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In the presence of remarkable individuals, who were sharing with the Oslo Freedom Forum’s audience harrowing testimonies of survival, the resilience of human dignity and strength of character in conditions beyond hope, I was thinking: “what could I possibly say? What coherent thought could be added, after having heard a series of talks that left everyone pretty much speechless?”

We, the undersigned participants of the Oslo Freedom Forum,
categorically condemn the detention of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi. We condemn the unjustified charges raised against her by the
Burmese military dictatorship, which has imprisoned and charged her
with breaching the terms of her house arrest.

We call upon all people who believe in the dignity and rights of the
human person to support our urgent demand for the immediate release
of Aung San Suu Kyi and that all charges against her be dropped
immediately.

The iconic image of Che Guevara found adorning students' walls and t-shirts across the world could be banned in Poland under a government proposal to outlaw materials that incite "fascism and totalitarian systems".

By Matthew Day in Warsaw
Last Updated: 5:27PM BST 23 Apr 2009

Poland's equality minister, Elzbieta Radziszewska, wants to expand a Polish law prohibiting the production of fascist and totalitarian propaganda so that it includes clothing and anything else that could carry an image related to an authoritarian system.

It is a fine day when I see my views reprinted, almost word by word, in a NYT's editorial. Long gone are the days when I cringed after reading Juan Forero's coverage. Out with microphone diplomacy and in with pragmatic approaches to deal with tinpot dictators. The word about Chavez is finally out. He can persecute his political foes all he wants, he can become the second serial abuser of INTERPOL's arrest warrants.

A few days ago, I met with a colleague and we took the train up to Cambridge, to visit Vladimir Bukovsky.