FSI 2010
ICNC is now accepting applications for the 2010 Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict at Tufts University. This week-long Institute, now in its fifth year, will run from June 20 - 26 and brings together international professionals and journalists from around the world to learn from top practitioners and scholars about strategic concepts and present applications of civil resistance. View the flyer... Download the application form...
Kyrgyzstan: Official fired over controversial photo exhibit By: Farangis Najibullah, RFE, February 5, 2010
Art and politics can be an explosive combination. That's what Russian-born American photographer Sergei Melnikoff found out this week when he became embroiled in a political scandal in Kyrgyzstan. Melnikoff has created a firestorm in the Central Asian nation over his scathing criticism of Russia, which is Kyrgyzstan's most important international partner. Read full article...
Tajikistan: Journalists under pressure as parliamentary elections approach By: Konstantin Parshin, Eurasianet, February 5, 2010
With parliamentary elections fast approaching, print journalists in Tajikistan are coming under increasing pressure, media watchdogs say. The pro-presidential People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT) is widely expected to retain its hammerlock on parliament in the February 28 elections. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Even so, media rights groups contend that President Imomali Rahmon's administration is trying to muzzle media outlets not directly under the government's control. Read full article...
India: Tribal people appeal to James Cameron By: Survival International, February 8, 2010
Survival has appealed to Avatar director James Cameron on behalf of an Indian tribe through an ad in the film industry magazine Variety published on 8 February 2010.In the ad Survival asks Mr Cameron to help the Dongria Kondh tribe of Orissa, India, whose story is uncannily similar to that of the Na'vi in Avatar. Read full article...
India: Marchers defy protest ban in Indian Kashmir By: AFP, February 7, 2010
Hundreds of Muslims marched in defiance of a ban on demonstrations in Indian Kashmir's summer capital of Srinagar on Sunday, in protest against the death of a second teenage boy in a week. Read full article...
India: Church takes 'unprecedented' step to sell stake in Vedanta By: Survival International, February 5, 2010
In a shock move, the Church of England decided today to disinvest from controversial miner Vedanta Resources on ethical grounds, dealing a devastating blow to the company's credibility. The Church stated that 'we are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to show, the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect...' Read full article...
Myanmar: Burmese-American awaits verdict in case By: Thomas Fuller, NY Times, February 8, 2010
At last count there were more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to human rights groups that track the opaque workings of the penal system in that country, formerly known as Burma. Among them is Nyi Nyi Aung, who spent years campaigning for Burmese democracy in exile before obtaining American citizenship. Read full article...
World's press condemns sentencing of Myanmar journalists By: The Sunday Times, February 7, 2010
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have condemned the sentencing of two Myanmar journalists to long prison terms and called on the country's military junta to immediately release them and end its continuing attacks on the media. Read full article...
Vietnam dissident on trial By: AFP, February 6, 2010
An internationally-recognized writer who is a prominent dissident went on trial in Vietnam Friday, adding to what the United States says is a ''spike'' in human rights issues in the country. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, born in 1960, is charged alongside her husband with assault but both testified they were innocent and had themselves been beaten. Read full article...
Vietnam jails dissident writer over attack By: BBC News, February 5, 2010
A Vietnamese writer and democracy activist has been jailed for three and a half years for attacking two men during a parking dispute in Hanoi. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and her husband, Do Ba Tan, had denied the charges, saying they had been the victims of the attack and not the perpetrators. Read full article...
Vietnam crackdown continues as writer jailed By: John Ruwitch, Reuters, February 5, 2010
A Vietnamese court convicted a dissident writer of assault on Friday, bringing to 16 the number of people imprisoned since October in an unusually harsh crackdown on dissent in the one-party state. Read full article...
Demand China end support for Ahmadinejad and Basij Militia By: World Press, February 5, 2010
To All Friends of the Iranian People, Spread the Word: China is supporting Ahmadinejad's crackdown against the Iranian people, most recently by arming the Basij with anti-riot equipment and crowd control vehicles. These Chinese arms pose a lethal threat to the millions of Iranians who plan to protest for freedom and democracy in Iran on February 11th. Read full article...
China: Dissidents named for Peace Prize By: RFA, February 5, 2010
Seven members of the U.S. Congress have nominated three leading Chinese rights activists, of whom two are jailed and one is missing, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Read full article...
China: More than 100,000 websites shut down By: Oiwan Lam, Global Voices, February 3, 2010
According to Southern Metropolis' report on 18 Jan 2010, more than 100 thousand websites have been shut down in China since the white list policy has come into effect in December 2009. Self employed individuals who tried to maintain their business online were affected the most. Read full article...
