(J) Why Iran is targeting nobel winner Ebadi By: Azadeh Moaveni, Time, November 30, 2009 When Iranian Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work as a lawyer and human-rights activist, the regime in Tehran faced a dilemma. The award infuriated the country's hard-liners, but the regime privately acknowledged that it had also earned Ebadi the admiration of most Iranians. Reluctant to arrest or openly target such a popular figure, the government tolerated Ebadi's activities and limited itself to low-level harassment of her legal office. That tacit policy has now changed. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943400,00.html?xid=rss-world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fworld+%28TIME%3A+Top+World+Stories%29#ixzz0YNhlSeKa
(J) Another Iranian journalist receives heavy prison term By: Payvand Iran News, November 30, 2009 Hengameh Shahidi, an Iranian journalist and social activist arrested in the post-election events has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison, according to her lawyer Mohammad Mostafayi. Mr. Mostafayi reports that Ms. Shahidi has been charged with "activity against national security," "propaganda against the system" and "making offensive remarks about the president." He adds that the charges are unfounded, the "confessions" were obtained while his client was "under duress and psychological pressure," and he will appeal the sentence within 20 days. http://www.payvand.com/news/09/nov/1317.html
(J) Syrian activist held incommunicado at risk of torture By: Human Rights Blog, November 30, 2009 Amnesty International has expressed its concern for a Syrian political activist, held incommunicado since 15 November and believed to be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Yousef Dheeb al-Hmoud was arrested at his home in the city of Deir az-Zawr, eastern Syria. His family were unable to identify the security force that the arresting officers belonged to. The authorities have not revealed where Yousef Dheeb al-Hmoud is being held, why he was arrested or whether he will be charged. Yousef Dheeb al-Hmoud is a member of the Islamic Democratic Current, an Islamist political group which demands democratic reform in Syria and is opposed to the use of violence. http://human-rights.ws/syrian-activist-held-incommunicado-at-risk-of-torture/
(J) Saudi Arabians use Facebook to vent fury over Jeddah flood deaths By: Caryle Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, November 30, 2009 Last week's flooding that left more than 100 people dead in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second-largest city, has sparked an unusual wave of citizen outrage on Facebook and in the state-run local press. The outburst of public fury includes calls for some royal princes and government officials to resign, calling to mind the widespread anger in the US over the Bush administration's ineffective response to hurricane Katrina in 2005. "This anger has never happened before," says Waleed Abu Al Khair, a human rights lawyer in Jeddah and one of the creators of a Facebook page that has drawn more than 20,000 comments in four days. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1130/p06s13-wome.html
(J) Western Sahara: Fears grow for hunger strike Nobel nominee Aminatou Haidar By: Giles Tremlett, The Guardian, November 29, 2009 Aminatou Haidar went on hunger strike 12 days ago after being expelled from her home and having her passport taken away by Morocco, which annexed the former Spanish colony in 1976. Haidar's health continued to deteriorate yesterday amid growing worldwide concern, with Barack Obama's administration and Amnesty International both expressing concern. But her hunger strike has won support from Spanish celebrities… Today, Almodóvar and hundreds of Spanish artists, intellectuals and leftwing politicians are due to hold a protest meeting in Madrid. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/nobel-nominee-hunger-strike-fears
(J) Diplomats: Iran censured at UN nuclear meeting By: George Jahn, Truthout, November 27, 2009 The board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog censured Iran on Friday, with 25 nations backing a resolution that demands Tehran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions calling on it to stop uranium enrichment. Iran remained defiant, with its chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency declaring that his country would resist "pressure, resolutions, sanction(s) and threat of military attack." http://www.truthout.org/1127094
Iran arrests students to curb expected protests By: VOA, November 25, 2009 An Iranian rights group says Iranian police have arrested students in an apparent attempt to discourage protests expected on National Student Day, December 7. The foreign-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says "scores" of students from universities across the country have been arrested and prosecuted in recent days. The rights group says some students have been subjected to university disciplinary procedures, while others have been sentenced to prison terms and lashings. http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/25nov09-iran-students-arrests-73678922.html
Iran frees activist on bail in mass trial By: AP, November 24, 2009 Iran's official news agency reports a political activist and former head of the Tehran municipal council has been released on bail in the mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the post-election unrest. Mohammad Atrianfar headed the council in late 1990s. He was a close ally of Mahdi Karroubi, one of the losing candidates in disputed June presidential election who became a leader of the opposition afterward. The Tuesday report by IRNA quotes the Tehran prosecutor as saying Atrianfar was released on $500,000 bail but he did not say what Atrianfar was sentenced for. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGSJEAPs_r2T2wxsL5G3t4z-jajQD9C5T1TG0
