Latest news with #freedom
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Zelensky Fights, Khamenei Cowers
Elliot Kaufman draws a contrast between two leaders in his op-ed 'Benjamin Netanyahu vs. Qassem Soleimani' (June 23). I can't help but think of another: Volodymyr Zelensky vs. Ali Khamenei. They're fighting in different wars, to be sure, but their responses underscore the ideals of the free world vs. those of tyranny. One man bravely stayed to face his enemy. The other cowers in a bunker. Wayne Gradman
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘Everybody can feel the pain': Middle Eastern views on the present and future
Syrian Amr Alhamad (42), lawyer and researcher, based in Damascus: 'My hopes for Syria have remained the same since the very first day of the revolution in March 2011. I believe everything changed with the liberation of Syria and the fall of [Bashar al-] Assad 's control. Despite the many internal challenges – sectarian tensions, economic hardship, lack of transparency and competence within the interim government, and ongoing regional interference – my hopes remain strong. 'Honestly, we don't have the luxury to stop fighting for a free Syria. I've lost many friends in this struggle, and I remain fully committed. I've adapted my efforts to meet the evolving needs on the ground. I won't hesitate to give it my all. 'Since the liberation in December 2024, I returned and launched a consultancy company, Nexus Consulting , to support media and NGOs, and to provide reliable data on the needs and perspectives of Syrians. Despite all the difficulties, I believe in a better future for Syria – and I'm not alone. According to a recent survey we conducted with more than 10,000 Syrians, the majority still believe in a better Syria, despite the continuing lack of services and economic crisis. READ MORE 'I also hope this spirit of resilience and hope spreads to Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, and Iran. I truly hope they can join us in this journey toward freedom and dignity.' (In conversation with Sally Hayden.) Palestinian Rawan Yousef , a researcher and academic in Jerusalem (photo and age withheld for safety reasons): 'I think that with the situation now, one of the most humane and visible solutions [is a] one-state solution for the entire people of Palestine and Israel . So one state on the mandatory or historical lines of Palestine, where everyone has equal rights and where obviously no group of people is supposedly superior to the other, including dismantling the apartheid system of Israel. 'The issue with the Middle East is that there's hostile states, such as Israel, that are still in a colonial settler mindset, and they want to expand, and they want to submit other countries to their will. So my hopes for the region is that people can work towards just peace, and also there would be a sort of balance between different countries. 'I think it is important to think about justice and about people being held accountable for what they've done. An example of this is [Israeli prime minister Binyamin] , and he's a war criminal, so people like him must be brought to justice, and there should be accountability for what he and the Israeli army have done. 'I think people tend to see Palestine/Israel as a complex issue, but in reality it's not that complex. It is an active settler colonial endeavour on the Palestinian lands. And it is as simple as that. One group of people are settlers that have all the international backing, weaponry, everything, and the other population is native, and it's being genocided, it's being ethnically cleansed for the last seven decades. And ethnic cleansing goes into different speeds. So in the West Bank , there's also ethnic cleansing, there's also displacement of people. And to achieve peace, there need to be changes in the Israeli mindset and that needs to stop it being a settler colonial state.' (SH) Iranian Shima Vezvaei (37), Tehran-based journalist: Shima Vezvaei 'Everybody wants to know what Iranians want, and what do they think and what do they feel? And I have to say, it's very difficult to argue that and to talk about that as a homogenous thing ... People belong to different associations. They have been exposed to different media, different narratives, different groups. So it's very natural that we have different moods and we have different opinions. 'What I can say is that no matter what ... everybody, I think, can feel the pain, can feel the fear of a sound of the explosion of a missile, and everybody wants an end to that. '[As for the future], it's so out of our hands, and it's difficult to predict what's going to happen, and that's the part that sucks, because it depends on a lot of political groups and politicians that don't know anything about how the world should work. And they're breaking any law and any regulations, any system that was supposed to keep the world safe and to stop wars from happening and to de-escalate. I think political change must be connected to real material lives of our people. Not just powerful men who are running the world — Shima Vezvaei 'So I feel like there is nothing to hold on to. There is no law to hold on to, nobody to hope that acts, especially in the US, in Europe. And progressive groups in the Middle East are getting oppressed one after another, and their voices are not being heard. 