Fiji miners appeal for foreign help with 19-year strike By: Radio Australia, February 9, 2010
Fiji's Mineworkers Union has appealed to both the International Labour Organisation and the International Human Rights Council for help, as they continue their 19-year strike action at the Vatukoula gold mine. Since they walked off the job, the mine has changed ownership more than once, with some proprietors shutting down operations, claiming it was no longer viable. Read full article...
Malawi man arrested for posting gay rights posters By: Faith Karimi, CNN, February 7, 2010
Malawian police have arrested a man for allegedly putting up posters supporting homosexuality, which is illegal in the southern African nation. Peter Sawali was charged this week with conduct likely to cause breach of peace, said police spokesman Davie Chingwalu. Read full article...
South Africa: Nelson Mandela's captive audience By: Ko Bo Kyi, NY Times, February 6, 2010
News of Nelson Mandela's release dominated the radio broadcasts by the BBC and Voice of America on Feb. 11, 1990. I felt I understood why he had resisted so long, because in Burma, as in South Africa at the time Mr. Mandela was in jail, the majority of people were struggling to make their voices heard. Within three months, the military junta would refuse to recognize the results of our national election - and I would be locked up in Rangoon's Insein Prison for leading a demonstration. Read full article...
Freedom of information laws struggle to take hold in Africa By: Mohamed Keita, Committee to Protect Journalists, February 5, 2010
Freedom to information is enshrined as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, and upheld by the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. However, to this date, only five countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Angola) have passed freedom of information legislation. Read full article...
Zimbabwe: ZINASU students arrested at Harare Polytechnic By: SW Radio Africa, February 5, 2010
Two student activists were arrested by police in Harare on Thursday for addressing their colleagues at the crisis ridden Harare Polytechnic. The Zimbabwe National Students Union spokesperson Kudakwashe Chakabva issued a statement on Friday saying the two had been assigned a fact-finding mission to collect data on the grievances and challenges facing students. Read full article...
Morocco: Where independent media is no more By: Hisham, Global Voices, February 2, 2010
There have been mounting attacks on freedom of expression in Morocco lately, targeting journalists as well as bloggers as we consistently have been reporting on Global Voices Online recently. So constant are the attacks, that a reader might find the news coming out form the north African kingdom, a redundant rehash of the same old story. Read full article...
US: Two sage voices remind us to confront evil By: Hyriam Marquez, Miami Herald, February 7, 2010
Two wise men who stood up to evil brought their seedlings of hope and peace and planted them firmly on Miami soil. Stand your ground, don't give up, keep pushing for what's right, keep talking -- and listening, but only when there is mutual respect. Read full article...
Internal and external challenges ahead for Honduras By: Eliot Brockner, World Politics Review, February 8, 2010
Many Hondurans as well as outside observers of the country's political crisis breathed a sigh of relief when Porfirio Lobo Sosa was sworn in as president on Jan. 27. Nevertheless, a significant amount of work lays ahead for Lobo's government, which is under pressure from many governments in the region to carry out a full-scale investigation into the events of last year. Read full article...
Haiti protesters denounce aid corruption, hoarding By: Reuters, February 8, 2010
Hundreds of Haitian earthquake survivors protested in a suburb of the wrecked capital on Sunday, accusing a district mayor of corruption and hoarding food aid provided by relief groups, witnesses said. Read full article...
Can social networking open up Cuba? By: Joe McKendrick, Cuba Study Group, February 4, 2010
Can social networking have a positive impact on a long-repressed society just south of the United States? In a new post, Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, expert on the social issues of computing and former IBM vice president, reports on a recent conference in which the possibilities for social networking to open up Cuban society were discussed. Read full article...
Mexico: Authentic journalism rises again on Yucatán Peninsula By: RJ Maccani, Narco News Bulletin, February 6, 2010
The 2010 School of Authentic Journalism began its ten-day program Wednesday in the coastal town Puerto Morelos, Mexico. Over sixty students, faculty and staff gathered to hear the School's President, Al Giordano, give an interview that sounded more like a call to arms. "Everybody knows that the old model of commercial, daily newspapers is dying. And everybody is kind of looking to see what will replace it and what we are proposing is that you all go out from here and do that." Read full article...
Belarus: Paint sprayed over car of Andzelika Borys, car's tires punctured By: Charter 97, February 6, 2010
Activists of the Union of Poles in Belarus which is not recognized by the authorities called that a pre-planned provocation. On February 6 overnight the unknown punctured tyres and splashed blue paint on two cars owned by the Union of Poles headed by Andzelika Borys. Read full article...
Romania: Human rights begin at school By: Claudia Ciobanu, Human Rights Tribune, February 6, 2010
A textbook on human rights activism, being introduced in Romanian schools this year, steers away from preaching and uses interviews with global and local rights activists to suggest how young people may get involved. The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mexican attorney Digna Ochoa and Czech playwright Vaclav Havel are some of the people interviewed for the book 'Speak Truth to Power' by Kerry Kennedy. Read full article...
Belarus: Internet cafes require presentation of passport By: Charter 97, February 5, 2010
The Ministry of Communications says visitors of Internet cafe will have to show their passports for identification. According to Interfax, this was told journalists at a press conference given by minister of communication and informatization of Belarus Mikalai Pantsyalei. He said, "as far as I understand, Internet users in Internet clubs will have to show an ID, because the decree obliges Internet clubs to identification not a user's device but persons." Read full article...
Ukraine: Making democracy a going concern in Kiev By: Richard Boudreaux, WSJ, February 5, 2010
Want to ensure a bigger draw for your lackluster candidate? In Ukraine, just contact Vladimir Boyko and he'll rent you a crowd. Mr. Boyko says his company, Easy Work, has assembled a database of several thousand students and can mobilize them on a day's notice to turn up at demonstrations anywhere in Kiev, stand for hours at a time, and cheer or jeer on cue. Read full article...
Russia: Anti-government protest covered by bloggers, ignored by media By: Vadim Isakov, Global Voices, February 2, 2010
At least 7,000 protesters gathered on the streets of Kaliningrad, the country's westernmost city, on January 30 to demand, among other things, the resignation of the regional governor Georgy Boos and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. But don't count on the leading Russian media outlets to tell you about it. Read full article...
Israeli military arrests Spanish activist in Ramallah By: Latin America Herald Tribute, February 8, 2010
Two activists, a Spaniard and an Australian, were arrested Sunday in an Israeli army raid on a house in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which is under the control of the Palestinian National Authority, or PNA. Read full article...
Egypt arrests Brotherhood members By: Al Jazeera, February 8, 2010
Egyptian security forces have detained three of the Muslim Brotherhood's senior leaders and at least 10 other members. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said they were arrested for engaging in banned political activity. Read full article...
Iran: Three million protesters anticipated at Thursday rally By: LA Times, February 8, 2010
The 22nd day of the Persian calendar month of Bahman, the date 31 years ago when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic republic, is traditionally a time for official patriotic fervor and the unveiling of national achievements. Read full article...
Iran: Torture of Kazem Rezaei in Ministry of Intelligence Detention Center By: Iran Human Rights Voice, February 8, 2010
Three months after the detention of Kazem Rezaei, a student from Shiraz University, his trial was held on Sunday, January 31, in the Revolutionary Court while signs of torture were still visible on his body. Mr. Rezaei is a Mechanical Engineering major in Shiraz University, and a well-known student activist in this university. Read full article...
Iran 'jails opposition leader Mohsen Aminzadeh' By: BBC News, February 8, 2010
An Iranian opposition leader has been jailed for six years for his role in the unrest following June's disputed presidential election, reports say. Mohsen Aminzadeh was convicted of organising protests, disturbing security and spreading propaganda against the system, his lawyer said. Read full article...
Iran arrests seven ahead of revolution anniversary By: AFP, February 7, 2010
Iran said on Sunday it has arrested seven people for allegedly planning to provoke riots on February 11, the day the nation marks the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution. Read full article...
Iran: Opposition and hard-liners get ready for 22 Bahman confrontations By: LA Times, February 7, 2010
Iran's hard-line government and the green-themed opposition are gearing up for another confrontation Thursday, this time on the 22nd day of the Persian calendar month of Bahman, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Read full article...
Internet down in Iran ahead of demos By: AFP, February 7, 2010
Iran said on Sunday its Internet connections will remain slow this week due to technical problems, ahead of anticipated protests by opposition supporters. Connections have been slow since last week and some email accounts have been unavailable for several hours each day. Read full article...
Iran detains seven suspected of 'spying' for U.S. By: RFE, February 7, 2010
Iran's state media says Tehran has arrested seven people allegedly linked to RFE/RL's Radio Farda and accused some of them of working for U.S. spy agencies. State radio and the official IRNA news agency reported today that the suspects played a key role in provoking protesters during a violent antigovernment demonstration in Tehran in late December. Read full article...
