In Sierra Leone, pop music is a beat that drives politics By: Scott Kraft, LA Times, January 3, 2010 Political debate in the African nation often takes the form of protest songs; some have even toppled governments. Mostly illiterate, citizens rely heavily on singers for an independent take on events. Today, music here is more than simple entertainment. It has become the vehicle for a decibel-busting national political debate. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-africa-music3-2010jan03,0,1819038.story
Ethiopia: Opposition tells of ban plans By: Argaw Ashine, All Africa, January 3, 2010 Ethiopian main opposition group Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) Leader's are saying they are afraid of any possible closure and arrest by the government ahead of the upcoming election. http://allafrica.com/stories/201001040011.html
Congo: Are conflict minerals being used in consumer electronics? By: Truth Dig, January 3, 2010 The dirty little secret of the consumer electronics boom is that a lot of the sexy little gadgets you use every day are made from minerals that help fund what this video says is “the deadliest conflict in the world since the holocaust.” Watch video at http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/irape_20100103/
South Africa: Call to boycott coke By: The Times, December 30, 2009 Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese called on South Africans who consume coke to stop buying Amalgamated Beverage Industries beverages between 1 and 5pm every day to force the company to adhere to workers' demands. Since last week Tuesday, workers countrywide have been on a strike threatening to run the country dry of Coca-Cola. The union called on workers from SAB's beer division and other subsidiaries to join them in a sympathy strike which could increase the number of protesters from 3,500 to 8,000. http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article244134.ece
Zimbabwe: 500 'ghost' soldiers 'voted' in 2008 general election By: Voice of America, December 29, 2009 Tongai Matutu, who represents Masvingo Urban constituency for the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, told VOA that an audit showed most of the soldiers who voted do not exist. Parliament is set to debate electoral reforms amid allegations that 500 soldiers, some as old as 122 years according to the records, voted at the headquarters of the Fourth Brigade in Masvingo in the last general election. http://www1.voanews.com/zimbabwe/news/politics/Zimbabwe-Ghost-Soldier-Voters-Haunt-2008-General-Election-29Dec09-80291767.html
AMERICAS: CENTRAL AMERICA/ CARIBBEAN
Cuba: A black market finds a home in the web’s back alleys By: Marc Lacey, NY Times, January 3, 2010 These are tough economic times in Cuba, and while the black market has always bustled here it seems particularly intense these days, with enterprising Cubans in a constant search of compatriots who have money to spend. There are no classified advertisements in the Communist Party newspaper Granma or the other state-run publications that circulate in Cuba. Rather, sales are made through Radio Bemba, which is not a radio station at all but the country’s extensive gossip network, which takes its name from the Spanish word for lip. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/americas/04havana.html?hp
Cuba gives US diplomat access to arrested American By: Paul Haven, AP, December 29, 2009 The Cuban government has given a U.S. diplomat access to a jailed American citizen accused of providing communications equipment to dissident groups while working as a government contractor, a U.S. official in Havana said Tuesday. The case has drawn denunciations from Cuban President Raul Castro and further strained U.S.-Cuba relations after months of slow but steady progress toward easing their half-century diplomatic standoff. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122901459.html
IAPA protests heightened repression in Cuba By: IFEX, December 16, 2009 The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed concern and alarm at the increased violence and repression against Cuba's independent journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and family members of prisoners. At the same time the organization repeated its call for the release of 27 journalists serving prison terms ranging from one to 28 years. http://www.ifex.org/cuba/2009/12/18/serpa_attacked/
AMERICAS: NORTH AMERICA
2009 Press Freedom Index By: RSF, January 4, 2010 “Press freedom must be defended everywhere in the world with the same energy and the same insistence,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said today as his organisation issued its eighth annual world press freedom index. Reporters Without Borders compiles the index every year on the basis of questionnaires that are completed by hundreds of journalists and media experts around the world. This year’s index reflects press freedom violations that took place between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009. http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html
US: To overhaul immigration, advocates alter tactics By: Julia Preston, NY Times, January 1, 2010 Lacing up new pairs of walking shoes with a flourish, four immigrant students set out on foot from downtown Miami on Friday, starting a four-month walk to Washington to protest what they called the Obama administration’s lack of action on legislation granting legal status to illegal immigrants. Three of the four protesters, who are current or former students at Miami Dade College, do not have legal-resident status and risk detention by immigration authorities during the 1,500-mile walk. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/us/02immig.html?hpw
AMERICAS: SOUTH AMERICA
Landmark human rights case in Argentina puts torture on trial By: Marie Trigona, Americas Program, January 5, 2010 Argentine courts have launched an investigation into crimes committed at the ESMA Navy Mechanics School during the nation's military dictatorship. The landmark human rights trial is one of the most far-reaching attempts to bring crimes of Latin America's bloody past to justice. http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_58014.shtml
Colombia rebels, al Qaeda in "unholy" drug alliance By: Hugh Bronstein, The Post Chronicle, January 5, 2010 Colombian guerrillas have entered into "an unholy alliance" with Islamic extremists who are helping the Marxist rebels smuggle cocaine through Africa on its way to European consumers, a U.S. official told Reuters. Criminal organizations including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are going through Africa to access the European market. And they are doing it with the help of al Qaeda and other groups branded terrorists by Washington, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212276897.shtml?ref=rss
