Citizenship in post-awakening Tunisia: power shifts and conflicting perceptions

With the passing of its new Constitution, Tunisia is rightly celebrated as the Arab state that has advanced the most in strengthening democratic rights provisions. The Constitution formally enshrines the progress Tunisia has made especially on women’s rights; the rights of expression and assembly; freedom of the press; the rights of political parties; and the formal recognition of social and economic rights. However, the Constitution does not definitively resolve tensions between individual and religious rights. In order to maintain consensus between the differing opinions in Tunisia, the document remains ambivalent on the state’s precise role in protecting the ‘sacred’. Tunisia has made much progress, but the Constitution is likely to perpetuate rather than close debates over different concepts of rights

Doomed by hope : essays on Arab theatre

Wydarzenia wiosny arabskiej nie tylko zatrzęsły porządkiem polityczno-społecznym na Bliskim Wschodzie, ale poruszyły także życiem kulturalnym tego regionu. Zwróciły równocześnie uwagę na problematykę arabskiej ekspresji artystycznej. W atmosferze rewolucyjnych przemian rozpoczęła się między innymi ożywiona dyskusja na temat kondycji arabskiego teatru i jego misji. Przestrzenią dla tejże dyskusji stały się festiwale, konferencje a przede wszystkim artykuły publikowane tak przez środowiska twórców jak i odbiorców reprezentowanych przez krytyków. Do zapoczątkowanej przed trzema laty debaty włącza się wydana przez Pluto Press w 2012 roku w Londynie i przygotowana pod redakcją Eyada Houssamiego książka zatytułowana Doomed by Hope. Essays on Arab Theatre.As well as upsetting the socio-political order in the Middle East, the events of the Arab Spring affected the cultural life of that region. In addition, these events put into focus the question of Arab artistic expression. One thing that emerged amidst this turmoil of change was a lively debate on the condition of Arab theatre and its mission. A range of festivals, conferences, and, most importantly, articles by both the artists and the audiences, whose opinions were voiced by critics, provided a platform for the debate. Doomed by Hope. Essays on Arab Theatre by Eyad Houssami, published by Pluto Press in 2012 in London, joins this debate, which started three years ago

Journalist-twitterers as political influencers in Brazil : narratives and disputes towards a new intermediary model

The ascendency of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil in 2018 put the role of traditional media companies and journalists under the spotlight. Bad news or opinions against his government have been officially treated as fake, inaccurate, or false information. In this context, data show a decrease in news trust and growing news consumption through platforms. According to the 2021 Reuters Institute report on news trust, only 21% of Brazilians trust the press as an institution, with 71% using social media platforms to be informed. As part of a broad and complex crisis of the traditional intermediary model, several journalists appeared in the Brazilian public sphere as influencers on social media platforms such as Twitter. Based on a qualitative perspective, this article aims to research the role of journalists as political influencers and their use of Twitter to express their voices. A sample of 10 journalists with more than 10,000 followers on Twitter, five working for traditional media and five from native digital media, were interviewed in depth. We realized that they use their digital capital in two political directions. On the one hand, as part of a digital strategy promoted by media outlets to gain attention and call the audience, journalists share their spots and comments on daily issues. On the other hand, in a polarized political context, journalists have found Twitter a means to express their voices in a context of increasing violence and restrictions on free expression among this collective

Legal opinion/expert report in the case of Rocio San Miguel Sosa and others v. Venezuela, case nr. 12.923, on request of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights : Expert report in the case of Rocio San Miguel Sosa and others v. Venezuela

First the report examines the preliminary question whether signing a statement or a petition in a political context, such as a petition to carry out a recall referendum on the term of office of a head of state, is to be considered as an act of exercising the right to express a (political) opinion (by a civil servant or employee in the public sector), guaranteed by Article 19.2 ICCPR and/or Article 10 § 1 ECHR. Second it analyzes under what circumstances a termination of employment contract or dismissal of an employer or civil servant is to be regarded as an interference with the right to freedom of expression, and in particular in case the public authority or employer bring forward that the termination of contract or dismissal is unrelated to the exercise of the right to freedom of expression by the employee or civil servant. - Next this report will focus on the (limits of the) right to political freedom of expression in the employment relation, including the public sector, and on the (limitations of the) right to express political, critical or non-neutral opinions about the head of state, the government or other public institutions. Therefore it will elaborate on the criteria and conditions that may justify an interference with the right to (political) freedom of expression of public servants and employees in the public sector. It will also clarify in what circumstances an interference with this right amounts to a violation of Article 19 ICCPR or Article 10 ECHR, with references to the UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 34 “Article 19. Freedoms of opinion and expression” and especially analyzing and reporting the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights

Life and Death Decision-Making: Judges v. Legislators as Sources of Law in Bioethics

In some situations, courts may be better sources of new law than legislatures. Some support for this proposition is provided by the performance of American courts in the development of law regarding the “right to die.” When confronted with the problems presented by mid-Twentieth Century technological advances in prolonging human life, American legislators were slow to act. It was the state common law courts, beginning with Quinlan in 1976, that took primary responsibility for gradually crafting new legal principles that excepted withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment from the application of general laws dealing with homicide and suicide. These courts, like the Nineteenth Century predecessor courts that had developed law to respond to technological developments such as the railroad, telegraph, and telephone, felt required to decide each case brought before them. Unlike legislatures, they could do so without binding themselves to sweeping rules that would govern all cases in the future. Their decisions drew upon precedent and created precedent, but their opinions left room to accommodate future cases whose facts might suggest that the principles employed should be extended, retracted, or otherwise modified. Unlike legislatures, they were not subject to direct political control nor could they justify their decisions simply as an expression of majority will. Rather, they carried the burden of writing opinions that justified the retroactive application of the legal principles announced in each case. Their opinions were subjected to critical reading by lawyers, scholars, students, the press, the general public, and by judges required to write later opinions in later cases. The result is an example of the common law dialectic process celebrated by Lord Coke when he claimed that the law of England was “by many succession of ages . . . fined and refined by an infinite number of grave and learned men.” Some of the principles employed in early cases such as Quinlan have been abandoned. Others have been built upon. The process continues