South Africa: Everything old is new again?

Wasn't government censorship of the press one of the things that was WRONG with the Old South Africa? Isn't that what the ANC used to claim? Are they now saying censorship is OK, as long as they are the one's doing it?

SAfrica's ANC party wants tribunal for journalists

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's governing party said Tuesday that the country needs a special tribunal to regulate the work of journalists, a proposal that has drawn sharp criticism from local and international media organizations.

The tribunal would be given powers to rule on media content and to impose unspecified penalties on journalists.

African National Congress spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the party has found numerous instances of news stories that were intentionally damaging to subjects' reputations and dignity.

"Your freedom does not supersede the other freedoms that are there," Jackson told journalists Tuesday. "We say there must be punishment when journalists mess up with reputations and dignity of members of the society."

South African journalists have launched a campaign to fight what they say is an attempt to curtail media freedoms in a nation known for one of Africa's freest and most open constitutions.

Other legislation under consideration would allow South Africa's government to classify a broad range of material that is currently not secret. Under the new law, it would be illegal to leak or to publish information deemed classified by the government, and the offense would be punishable by imprisonment.

On Tuesday, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) said it will do what ever it can to stop the proposed "Protection of Information Bill" and media tribunal.

"We are not opposing the ANC government but the bill and tribunal," said Guy David, secretary general of SANEF.

When the old, white ruled government of South Africa censored the South African press, outrage was expressed worldwide, and boycotts and sanctions were imposed on the country.

Now, years later, we have a black ruled government, proposing similar or even worse censorship of the press. Where is the outrage, the world-wide indignation? Will we even hear a peep out of the international press about this?

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.
     

Marxist Censorship Dreams, and the FCC

This makes the threat of the "fairness doctrine" look like nothing. This so-called "Government Broadband Plan" may actually be a first step in setting the stage for the governmental usurpation of all private media:

Diversity Czar Lloyd and Marxist McChesney's Censorship Dream: The FCC's Plan for Government Broadband

The Wall Street Journal's intrepid and very good Amy Schatz has a piece today updating us on the progress of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s National Broadband Plan.

With all that we have thus far seen, things look quite grim from a free speech, free market perspective. The groundwork for government information totalitarianism - favored by people like Hugo Chavez-loving FCC "Diversity Czar" Mark Lloyd and Marxist "media reform"-outfit Free Press founder Robert McChesney - is being laid in the Plan being crafted by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

As we first reported, the Center for American Progress (at which Lloyd was then a Senior Fellow) and McChesney's Free Press co-authored the deeply flawed, anti-conservative and Christian talk radio "report" entitled The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio.

But their shared disdain for free speech and the free market extend way beyond just this. These "media reformers" seek to eradicate most or all private ownership of all information delivery - be it by radio, television or the internet - thereby leaving the federal government as sole purveyor. [...]

If that sounds alarmist to you, then you need to read the rest. See what Lloyd and McChesney have actually said. Dang! Marxist is certainly NOT too strong a word. It's absolutely frightening to think what these people would try to do, to subvert the FCC for their purposes.

The source article also has embedded links.


Also see:

How much longer will our Republic last?

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government"
 
   

When is Fascism not Fascism?

When Democrats do it:


From Tammy Bruce:

Obama's Fascist Heart: Tries to Censor Ayers Ad

[...] Barry, you see, doesn't like the American Issues Project ad reminding Americans of his documented and admitted-to relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And how does a leftist respond to painful truth? Calls for "criminal" investigations, mass email harassment, FCC threats to stations who dare to run the ad, and threats to sponsors and advertisers of stations that also do what they are legally, and constitutionally, allowed to do.

[...]

Just one more sign of just how Marxist the Obama campaign really is. If you're a Classical Liberal and a Dem, you should begin to look very carefully at this rather ominous sign. Time to wake up, folks, if you haven't done so already. [...]

Bold emphasis mine. Read the whole thing for some links and quotes. Our nation's political parties can and should have strong differences of opinion. Obama can explain his ties with terrorists and hatemongers in any way he wishes. But the American public doesn't have to put up with demonstrable lies about his associations, and aggressive attempts to cover those lies up. Are the Obamas just black Clintons? So much for "change".

More from Nealz Nuze:

AYERS AD BROUHAHA

[...] Now might be a good time to remind you how Obama won his first run for the Illinois State Senate. He didn't win by convincing the voters that he was the better candidate. He won by sending workers to the elections office to pour over petitions until he managed to get his opposition removed from the ballot. Now he's trying to use the U.S. legal system to keep people from running perfectly legitimate advertisements opposing his candidacy. There's really not much evidence that Obama is a fan of the electoral process. He would rather use a legal process to gain power.

Bold emphasis mine. Read the whole thing for details about the methods being used to achieve this. I guess that's what they call "Chicago Style" politics? It might work in Chicago, but I hope it doesn't in the national arena. We deserve better.

None of this will matter much to Obama's fans, who believe anything he does is ok. But this election will be decided by swing voters. Hopefully they aren't blinded by adoration.


Related Links:

Does Obama have fleas?

Obama's illegal campaign contributions

Barack Obama; the larger, complete picture

What has happened to the Democrat Party?
     

Tammy Bruce on the push to purge talk radio

Former President of the Los Angeles Chapter of NOW, Tammy Bruce appears on Bill O'Reilly's show to talk about the assorted methods the left is using to try to silence it's critics. She maintains there is a struggle in the Democratic party right now between the far left and classical liberal Democrats like herself, with the former trying to purge the later. The video is just over 5 minutes long.

On her blog, she posted about her upcomming appearance on the show. An excerpt:

[...] I'll be on alone with O'Reilly to discuss how the Imus firing is really the beginning of what the left hopes will be an ideological purging (silencing) of talk radio.

Keep in mind, Imus is not a 'conservative,' but he is also not a leftist. I see this attack on Imus very much like the attempt by Establishment Left to purge Lieberman (and what he represents) from the Democratic Party--there is indeed an ideological war going on, and even before the leftist gestapos out there feel they can turn to silencing conservatives, they have to purge their own house of liberals who don't pledge allegiance to the leftist worldview. It's why I get attacked by the left for not being a "real" Democrat and why Imus was one of the first on their Hit List to go.

It's very Maoist, and very dangerous unless we all speak up. I think we're a nation which can handle being occasionally offended, and can have that discussion socially. Yet, under the guise of protecting the apparently freakishly vulnerable and sensitive ears of minorities, we're being asked to punish and destroy only those who dare to question and decry leftism, issue dissent and cause a politically incorrect ruckus (the two usually go together). All of us would prefer a world where certain phrases aren't even considered as part of the social debate, but what this is really about is how far you are willing to be manipulated, in the name of 'decency', to allow and accept Stalinistic control over what can and cannot be heard.

For those who think this is about decency across the board, when Jesse "Hymie Town" Jackson and Al "Tawana Brawley" Sharpton call for the firing of Rosie "Ching-Chong" O'Donnell, then you'll have a point. But you won't because she's a loyal moonbat and has 'protection' to say whatever the hell she wants. Ching-chong to you, too.

In the meantime, it's safe to say this has nothing to do with "decency" and everything to do with ideology and the leftist politics of purging those who are unafraid and cannot be controlled. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Having been a Leftist activist for many years, and as such used the MSM extensively, Tammy knows well of what she speaks. Tammy is the author of three books (the most recent: "The New American Revolution"). She currently hosts her own Talk Radio show in the Los Angeles area.