Free Republic

Press freedom and democracy By Jane Novak What does it mean when a government sanctions a conference on democracy, but prevents journalists from attending? At the very least, that a conference does not a democracy make – as proved by the recent Sanaa Intergovernmental Regional Conference on Democracy. Since 1974 more than 60 countries have made the transition – with varying degrees of conviction – from an authoritarian regime to some form of democracy, from Europe to Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Now it is the Arab world that appears at the center of calls for reform and democracy. The...

Iranian students defy ban on protest   Anniversary of ‘days of rage’ marked by clashes with police, militia   An Iranian hard-liner raises his hand to hit a reformist woman demonstrating near Tehran University Tuesday.   MSNBC NEWS SERVICES TEHRAN, Iran, July 9 —  Marking the anniversary of a 1999 student uprising, several thousand Iranian students came out to protest near Tehran University Tuesday, and clashed with plainclothes security officers. It was the biggest show of defiance since unrest three years earlier, when students rallied against the Islamic Republic’s hard-line government.     It was the biggest show of...