New Press Freedom in Sudan? Doubtful.

by Michelle . · 2009-09-28 04:28:00 UTC
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Does the end of pre-publication censorship of newspapers by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) signal an opening of freedom of expression in Sudan?

Likely no, because President/War Criminal Omar al-Bashir replaced pre-censorship with self-censorship, warning journalists and editors to "avoid what leads to exceeding the red lines and avoid mixing what is patriotic and what is destructive to the nation, sovereignty, security, values and its morality."

Given Khartoum's penchant for intimidating and arresting those not toeing the party line, and is generally a less-than-enthusiastic upholder of basic human rights principles, the move is the equivalent of:

a.)    paying lip-service to benchmarks for democratic transformation, while

b.)    sending a clear message to would-be dissidents that nothing of the sort is actually intended, and

c.)    testing Bashir's power to keep people in check, with or without censorship laws.

In other words: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Photo from aheavens' Flickr stream, Creative Commons license: Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of Sudan, arriving at Addis Ababa's Bole Airport ahead of the start of the Heads of State Summit at the African Union.]

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
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