Iran expanding effort to stifle the opposition By: Robert Worth, NY Times, November 23, 2009 After last summer’s disputed presidential election, Iran’s government relied largely on brute force — beatings, arrests and show trials — to stifle the country’s embattled opposition movement. Now, stung by the force and persistence of the protests, the government appears to be starting a far more ambitious effort to discredit its opponents and re-educate Iran’s mostly young and restive population. In recent weeks, the government has announced a variety of new ideological offensives. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?_r=2&th&emc=th
Kuwait: Free jailed activist By: Human Rights Watch, November 23, 2009 The prosecutor-general should immediately order the release of Muhammad Abd al-Qadir al-Jasim, a lawyer and journalist who is a prominent critic of the government, Human Rights Watch said today. Al-Jasim was arrested November 22, 2009, on charges of libel and slander. The arrest was apparently the result of criticisms he allegedly made about Prime Minister Shaikh Nasir al-Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah's policies at a private gathering more than a month ago, Al-Jasim's lawyer said. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/23/kuwait-free-jailed-activist
(J) Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti urges unity By: BBC, November 19, 2009 A jailed leader of the Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouti, says Palestinian factions must be united and launch a campaign to achieve statehood. Mr Barghouti said the impasse in peace talks with Israel meant there was "no excuse" for the fierce rivalry between Fatah and Hamas. "The necessary strategy is firstly ending the division," he told Reuters. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8365660.stm
Iran: Art in protest By: Hamid Tehrani, Global Voices Online, November 16, 2009 Mir Hussein Mousavi, one of Iran's opposition leaders, recently mentioned in a video interview that the artistic creativity of the ‘green' protest movement since the June 12 presidential election has been unique in Iran's history. Iranian artists and even non-Iranian have been inspired by the resistance movement of Iranians and have used their talent to create designs, posters, animations and video clips to express their hope and anger. Watch the video... http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/16/iran-art-in-protest/
OCEANIA
Mounted protest in Australia over mining plans By: Horsetalk, November 30, 2009 More than 500 protesters, at least 300 of them riding horses, rode through the so-called Horse Capital of Australia yesterday over plans for a coal mine. The protesters took to the streets of Scone, in New South Wales, to spell out their concerns over Bickham Coal Company's mining plans for the district. The protesters oppose a mine Bickham wants to build near the Pages River, a tributary of the Hunter River and fear the effects the mining may have on groundwater quality. http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/11/190.shtml
West Papua: Indonesia in fear of a flag By: Pacific Scoop, November 30, 2009 As West Papuan national flag day approaches (1st December), the Indonesian security forces are ready to clamp down on anybody who attempts to raise the Morning Star flag in West Papua. Indonesia In fear of a flag. As West Papuan national flag day approaches (1st December), the Indonesian security forces are ready to clamp down on anybody who attempts to raise the Morning Star flag in West Papua. It was reported in Tempo Interactive that the Indonesian Armed Forces would intensify patrols near the border with Papua New Guinea before 1st December in areas where the OPM are believed to operate. http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/11/indonesia-in-fear-of-a-flag/
AFRICA
Guinea military arrest human rights official By: Scott Stearns, VOA, November 29, 2009 Guinea's military government has arrested a prominent human rights official while United Nations investigators are in the country to find out what happened when more than 150 opposition protestors were killed two months ago. Soldiers detained human rights leader Mouctar Diallo when he returned to the capital, Conakry, after a visit to his home village. Diallo's wife, Djenabou Diallo, says he was arrested on Thursday by men from the special service against banditry and the fight against drugs. http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Guinea-Military-Arrest-Human-Rights-Official-78107702.html
Equatorial Guinea vote to reinstall leader denying graft By: AP, November 29, 2009 The presidential election in Equatorial Guinea will undoubtedly extend the 30-year rule of Teodoro Obiang Nguema, a man accused of draining his nation's oil wealth to fabulously enrich family and cronies while his people suffer in slums. Western governments that have promised to fight corruption so far have done little as companies compete for concessions for petroleum and a burgeoning natural gas industry. Opposition parties have complained that the playing field for Sunday's vote was far from even: campaigners have been attacked and harassed, Obiang gave only six weeks' notice for the election and coverage in the state-controlled media is skewed. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFY_xYoEqw_f80F-E1jO0kwJn6PAD9C9GNQ80
(J) US: Remarks by Jenni Williams of Zimbabwe - 2009 RFK human rights award ceremony By: RFK Center, November 23, 2009 Good evening Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to add my thanks to that of Magodonga’s to the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and friends here present for the recognition given to Women of Zimbabwe Arise. WOZA was formed to give voice to ordinary women and men and to demand social justice for all Zimbabweans. We did not set out to seek recognition beyond that of our own government respecting us as citizens and recognising our concerns as legitimate. We are mothers of the nation, longing for the award of dignity, and a bright future for our children. http://www.rfkcenter.org/node/411
AMERICAS: CENTRAL AMERICA/ CARIBBEAN
