Blog Rally

I would actually have a blue ribbon picture here, but blogger has decided that it will freeze every time I try to upload something from my desktop, and that it doesn't want to actually put anything into the blog when it tells me that I have successfully linked to an online picture... Even manually adding it doesn't work {sigh}

The blue ribbon is here, though...


I've freely pinched the content for this from Notes of an Anesthesioboist - I am not a political animal (my general status seems to be "mildly outraged but how can I do something that will make a difference"?)

Whilst I'm afraid I can't think that this will make much of a difference to the Iranian regime, the least that we can do is raise awareness, and show that we are proud to be living in a society where (at the moment at least!!) we can blog and write without fear of losing our freedom.


I have never been a person who would stoop to self-censoring and I never will be. I'd rather not write at all if I have to stop being frank and honest in my words. -Omid-Reza Mir-Sayafi, who died of an overdose in an Iranian prison in March this year, whilst "he was serving a two and a half year sentence for allegedly "insulting Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader Khamenei" and posting "seditious" materials on his blog."


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."

Journalist Roxana Saberi has been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she is spending her birthday on a hunger strike. Around the world, people continue to face similar violations of their rights to freedom of expression, free speech, and a free press. Let's show the international community that we won't be silenced by intimidation and tyranny - that we won't stop believing in and fighting for these rights.

Freedom of the press is not a luxury. It lies at the heart of making this world healthier and more just. People without a voice and without a clear line of sight into the things that would threaten or corrupt their societies cannot hope for equitable growth and meaningful change.

A group of bloggers is holding a blog rally in support of journalists, bloggers, students, and writers who have dared to express their thoughts freely only to be imprisoned, abused, or killed.

Please consider "wearing" a blue ribbon online this week on your blogs, websites, and facebook / myspace / twitter pages, and invite others to do the same. Get the discussion going, and keep it going.