Bolivian Indians still struggle for exodus from serfdom By: AP, January 3, 2010 Bolivia already has made giants steps toward ending a centuries-old legacy of mistreatment of its third-largest ethnic group by white overlords. But for now, several thousand Guarani live in a penniless limbo waiting for the government to make good on its promises to give land to Indians who have broken free of a life the U.N. has classified as "forced labor and servitude." http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2010/01/bolivian_indians_still_struggl.html
ASIA: CENTRAL ASIA
Kazakhstan: Journalist murdered, professional motives excluded By: Adil Nurmakov, Global Voices, December 29, 2009 Sayat Shulembayev, 28, journalist of the news video-portal “Stan” was brutally murdered in Almaty. As “Stan” producer Michael Pak says, Sayat rented a room in the house near bus station. The murderers killed the landlord and the journalist, apparently, to eliminate the possible witness. The news portal does not link the murder with journalistic activity of the victim. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/29/kazakhstan-journalist-murdered-professional-motives-excluded/
Kazakhstan cracks down on press freedom on eve of leading OSCE By: Luke Harding, The Guardian, December 29, 2009 For Respublika it has been a long battle for survival. In September bailiffs seized the opposition newspaper's entire print run. Working through the night, reporters retrieved the proofs from a USB flash disk, photocopied them, and stapled them together. By 7am they had churned out 2,000 homemade copies – not exactly a big edition, but a small symbolic victory in the struggle for media freedom in Kazakhstan. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/29/kazakhstan-press-freedom-osce
ASIA: EAST ASIA
China: Backlash against rogue Chinese investors alarms Beijing By: Antoaneta Bezlova, Truth Out, January 4, 2010 As China moves up in the world and the need for investment in its own infrastructure declines, Chinese investors and financiers are eyeing lucrative contracts in less developed countries, winning bids to build dams, power plants and highways from Burma to Uzbekistan and Angola. However welcome by local governments this influx of fresh Chinese financing may be, the wave of cheap Chinese labour and investors' lack of concern for local communities are creating ripples of resentment in recipient countries, and gradually becoming a PR problem for image-conscious Beijing. http://www.truthout.org/topstories/010410jr1
Tibetan 'living Buddha' Phurbu Tsering jailed by China By: BBC News, January 1, 2010 China has sentenced a Tibetan Buddhist lama to more than eight years in jail for illegal possession of ammunition and embezzlement. The monk, Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, denies all charges, his lawyer said. The man described as a Living Buddha was arrested after nuns at his temple protested against a crackdown on Tibetan Buddhism. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8436865.stm
Hong Kong: New Year march for democracy By: Oiwan Lam, Global Voices, January 1, 2010 Around 30-thousand Hong Kong residents spent the first day of the 2010 new year by marching in the street, demanding democracy and the release of Liu Xiaobo. To show their support for this rally, twitterers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China together pushed the hashtag #0101hk to the top ten trendy topics in Twitter. The new year rally was organized by the pan-democratic alliance to call for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. There are other demands, such as the release of mainland activist Liu Xiaobo, who advocated constitutional reform in China with the 08 Charter signature campaign and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment on a subversion charge in Christmas day 2009. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/01/hong-kong-0101hk-new-year-march-for-democracy/
China’s live-in protester By: Bryan Farrell, Waging Nonviolence, December 30, 2009 When the managers of a Beijing restaurant marked for demolition were too busy to fight it, they posted an Internet ad and hired a stranger to stay there around the clock. The job seems to be a first for China, where frenzied urban construction has led to violent evictions, protests and even suicide. Over a million people were displaced from their homes and businesses to make way for last year’s Olympic venues. Now, due to a government stimulus package passed earlier this year to aid new construction, even more evictions are taking place and not just for the so called “public interest” but for the private development of shopping malls and luxury apartments. http://wagingnonviolence.org/2009/12/chinas-live-in-protester/
Tibetans defy crackdown to demonstrate for imprisoned Tibetan lama By: International Campaign for Tibet, December 29, 2009 Security has been stepped up in the Tibetan area of Kham, part of present-day Sichuan province, and dozens of Tibetans have been detained and beaten after peaceful demonstrations in support of the imprisoned Tibetan lama, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a highly respected religious teacher serving a life sentence. Increased numbers of armed police and troops have been stationed in towns and villages where protests occurred - in an area that is already tense since demonstrations against Chinese rule spread across Tibet in March 2008. http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/tibetans-defy-security-crackdown-demonstrate-support-imprisoned-tibetan-lama
China: Liu Xiaobo’s trial a travesty of justice By: Human Rights Watch, December 21, 2009 By mounting a pre-determined political trial of China’s most prominent dissident, the Chinese government is violating the rights of Liu Xiaobo and showing contempt for its universal human rights commitments, Human Rights Watch said today. Liu Xiaobo, a leading intellectual who spent nearly two years in prison after the Tiananmen crackdown, has been indicted for “incitement to subvert state power,” a charge frequently used against dissidents because it allows the criminalization of criticisms of the government and the party. Liu’s trial is due to open on the morning of December 23 in Beijing. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/21/china-liu-xiaobo-s-trial-travesty-justice
ASIA: SOUTH ASIA
