Word: authoritarianism
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...least because all you need is a simple transistor radio and a phone. A new generation of outspoken radio-show hosts are not only airing their own contrarian views but are allowing we, the people, to speak out. Asia's talk-radio programs are giving societies reared on authoritarian regimes and schooled more in discipline than dissent a chance to participate in political and social dialogue with newfound confidence. After all, most of Asia's traditional media continue to focus on the ruling ?lite's message, excluding controversial or minority voices. But talk radio is a microphone through which even...
...These airwaves have, throughout most of modern Asia's history, been controlled by authoritarian governments rather than loquacious rabble rousers. Ever since the first crackly radio broadcast, Asia's strongmen have known the power of radio to rally the masses. Radio, after all, reaches even the remotest hinterland, as those listening secretly to the BBC World Service in places like Burma or Tibet know. When Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines in 1972, one of the first things he did was shut down the radio stations. For Marcos and other autocrats, radio was a tool of subjugation...
...slow erosion of freedom was to be expected?the 1997 handover of a mercantile oligarchy to an authoritarian regime never looked promising for civil liberties. What is noteworthy is the way Article 23's opponents have been so gruffly shrugged off by an administration that appears intent on extending Beijing's control. This time, the cream of Hong Kong's chattering classes have been alienated by the maladroit way in which their criticisms have been handled. Bankers, lawyers, senior business figures, religious leaders, academics and teachers fear the legislation will give leadership the legal tools it needs to suppress dissent...
...being released in 1998, is just one of thousands of South Koreans who ran afoul of the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS). Founded in 1961, the agency was infamous during the cold war for its ruthless pursuit of enemies?real and perceived?of the country's right-wing, authoritarian leaders. As South Korea has evolved into a progressive democracy, however, the agency's vicious methods and anticommunist agenda have increasingly become an outdated national embarrassment. Now, the reform-minded administration of South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has set about rehabilitating the agency?or, as some believe, castrating...
...little choice in the matter. China's one-child policy encourages families to raise the best little emperors they can; doctor-aided euthanasia is not uncommon when children are born with birth defects. Infanticide is just one of the many ethical compromises forced upon China's doctors by an authoritarian government. Obstetricians under orders from bureaucrats perform late-term abortions, and psychiatrists commit sane political dissidents to mental institutions. In March and April, hundreds of doctors knew that Party officials were risking lives by denying the scope of the SARS epidemic. Only one, 71-year-old military doctor Jiang Yanyong...