Webinar: Nonviolent Action in the Islamic World Join us for the webinar, "Nonviolent Action in the Islamic World" next Thursday, March 11th at 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, will present on the long history of nonviolent action throughout the Islamic world, in the Middle East and beyond. Professor Zunes will look at case studies including Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Mali, Western Sahara, Indonesia, Pakistan, and others. Register here...
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. The application deadline has been extended to March 15, 2010 ! View the flyer... Download the application form... FAQs...
Report condemns Honduras violence By: Arthur Brice, CNN, March 8, 2010 An Organization of American States commission condemned Monday the slayings last month of three Honduran political activists opposed to a military-led coup that removed the elected president in June. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also said it deplores the kidnappings, arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violations and illegal raids that the panel maintains other members of the political resistance have suffered since the June 29 coup. Read full article...
Cuba blasts foreign press for dissident coverage By: Paul Haven, AP, March 8, 2010 Cuba on Monday strongly criticized foreign press coverage of a dissident hunger striker as part of a campaign to discredit the island's political system. Guillermo Farinas, a freelance opposition journalist, has refused food and water since Feb. 24 to protest the death of another hunger striker and demand the release from jail of some 26 political prisoners said to be in poor health. Read full article...
Cuba says will not be 'blackmailed' by hunger striker By: BBC, March 8, 2010 Cuba says it will not be "blackmailed" by a dissident journalist who is on hunger strike to seek the release of ailing political prisoners. Guillermo Farinas, 48, began his action after Orlando Zapata Tamayo died while on hunger strike in jail. Read full article...
Spain, Cuba and the death of Orlando Zapata By: Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, The Gov Monitor, March 7, 2010 After 50 years of total control of everything in Cuba, the fact that it has to use these means of repression on a bricklayer, whose only form of resistance has been peaceful and verbal, can only mean that the regime fears its citizens as much as they fear the regime - or perhaps a little more. Read full article...
Ousted former Honduran leader to head Petrocaribe By: Business Week, March 6, 2010 Ousted former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking on a new role: leading an energy consortium allowing poor Caribbean and Central American nations to buy oil on preferential terms from Venezuela. Zelaya accepted the invitation from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a strong ally both before and after Zelaya was removed from office in a coup last June. Zelaya has been taking refuge in the Dominican Republic. Read full article...
Letter to the Attorney General of Honduras urging investigation into attacks on coup opponents By: Human Rights Watch, March 3, 2010 "I am writing to express my concern regarding recent attacks on members of the National Popular Resistance Front (Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular), including killings, rape, torture, kidnapping, and assault. The fact that these attacks targeted members of this political group, which opposed the 2009 coup and advocated for the reinstatement of ousted president Manuel Zelaya -- as well as previous threats received by victims or comments allegedly made by the assailants -- raise the possibility that these abuses may have been politically motivated." Read full letter...
The women I love (on Women's Day): Agitators who stand up to big coal By: Jeff Biggers, Common Dreams, March 8, 2010 "In the US Senate, Mother Jones was once called the 'grandmother of all agitators.' She replied that it was her desire to one day be the 'great-grandmothers of all agitators.'" --Mother Jones. On International Women's Day, let us now praise the muckrakers, the agitators, the coal mining women, the organizers, the fearless ones willing to stand up to Big Coal. Read full article...
US eases Cuba, Iran, Sudan sanctions to allow freer web By: BBC, March 8, 2010 The US treasury department has eased sanctions on Iran, Cuba and Sudan to help further the use of web services and support opposition groups. US technology firms will now be allowed to export online services such as instant messaging and social networks. Read full article...
Us: Alarm bells sounded over skyrocketing number of new anti-government groups By: Grace Huang, Truthout, March 8, 2010 Driven by anger toward "political, demographic, and economic changes," a surge of anti-government extremist groups occurred this year, according to a report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). It stated that anti-immigrant vigilante groups, "organizations that go beyond mere advocacy of restrictive immigration policy to actually confront or harass suspected immigrants," increased by 80 percent. Extremist "patriot" groups jumped by 244 percent last year, with nearly a quarter of them being militias. Read full article...