Brown criticises Afghan war protest By: Al Jazeera, January 4, 2010 Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has criticised plans by an Islamic group to hold a march against the Afghanistan war in a town where dead UK soldiers are commemmorated. Brown described the planned march as "completely inappropriate" if it upsets the families of troops wounded or killed in Afghanistan, his office said on Monday. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/01/201014164053541813.html
Pakistan/Afghanistan: Singing for Peace By: Peace and Collaborative Development Network, January 1, 2010 While the areas along the Pak-Afghan border are in the grip of war and violence, and the socio-cultural heritage of the Pashtuns is subjected to a ruthless onslaught from different militant groups, the young and educated Pashto singers show guts to openly challenge the rising tide of terrorism and religious fundamentalism in their musical expressions. Contrary to the past when Pashto poetry was primarily an embodiment of pure romantic thoughts and feelings, the present day literary and musical pursuits are on the way back to the world of harsh realities- war, migration, death and destruction. The change is noticeable in the new songs sung by the budding singers where they lament the negative impacts of the ongoing war and yearn for peace and stability in the region. http://internationalpeaceandconflict.ning.com/profiles/blogs/singing-for-peace
Sri Lanka: Boycott not the solution for Tamil grievances By: Daily Mirror, December 30, 2009 The news that the All Ceylon Tamil Congress has decided to boycott the upcoming Presidential elections is indeed cause for serious concern. Apart from the fact that such a decision creates a further rift within the already divided Tamil community, it has the potential to leave the real grievances of the Tamil people out in the open, unmet, un-discussed and uncared for. Such a room leaves for the Tamil people to be further alienated both from the social circle of the county as well as the political platform which is certainly not healthy. http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=72063
India: Telangana agitation intensifies, thousands protest on streets By: IANS, December 29, 2009 The ongoing agitation for statehood to Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region intensified Tuesday as thousands of people from all walks of life came on to the streets in various districts to press for their demand. Protests, road blockades, rallies, processions, meetings, human chains and cultural programmes were organised across the region by all political parties and other pro-Telangana groups. Protesters in various towns also used folk songs and cultural performances to highlight their demand.In Mahabubnagar district, government employees resorted to a 'pen down' protest in support of the Telangana movement. The 'fast unto death' and relay hunger strikes by students, lawyers and legislators cutting across party lines also continued. http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20091229/818/tnl-telangana-agitation-intensifies-thou.html
Nepal's Tibetans pressured by China's growing influence By: Alexander Sehmer, Open India, December 24, 2009 Some in Nepal fear that China is stirring up tensions between their countrymen and the Tibetan refugee population. In his office in Kathmandu, Trinlay Gyatso, the chief co-ordinator at the Office of Tibet in Nepal, is particularly angry at what he sees as China's agents operating in Nepal. A number of Nepali-language press reports in November claimed that Gyatso visited the country’s northern Mustang province to “provide training” to Tibetans at the refugee camps there and that he spoke to them "about the past crackdown in Tibet". Gyatso insists that he was nowhere near Mustang province at the time. He believes Chinese agents are using the newspapers to stir up trouble between Nepalis and the country's 20,000 Tibetan refugees. http://www.opendemocracy.net/openindia/alexander-sehmer/nepals-tibetans-pressured-by-chinas-growing-influence
ASIA: SOUTHEAST ASIA
Burma: China’s oil, gas pipelines recipe for abuse, warn activists By: Marwaan Macan-Markar, IPS, December 31, 2009 China’s growing dependence on military-ruled Burma to meet its energy demands is poised to take concrete form when, according to activists, work commences in the coming months on the construction of oil and gas pipelines. The 980-kilometre journey of the pipelines across Burma will begin in the country’s Arakan state, on its western coast, and snake across flat and mountainous terrain to the eastern Shan state, which borders China. The pipelines will then continue to Kunming and Nanning, two major cities in southern China. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49858
Burma: Authorities demand data on opposition party By: Khin Hnin Htet, Democratic Voice of Burma, December 30, 2009 Opposition party members in Burma are being forced to divulge personal details about their families and jobs to intelligence officers, reportedly on instruction from senior government. Lists of National League for Democracy (NLD) members in Mandalay division, Kachin state and Bago division have been drawn up, while birth dates of divisional members of Mandalay’s Chanmyayttharzan township were collected recently, NLD organizing member Myo Naing said. http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=3190
No political progress in Burma By: Zin Linn, UPI Asia, December 29, 2009 Many political prisoners are reportedly seriously ailing and receiving no regular healthcare. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to conduct confidential prison visits since December 2005. The junta continues to detain and incarcerate approximately 2,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined to her residence for 14 of the last 20 years. http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/12/29/no_political_progress_in_burma/8872/
Opposition lauds UN resolution on Burma By: Salai Pi Pi, Mizzima, December 28, 2009 A senior Burmese opposition leader today cautiously welcomed the United Nation’s resolution condemning the junta for systematic human rights violations and lack of fundamental rights in the country. Win Tin, member of Central Executive Committee of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party National League for Democracy (NLD) said he welcomed the resolution of the UN General Assembly on human rights in Burma. He called it UN’s ‘routine work’ but morally very important. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/3211-opposition-lauds-un-resolution-on-burma-.html
EUROPE
