Tech tip for Fiji Bloggers: Safer to use a typewriter
If you’re the political type and love to blog about the human weaknesses in those running democratically elected governments, Fiji is not the place for you.
Blogging there can be dangerous. Unless you go anonymous.
The country’s military regime is heavy on media censorship.
To say anything “negative” about those in power is to risk being taken to the military camp and interrogated.
“Negative” of course is loosely defined by the censors.
It can be anything from “what you think is harmless but is perceived by them as NEGATIVE” to “what you think is negative but write in such a way that they think its harmless.”
The mainstream media there have already been slapped with restrictive legislations designed to keep them in line.
Anti-government commentators have also been pushed underground following intimidation attacks by the army.
The crowd of online anti-government commentators has thinned over the years as a result.
I can go on but this is a class exercise that has a potential to land me in jail as soon as I go back to Fiji on May 21st!
Suffice to say that there is hope for bloggers in Fiji.
How would you rate the safety of blogging on politics in your country?
Nice piece Deefiji. Have you heard from anyone who’s been jailed for writing negatively. How were they treated?
Yes, few people have been to jail for “negative” writing. They were not treated well. some were bashed up, others were made to run and duckwalk across the army grounds several times as punishment…not all were treated well.