The lies of Iran, in pictures By: Joshua Prager, LA Times, February 7, 2010
On June 20, a young Iranian woman was shot dead at one of the mass protests that followed the contested re- election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Millions of people around the world watched video of Neda Agha-Soltan hemorrhaging on Tehran's Karegar Street, and hers became the tragic, beautiful and galvanizing face of the reform movement in Iran. Read full article...
Iran's police chief warns against potential protests By: CNN, February 6, 2010
Iran's police chief warned Saturday that security forces will firmly confront "illegal" gatherings on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a semi-official news agency reported. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told semi-official news agency ILNA that it is "natural" that security forces carry out what he called their responsibility if security is threatened or if "sacred morals" are insulted on the "pretext" of criticism and protest. Read full article...
Iraq: New media rules reflect return to authoritarianism By: Committee to Protect Journalists, February 4, 2010
An Iraqi government plan to impose restrictive rules on broadcast news media represents an alarming return to authoritarianism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ denounced the rules and called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government to abandon their repressive plan. Read full article...
Leaders walk in the shoes of a refugee By: OneWorld, February 8, 2010
Some of the world's influential leaders had the chance to experience life as a refugee during an annual economic summit last week -- for one hour they shared the suffering of 42 million people who have been forced to leave their homes by conflict or natural disaster. The simulation was put together by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and the Crossroads Foundation, an organization working to join private business and humanitarian aid. Read full article...
Special rapporteurs regret mechanisms to control media By: El Universal, February 5, 2010
The Special Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations (UN), and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), as well as the Representative on Freedom of the Media for the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) complained of increasing violence against journalists and the use of "illicit mechanisms" by some governments to control the media outlets. Read full article...
Sit-ins changed everything By: Andrew B. Lewis, Statesman, February 5, 2010
The "sixties" were born on Feb. 1, 1960, 50 years ago this week, when four African American college students staged the first sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. Since then, the mythology of the '60s has dominated the idea of youthful activism. Read full article...
Invest in strategy By: New Tactics, January 26, 2010
Just like riots, spontaneous acts of defiance and improvised strings of actions are mere brush fires: quickly ignited, quickly extinguished. When you're always reacting, you end up disempowered. Civil resistance is not magic. It may succeed or it may fail. But don't leave it to chance. Strategy is a wise investment. Read full article...
Trois ans et demi de prison pour une écrivaine agressée devenue "agresseur" By: RSF, February 5, 2010
Reporters sans frontières dénonce la décision des magistrats d'une cour de Hanoi qui ont condamné, le 5 février 2010, à trois ans et demi de prison l'écrivaine et militante des droits de l'homme Tran Khai Thanh Thuy. Les accusations portées contre elle et son mari, Do Ba Tan, ont été montées de toutes pièces par la police, comme le démontre clairement une analyse des preuves utilisées par l'accusation. Read full article...
"Le Turkménistan et les droits de l'homme" By: Alain Délétroz, Les Echos, February 1, 2010
Le Président du Turkménistan effectue une visite d'Etat en France. Ne placer sa visite que sous l'angle commercial serait une erreur indigne de la République. Gurbanguly Malikkulievich Berdimukhamedov vient à Paris cette semaine... Le Président du Turkménistan nous fait l'honneur de répondre à une invitation de Nicolas Sarkozy et gratifie la France d'une visite d'Etat. Read full article...
Call for nominations for Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award 2010 By: Subash Adhikari, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, February 5, 2010
Each year, the May 18 Memorial Foundation announces this award in a spirit of solidarity with those working towards democracy. The award goes to one individual or organization who has contributed to the promotion and advancement of human rights, democracy and peace in their work. Read full article...
A tale of two human rights awardees By: Stephen Zunes, FPIF, December 2, 2009
The annual Robert F. Kennedy Award ceremony took place at the White House this year for the first time in its 28-year history. Also for the first time, the president of the United States was there to honor the awardees. Read full article...
Video: Walls of conflict By: Link TV, November 11, 2009
Many walls stand around the world, even as Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. As most media focused on the anniversary celebrations, others tied the plight of Koreans and Palestinians, who are still separated by walls, to the festivities. Read full article...
Dilemmas in promoting nonviolence By: Brian Martin, Gandhi Marg, October-December 2009
Promoting the use of nonviolent action raises a number of seldom-discussed tensions and dilemmas, including the possibility that nonviolence can be used for the wrong cause, the potential for nonviolent action to support violence and vice versa, and the role of advocates for nonviolent action. It is useful to think of nonviolent action as a tool that can be used for different purposes but is, by its nature, easier to use for liberation than oppression. Read full article...
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
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