Charges faced by climate protester in Danish jail dismissed as absurd By: Amy Corderoy, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 4, 2010 An Australian remains in a Danish prison three weeks after being arrested for organising a protest against the Copenhagen climate-change conference. Danish authorities have released other demonstrators, including foreign nationals who were arrested and charged with similar offences before the summit, but Natasha Verco remains in Copenhagen's Vestre Faengsel jail, unable to contact her Australian family or friends. A statement co-signed by Mrs Verco, and obtained by the Herald, said the charges against her were ''absurd accusations about either violence that actually did not take place, or conspiracies'' http://www.smh.com.au/world/charges-faced-by-climate-protester-in-danish-jail-dismissed-as-absurd-20100103-lnf1.html
Georgia: Looking back at the Rose Revolution By: Alex van Oss, EurasiaNet, December 30, 2009 Alex van Oss provides a book review of Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia's Rose Revolution, by Lincoln Mitchell. Oss argues that Uncertain Democracy provides a cool assessment of those heady days of 2003, to which Lincoln Mitchell was an eye-witness. He likens the events in Tbilisi to a kind of "Rorschach Revolution." In it, the United States mistakenly perceived Georgia as a budding, mini-America. Europe viewed it (with some alarm) as being yet another potential member of the EU club. Georgians, elated, thought the Rose Revolution augured peace and prosperity. Meanwhile, the Russians saw evidence of foreign mischief. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav123009.shtml
Belarus: Last year of dictatorship? By: Charter '97, December 30, 2009 The outgoing year has clearly demonstrated that Lukashenka's regime has neither political nor economic resources to develop Belarus today. It has only self-preservation instinct and an aggressive desire to fight the dissent in the country. But this is not enough to build a strong and flourishing Belarus on. The regime exists not due to popularity, but due to indecision. http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2009/12/30/25007/
MIDDLE EAST/ NORTH AFRICA
Iran: Hackers attack Ahmadinejad’s web site By: Robert Mackey, NY Times, January 5, 2010 On Monday night in San Francisco an information technology consultant named Austin Heap reported on his blog that the official web site of Iran’s president, Ahmadinejad.ir, had been attacked by hackers. Mr. Heap, who has been active in the effort to provide Iranians with tools to circumvent Internet censorship this year, wrote that “someone seems to have had their way with Ahmadinejad’s web servers.” http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/hackers-attack-ahmadinejads-web-site/?hp
Iran 'bars co-operation with foreign groups' By: BBC News, January 5, 2010 Iran has banned its citizens from co-operating with foreign organisations it says are trying to destabilise the government, state media has reported. The 60 blacklisted groups include human rights groups, Iranian opposition websites and media groups such as the BBC and US broadcasters. Iran's deputy intelligence minister told Press TV the groups were involved in a "soft war" against the state. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8441376.stm
Iran professors ask for end to violence By: Nazila Fathi, NY Times, January 4, 2010 Risking expulsion and possible arrest, 88 professors at Tehran University signed a letter on Monday calling on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme religious leader, to end the use of violence against protesters, saying it was a sign of the government’s weakness. An opposition web site, Jaras, reported that in another open letter released Monday, five leading opposition figures from outside the country called for the resignation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, free elections, release of political prisoners, greater freedom of speech and an independent judiciary. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?ref=world
Iranian protester: 'We are not radicals, not against Islam' By: CNN, January 4, 2010 A 28-year-old university researcher has been among thousands to take to the streets of Tehran in support of reform for his country.He has braved police violence and government reprisals. He has seen fellow opposition supporters felled by the batons and bullets of government security forces. His wish is simple -- a democratic Iran. "We are -- like it or not -- (becoming) ... a multicultural and multireligious country," he said, calling for the same freedoms common to "most of the democracies of the world." Watch video at http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/03/iran.protests/index.html
Ashura violence marks turning point for opposition By: Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE, January 4, 2010 As Iranians gathered to celebrate the Shi'ite holiday of Ashura on December 27, Tehran witnessed some of its worst violence since just after the disputed June 12 presidential contest that plunged the Islamic republic into crisis. Some Iran observers believe the events, in which clashes between opposition protesters and security forces resulted in protesters’ deaths and injuries on both sides, mark a turning point in the months-long political crisis. http://www.rferl.org/content/Ashura_Violence_Marks_Turning_Point_For_Opposition/1915996.html
Families of Jordanian prisoners in Iraq begin hunger strike By: Mohammad Ghazal, The Jordan Times, January 4, 2010 Families of Jordanian prisoners in Iraq appealed to the government on Monday to place pressure on the Iraqi government to release their loved ones. Several families began a hunger strike on Monday and said will appeal to Amman's governor on Tuesday through the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) to erect a tent in front of the Iraqi embassy in Amman to call for the release of the prisoners. http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=22716
European delegation cancels planned trip to Iran By: Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, January 4, 2010 An 11-person delegation from the European Union will not visit Iran this week as planned, due to the tension and uncertainty surrounding the continued violence there. The news was announced by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as a decision "by mutual agreement," but several of the delegation members had already announced their intention to abandon the planned trip, in which European parliamentarians were set to meet with Iranian lawmakers and human rights representatives. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/04/european_delegation_cancels_planned_trip_to_iran
Iran: The internet and politics, revolution.com By: The Guardian, January 4, 2010 Can the internet really bring about political change? Optimists point to the green movement in Iran, when the reformist campaign showed the power of new technologies to organise resistance and to break the stranglehold of censors on information; but the episode also showed that technology alone is not enough to secure democratic change. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/04/iran-politics-blogging-internet
Ex-spy chief says Iran government about to collapse By: Bangkok Post, January 3, 2010 A former high-ranking intelligence official in Iran has called for his country to form better relations with the United States and Israel and says the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on the verge of collapse. n an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday, Mohammad Reza Madhi, a former officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service, described Mr Ahmadinejad as ''crazy'' and unfit to lead his country. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/30386/ex-spy-chief-says-iran-government-about-to-collapse
Iran to try Ashoura rally detainees By: Al Jazeera, January 3, 2010 Iran is set to put on trial seven opposition protesters arrested during anti-government demonstrations held around the Shia Muslim commemoration of Ashoura, according to Iranian media. The trials are due to begin "from Sunday to Tuesday" the Iranian Labour News Agency, which is seen as close to the country's reform movement, reported. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/01/20101311141665150.html
Iranian filmmakers keep focus on the turmoil By: Michael Slackman, NY Times, January 3, 2010 Iran’s government cannot silence the filmmakers. Bahman Ghobadi’s latest work, “No One Knows About Persian Cats,” is banned in Iran but is being passed around for free, offering a searing portrait of life through the prism of a vibrant underground music scene. Films are censored. Directors are prohibited to leave the country and prohibited to return home, forced to cancel projects and threatened with punishment if their films are too probing or too critical of life in the Islamic Republic. But the films keep coming, and so do the filmmakers. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/middleeast/04iranfilms.html?ref=world
Iran: Video shows gunman opening fire on demonstrators, who fight back By: LA Times, January 2, 2010 Iranian police have stated strenuously that security forces weren't armed with guns during Dec. 27 clashes in Tehran between security forces and protesters. But newly discovered amateur video, apparently taken with a cellphone, tells a different story. In the video, a man can be seen and heard opening fire on a crowd of unarmed demonstrators as a man cries out, "Dishonorable Basiji!" The gunman appears to be a plainclothes security official, perhaps a Basiji militiaman or an intelligence operative working for the Revolutionary Guard. Watch video at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/01/iran-video-shows-gunman-opening-fire-on-demonstrators-who-fight-back.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BabylonBeyond+(Babylon+%26+Beyond+Blog)
Gaza freedom march: What we've accomplished so far By: Robert Naiman, Huffington Post, January 2, 2010 Robert Naiman reports what we have accomplished so far in the Gaza freedom march. He argues that the groundwork is being laid for future campaigning in the U.S. for "citizen sanctions" against the Israeli government that could help change the balance of forces influencing U.S. policy, so that U.S. policy becomes a force for peace, rather than continuing to perpetuate the Israel/Palestine conflict as the U.S. is doing today. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/gaza-freedom-march-what-w_b_409277.html
Israeli Arabs and Jews protest against Gaza blockade By: AFP, January 2, 2010 Hundreds of Israeli pacifists, both Arabs and Jews, marched in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators -- estimated at more than 1,000 by organisers of the march -- changed slogans urging "liberty and justice for Gaza" as they marked the first anniversary of Israel's war on Gaza. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j08LGpyDriLDMQ-W3bil3xtGRRNQ
Mousavi 'ready to die' for reform in Iran By: BBC News, January 1, 2010 Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said he is not afraid to die for the cause of reform. It was his first comment since the death of his nephew and other anti-government protesters late last month. In a statement posted on his website, Mr Mousavi also set out a five-stage solution to the crisis sparked by June's disputed elections. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8436919.stm
Change Iranians can believe in By: Bryan Farrell, Waging Nonviolence, January 1, 2010 The mainstream media has started referring to the recent surge of protests in Iran as “the tipping point” for the opposition movement. While this assumption isn’t totally baseless—as evidenced by the spread of protests from Tehran to the heartland—there’s still a sense of wishful thinking that pervades the coverage. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is not a radical reformer, which means he’s not interested in doing away with the Islamic system. This should be a sign that the greater social freedoms sought by the protesters do not go hand in hand with his assumption of power. By resting their so-called revolution on the shoulders of a politician like Mousavi, Iranians may end up with little more than a kinder gentler oppressive regime. http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/change-iranians-can-believe-in/
Egyptian security forces attack Gaza protesters By: Max Ajil, TruthOut, December 31, 2009 Egyptian security forces were attacking protesters in Tahrir Square, at the core of downtown Cairo, after they sat down in the middle of a busy Cairo street, protesting the imprisonment of the people of Gaza. Others were literally barricaded inside their hotel, the entrance surrounded by steel riot barriers. Egyptian security forces refuse to allow them to leave. Green personnel carriers line the streets. It is pandemonium. The protesters are part of the Gaza Freedom March, a group of 1,400 delegates from 42 countries, including France, the United States, the Philippines, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Australia and Japan. http://www.truthout.org/1231098
Gaza "freedom march" By: Reuters, December 31, 2009 Palestinians and Israelis gather to mark one year on from Israel's offensive on Gaza. Watch video at http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17382030