(J) Divisions remain over Honduras election By: Adam Thomson, Financial Times, November 30, 2009 The election of a new president in Honduras has widened divisions between the US and Latin America, and within the region itself, over whether to recognise the result. Porfirio Lobo of the conservative National Party emerged victorious late on Sunday in a poll that most Hondurans had hoped would be the first step in healing deep wounds inflicted on the Central American nation when soldiers staged a coup on June 28. The US welcomed the election and commended Hondurans for “peacefully exercising their right to select their leaders”. Avoiding any reference to the result itself, a state department spokesman said: “Today, the Honduran people took a necessary and important step forward.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8423852e-ddd7-11de-b8e2-00144feabdc0.html
(J) Honduras president must convince world of legitimate vote By: Sophie Nicholson, AP, November 30, 2009 Newly elected president Porfirio Lobo faced the challenge Monday of steering Honduras clear of the five-month crisis that isolated the nation after the ouster of his predecessor Manuel Zelaya in a June coup. Lobo became the third leader at play in the deep turmoil set off by the June 28 coup after claiming victory in Sunday's elections, which took place under a de facto regime criticized for its heavy-handed control of dissent. The conservative Lobo must now convince backers of Zelaya, and the world, that he was legitimately elected as the new president of Honduras. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091130/wl_afp/honduraspoliticscoupvote_20091130190611
(J) Zelaya calls Honduran election a 'fraud' By: Earth Times, November 30, 2009 Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Monday condemned the presidential elections held in the Central American country a day earlier is an act of "electoral fraud."Conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo emerged as the winner in Sunday's poll, which was staged by the de facto government despite Zelaya's call for an election boycott. Zelaya, who was ousted by a military coup and sent into exile on June 28, disputed the finding by Honduran electoral authorities that voter turnout was above 61 per cent. Instead, he said he would show "peacefully" that more than 60 per cent of voters abstained. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/297065,extra-zelaya-calls-honduran-election-a-fraud.html
(J) Victory declared in election that was a win-win for Honduras's elite By: Rory Carroll, The Guardian, November 30, 2009 Within hours of the polls closing the celebrations began but not everyone joined in. Honduras is in crisis: internationally isolated, shunned by investors and aid agencies. Manuel Zelaya is besieged in the Brazilian embassy. "These elections are illegitimate," he said. Foreign governments lined up to condemn the vote as a whitewash. Many Hondurans boycotted it and vowed "continued resistance". The homeless children who sleep on rubbish dumps in Tegucigalpa's slums were too hungry or high on glue to care. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/30/honduras-election-zelaya-porfirio
(J) Latin America divided over Honduran elections By: Earth Times, November 30, 2009 Ibero-American countries remained divided over the Honduran elections Monday at a summit in Portugal, with some of them recognizing the election result, while others dismissed it as illegitimate. Conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo has emerged as a winner in Sunday's poll, which was staged by the de facto government despite ousted president Manuel Zelaya's call for an election boycott. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country would not recognize the elections and would continue hosting Zelaya at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa until he was given security guarantees. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/297033,latin-america-divided-over-honduran-elections--summary.html
(J) Honduran elections marred by police violence, censorship, international non-recognition By: Common Dreams, November 30, 2009 Elections conducted in a climate of fear, human rights violations, and international non-recognition won't resolve the political crisis in Honduras, said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Only a few governments that the U.S. State Department can heavily influence will recognize these elections," said Weisbrot. "The rest of the world recognizes that you cannot carry out free or fair elections under a dictatorship that has overthrown the elected President by force and used violence, repression, and media censorship against political opponents for the entire campaign period leading up the vote, including election day." http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/11/30-8
(J) Honduras: Quixote Center delegation documents terror and repression during elections By: Quixote Center, November 30, 2009 Reports coming in from Quixote Center delegates who deployed to four different regions of the country during the last week to observe the electoral climate and the human rights situation point to a systemic pattern of militarization, intimidation, human rights violations and generalized repression. This, coupled with extremely low voter turnout. Delegates in San Pedro Sula were caught in the midst of a military and police attack on peaceful protestors who were singing the Honduran national anthem and chanting, “We are not afraid” when they were attacked with tear gas, pepper spray, high pressure water cannons and clubs. Watch the video... http://quixote.org/quixote-center-delegation-documents-terror-and-repression-during-elections
Repression in Honduras By: Institute for Public Accuracy, November 30, 2009 A co-founder of Hondurans for Democracy, Moncada is a D.C.-based environmental policy analyst. He said today: "We're gravely disappointed that the State Department has said it will recognize the results of Sunday's fraudulent election. We're getting reports of widespread fear and intimidation by the military, especially in rural areas. The U.S. has taken the lead in legitimizing the coup government while practically all other countries in the hemisphere, as well as the UN and OAS, have said that they will not recognize the results." http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2131
