[WSIS CS-Plenary] RE: Call for silence

[Ronald Koven]

Dear All --

There is a name for what the Nile Basin Society is asking us to do. 

It is called self-censorship.

Neither Tunisian hospitality nor Arab culture are the issues.

Tunisian regression from the free speech and human rights situation
inherited from Habib Bourguiba is the issue.

Human rights, by definition, concern everyone -- not just citizens of the
host country. When freedom of expression and press freedom are diminished
in one country, they are diminished for all humanity. 

Sorry if that sounds preachy, but it is one of those self-evident truths of
which we need to keep reminding ourselves. 

It certainly would be nice if we didn't need to keep repeating such home
truths. 

The broken record that human rights advocates feel they must keep replaying
merely reflects the bad human rights record with which they are confronted.

Rony Koven