US: 45 years after march, Selma priest remembers Bloody Sunday By: Robert Howell, CNN, March 8, 2010 The Rev. Maurice Ouellet remembers the day vividly: March 7, 1965. As he walked out of church after serving Sunday Mass, he encountered silence. Then sirens. Read full article...
Martin Luther King, Jr. comic book from the 1950s redefined superhero for a generation By: Kurt Shaw, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 7, 2010 Comic books are not usually thought of as instruments of social change. Nor does the comic-book medium readily come to mind when thinking about the dramatic days of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Read full article...
U.S. hopes internet exports will help open closed societies By: Mark Landler, NY Times, March 7, 2010 Seeking to exploit the Internet's potential for prying open closed societies, the Obama administration will permit technology companies to export online services like instant messaging, chat and photo sharing to Iran, Cuba and Sudan, a senior administration official said Sunday. Read full article...
US: Students take to the streets to defend public education By: Waging Nonviolence, March 5, 2010 Hundreds of thousands took part in the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education yesterday. It was the largest day of coordinated student protest in years. While much of it was focused on the university and state college campuses of California, where students face a 32 percent tuition hike, there were protests at campuses across the country on issues ranging from minority representation to privatization. Read full article...
Peru bars oil companies from uncontacted tribes' reserve By: Survival International, March 8, 2010 A reserve inhabited by uncontacted tribes in the remote Peruvian Amazon can no longer be explored by oil and gas companies. In 2006 Sapet agreed not to work in the reserve after lobbying by FENAMAD and national indigenous organization AIDESEP. But Perupetro maps described the reserve as open for exploration until very recently. Read full article...
Human rights activist Kovalyov on slow progress in Russia By: RFEFL, March 8, 2010 Sergei Kovalyov has spent some 50 years defending human rights in Russia, and turning 80 has done little to slow his work. RFE/RL's Russian Service reported on Kovalyov's accomplishments as he celebrated his 80th birthday last week. Read full article...
Mihajlo Mihajlov, a Yugoslavian dissident, dies at 76 By: NY Times, March 7, 2010 Mihajlo Mihajlov, a prominent dissident in the former Yugoslavia who was jailed for seven years during the cold war era, died in Belgrade on Sunday, the Beta news agency reported. Read full article...
Bulgaria: Protesting against seafront construction in Varna By: Global Voices Online, March 7, 2010 For the past two years, a seafront promenade in Varna known as the First Alley has been a cause of confrontation between civil society organizations and TIM Group, which runs projects throughout Eastern Bulgaria and owns many of the hotels on the coast. The activists are fighting against large-scale construction and are trying to protect the Sea Garden landscape park in Varna. Read full article...
Moscow demonstrations call for police reform By: AP, March 6, 2010 Several hundred demonstrators have held a rally in downtown Moscow to press demands for reform in the country's police system. Read full article... View the photos...
Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest By: Mazin Qumsiyeh, New Haven Register, March 9, 2010 This week, when I return to my village in the occupied West Bank, I face possible arrest by Israel for engaging in nonviolent protests against abusive Israeli policies opposed by our own government. This prospect is difficult after 29 years of living in the United States, where such activities are fully protected. It was this openness that attracted me to the U.S. I became a proud citizen and pursued work not only in my profession but also as a human rights advocate. Read full article...
Iran activist calls for shift of focus from embargoes to human rights By: Harvey Morris, Financial Times, March 8, 2010 The United Nations should focus on pressing the Tehran regime to restore democracy and human rights rather than imposing economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme, says Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian opposition activist. Read full article...
Iranian poet Simin Behbahani handed 'travel ban' By: BBC, March 8, 2010 Iran's leading female poet has told the BBC she has been barred from leaving the country by the government. Simin Behbahani, 82, said she was about to fly to France when her passport was confiscated at Tehran airport. The human rights activist has written poems in support of the opposition campaign against disputed elections in June last year. Read full article...
