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Yeah, yeah, "whataboutism," but did Amnesty International write anything about the hundreds of people in the UK who were arrested and charged for protesting in

Yeah, yeah, "whataboutism," but did Amnesty International write anything about the hundreds of people in the UK who were arrested and charged for protesting in 2024? Serbia might keep tabs on some political activists -- like every other country -- but to the best of my knowledge nobody has been charged as a result of this snooping -- and the AI report itself corroborates this: > "33 people were arrested or detained for informational interviews during the August protest, subjected to long questioning, search of their apartments, and seizure and search of their telephones and computers. Not one of them has been formally charged at the time of this report’s publication" This report is a thin, politically-motivated hit piece. Risible, really. Sadly, I expect we're going to see a lot more of this sort of thing directed against Serbia, Hungary, and Slovakia in the near future. (And to a lesser extent perhaps also Croatia and Slovenia.) "Get with the program, or else" is the message here.

throwaway290 2y ago
Is there a reliable source about UK charges? But please don't say "it is censored everywhere", I hear it too often. in Russia, Serbia's good friend, let's just say there are people charged for things like this (or for something else convenient) and sit in jail for years. This is not very publicized. But yeah I talked to some of those people who now sit in jail. And also I talked to plenty Europeans who say "everything is bad and censorship, Putin will free us all" (while in a russia it is illegal to tell somebody how to use VPN). It would be funny if it was not sad.
- A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
  This is out of date, but it has >1000 arrested and >500 charged. > https://archive.ph/56fiN https://archive.ph/56fiN IIRC, the current number is >1200 and >650. A lot of those charges are against people who were just memeing on social media, e.g.: > https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/news/2024/august/man-arrested-in-birmingham-over-social-media-posts-about-protests/ https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/n... > https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo > https://www.cheshire.police.uk/news/cheshire/news/articles/2024/8/men-jailed-after-posting-racist-messages-on-social-media https://www.cheshire.police.uk/news/cheshire/news/articles/2... Those sentences are not light! And, "will they change anything," the BBC asks? But somehow Serbia is the digital prison. It's equal parts laughable and terrifying.
  - throwaway290 2y ago
    Thanks!
alkonaut 2y ago
> "Get with the program, or else" is the message here. You seem to imply this is either unexpected or unfortunate? What is it you refer to as "the program"? There is a big difference between on the one hand Hungrary and Slovakia, and Serbia on the other. Hungary and Slovakia are EU members. The EU isn't some sort of trade union, it's a political union of liberal democracies. Independent judiciaries, free press and so on are "the program". Serbia can go with "the program" when and if they want (they have been candidates for a long time). Of course they aren't to be free of criticism if they lean towards authoritarianism, but unlike EU countries there isn't much more to do about it than complain about it. And of course it's the job of liberal democracies, and all media and organizations in liberal democracies to do just that: complain. Yet you seem surprised.
Annatar 2y ago
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throwaway290 2y ago

Is there a reliable source about UK charges? But please don't say "it is censored everywhere", I hear it too often. in Russia, Serbia's good friend, let's just say there are people charged for things like this (or for something else convenient) and sit in jail for years. This is not very publicized. But yeah I talked to some of those people who now sit in jail. And also I talked to plenty Europeans who say "everything is bad and censorship, Putin will free us all" (while in a russia it is illegal to tell somebody how to use VPN). It would be funny if it was not sad.

A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
This is out of date, but it has >1000 arrested and >500 charged. > https://archive.ph/56fiN https://archive.ph/56fiN IIRC, the current number is >1200 and >650. A lot of those charges are against people who were just memeing on social media, e.g.: > https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/news/2024/august/man-arrested-in-birmingham-over-social-media-posts-about-protests/ https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/n... > https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo > https://www.cheshire.police.uk/news/cheshire/news/articles/2024/8/men-jailed-after-posting-racist-messages-on-social-media https://www.cheshire.police.uk/news/cheshire/news/articles/2... Those sentences are not light! And, "will they change anything," the BBC asks? But somehow Serbia is the digital prison. It's equal parts laughable and terrifying.
- throwaway290 2y ago
  Thanks!

alkonaut 2y ago

> "Get with the program, or else" is the message here. You seem to imply this is either unexpected or unfortunate? What is it you refer to as "the program"? There is a big difference between on the one hand Hungrary and Slovakia, and Serbia on the other. Hungary and Slovakia are EU members. The EU isn't some sort of trade union, it's a political union of liberal democracies. Independent judiciaries, free press and so on are "the program". Serbia can go with "the program" when and if they want (they have been candidates for a long time). Of course they aren't to be free of criticism if they lean towards authoritarianism, but unlike EU countries there isn't much more to do about it than complain about it. And of course it's the job of liberal democracies, and all media and organizations in liberal democracies to do just that: complain. Yet you seem surprised.

Annatar 2y ago

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