Attacks on Freedom Bloggers Now Taking a Toll: Spanish Pundit in Temporary Hiatus

   
I have some sad news and I hope it does not stand as a permanent development.  Nora at Spanish Pundit has at least temporarily suspended her blogging.  She seems to express some disappointment that the blogosphere is not reaching a wider audience and that attacks upon freedom of expression through blogging appear to be gaining ground worldwide.  Nora has created a Spanish language Google group to monitor and publicize these threats and she has promised to continue her work there, which is only a small piece of good news.

It may be worth noting that Nora has expressed this frustration in the wake of her incredulous observations of the treatment of terrorist leader Abu Qutada, a Muslim cleric with known links to Al Qaeda, who was recently released on bail in Great Britain after winning an extradition fight to prevent his deportation to Jordan, and on top of that the recent death of a Spanish judge who was expected to rule against the Zapatero government on key cases involving homsexual marriage, Catalonian rights, and more.  I also think it deserves mentioning here that some key individuals I am fond of referring to as "freedom bloggers" have been hit with hacking attacks recently, including Martha Colmenares, whose site was out of action for over two weeks.  Nora is very well aware of these attacks and I think it evidently is taking a toll, since the resigned tone of her advisement that she is in hiatus for now states very clearly that she is not enthusiastic about the prospects for winning this struggle for free expression through blogging.

I will be leaving a comment for Nora at her post, but I would just like to state some words of encouragement here as well.  Nora is among that very select group of bloggers who have made the cause of securing freedom a worthwhile end, she has been an inspiration to me, and I hope she returns to active blogging because we can never have enough spokeswomen of her character and stature.

StJacques
   

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