Freedom of speech is under assault from some quarters, but progress is being made in typical two-steps-forward, one-step-back fashion. Here The Propagandist highlights a few high- and low-lights.

On a positive note, Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist at the center of the infamous Mohammed cartoon controversy, apparently received the M100 Sanssouci Media Award for his contribution to the cause of freedom of speech last Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Lars Vilks, another controversial cartoonist who has run afoul of Muslim extremists and who is a passionate campaigner for freedom of speech, will be making a tour of North America - with stops in Philadelphia, Ottawa, Toronto, and Boston come late September and early October.

Best-selling author and columnist Mark Steyn, who was involved in a very serious fight with Canada's 'Human Rights' Tribunals, will be coming to Ottawa for a tribute dinner to Ezra Levant - another combatant of Canada's censorious tribunals - on October 30th. The dinner will be hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies. Mark Steyn himself received a Sappho Award from the Danish Free Press Society in Copenhagen this past Saturday for his own contributions to the free speech cause. The Propagandist wrote a little about his fight with censorious Canadian bureaucrats here.

On a low note, it looks like a blogger in Bahrain - Ali Abdulemam - has been arrested by local authorities for spreading 'false news' on a pro-democracy website.

Knowledge is power.

Walker Morrow is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist.