Massive protests are being held around the world today. In Turkey, protestors are demanding that the government stop a law designed to censor the Internet there. In Bahrain, pro-democracy protestors are demanding change there. In Venezuela, people are protesting deteriorating economic conditions.
Here in the US, we take the freedom to access the Internet and visit any site we want for granted. But in Turkey, that right will soon be taken away.
Already under pressure, Ergin's site would be easily targeted by Turkey's new Internet law. The law, which awaits the signature of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, would allow the Turkey's telecommunications regulator to block specific social media accounts or specific links on a website, and to do so without prior court approval.
"This system allows you to close a 'troublesome' Facebook account without provoking the outrage you'd get for blocking off all of Facebook," says Berhan Soylu, a representative of Turkey's Computer Engineers Chamber. "It also allows sites to be instantly blocked. You can respond to dissent in real time."
The law would also require ISP's to store data for two years and allow government access without court approval.
In Bahrain:
Bahraini protesters marking the third anniversary of an Arab Spring-inspired uprising clashed with security forces on Friday in the capital Manama and in outlying villages, witnesses said.
Hundreds of men and women took to the streets in parts of the capital and in Shia villages that have been at the forefront of the campaign among the Gulf state's Shia majority for a consitutional monarchy in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.
Bahrain is in a state similar to South Africa during apartheid times, when the Blacks were in the majority, but the country was ruled by minority Whites.
And in Venezuela, the government there has banned protestors after three were killed:
About 50,000 pro-opposition Venezuelans marched through Caracas to protest product shortages, violence and to demand the release of students arrested in provincial towns this month, said Amarilys Gott, national director for Voluntad Popular, a party that helped organize the movement. The government confronted them by calling on its allies to take to the streets to celebrate youth day.
The biggest demonstrations against the government since Maduro won elections in April by the narrowest margin in 45 years come as Venezuelans cope with the fastest inflation in the world and a drop in international reserves exacerbates shortages of everything from medicine to food. The country’s economic decline and the government’s attempt to suppress demonstrations may spill over into general violence nationwide, said Diego Moya-Ocampos, a political analyst at IHS Global Insight consultancy who was present at the protests.
If you think this country is polarized politically, it is nothing compared to what is happening in Venezuela, where inflation is now rampant and the black market is thriving.
All three protests serve as a warning for what can happen if we continue to take inequality for granted as a society. The greater this gap grows in this country, the greater the temptation for the 1% to seize even more dictatorial powers than they already have.