Authorities must reveal identities and whereabouts of people detained today By: Amnesty International, November 30, 2009 Amnesty International today urged the Honduran authorities to reveal the identities, whereabouts and charges against all people detained on the eve and day of the presidential elections. In one of the most worrying cases, the whereabouts of Jensys Mario Umanzor Gutierrez remains unknown. He was last seen at 2:30am this morning in the custody of a Police Patrol whose identification number was recorded by witnesses. After finding about the case, the Amnesty International delegation in Honduras assisted in the filing of an habeas corpus – a legal procedure to find the whereabouts and well being of someone detained by police. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200911301429&lang=e
Failed elections in Honduras: Peaceful resistance boycotted coup efforts By: Carlos DC, November 29, 2009 A peaceful resistance movement in Honduras successfully boycotted today's marred presidential elections. Following a plan of civil disobedience, most Honduran citizens didn't vote today as a sign of protest against the coup government of Roberto Micheletti. Since the coup d'etat carried on June 28 this year, the opposition in Honduras have organized what is known as the National Front of Peaceful Resistance. Today they organized several acts of disobedience to boycott the elections that will not be recognized by most countries in the Americas -except the United States- and which only included candidates of the officialism, and ignored the popular demand for a ballot that supported a Constitution reform. http://carlosqc.blogspot.com/2009/11/failed-elections-in-honduras-peaceful.html=
(J) Honduras state employees forced to attend Santos campaign rally By: Al Giordano, Narco News, November 29, 2009 While today's coup-sponsored "election" in Honduras won't settle the country's crisis created by the June 28 coup d'etat, it continues to provide a showcase for the profoundly anti-democratic nature of the regime. This just in from Tamar Sharabi, reporting from Honduran territory: Evidence has surfaced that state employees were forced to attend the closing campaign ceremony of Elvin Santos, the ex-Vice President under Zelaya. In the letter, addressed to all department heads of the office of Civil Service, general director Marco Tulio Flores wrote, “I instruct all employees that are fulfilling their duties, without any exception, to attend the closing campaign of the Liberal Party that will take place Sunday November 22 at 9:30am. In a booth at the entrance to the coliseum Xiomara Orellana will take attendance of all personnel of this institution.” http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3632/memo-honduras-state-employees-forced-attend-santos-campaign-rallyy:
Blogger Yoani Sanchez is threat to Cuba By: Cuba Study Group, November 28, 2009 "Generation Y" receives about one million visits a month. It has won two of the most prestigious awards for digital journalism, and its success meant that last year Ms Sanchez was voted one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. Now, it seems, the island's ruling Castro brothers have decided that enough is enough, and have unleashed their thugs to try to shut Ms Sanchez up. http://www.cubastudygroup.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=6451&Month=11&Year=2009
(J) No fair election in Honduras under military occupation By: Dana Frank, Common Dreams, November 27, 2009 As the Honduran election approaches on Sunday, November 29, let's be clear about the conditions under which it is taking place. Human rights abuses are rampant, freedom of speech is under attack, and the election process is in the hands of the very people who perpetrated the coup. Clearly, no free and fair election is possible under the repressive thumb of the military coup that has been in place for five months. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/27-3
(J) The Honduran coup: A graphic history By: Nikil Saval and Dan Archer, Huffington Post, November 25, 2009 On November 29, national elections will take place in Honduras. Five months earlier, on June 28th, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was arrested in the middle of the night by the armed forces and forcibly exiled to Costa Rica -- on the day he had proposed to hold a non-binding public poll on a popular assembly. Why? For his supposed intention of subverting the Honduran constitution to extend his time in office. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikil-saval/the-honduran-coup-a-graph_b_370749.html
South Florida's exile activists set sights on Honduras By: Trenton Daniel, Miami Herald, November 25, 2009 Eleno Oviedo, imprisoned in Cuba for 26 years, stood outside a Sedano's in Hialeah on a recent Saturday, eager to collect donations for a fresh cause: Honduras. "We set up a table and had some signs and asked people to give what they could," said Oviedo, 73, co-director of Plantados, a group of one-time political prisoners from Cuba. Oviedo is among groups of local Cubans seeking to help Honduras as the country tries to recover from political upheaval following the ouster of President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya and the global shunning of the government. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1350692.html
Thousands march for, against Nicaraguan government By: CNN, November 21, 2009 Tens of thousands of people, government protesters and supporters alike, demonstrated Saturday in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. "The only way for the government to change, as it has been shown in all these years, is for the people to go to the streets," said Dora Maria Tellez, who was a main figure in President Daniel Ortega's government during the 1980s but who now leads an opposition party. It was not immediately clear how many of the masses were demonstrating against the government and how many had gathered to support it. The anti-government protesters are demonstrating against Ortega's bid for re-election and the anniversary of last year's municipal elections, which the president's leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front party resoundingly won amid allegations of fraud. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/11/21/nicaragua.protests/index.html
AMERICAS: NORTH AMERICA
US: 81-year-old activist begins fast to end mountaintop removal mining By: Sue Sturgis, Southern Studies, November 30, 2009 A native of Virginia who now lives in upstate New York, U.S. Army veteran Roland Micklem spent a half-century working as a naturalist and science teacher before turning his attention to the destructive mining practices that are decimating the mountain peaks and streams of Appalachia. In his open letter posted to the Climate Ground Zero website, Micklem describes the trauma and depression he experienced after observing the loss of so many species due to environmental degradation and how it inspired his environmental activism. His fast begins a week before a coalition of West Virginia residents and their allies plan to gather at the state Department of Environmental Protection to demand enforcement of the Clean Water Act and an end to Massey's blasting atop Coal River Mountain, where environmentalists have been pressing for a wind farm. http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/11/81-year-old-activist-begins-fast-to-end-mountaintop-removal-mining.html
US: MLK, Jr. and the weapon of nonviolent resistance By: Waking Jonah, November 29, 2009 James Corbett discusses the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the nonviolent, grass-roots effort that propelled Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement into the public consciousness. Listen to the report... http://wakingjonah.com/2009/11/29/mlk-jr-and-the-weapon-of-nonviolent-resistance/
US: Anti-war protest shakes up holiday shopping By: Seattle Pi, November 28, 2009 A bizarre scene unfolded amid the festive holiday atmosphere at Westlake Center on Saturday, as men in U.S. military uniforms stormed through the crowd, tossing civilians to the sidewalk and handcuffing them. It was all part of a "street theater" style anti-war protest staged by opponents of the proposed troop surge in Afghanistan. As the "soldiers" screamed profanities at the "civilians" on the ground, many frightened young children were asking their parents what was going on. Meanwhile, some adult shoppers walked by - seemingly oblivious to the freaky scene. The protest's organizers, a group called "The World Can't Wait," say they're trying to show what a military occupation is like by re-enacting scenes of soldiers mistreating civilians. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412718_war28.html
AMERICAS: SOUTH AMERICA
Venezuela: Anti-impunity activist assassinated By: Intel Daily, November 30, 2009 Venezuelan media activist Mijail Martinez, the son of a former state deputy for the chavista Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), was assassinated in a drive-by shooting Nov. 26 at his home in the city of Barquisimeto, Lara. Martínez, 24, was a cameraman and activist with the Victims' Committee Against Impunity in Lara state (CVCI-Lara) and an audiovisual producer on the TV program of his father, Victor Martínez, a longtime Bolivarian militant. Victor had recently been making a series of official complaints in which he had implicated a host of high governmental and police figures in corruption and human rights violations. http://www.inteldaily.com/news/145/ARTICLE/12924/2009-11-30.html
Ecuador: Kichwa women oppose oil exploration on native lands By: Belen Bogado, Global Voices Online, November 25, 2009 It is a popular saying in Latin America that women always get what they want. In Sarayaku, Ecuador, women from the Kichwa tribe proved the saying to be true. When an oil company came onto their forest lands for oil exploration for future drilling, the women decided to stop them with a simple but flawless plan. Esperanza Martinez says on the blog Ecoportal [es], that women told their husbands that if they allowed the companies to work on their lands, they would have to find other women …on different lands. The Kichwas organized a united front against the oil company until it finally had to leave. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/25/ecuador-kichwa-women-oppose-oil-exploration-on-native-lands/
Colombia: Displaced women demand their rights By: Refugees International, November 16, 2009 Displaced Colombian women and girls are the resilient survivors of the ongoing conflict inside the country. Frustrated by continued neglect from the authorities, displaced women’s organizations successfully petitioned the Constitutional Court, which ordered the Colombian government to bring to justice perpetrators of sexual violence and devise programs attending to the protection and socio-economic needs of displaced women. http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/field-report/colombia-displaced-women-demand-their-rights
ASIA: CENTRAL ASIA
Turkmenistan now has opera - but real change? By: Miriam Elder, Global Post, November 28, 2009 When one of the world’s most eccentric dictators died two years ago, many hoped the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan would become a new country. Saparmurat Niyazov — better known as Turkmenbashi, or “Father of all Turkmen,” a name he gave himself — ruled the country with an iron fist. Critics, be they close advisors or random Turkmen speaking freely, were jailed. Two years into the rule of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, health minister under Turkmenbashi and the longest serving minister in his cabinet, things have changed — at least on the surface. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/asia/091117/turkmenistan-berdymukhamedov
Kyrgyzstan: Human rights activist accused of espionage and extremism By: Ferghana, November 25, 2009 In the city of Osh on the evening of 18 November 2009, a member of Memorial Human Rights Center, Bakhrom Khamroev, was illegally detained by representatives of the State Service for National Security (GSNB). Khamroev was collecting information on persecution of independent Muslims in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Without any kind of reason, the Russian citizen was held in detention for about 14 hours, subjected to interrogations and scare-tactics, before being put on a plane to Moscow on the morning of the following day. The following are the most important episodes according to Bakhrom Khamroev himself, and were put into writing after his return to Moscow. http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id=2593
