Venezuela and Muslim women MPs
Hi, it's Anu writing to you from a cold, wet London! We seem to be having our summer in reverse-- March and April were hot... May is wet, cold and windy! I spent the weekend picking homegrown radishes out of my vegetable patch (they grow from seeds in just a few weeks!) and trawling charity shops in wealthy parts of London (a long way from my neighborhood) to find a nice pair of jeans that didn't cost $300! (I found several incidentally, along with two pairs of shoes and a handbag! Rabiya will be very proud of me!!)
IS IT THE END OF PRESS FREEDOM IN VENEZUELA?
Imagine waking up to find the nation's oldest and most popular TV station off the air. RCTV in Venezuela faded to black a few hours ago. And just outside the telecom authority, police hit protestors with water cannons. Meanwhile, supporters of President Hugo Chavez have been celebrating. He has criticized RCTV for being openly against him, and refused to renew its license. And, he says its telenovelas (soap operas) were 'dangerous' for young boys and girls.
His own channel, TVes, has replaced RCTV. RCTV's president says Chavez's decision is driven by a 'megalomaniacal desire to establish a totalitarian dictatorship.' Should journalists stay out of politics? If you're in Venezuela, did you watch RCTV? How do you feel now that it's been shut down?
Post here: www.bbcnews.com/worldhaveyoursay
FEMALE, MUSLIM & OUTSPOKEN
Speaking of politics.... we've got three interesting women on the show today:
Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a 25-year-old woman who hopes to be the first Danish Muslim MP. She doesn't shake hands with men, has gay friends and supports abortion rights. Oh, and she wears a headscarf... which, you guessed it, is very controversial. Read more about her .
Nilofer Bakhtiar, Pakistan's former tourism minister, who after hardline Islamic clerics accused her of obscenity. Her crime in their eyes was hugging her (male) instructor after a charity parachute jump to raise money for child victims of the earthquake that struck Pakistan in October 2005.
Malalay Joya, who's well known in Afghanistan for speaking her mind, no matter what the consequences. Malalay was suspended from parliament this month for comparing some of its members to donkeys and cows. She's been threatened with gang rape before for daring to challenge warlords and religious fundamentalists in the Afghan parliament.
Email us: worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk – and please put your phone number if you’d like to come one air.
ALAN'S 11th WEEK
We'll all be gathering outside Bush House at 2.15 to mark Alan Johnston's 11th week in captivity today. It's not something we hoped we'd be doing nearly three months after he disappeared in Gaza. Like you, we know nothing more about who's holding Alan or why. This weekend, I was with some friends, and we were talking about those long night shifts we used to do with Alan just next door to the World Have Your Say offices, at our sister programme, The World Today. My friend Tim was remembering Alan's gentle sense of humour, even at 4 a.m. Alan seemed to find Tim's wild white hair and colourful shirts funny, asking him to sing sea shanties and chuckling at Tim's total inability to understand computers, microphones or telephones...!
Ciao for now,
Anu
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