In Canada, protection of a free press is so ingrained that we almost take it for granted. In Tanzania, unfortunately, one op-ed really can mean the difference between earning a living and the death of an entire paper.

So there I am in my last column agonizing over whether Canada should ban that obscene and hateful Internet video called Innocence of Muslims, when it occurs to me that it might be a really good idea to come up with an example of freedom of speech in action. Something easily understandable. Something vivid. Something gutsy.

On Jan. 25, Twitter's website became inaccessible in Egypt. Protestors, who had gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in other cities across the count...

What determines political developments in a closed country does not necessarily happen in front of the cameras with tanks rolling over protesters. The most important struggle is a long term fight to be heard and the psychological warfare between the persecuted and the persecutors.