Dissident Iran rises By: The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2009 On Sunday bloody street battles in cities across Iran exposed the regime's brutality for all the world to see. On Monday, the government restarted one of the darker arts it has mastered: grabbing its democrats and stuffing them in a hole. Among the dissidents arrested was veteran democratic activist Heshmat Tabarzadi. There are many others. Among the most significant are former foreign minister Ebrahim Yazdi, the secretary general of the outlawed Freedom Movement of Iran. During June's protests, the 78-year-old cancer survivor was arrested by security forces directly from the hospital in Tehran where he was undergoing treatment. These names may be hard to keep track of. But so, once, were those of Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov and Sharansky. It's time for the White House and the rest of the U.S. government to start learning to pronounce the names of Iran's dissidents. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703510304574626453406091222.html
Arresting peaceful protesters in occupied Palestine By: Stephen Lendman, The Peoples Voice, December 30, 2009 On August 3, 200 Israeli soldiers raided five Bel'in homes at 3AM arresting eight Palestinians, including Mohammad Khatib, a leader of the Bel'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. For decades, Israel has met peaceful Palestinian protesters disruptively with violence, arrests and at times unprovoked killings. It's no surprise that targeting them and their leaders is now common practice in cities and villages like Jayyous and Bil'in. Khatib told supporters that "The Israeli authorities are worried that the model of popular nonviolent resistance is spreading. They are targeting the popular committees to try to crush (them) but they cannot destroy the spirit of the demonstrations in Bil'in with the arrests of individuals. The whole village is part of the nonviolent resistance and the military would have to arrest (everyone) to stop us from protesting against the Occupation and the theft of our land." http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/12/30/arresting-peaceful-protesters-in-occupie
Tunisia: The white note campaign against cyber censorship By: Lina Ben Mhenni, Global Voice, December 30, 2009 On Friday, December the 25, Tunisian bloggers waged the White Note Campaign to protest against censorship, which is growing to a tremendous extent in Tunisia. The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) is not sparing any kind of websites from censorship. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/30/tunisia-the-white-note-campaign-against-cyber-censorship/
U.S. State Department: Azeri-Iranian Rights Activists Imprisoned By: ADAPP Iran, December 30, 2009 Human rights monitors are concerned over the detention of two Azeri-Iranian rights activists by Iranian authorities. Fakhteh Zamani, Director of the Association for Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners, says the arrests of Saleh Kamrani and Said Metinpour are part of a continuing campaign of repression by Iranian authorities. Watch video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgJU6D7Pbxg&feature=youtu.be&a
Top Iranian journalists jailed in wake of Ashura protests By: Committee to Protect Journalists, December 29, 2009 The Iranian government, struggling to silence the many critical voices in the country, has arrested at least 11 journalists since Sunday, including former International Press Freedom Award recipient Mashallah Shamsolvaezin and the prominent writer Emadeddin Baghi. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the arrests and called for the release of all detained journalists, who now number more than 30. http://cpj.org/2009/12/top-iranian-journalists-jailed-in-wake-of-ashura-p.php
Harvard professor cited as inspiration for nonviolent Iranian protests By: Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, December 29, 2009 Iran singled out Harvard professor Gene Sharp as a key inspiration for protesters' 'velvet coup.' Sharp's manual on nonviolent protest shaped opposition movements in Czechoslovakia and inspired activists in Burma. Since the early 1970s, his work has served as the template for taking on authoritarian regimes from Burma to Belgrade. A list of his 198 methods for nonviolent action can be downloaded free of charge, along with his seminal work, “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” which has been translated by his Albert Einstein Institute into two dozen languages ranging from Azeri to Vietnamese. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2009/1229/Iran-protesters-the-Harvard-professor-behind-their-tactics
Iran intensifies protest crackdown with arrests of activists' relatives By: Robert Tait, The Guardian, December 29, 2009 Authorities in Iran intensified their drive to snuff out the opposition movement overnight by arresting the relatives of prominent activists, including the sister of the Nobel laureate and human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi. The latest detention came after Mousavi's nephew, Ali Mousavi Khamane, was killed on Sunday in what his family allege was an assassination by security forces. At least 20 prominent figures, including journalists, have been arrested since Sunday's clashes, which took place on the Shia holy day of Ashura. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/29/iran-arrests-prominent-activists-relatives
Activists and relatives held as Iran accuses Britain of backing protesters By: Robert Tait, The Guardian, December 29, 2009 Iran's Islamic authorities signalled a ferocious crackdown against the opposition movement today by linking it to "foreign enemies", including Britain, and arresting a fresh wave of leading activists and their relatives. Using extraordinarily belligerent language, the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, threatened Britain with "a slap in the mouth" after the ambassador to Tehran, Simon Gass, was summoned to hear accusations of British involvement in mass protests during Sunday's religious Ashura ceremony. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/29/activists-held-crackdown-iran-britain
Iran denounces Western criticism of protest crackdown By: Voice of America, December 29, 2009 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the United States and Israel of staging Sunday's anti-government protests in which at least eight people died. Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani read a statement from lawmakers Tuesday saying U.S. President Barack Obama is disgracing himself by praising the Iranian opposition. Some members of parliament chanted "Death to America." http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Iran-Denounces-Western-Criticism-of-Protest-Crackdown-80286797.html