'I think we have realised, more than before, the liberation of our people can't happen in a vacuum. That our fate is connected to each other. So I'm hoping that this 'ceasefire', or whatever that is (it's crazy even this news is breaking in Truth Social and X, instead of real meaningful negotiations), lasts long. But also an end to the genocide in Gaza, self-determination for people of Syria and Lebanon and Iran. 'I hope the power gets in the hands of people. And we can think about what justice and democracy looks for us, and how to achieve it. How to recognise the diversity of our people and celebrate it. And how to stop this accumulation of power and despotism in our own local governments. 'There is so much at stake now. Especially the achievements of our social movements, our women's movements ... laws, regulations, social and political freedom and equality ... 'I think political change must be connected to real material lives of our people. Not just powerful men who are running the world.' (SH) Israeli Sid Knopp (62) lives in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv and works in military computing: Sid Knopp 'A ceasefire with a fanatical terrorist regime is always going to be tenuous. The only way I see real progress is if the ayatollah is removed and a 'moderate' leadership comes in. 'My hope for the future is to live in peace without the constant threat of destruction. One would hope that the Islamic extremists in the neighbourhood will finally realise that we are not going anywhere. However, the 'cold peace' we've had with Egypt for decades is probably the best we can hope for with Lebanon and Syria. Most of my family and friends do not agree with my political views. They tend to be more optimistic and way less realistic. 'Gaza is disastrous for everyone involved. Another fanatical regime which pretends that their goal is to 'get their country back'. Hamas abuses their civilians, steals billions and is way more interested in terror than actually making progress. We see that following the October 7th massacres, almost two years ago, Hamas and their partners have been well battered, yet Hamas holds on to hostages because they dream of getting back to their previous role of total control and rebuilding their terror network. Sadly, I don't think it will end well for the few living hostages and when the time comes, Hamas will have to be obliterated.' (In conversation with Mark Weiss)
New York Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Budapest Pride Parade Will Go On Despite Orban's Ban. How Will He Respond?
A government ban on gay Pride events this weekend in Budapest has put Hungary's right-wing strongman, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a tricky spot. Mr. Orban's party in March rushed legislation through Parliament that made it illegal to hold gatherings like Pride parades, under an earlier law banning material that 'propagates' homosexuality. Billed as an effort to protect children, it looked to politicians and analysts like a trap set for Hungary's surging opposition leader, a conservative whom Mr. Orban hoped to expose as a closet liberal soft on child protection. Instead, it may be Mr. Orban who is ensnared. Despite the ban, the Budapest Pride parade is set to go ahead on Saturday, recast by the capital city's liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, as a municipal event celebrating Hungary's recovery of full freedom when Soviet troops pulled out in June 1991. Tens of thousands of Hungarians and foreigners, including more than 70 European Parliament members, are expected to join a parade renamed as Budapest Pride Freedom. The mayor said that thanks to the government ban it would likely be Hungary's biggest-ever Pride parade. He predicted a turnout of at least 50,000 people. Mr. Orban and his governing Fidesz party now face a choice: try to enforce their ban and punish participants, or let the march go ahead and risk looking impotent. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
The highs and lows of driving with a disability
disability arts 43 minutes ago Learning to drive is a rite of passage for many, symbolising freedom and independence. But everyone knows that learning to drive, comes with some hair raising, white knuckle moments, and the new TV series called License to Drive has plenty of them. Sweet Productions co-producers Robyn Paterson and Jai Productions co-producers Robyn Paterson and Jai Waite. Photo: Sweet Productions Sure to have audiences on the edge of their seats, the series provides an intimate, often laugh out loud look at the journey undertaken by a group of disabled New Zealanders from all walks of life learning to drive. Filmed around the motu, each episode follows learner drivers - alongside their driving instructors, as they experience the emotional highs and lows of getting behind the wheel. Some are nervous first-timers, others are coming back from a life-changing injury and must entirely re-learn to drive using different parts of their body. Mathias Bridgman is one of the learner drivers on the show, he's been learning to drive with his feet. We're also joined by series producer Jai White from Sweet Productions, a former Wheel Black, turned TV producer.
