The King of Jordan approved a bill Saturday to punish online speech deemed harmful to national unity, according to the Jordanian state news agency, legislation that has drawn accusations from human rights groups of a crackdown on free expression in a country where censorship is on the rise.
Okay, so it’s not all online speech, just those statements that the government deems harmful without any clarity on what specifically that would entail. Just some good old-fashioned fascism right here.
The King of Jordan
fascism
I’m not sure that this is surprising coming from Jordan, but he’s a monarchist not a fascist.
And it surprises me that he passed this law. As far as I remember he was trying to reform the country into a more democratic one
Nothing screams democracy like silencing free speech.
Ok, so the article says that he’s silencing islamists that started popping up as soon as he liberalised the country
Doesn’t sound very democratic to me. The dude is a thug pretending to be a good guy by spreading lies.
Its always a bit funny to see people conflate the two, by simply applying the “bad = bad” rubric.
Fascists, for all their faults, do tend to have a certain degree of popular appeal. Meanwhile, modern day robber barons mostly just have a bunch of armed minions ready to terrorize anyone that crosses them in the midst of their local looting and pillaging.
I don’t know why any country listens to their royal family.
You might as well ask Ja Rule for his opinions.
This is extra-applicable to Jordan because their royal family only dates to post-WWI. The whole nation is just a creation of Britain.
What’s the matter King? Can’t handle a little criticism?
At least he says it out right… America just fucks with you while it pretends it’s not ducking with you.
This is just unchecked conservatism doing what it does.
Conservatism is a plague of oppression that is in desperate need of a cure. Do your part by disowning and excluding conservatives in your daily life. It is inappropriate to do business or keep relationships with such people.
I mean, its a monarchy. Monarchies can’t exist in the face of unregulated speech and assembly, because they necessarily do things the bulk of the population hates in order to reproduce as a social class.
Disowning and Excluding monarchs isn’t any kind of practical solution. Neither the Prince of Wales nor the King of Siam actually give a shit about whether I’m friends with them on Facebook. And pretending I can avoid doing business with a guy who owns all the real estate that makes up the country sort of misses the reason monarchs have all this power to begin with.
You can’t socially distance yourself from monarchism, shy of fleeing the monarchical state. This isn’t a problem that’s solved with consumer choice because Monarchs - by their very nature - don’t afford you a choice of leadership.
Your name and your comment history are quite concerning…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
AMMAN (AP) — The King of Jordan approved a bill Saturday to punish online speech deemed harmful to national unity, according to the Jordanian state news agency, legislation that has drawn accusations from human rights groups of a crackdown on free expression in a country where censorship is on the rise.
With the approval of King Abdullah II, the bill now becomes law — set to take effect one month after it is published in the state newspaper, Al-Rai.
But opposition lawmakers and human rights groups caution that the new law will expand state control over social media, hamper free access to information and penalize anti-government speech.
The measure is the latest in a series of crackdowns on freedom of expression in Jordan, a key U.S. ally seen as an important source of stability in the volatile Middle East.
A report by Human Rights Watch in 2022 found that authorities increasingly target protesters and journalists in a “systematic campaign to quell peaceful opposition and silence critical voices.”
Abdullah has repeatedly promised to open the political system, but then pulled back due to concerns of losing control to an Islamist surge.
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