distance call from the Philippines late in the afternoon the other day. I got lucky when my phone didn't die even for 3 days after I bought it as I replaced the old one that I overcharged and no longer functioning. It was my mother calling me, her voice sounds  like she was anxious and quite disturbed. She was getting scared and worried about the turmoil and war over here in the Middle East and though the riot has begun already from the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia when it all started from Tunisia and Egypt after they overthrew their leaders to step down from their positions who ruled the country for several years through demonstrations and rallies, it seems like every country is trying to mimic what these two countries did after the United Nations applied some international western interventions. There it all started the protests and it spread like a virus from the nearby country like Libya and Bahrain which happens to be in the same political conflicts where their leaders rule for decades but only, this time, particularly in Libya, it is becoming more bloody and violent as their strong willed leaders are not willing to give up the posts.

This political conflict has created major effects not only in terms of the worldwide economy but also it has taken the risk of the lives of the people particularly of the overseas workers. The Philippine government and other countries provided assistance to take their citizens home, though there are some Filipinos who are refusing to go back in the country, specifically those who are in the medical field believing that they are safe and won’t get hurt by other nationalities. Moreover, the Overseas Worker Welfare Administrations extends their assistance through a program to displace OFWs by giving them 10,000php each.

I always sympathize those people whenever I watch the news, especially those Overseas Filipino Workers or expatriates who have their families with them who were trapped in the middle of the crisis as they risk their lives in danger. But not more than a week ago when I got a friend who stated that same thing could also happen here in Saudi Arabia. I was in doubt at first, because I witnessed how Saudi nationals welcomed King Abdullah, their ruler after having  medical treatment abroad for a few months and everyone celebrated his come back and in return the king has declared one public holiday nationwide, for Saudi and non-Saudi. So how could they revolt against their claimed good king when they are all happy at the moment seeing him back.

"This is a video from Youtube showing how they have welcomed King Abdullah in Riyadh City"

On the contrary, I was surprised when I heard from the news that Saudi is as well planning a revolt against the kingdom on the 11^th of March. It's a protest to outcry for women's rights and freedom, and the release of political prisoners. I don’t know exactly what they are fighting for but I don’t like what they are planning and what is exactly happening here.

"While here is another video from Fox News stating about the plan for a call of rage on the 11th of March initiated by Saudi nationals via social media."

 

There may be skepticism as whether they have the ability to demonstrate but the rumor has just begun. I just pray that the price will be worth it and no one will get hurt after the occurrence of such event and I hope for a peaceful rally in case they can get organize on the 11^th of March.Whether it will take place or not, everyone has to be prepared for it!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Philippines License.