Egypt blocks US activists' march By: Al Jazeera, December 29, 2009 Egyptian security forces have attempted to prevent dozens of US activists from reaching their embassy in Cairo. All those rounded up were members of the Gaza Freedom Marchers organisation, a group planning to travel to Gaza to protest an Egyptian and Israeli blockade of the besieged territory. All those rounded up were members of the Gaza Freedom Marchers organisation, a group planning to travel to Gaza to protest an Egyptian and Israeli blockade of the besieged territory. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/20091229135120588522.html
Palestine: Twitter accused of silencing Gaza tribute By: Antoun Issa, Global Voices, December 29, 2009 Pro-Palestinian and human rights activists used the influential Twitter portal to mark the one-year anniversary of the Gaza War, and express support for the besieged territory. Tweets using the hashtag #Gaza flooded in on December 27th, peaking at number 3 on Twitter's top ten Trending Topics list. However, complaints emerged of users being briefly blocked from tweeting #Gaza, with the trend being forced downwards and off the Trending Topics. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/29/palestine-twitter-accused-of-silencing-gaza-tribute/
Israel/Palestine: Boycotting is the new black By: Samarai, Bikya Masr, December 29, 2009 Some commentators argue that boycotting is an ineffective means of voicing your discontent; that it does little to effect real change. However, this view does little to understand the real spirit of a boycott. Take the academic boycott of Israel, for example. Has education been failing in Israel following the boycott carried out by about 30 British universities earlier this year? Doubtful. However, the first stages of a boycott are purely symbolic. They are a gesture to those who are suffering that the world is taking notice of their plight. It is a peaceful protest when other mediums are futile. http://bikyamasr.com/?p=6995
Reinvigorated protests test Iranian regime's grip By: PBS News Hour, December 28, 2009 Margaret Warner speaks with two experts about strategies that Iran's government and opposition may use in the near future amid the latest political unrest. Watch video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oQdnBG9tPk&feature=player_embedded
Crackdown in Iran: Up to 12 dead, hundreds arrested in opposition protests By: Democracy Now, December 28, 2009 In Iran, police opened fire into crowds of protesters Sunday, killing as many as twelve people, including the nephew of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Security forces have also arrested hundreds of people, including a number of prominent opposition figures. Watch the video at http://i4.democracynow.org/2009/12/28/crackdown_in_iran_up_to_12
Iran is burning in revolution, not recognizing it can lead to calamity By: Sam Sedaei, Huffington Post, December 28, 2009 On Sunday, protesters marked the annual Shiite holiday of Ashoura and mourning of Imam Hossein's death in his battle against a dictator by engaging in widespread protests against Iran's own modern dictator. People were chanting "Allah o Akbar" and "death to dictator" in the background. The regime responded to protests by opening fire, killing as many as ten people (the latest figure at the time this piece is published). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-sedaei/iran-is-burning-in-revolu_b_404532.html
Understanding Iran's protest movement By: Bernard Gwertzman, Council on Foreign Relations, December 28, 2009 Bernard Gwertzman interviews Robin Wright, a longtime correspondent on Iran, Robin Wright, who covered the 1979 Iranian Revolution, says the resiliency of Iran's opposition movement, despite a harsh crackdown, is motivated by broad-based desire for change in leadership and governance. Although the origin of the movement last June was to protest the results of the elections, Wright says the goals of the movement have since broadened. Now, she says, there is discussion about whether the Islamic Republic should be changed to the "Iranian" Republic. At the same time, the opposition coalition remains a disparate collection of forces that lacks a unifying concept for regime change and could fall apart if it succeeds in bringing about change, she says. http://www.cfr.org/publication/21080/understanding_irans_protest_movement.html?breadcrumb=%2Fpublication%2Fpublication_list%3Ftype%3Dinterview
Holocaust survivor stages hunger strike for Gaza By: Jailan Zayan, AFP and Yahoo News, December 28, 2009 An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was among a group of grandmothers who began a hunger strike in Cairo on Monday to protest against Egypt's refusal to allow a Gaza solidarity march to proceed. American activist Hedy Epstein and other grandmothers participating in the Gaza Freedom March began a hunger strike at 1000 GMT. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091228/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazaegyptdemo_20091228141344
Iran: When rage overcomes fear By: Hamid Tehrani, Global Voices, December 27, 2009 Iranian protesters poured into Tehran and several major cities in defiance of the Iranian government on Sunday, as large crowds gathered for Ashura, a major religious observance. The crowds fought back security forces and chanted slogans against the Islamic regime. According to one opposition web site, at least four people were killed. While Iranian and international reporters were banned from the event, citizen media provided photos and video coverage. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/27/iran-when-rage-overcomes-fear/
Angry activists and court case is making Chevron pretty nervous By: Peter Asmus, East Bay Express, December 24, 2009 A dozen nonprofits are going right after the company's greed, and the outcome will likely have repercussions in the oil industry for years to come. "It would have been a lot cheaper to settle back in 2001, when we were only asking for $1 billion to $3 billion," said Amazon Watch Executive Director Atossa Soltani. "They've lost face and an opportunity. They now look like they are out of step with today's values." http://www.alternet.org/workplace/144652/hordes_of_angry_activists_and_a_$27_billion_court_case_is_making_oil_giant_chevron_pretty_nervous?page=4
OCEANIA
Oil and politics prove fatal mix for the people of West Papua By: Greg Poulgrain, The Age, December 31, 2009 In 1983 Greg Poulgrainwas sent by the London-based Anti-Slavery International to investigate reports that infant mortality along the southern coastline (where the army was rapaciously timber-felling) in West Papua was 600 per 1000. Such a figure was unprecedented, but correct. More recently, among indigenous West Papuans, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is 20 times the national average, according to a Voice of America report last December. Democratic reform will sooner or later end the impunity of the Indonesian army, but the dire conditions in West Papua demand an immediate halt to the army's territorial command. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/oil-and-politics-prove-fatal-mix-for-the-people-of-west-papua-20091230-lju6.html