WIRED
13 hours ago
- Politics
- WIRED
Substack Is Having a Moment—Again. But Time Is Running Out
Jun 27, 2025 2:29 PM While star reporters continue to flock to Substack, subscription fatigue is only getting worse. The Substack homepage on a smartphone. Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Photograph:Before June 8, the skilled and respected ABC News television journalist Terry Moran was neither a household name nor political lightning rod. That changed abruptly when Moran posted on X that Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was 'a world-class hater,' followed by an addendum that the president was a hater as well. (The post was later taken down.) While the statements were certainly defendable, they apparently violated ABC policy, and Moran was suspended, then dismissed. Moran, though, had one move left. On June 11, he started writing on Substack. Moran was joining a movement based on a dream: Journalists could start a Substack newsletter and garner subscription fees that would match or exceed their previous salaries. And they would be editorially liberated! No editors to screw up copy, no censorship from bosses when advertisers complain, no corporate overlord to fire you when you say the president of the United States is a hater. Substack says that some people are indeed living the dream. CEO Chris Best recently boasted in a speech that 'more than 50' of its users were pulling in a million dollars in revenue. As more journalists get pushed out of their jobs, get fed up with their bosses, or just want to breathe the cool air of freedom, they now have what appears to be a viable escape hatch. Recently a lot of them are taking advantage of it. Jeff Bezos has been good to Substack: The Washington Post editorial page's apparent recent disinterest in stopping democracy from dying has led popular opinion writer Jennifer Rubin to start a publication called The Contrarian, and censored editorial Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes now publishes on Substack as well. Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hassan started his own publication. Even Chuck Todd has gone indie. You might be tempted to think that the Substack revolution is shaking up the foundations of journalism, agreeing with Substack star Emily Sundberg that newsroom leaders everywhere should be barring their doors to prevent further defections. Well, not so fast. The Substack model may work very well for a few, but it's not so easy to march in and match a salary. Readers have to pay a high price for a voice that they once enjoyed in a publication they subscribe to. And writers have to get used to the idea that the breadth of their wisdom is limited to a small percentage of patrons. Is Substack sustainable for writers addressing a general audience? Just in the last week or so, a cluster of critics have been publishing that the platform may be on shaky ground. It started when Eric Newcomer—posting on his own successful Substack—celebrated Substack's recent influx of big names and reported that the platform told investors it was taking in $45 million a year in revenue. He claimed it was seeking a new investment round which would value the company at $700 million. (Substack did not confirm those numbers.) This is an essay from the latest edition of Steven Levy's Plaintext newsletter. SIGN UP for Plaintext to read the whole thing, and tap Steven's unique insights and unmatched contacts for the long view on tech. But then Dylan Byers of Puck (a publication on Substack) looked at those numbers and wondered whether the bottom line valuation was actually less than in the previous rounds. Byers, like other critics, charged that once you get past the few real big earners, the platform was full of low-flying mediocrities: 'The truth is that the vast majority of the content on Substack is boring, amateurish or batshit crazy,' he wrote. His conclusion was that Substack was a media company trying to be valued as a tech company, which is a familiar fail point for similar companies. (WIRED itself once failed at an IPO for that very reason.) Ana Marie Cox, who once enjoyed blogging fame as Wonkette, is even grimmer, writing in her newsletter that Substack 'is as unstable as a SpaceX launch.' She wasn't impressed with the more recent influx of name writers. 'How many Terry Morans does Substack have room for?' she wrote. 