Uzbek democracy dissident released By: Michael Allen, Democracy Digest, November 25, 2009 Uzbek opposition leader Sanjar Umarov is finally reunited with his family after being released from a labor camp. He received an amnesty and was released from prison on Nov. 7. A successful businessman, the 53-year-old Umarov formed the Sunshine Uzbekistan movement to press for economic reform. He became a dissident and vocal critic of President Islam A. Karimov following the Andijon massacre in 2005. http://www.demdigest.net/blog/dissidents/uzbek-democracy-dissident-released.html
ASIA: EAST ASIA
China: Human rights webmaster sentenced to three years By: Oiwan Lam, Global Voices Online, November 27, 2009 Huang Qi, founder of Tianwang Center for Missing Persons (later renamed as Tianwang Human Rights Center), was sentenced to three year imprisonment on November 23 in Chengdu Wuhou district court for “illegal possession of state secrets” in connection with material published on his website. According to BBC's report, Huang's wife Zeng Li, said the verdict was “revenge” for his involvement in the earthquake cases as the information he possessed is available to the public. And Amnesty International said Huang was a victim of China's “vague” state secrets laws and urged for his immediate release. http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/27/china-human-rights-webmaster-sentenced-to-three-years/
China’s impolitic artist, still waiting to be silenced By: Michael Wines, NY Times, November 27, 2009 Ai Weiwei is perhaps China’s most famous living artist and its most vociferous domestic critic, titles of a sort this committed iconoclast disdains. Which is not a bad thing, considering that recently, he very nearly lost them both. Mr. Ai was in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, preparing to testify at the trial of a fellow political activist. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/world/asia/28weiwei.html?_r=1
(J) Google search results for Tiananmen Square: UK vs. China By: Huffington Post, November 26, 2009 While we know Google and China have had a tumultuous relationship at best, seeing the contrast in image search results between China and the UK for "Tiananmen Square protest" is a stark reminder that Web is not without borders in many practical ways. There is a disclaimer on the Chinese results that state "According to local laws, regulations and policies, some search results are not shown." View the images... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/26/google-search-results-for_n_371526.html
State-run magazine reports on black jails in China By: AP, November 26, 2009 It read like a muckraking expose: A magazine revealed a system of secret detention centers in Beijing where Chinese citizens are forcibly held and sometimes beaten to prevent them from lodging formal complaints with the central government. But the report appeared in the state-run magazine Liaowang (Outlook), which is written for the government elite and published by China's official Xinhua News Agency. For some activist groups, the two state-sanctioned articles published Tuesday signal a possible willingness by the Communist leadership to openly acknowledge a problem it has long denied. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5imWnlnHjdcR3sLTlyankeEemuTbgD9C6UN5O1
Chinese protest, and tweet, against trash incinerator By: New Tang Dynasty Television, November 26, 2009 They are concerned about pollution and toxic emissions. More than a thousand Guangzhou residents held a protest on Monday against local officials building a rubbish incinerator near their homes. There were many middle-class people among the protesters—which is unusual, compared with the hundreds of thousands of demonstrations held by peasants across the Chinese countryside each year. The protesters also sent real-time updates with their cell phones using Twitter, a “micro-blogging” service. Although Twitter is blocked by the Chinese regime, a lot of people are using proxy servers to get around that. They’ve also posted many photographs and videos on the Internet. Watch the video... http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2009-11-26/287596898562.html
ASIA: SOUTH ASIA
India: People have the power in Bihar By: India Today, November 30, 2009 The term, people's power assumes special significance for Bihar because the state is the origin home of the famous Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) movement of the seventies when the firebrand freedom fighter turned Sarvodaya leader resurfaced in 1974 to lead an uprising and a people's movement against corruption. His cry against corruption had a nationwide impact because almost entire Bihar rose with him. The movement was started with certain specific demands, the chief among them being removal of corruption, solution of the problem of unemployment and basic changes in the system of education. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/72889/India/People+have+the+power+in+Bihar.html
Feminist writings by Pakistan’s activist poet By: Jehanara, November 29, 2009 While getting involved in the 16 Days of activism against gender violence, and trying to explain to people why “Take Back the Tech” is such an important initiative by APC’s Women’s Networking Support Program, I discovered a website containing some very powerful verses written by Attiya Dawood who is a female activist poet. Some of the poetry is about violence in marriage, rape, against laws and traditions and beliefs that hold women back. I remember being introduced for the first time to Attiya and her poetry by Zak and his wife Nuzhat who has been an active part of the War against Rape and Women’s Action Forum movements in Pakistan. Nuzhat has also been extremely vocal in her criticism of some past and current legislation in Pakistan. http://jehanara.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/feminist-writings-by-pakistans-activist-poet/
ASIA: SOUTHEAST ASIA