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
Silent night By: David Sullivan, Enough, December 24, 2009 Bad things have a tendency to happen in faraway parts of the world during the holiday season, when policymakers head home and the 24hour news cycle momentarily slows down. Rebels and politicians alike know that they can get away with a lot when no one is paying attention. This is why Enough sounded the alarm about new threats by the LRA in northeast Congo, and we hope that the reinforcements deployed by the UN to that region can help protect civilians. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quiet holiday this year? http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/silent-night
BOOK & FILM REVIEWS
Rethinking education as the practice of freedom: Paulo Freire and the promise of critical pedagogy By: Henry A. Giroux, Truth Out, January 3, 2010 Paulo Freire is one of the most important critical educators of the 20th century. Not only is he considered one of the founders of critical pedagogy, but he also played a crucial role in developing a highly successful literacy campaign in Brazil before the onslaught of the junta in 1964. His book, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," is considered one of the classic texts of critical pedagogy, and has sold over a million copies, influencing generations of teachers and intellectuals both in the United States and abroad. http://www.truthout.org/10309_Giroux_Freire
Georgia: Looking back at the Rose Revolution By: Alex van Oss, EurasiaNet, December 30, 2009 Alex van Oss provides a book review of Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia's Rose Revolution, by Lincoln Mitchell. Oss argues that Uncertain Democracy provides a cool assessment of those heady days of 2003, to which Lincoln Mitchell was an eye-witness. He likens the events in Tbilisi to a kind of "Rorschach Revolution." In it, the United States mistakenly perceived Georgia as a budding, mini-America. Europe viewed it (with some alarm) as being yet another potential member of the EU club. Georgians, elated, thought the Rose Revolution augured peace and prosperity. Meanwhile, the Russians saw evidence of foreign mischief. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav123009.shtml
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Des applications iPhone inaccessibles en Chine By: Reporters Sans Frontiers, January 1, 2010 L’entreprise américaine Apple censurerait les applications proposées sur son iPhone en Chine d’après IDG News Service, le service d’informations de l’éditeur des publications spécialisées Macworld, PC World, Computerworld. http://www.rsf.org/Des-applications-iPhone.html
IN PAST NEWS
UCLA protests are a sign of the times — Now and then By: Jeff Kisseloff, The Nation, December 4, 2009 When students at UCLA recently demonstrated against tuition hikes and as a result were treated like children and warned about the "limits of protest," Jeff Kisseloff reports that his mind immediately raced back to October 1964 when officials at Berkeley expressed similar finger-wagging contempt for students who believed that the First Amendment didn't end at the gates to the campus. Out of that sprung the Free Speech Movement, the first mass protest on a college campus since the 1930s. The FSM not only helped light the fire of student activism in Berkeley and across the country, it also spawned one of the most memorable quotes to come out of the '60s as well as maybe the decade's best student speech. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/from_the_archive/503468/ucla_protests_are_a_sign_of_the_times_now_and_then
The revolution will be google-mapped By: Shakthi Jothianandan, The Nation, December 1, 2009 Angus Johnston, historian, writer and diligent digital chronicler of American student activism, has up and taken to Google-mapping national student activism of the current 2009-2010 academic year. So far he's highlighted a modest number of recent building occupations, demonstrations and strikes over a range of issues including tuition hikes, campus newspaper misogyny and resistance to administrative disciplinary tactics. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/question/502098/the_revolution_will_be_google_mapped
Man unable to enter China languishes in Tokyo airport By: John M. Glionna and Catherine Makino, LA Times, November 18, 2009 The Chinese pro-democracy magazine based in New York, has selected human rights lawyer, Feng Zhenghu, as the recipient of its annual "Freedom Pioneer" award. Well-known in China for his passionate defense of citizen's rights, Feng has been at Terminal 1, in Tokyo's Narita Airport, since November 4, when he was forcibly returned by Chinese authorities at Shanghai Airport as he tried to enter China. Feng has vowed to stay at the terminal in Tokyo until the Chinese government allows him to return home. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-japan-terminal-man19-2009nov19,0,29937.story
Young people and activism: From the politics of loyalty to the politics of choice? By: Pippa Norris, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, October 7, 2003 Many are concerned that there is widespread apathy, or even alienation, from the traditional modes of political participation in representative democracies, particularly among the young. To examine these issues, Part I of this report sets out the theoretical framework and the reasons why recent decades may have seen important generational shifts in common forms of politicalactivism, particularly in the repertoires (the actions used for political expression) and the agencies (the collective organizations used to become engaged). Part II describes the source of evidence used to analyze age-related patterns of political activism, drawing upon the 15-nation European Social Survey, 2002 (ESS), and the methods used to disentangle generational, life-cycle, or period effects. Part III examines the age profile of activists using different repertoires, including voting, party work, demonstrations and consumer boycotts. Part IV analyzes membership in voluntary associations, exemplified by unions, churches and social clubs. The conclusion considers the implications of these results and whether we are experiencing a generational shift from the traditional politics of loyalties towards the contemporary politics of choice. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/COE.pdf