Palestine-Israel: The joint popular struggle expands and worries Israeli authorities By: Infoshop News, March 8, 2010 In spite of increase of state forces harassments the struggle expand. In addition to the "regular" Bil'in, Nabi Saleh, Ni'ilin, Ma'asara, and Sheikh Jarrah, Beit Omar seems to join the weekly schedule. Read full article...
Israel demands P.A. to stop protests By: Saeed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center, March 8, 2010 The Israeli government sent messages to the Palestinian Authority (P.A) demanding it to act on stopping popular protests in the West Bank, and to forbid P.A officials from participating in any sort of protest, including campaigns to boycott Israeli goods. Read full article...
Palestine- Israel: The power of nonviolent action By: Ziad AbuZayyad, Haaretz, March 7, 2010 There are signs of mounting distress among the Israeli police and other security forces in the way they are dealing with the Palestinians who stage weekly demonstrations in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. These protests, in which Palestinians are joined by foreign sympathizers and activists of the Israeli left, are intended to express opposition to the eviction of Palestinians from their homes, which are then inhabited by Jewish families. Read full article...
Women's rights improve across Middle East By: Gulf Times, March 7, 2010 Women in the Middle East have made notable advances over the past five years, with modest overall improvements in women's rights, literacy, educational attainment, political participation and economic role, an extensive multinational study has found. Read full article...
Egypt: Blogger's military trial dismissed By: Almasryalyoum, March 7, 2010 Twenty-one-year-old engineering student and blogger Ahmed Mostafa, arrested two weeks ago on charges of defaming the Egyptian Armed Forces, was declared innocent today. Instead of a verdict at today's military court hearing in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, Mostafa's case was removed from the list of hearings, according to Hamdy el-Assiouty, Mostafa's defense lawyer. Read full article...
Working class and female in Iran By: Setareh Sabety, Huffington Post, March 7, 2010 To mark International Women's Day, I decided I should write about three Iranian women whom I came to know well when living in Iran just before Ahmadinejad's first term. For whatever it is worth I thought that I should expose the lives of three very ordinary Iranian women from different backgrounds and different sensibilities. This is for them. Read full article...
Algerian censorship: Would you defend the rights of your political enemies? By: Global Voices, March 7, 2010 For my first post on Global Voices Advocacy I'd like to entertain a discussion on an issue that has been bothering me since news of the first censored political website in Algeria was broken. That is, how far would one go in defending the human rights, and most relevant the right to free speech, of one's political arch-rivals*. Picture in your mind your most hated group, a group that you think would definitely alter your life in extremely unpleasant ways were they to obtain power that you think your raison d'être would be to defeat them politically every possible way. I'll help you do that by explaining the background to this. Read full article...
U.S. enriches companies defying its policy on Iran By: Jo Becker and Ron Nixon, NY Times, March 6, 2010 The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington's efforts to discourage investment there, records show. Read full article...
Flags fly for Western Sahara By: Green Left Weekly, March 6, 2010 For the second year in a row, flag-raising ceremonies in Victoria marked the anniversary of the Saharawi Republic, as a gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people of Western Sahara. The Saharawi Republic was declared on February 27, 1976. However, the country remains under Moroccan occupation. Read full article...
Egyptian government continues to use emergency law to crackdown on freedom of speech By: Freedom House, March 5, 2010 The need for an end to the 29-year "emergency" in Egypt is underscored by the current military trial of blogger Ahmed Mustafa for exposing corruption in military institutions. Mustafa's trial, which began on Monday is scheduled to resume on March 7. Read full article...
Egypt: Mubarak's first comments on ElBaradei By: Micheal Collins, MEI Blog, March 5, 2010 Husni Mubarak is in Germany to meet with the leadership and undergo medical treatment (gall bladder pain, I gather, is the official explanation). Being in country where people can actually ask the questions they want to, he's made his first comments on the ElBaradei phenomenon. He's free to join any political party and run for the Presidency (except for the fact that only parties with five percent of the seats in parliament can run candidates, and no one but the Muslim Brotherhood and the NDP qualifies, and Catch 22: the Muslim Brotherhood is not a party) or he can run as an independent (if he can get a petition from several hundred members of Parliament, local councils, etc., who are almost all NDP). Read full article...
