IP: Action on Banned Zambian newspaper now on the Web

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 21:23:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
To: farber () central cis upenn edu


Dave, thanks for sending the original note from David Lush to IP -- that's
what got me interested in the situation. 


Now we have the banned February 6 issue of _The Post_ online! 


I've HTMLized the text, added background documents and information about
other international censorship efforts, and put it online at: 
     http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/zambia/


Zambia's president-cum-tyrant Frederick Chiluba has plenty of practice
censoring local dissidents, broadcasters, and newspapermen. Now, if he
likes, he can take on the Net. 


-Declan






------------------------------------------------------------------------
                http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/zambia/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
      
                     NET CENSORSHIP AND ZAMBIAN DICTATORS
                                       
   By Declan McCullagh
   declan () well com   
     
     
     Zambian President and Dictator-for-Life Frederick Chiluba has made a
     career of intimidating, harassing, arresting, and censoring those
     who disagree with him. Now his attempts to muzzle his critics have
     reached the Net -- specificially, Zamnet, the only Internet service
     provider in this impoverished African country.
     
     Chiluba has plenty of experience intimidating traditional media. At
     Chiluba's bidding, in December 1994 an armed paramilitary unit
     raided the Lusaka offices of The Post newspaper and its printer
     Printpak in Ndola looking for "seditious and defamatory material" --
     just as the presses were starting to roll. Germany's ambassador to
     Zambia, Peter Schmidt, who witnessed the raid, told InterPress
     Service that "the raid amounted to an attempt to intimidate the free
     press."
     
     A few days later, police arrested the top editors of the weekly
     Crime News and held them without bail and without filing charges.
     The journalists' offense? The newsweekly had revealed that Chiluba's
     wife was involved in drug trafficking.
     
     The year before, Chiluba sued The Weekly Post for libel after the
     paper reported on his shady financial dealings with South Africa.
     Chiluba also fired the head of the Zambia National Broadcasting
     Corporation for not broadcasting appropriately pro-government
     programming. In 1994, the ever-vigilant Chiluba introduced
     legislation to make the Zambian media answerable to a
     government-appointed secret tribunal with broad, undefined powers of
     censure and punishment.
     
     Chiluba's latest state-sponsored terrorism came in early February
     1996, after The Post published a report revealing the government's
     plans to hold a referendum on the adoption of a new constitution --
     plans Chilbua hoped to keep secret to the disadvantage of his
     political opponents. True to form, the hypersensitive Chiluba
     ordered his forces to invade the newspaper's office, ransack the
     paper's files, arrest the editors, and stop the presses. Security
     forces then sealed the offices of The Post.
     
     Chiluba's despotic behavior is reprehensible. Foreign governments
     immediately should yank the $1.8 billion in foreign aid Zambia
     receives each year and demand Chiluba's ouster. That failing, it's
     high time for the Zambian people to kick their thin-skinned tyrant
     out of office.


     
     February 16, 1996: Zamnet Communication Systems, which hosts the the
     web version of The Post, removes the online copy of the February 5
     issue after police threaten a raid. David Lush of the Media
     Institute of Southern Africa publishes an advisory.
     
     February 18, 1996: After reading Lush's advisory, I send an appeal
     requesting the text to several mailing lists.
     
     February 19, 1996: Frank Stuart contacts me when I'm logged into the
     WELL, saying he has a copy of the banned issue of the newspaper.
     
     February 20, 1996: This archive goes online after I translate
     Frank's text into HTML.


     
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