Last Friday it was reported that the government of Burma government had shut down the Internet and cell-phone service in an attempt to quell the pro-democracy protests led by the country’s Buddhist monks. The sharp drop in reporting on the peaceful demonstrations over the weekend seems to indicate that the government has been successful in shrouding the country in electronic silence. There are no dramatic pictures of monks being beaten by the military. There are no first-hand accounts of protesters being text-messaged around the world.

Burma has withdrawn from the 21st century and, in doing so, deprived its citizens of their human rights, and the world a fair account of events. Has the country’s military dictatorship in fact crushed the protests and restored order? Or are the demonstrations still ongoing? What has happened to the countless of people who have been arrested, including scores of monks? By denying Burma’s citizen journalists and activists the tools necessary to communicate with the world through the Internet, the regime is free to peddle its own, heavily edited version of events with little fear of the truth ever being revealed.

The right to live, of course, is the ultimate human right. President Bush and the State Department joined leaders from around the world in rightly issuing strong statements condemning the military junta’s violent and sometimes deadly response to the protests.

However, it is surprising that the more democratic nations around the world have not specifically condemned the blackout of the Internet by the Burmese government. Freedom of speech, which includes the rights to express oneself, communicate with others, share and receive information, hold and state opinions, and even freely associate, is a fundamental human right, recognized by Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of speech is essential for government accountability and the achievement of human potential, and the Internet facilitates free expression like never before.

While private actors such as business, academia and Internet users themselves have a role to play, they alone will not be successful in advancing “Internet Human Rights” around the world. An open Internet is a human rights issues, thus the U.S. and other democratic countries must vehemently denounce any attempt by governments to interfere with their citizens’ legitimate and rightful use of this powerful medium. Burma, by silencing its people has violated their human rights and ours.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Free Expression, International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.