Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. What has followed since are twenty-five days of the war, millions of people evacuating, and families fleeing their country with their children, and their pets -many becoming stateless refugees, and many more staying behind to help defend from Russian military attacks, and many more (even non-Ukrainians), volunteering to fight for Ukraine
Perhaps what is not being shared as widely as the images of war, death, destruction, and desperation, are the stories of those who are not free to share their views on the war, and how it is impacting them personally, and their country both in Ukraine and especially inside Russia where it’s said the majority only absorb state-sponsored media
Why is it important to defend freedom of speech and freedom of information, especially during war-time?
Nearly two weeks into the war Russian President Putin declared laws against freedom of information (dissent war on media), International media chose to withdraw their reporters, and journalists from the country due to a sentence of at least fifteen years for media, reporters, journalists, citizen bloggers who share what Russia deems to be false information “propaganda” on the current war/invasion of Ukraine the Russian government calls a “special military operation”
Without freedom of information, and speech (censorship), we have a population that is listening to highly moderated news, and information approved by their government only without the freedom to listen to, and read outside views, news, and reports from around the world and that includes top social media sites which the government of Russia recently decided to ban
Propaganda also tends to follow censorship and moderated media, we cannot expect people to understand what is happening nor can they freely express their views and opinions when they’re not free to do so without legal consequences, and that is a dangerous situation for those who are currently experiencing this in Russia, and for other countries who are witnessing the easy manipulation of information, and the rapid decline of freedom and democracy
We can better understand a conflict, invasion, and war when we have both sides of the story without censorship, threats against freedom of speech and information compared to having only one side of the story.
The MOC, The Maghreb & Orient Courier invites Russia based reporters, journalists, citizen bloggers, who wish to share an anonymous piece with us for publication consideration through our website or by email
Likewise, The MOC also invites Ukraine based reporters, journalists, citizen bloggers, to submit a piece to us through our website or email
Contact The MOC at cmomoc2022@gmail.com for more information and to submit a piece
Visit our website at https://lecourrierdumaghrebetdelorient.info/
Written by Gia Santos
2 Comments
The European Union has censored the Russian media (RT and Sputnik) to prevent European citizens from accessing the Russian version of this war.
Do you mean, in this article, that the OMC proposes to relay the articles of RT and Sputnik in Europe?
That would be very courageous, to help circumvent the propaganda of mainstream media in the United States and the European Union. And this is the reason why the MOC was founded: to give a space for freedom of speech in front of mainstream media.
But don’t you fear that the European Union will censor the MOC?
Hi Pierre, firstly I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to continue the important work The MOC was initially founded on. Yes that is what I mean to convey in this article, If a blogger, independent journalist, reporter in Ukraine-Russia would like to share a report from inside their country about what is happening during this ongoing war, then certainly the MOC would be open to publishing their piece even if it includes an RT news piece, interview for example. Our aim is to support both Ukrainian and Russian independent journalists ability to report their views, opinion, and reporting through this platform because we believe freedom of speech is important especially during wartime. The US & EU continue to suppress freedom of speech through mainstream media, and tech giants, and it’s important for us to stand on the side of truth and transparency. I don’t fear the EU censoring the MOC because I have experience with censorship of my own person by big tech companies, and it’s time we stand up for what is right.