'Is there even a public appetite for a dozen Terry Morans, each independently Terry Moran-ing in his own newsletter?' Cox is referring to subscription fatigue, which is something I think of every time a sign-up page pops up when opening a new Substack. Typically, Substack pros solicit a monthly fee of $5-10 or an annual rate of $50-150. Usually there's a free tier of content, but journalists who hope to make at least part of their livelihood on Substack save the good stuff for paid customers. Compared to subscribing to full-fledged publications, this is a terrible value proposition. After leaving The Atlantic, celebrated writer Derek Thompson started a Substack that cost $80 a year—that's one penny more than a digital subscription to the magazine he just left! (The Atlantic will probably spend $300,000 to replace him with someone else worth reading.) It doesn't take too many of those subscriptions to match the cost of The New York Times, which probably has 100 journalists as good as Substack writers, and you get Wordle to boot. Those fees can pile up. I asked one news-junkie pal of mine how many indie subs she was paying for, and a quick audit showed 31 subs costing over $2,000 per year. But my friend is the exception who actually pays. The vast majority of subscribers on Substack don't. The cost emphasizes the non-egalitarian nature of the independent concept. While I love the idea of liberated journalists speaking out, the fact is that compared to a bundled package known as a publication, the lone-voice model monetizes by delivering full content only to patrons who can afford it. It's a downside for writers, who typically want to reach wider audiences. 'I'm guessing a lot [those writers] don't like not being in the broader conversation on a regular basis, even if they're getting paid more,' says M.G. Siegler, who writes tech commentary on Spyglass, his own free-and-pay indie column.(You will note that this newsletter, and this writer, are delivered to you as part of a larger legacy media stack, That's a conscious choice.) Substack prefers to dwell on its success stories. Look what happened to Casey Newton. In 2020, he left the Verge and started Platformer, and it's still going strong with a six-figure number of subscribers, some thousands of whom actually pay him real money for all his posts. 'Platformer succeeded beyond my expectations,' he told me. 'It let me buy a house in San Francisco. I'd honestly never thought I'd be able to do that.' But Newton no longer publishes on Substack. Platformer is now on another platform called Ghost. It's a choice that a number of successful indie journalists have made, mainly because alternatives don't take a tenth of revenues. (Newton left Substack mainly because he said he was unhappy that the founders didn't sufficiently condemn Nazi-oriented content.) Substack says that it uniquely offers journalists access to a broad community and has offered a social-media-like feed that's sort of an internal Twitter, but I don't sense that those features have taken off. Other potential Substackers, like former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, have chosen a platform called Beehiiv. Unless they already have huge, passionate followings, newly independent journalists have a tough time rounding up enough subscribers to pay for even a fraction of a decent legacy media job. Newton says that early adopters like him had an easier time. 'Substack was shiny and new, and people were warming up to the idea,' he explains. He says that the decline of Twitter is another disadvantage for newer Substack writers. 'There was nothing like Twitter in the old days for finding new customers,' he says. 'Taking that away has made it meaningfully harder to promote their stuff.' Even Sundberg, who advised legacy media to sound the alarm about the Substack exodus, told a writer for Status that the window of opportunity for newbies might be closing. 'I wouldn't want to be starting now,' she says. For its part, Substack seems to be pivoting away from its roots. I first met the founders when they were going through Y Combinator's boot-camp-like experience, and they eagerly pitched me on their crusade to improve journalism. But now the Substack 'about' page promotes the site as 'the home for great culture,' describing itself as 'a new media app … [where] you can discover world-class video, podcasts, and writing from a diverse set of creators.' Note that 'writing' comes last in that hierarchy of creator output. Does Substack really think that its creator videos can compete with TikTok and Meta? (Substack did not make its executives available to comment.) Meanwhile, Moran is off to the races, posting anti-Trump comments without worrying about his job. He has over 100,000 subscribers, though it's not clear how many pay him. I read his comments and view his video posts via his free tier. No way will I pay him: I've already got ABC News on my cable, paid subscriptions to nearly a dozen publications and, yes, a bunch of Substack subs that I or my wife get billed for yearly or monthly. These include James Fallows, Jonathan Alter, Joyce Wadler, and Gregg Easterbrook, during the months he writes Tuesday Morning Quarterback. Even though the price is high for one single voice, I find those writers worth the cost. But I wish the legacy publications they once wrote for still employed them so I wouldn't have to pay a la carte. Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column. Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers) today.