Israel: Peaceful advocates detained on spurious charges, denied due process By: Human Rights Watch, March 5, 2010 Israel is arresting people for peacefully protesting a barrier built illegally on their lands that harms their livelihoods. The Israeli authorities are effectively banning peaceful expression of political speech by bringing spurious charges against demonstrators, plus detaining children and adults without basic due process protections. Read full article...
Iran: Free "Mourning Mothers" supporters By: Human Rights Watch, March 5, 2010 The Iranian Judiciary should immediately release six women arrested in January and early February 2010, apparently in connection with their peaceful activities on behalf of the Mourning Mothers, Human Rights Watch said today. Read full article...
The Role of new media in promoting reform in the Middle East: The case of Lebanon By: POMED, March 5, 2010 The Project on Middle East Democracy and the Safadi Foundation USA hosted an event to discuss the implications of "connection technologies" for U.S. foreign policy. The year 2009 witnessed an explosion of Internet-based activism in the political cultures of the Middle East. The Use of information and communication technology (ICT) has been a transformative tool in strengthening civil society and expanding the outreach of independent voices. What types of U.S. assistance are needed to empower young reformers committed to non-sectarian politics? What is the role of ICT in promoting inter-faith dialogue and peace building? Read full article...
Iran: Engagement or regime change? By: Atlantic Council, March 3, 2010 The South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council hosted a debate between experts Michael Ledeen and Flynt Leverett on how best to approach Iran's nuclear ambitions and on possible courses of action for the U.S. and its allies to halt Iran's capacity to weaponize its nuclear program. Washington Post columnist and creator of PostGlobal David Ignatius moderated the discussion, and Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, provided an introduction. Read full article... Read transcript...
In Jordan, coalition unites for electoral reform By: National Democratic Institute, March 3, 2010 Responding to calls for electoral reform from civil society organizations in Jordan, a national grassroots coalition led by the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) has launched a first-of-its-kind media and advocacy campaign to push for improvements in the country's election system. Read full article...
Yemen: Divorced before puberty By: Nicholas Kristof, NY Times, March 2, 2010 It's hard to imagine that there have been many younger divorcées - or braver ones - than a pint-size third grader named Nujood Ali. Nujood is a Yemeni girl, and it's no coincidence that Yemen abounds both in child brides and in terrorists (and now, thanks to Nujood, children who have been divorced). Societies that repress women tend to be prone to violence. Read full article...
Israel gathering information on Israeli nonviolent activists By: International Middle East Media Center, March 2, 2010 The Israeli army started gathering information, including recording license plates, of Israeli peace activists who protest along with Palestinian and International activist against the Annexation Wall and settlements in the occupied West Bank. Read full article...
Report: Iran released four journalists, professor By: CNN, March 1, 2010 Iran on Sunday released on bail four journalists and a retired professor whom it had held for two months, the semiofficial Iran Labour News Agency reported. Read full article...
Kyrgyz protesters demand release of jailed politician By: RFERL, March 8, 2010 Hundreds of protesters in the southern Kyrgyz district of Alay have gathered to demand the release of jailed former Defense Minister Ismail Isakov, in the latest in a series of protests by Isakov's supporters, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. Read full article...
Azerbaijan: Freedom of expression must be protected By: Thomas Hammarberg, The Gov Monitor, March 7, 2010 Freedom of expression, situation of non-governmental organisations, respect of human rights by law enforcement officers, and the administration of justice were the main themes of the visit to Azerbaijan from 1-5 March 2010 by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg. Read full article...
North Korea: Honored nutritionist calls for food aid to the North 'regardless of circumstances.' By: Joongang Daily, March 10, 2010 A North Korean defector-turned-nutritionist called on the international community Monday to resume food aid to North Korea to help children there suffering from malnutrition. Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Lee Ae-ran, professor of nutrition and culinary arts at Kyungin Women's College in South Korea, said food aid to North Korea "should resume regardless of the circumstances," noting that North Korean children are much smaller than their South Korean counterparts owing to malnutrition. Read full article...