(J) Protest demands Philippines justice By: Al Jazeera, November 30, 2009 A group of about 1,000 journalists and activists have held a protest march in the Philippines capital, calling on the government to ensure that all those behind last week's massacre on the southern island of Mindanao are brought to justice. The protesters, clad mostly in black shirts and carrying a black mock coffin and placards, marched to the presidential palace, which had been ringed by barbed-wire and police, on Monday. Media watchdogs have said that the mass killing on November 23 - which left 57 civilians, including at least 30 journalists, dead - was the world's deadliest single assault on journalists. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/11/2009113082437740443.html
Protest stops cranes at Indonesia's APP paper port By: Sunanda Creagh, Reuters, November 26, 2009 Environmental activists shut down four cranes at port run by one of Asia's biggest pulp and paper groups on Indonesia's Sumatra island, but overall operations were not hit, the company said on Thursday. Greenpeace activists have targeted logging and paper firms in Indonesia in recent months to draw attention to the role that deforestation plays in global warming in the lead up to global climate talks in Copenhagen in early December. Twelve Greenpeace protesters on Wednesday climbed four cranes and unfurled a banner that read "Forest Destruction: You can stop this". http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSJAK105217
EUROPE
UK: Climate activists blockade biomass plant in Port Talbot By: Climate Camp Cymru, November 30, 2009 Two protestors used bicycle locks to close off the plant’s entrance, stopping the hourly 20-tonne deliveries of woodchip needed to keep the power station operating. A large banner on the gates reads “Biomess”. Other activists climbed up the chimney to unfurl a giant banner in Welsh reading “Clean Energy: Dirty Joke”. The plant is the first of its kind in the UK, incinerating woodchips to generate electricity. It is a test plant for the large-scale plants that have been announced in Britain. The world’s largest biomass plant (350 MW) has already been approved in Port Talbot and construction is due to start early next year. http://climatecampcymru.org/?p=932
Denmark: The activists' circus comes to Copenhagen By: Bibi van der Zee and Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, November 30, 2009 In two weeks' time, seven-year-old Gabriel Anderson will be in the centre of Copenhagen, climbing on to a step to address the crowds at the end of another Performance Family Picnic. Gabriel, his brothers Sid, two, and Neal, nine, plus his parents, artists and lecturers Gary Anderson and Lena Simic, make up the Institute of the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home, a one-family protest unit from Liverpool who take their picnic rugs and perform at galleries and protest gatherings. Funded by the Danish government at an estimated cost of 1 million kroner it will offer an official welcome to the thousands of environmentalists, NGOs and grassroots activists from around the world who eager to voice their opposition to the global political failure to tackle climate change. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/30/copenhagen-activists-circus
Russia: Tatarstan blogger sentenced to almost two years in penal colony By: Alexey Sidorenko, Global Voices Onlilne, November 27, 2009 On Nov. 26, the Kirov district court of Kazan, which is the capital of the Republic of Tartastan, convicted Irek Murtazin, a 45-year-old journalist and blogger, of defamation and incitement to hatred, reports Gazeta.ru [RUS]. The court sentenced Murtazin to one year and nine months of imprisonment in a penal colony (a form of imprisonment where convicts live not in a jail but in a special colony for prisoners). http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/27/russia-tatarstan-blogger-sentenced-to-almost-2-years-in-penal-colony/
Denmark: Climate change summit becomes a target for protest By: Christopher Lawton, Spiegel Online, November 25, 2009 If you missed Seattle, you won't want to miss Copenhagen. That, at least, is what Tadzio Müller, a political scientist and climate activist with Climate Justice Action -- a global network of activists and non-governmental organizations committed to combating climate change -- is telling people. The mass protest movement, he hopes, is turning green. He won't have to wait long to see if he's right. In just two weeks, dozens of world leaders will gather in the Danish capital in an attempt to agree on a global deal to halt global warming. But with many politicians dragging their feet, pessimism that a binding agreement will be forged is growing. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,663142,00.html
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
Gene Sharp: Theoretician of velvet revolution By: Michael Hirshman, RFE, November 27, 2009 In February last year, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry produced a broadcast about Americans it said were plotting against the regime. The video mentioned well-known names like Senator John McCain and financier George Soros. The video also mentioned a little-known academic: Gene Sharp. Known as the “Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare,” Dr. Gene Sharp, an 81-year-old former Harvard researcher, is the author of a how-to manual for nonviolent struggle. Titled "From Dictatorship to Democracy" and first published in 1993, the book has influenced movements for peaceful political change, from Serbia to Azerbaijan to Burma. http://www.rferl.org/content/Gene_Sharp_Theoretician_Of_Velvet_Revolution/1889473.html
End violence against women around the world By: Juliana Parra, Global Voices Online, November 25, 2009 November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and through videos, many people and organizations around the world are expressing their need to end the violence as well as the efforts they are undertaking to ensure that women have a safer world to live in. UNIFEM, in the Say No to Violence channel on YouTube has already documented some of the actions being taken around the world to end gender violence. Watch the videos... http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/25/video-end-violence-against-women-around-the-world/
