Freedom of Voice

Trey Brown
3/28/09
10:45 am

Since Monday the video sharing site known as YouTube has been blocked in the country of China. It was reported that the block was put into place by the Chinese government after a video showing Chinese soldiers swarming a Tibetan monastery was posted up onto the site. The soldiers identified as Chinese by their uniforms were shown brutalizing a group of men including a monk. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua has accused the Tibetan government of faking the wounds seen in the video that were left by the Chinese soldiers. Google, the owners of YouTube, say that the slowdown of traffic to China became noticeable on Monday and came to a complete halt on Tuesday morning. There has been a largely critical response from the rest of the global community. The blocking of video sites isn't a totally unusual occurrence around the world though; countries such as Turkey and Bangladesh have also been known to block "sensitive" information from the public.
As if the world’s economic crisis weren’t worrisome enough, old problems resurface as well. It’s not surprising to still hear about freedom of speech violations around the world, but it would seem more advantageous to solve the countries monetary problems instead and not try to hush something embarrassing up in a way that will only leave you looking more sinister. The lengths many governments are willing to go to in order not to lose face can be surprising to say the least. But with the amount of power some wield it should mean that many more eyes watching them.

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