Freedom: December 2006 Archives

Editor's note: Freedom of thought is under attack if not suppressed in several nations around the world, including in Western Europe, once a shelter for intellectual freedom but now abandoning that legacy, and in certain countries strongly influenced by religious dogmas. Below is a statement of academic rights that should be considered in order to protect students and intellectuals from persecution and restrictions on genuine intellectual liberty. Proutist Universal has no list of demands of its own at the current time in this regard but two of its departments, the Universal Proutist Intellectual Federation and Universal Proutist Student Federation, do in principle support academic freedom. This includes the right to debate facts surrounding the Holocaust as well as religious beliefs like the caste system or spiritual rights of women but also any historical, scientific, or other ideas or facts. Truth should prevail.

TEHRAN, Nov 27 (IPS) - Iranian officials have scorned the labelling of this country by a journalists' rights watchdog as one of the world's 13 Internet 'black holes' and said they will continue to protect what they claim are the morals of society.