Meeting Them Halfway

More news from Bangladesh this week, although seemingly much less significant than the mutiny that happened last month that left dozens killed (quite contrary to my early estimates of "23 max"). The Bangladeshi government has decided to temporarily ban YouTube after a video was posted with the audio of a meeting between PM Sheikh Hasina and her advisors. The meeting concerned whether or not Hasina should have negotiated with the mutineers, a decision made much more controversial recently by the discovery of a mass grave containing over 50 police officers' corpses. 

Concerning the banning of YouTube, the Bangladeshi Telecommunications Commission chairman, Zia Ahmed, stated:

"The government can take any decision to stop any activity that threatens national unity and integrity"

This statement, and its attendant attitude, is really not very befitting of an ostensibly democratic country. The mutiny was clearly a tragedy but the process of dealing with the criminals involved should have been open from the start. Conducting the meeting between Hasina and her military advisors in the open would not have compromised state security in any way, and thus the decision to ban YouTube following the leakage of an audio clip was not warranted.

Banning the circulation of information is one of the most serious things a government can do, and it should only be engaged in when not doing so would result in a serious threat to people's lives. Protecting the popularity or dignity of a mistaken Prime Minister is not such an occasion.

For those of you who are reading this, live in a country that respects the free media, and who also understand and desire to listen to angry arguments in Bengali (an admittedly small intersection), the links for the audio clips that brought YouTube to its knees (in Bangladesh) are here and here. 

For those of us who live