Donald Steinberg - "Responsibility to protect: Coming of age?" By: International Crisis Group, November 18, 2009 Was 2008 the year when the concept of "responsibility to protect" finally jumped from the obscure paragraphs 138 and 139 of the World Summit Outcome document into the consciousness of policymakers, civil society activists, and international organization officials around the world? For several years, many supporters of this concept have feared that its October 2005 unanimous adoption by the United Nations General Assembly would be its pinnacle of acceptance by the community of nations, and that in the wake of inaction to operationalize the concept and growing resentment against the heavy-handed approach of western actors, especially the administration of George Bush, the tide had turned. A new "coalition of the unwilling", primarily from developing countries like India, Egypt, Pakistan and erstwhile ally South Africa, even went so far as to suggest that the world had rejected the concept of responsibility to protect at the 2005 summit. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6401&l=1
"Civil society" versus social movements By: A. Esteves and S. Motta, Interface, November 2009 As we write this editorial, ANC-backed thugs have installed what can best be described as paramilitary law in townships whose population has dared to organise outside of local clientelist structures – with the support of much of the institutional left and international NGO community. In India, Communist parties send police, military and paramilitary groups against tribal groups opposing similar dispossession by multinationals. These are extreme examples of a phenomenon which is all too familiar; the move into the state of particular types of activist, movement organisation or political party, and their involvement in repressing popular struggles. In recent decades, this process has taken particular forms, as new kinds of NGO and "civil society actors" have enabled the long-term sustainability of professional activists who are beholden to organisational funding from states, foundations or well-off members. http://interface-articles.googlegroups.com/web/editorial2.pdf?gda=1Gj_nUAAAACKSOmItyyhBP9BJoGTYY4n7YXu969mJ27_K3tW1Bik5fEuzypNXWzzdrhL6lIzik5txVPdW1gYotyj7-X7wDON
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Los disidentes hacen ruido By: Saul Landau, Transnational Institute, November 19, 2009 La hipocresía del gobierno de EE.UU. ha sido tan dominante durante la última década que provoca bostezos y miradas vidriosas. Los senadores denuncian la interferencia gubernamental en los servicios de salud, mientras disfrutan de su insuperable seguro gubernamental de salud que ellos diseñaron --a expensas del contribuyente. La Secretaria de Estado Clinton exigió a los líderes paquistaníes que eliminaran a los terroristas de las calles, mientras que autoproclamados terroristas anti Castro pasean por las vías pública del centro de Miami –como luchadores por la libertad, por supuesto. http://www.tni.org/node/69292
BOOK REVIEWS
The unpredictable future: Stories from worker-run factories in Argentina By: Benjamin Dangl, Upside Down World, November 24, 2009 Following the social upheaval in Argentina in 2001-2002 a book was published in Spanish that a lot of activists and independent journalists in the country began trying to get their hands on. It wasn’t in all of the bookstores, but news about it traveled like wildfire. Now the legendary book, Sin Patron: Stories From Argentina’s Worker-Run Factories, is translated and available to the English-speaking world. The book includes a number of illuminating interviews and chapters by Lavaca, a journalism collective based in Buenos Aires that continues to produce some of the best analysis and stories on social movements in the country. With Sin Patron, Lavaca brings together dynamic voices and stories from the hearts of Argentina’s inspiring movements. http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2223/1/
"Little brother" vs. big brother By: Emily Jacobi, Kickstarter, November 2009 "Little Brother is a scarily realistic adventure ... A teenage hacker-turned-hero pits himself against the government to fight for his basic freedoms. This book is action-packed with tales of courage, technology, and demonstrations of digital disobedience as the technophile's civil protest." My organization, Digital Democracy, has been working closely with Burmese community groups for the past few years. After seeing firsthand how communications technology is changing life inside the country, we want to bring Cory Doctorow's Little Brother to Burmese readers… Watch the video... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1033999452/little-brother-vs-big-brother
NOTICES
International conference on democracy, human rights and social justice in a new global dispensation By: Rutendo Ngara, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, November 24, 2009 Democracy and human rights are today challenged both from political and social transformations, and from scholars whose intention it is to transcend the limitations of the liberal democratic canon. Questions of human emancipation and the role of social movements are also being raised in relation to globalization. A conference on this subject will be held on February 1-3, 2010 in the UNISA Senate Hall, Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria, South Africa. The main emphasis of the conference is to consolidate emerging transformative perspectives and social actions at institutional, local and global levels that can lead to a better world and future for all. http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/forum/topics/do-something-awards-2010-for
Do Something Awards 2010, for young US based change makers By: Craig Zelizer, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, November 19, 2009 Since 1996, Do Something has honored the nation’s best young world-changers. Do Something Award Winners represent the pivotal "do-ers" in their field, cause, or issue and are rewarded with a huge project grant, participation in a special award ceremony, media coverage, and continued support from Do Something. The deadline for entries is December 15, 2009. Award Amount(s): Four winners will receive $10,000 and one Grand Prize winner will receive $100,000 towards their organization or cause. http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/forum/topics/do-something-awards-2010-for