Tibetans storm Chinese embassy By: Al Jazeera, March 9, 2010 Tibetan exiles in India have stormed the Chinese embassy in New Delhi during a protest to mark the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in 1959. Police said nearly two dozens demonstrators were detained on Tuesday after they rushed towards the embassy gate chanting "Tibet belongs to Tibet" and "Free Tibet". The Tibetans were driven to a nearby police station and an officer said they were likely be released later in the day. Read full article...
Tibetan singer gets prison By: Radio Free Asia, March 8, 2010 Authorities in a Tibetan area of western China have sent a local singer to prison after he recorded and distributed CDs of songs protesting Chinese rule over Tibetans, according to legal documents made available to Radio Free Asia (RFA). In the first of two judicial documents recently smuggled out of China, Tashi Dhondup, 30, was sentenced by the Malho [in Chinese, Huangnan] municipal re-education through labor committee to 15 months' "re-education through labor." Read full article...
China: New regulation proposed for internet cafes By: Global Voices, March 8, 2010 A member of the National People's Congress suggested quick legislative action Mar. 6 on a resolution that would close Chinese internet cafes between midnight and 8 a.m. People's Representative Gao Wanneng called for a "zero-hour cutoff" for internet cafes due to long-term internet addition in Chinese youth. Gao said such addiction is responsible for high dropout rates and internet crime and asked the National People's Congress to pass legislation regulating online gaming, reports the Worker's Daily. Read full article...
China: Group calls for writers release By: Radio Free Asia, March 8, 2010 An international writers' group has called on Chinese authorities to release Tan Zuoren, a writer and activist based in the southwestern province of Sichuan who was recently jailed for subversion after investigating the deaths of children in the 2008 earthquake in the region. International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee issued a statement condemning Tan's Feb. 9 sentencing for "inciting subversion of state power". Read full article..
China says only socialism can "save" Tibet By: Reuters, March 7, 2010 The new Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet said today that only socialism can "save" the remote region and guarantee its development, and lampooned the Dalai Lama's indecision on his succession. China has defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying not only did it free a million Tibetan serfs but it also poured billions of dollars into the Himalayan region for development. Read full article...
China: For dissident's wife, a time of waiting By: IPS, March 5, 2010 Long before Liu Xiaobo, China's most prominent political dissident and co- author of the Charter 08 call for political reform, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "incitement to subvert state power," his wife, Liu Xia, had accepted his fate. "I've been prepared for a long time," says the soft-spoken 49-year-old poet. "I always knew it would happen." Read full article...
Tibet: First symposium on Tibetan women empowerment By: Tibet Custom, March 4, 2010 A two-day deliberation on how to facilitate and empower Tibetan women to take full and active participation in social, political and economic and other administrative activities in the exile community started this morning [March 4] at Gangchen Kyishong. Read full article...
Afghanistan: Women's rights trampled despite new law By: Irinews, March 8, 2010 As the world marks International Women's Day, ambivalence, impunity, weak law enforcement and corruption continue to undermine women's rights in Afghanistan, despite a July 2009 law banning violence against women, rights activists say. A recent case of the public beating of a woman for alleged elopement - also shown on private TV stations in Kabul - highlights the issue. Read full article...
For Afghan women, some hard-won successes and an ongoing struggle By: Tanya Goudsouzian and Helena Malikyar, RFE, March 8, 2010 The iconic image of the green-eyed Afghan girl who graced the cover of "National Geographic" magazine in 1985 generated a media frenzy when a new picture emerged in 2002, just a few months after the ruling Taliban was ousted from her native Afghanistan. No words could have better depicted the extent of her suffering during the 17 years since the original photo was taken. On the occasion of International Women's Day, it is apt to consider what progress has been made, and what challenges continue to hinder the efforts of well-intentioned parties. Read full article...
Afghanistan: Women's rights movement slowly taking shape By: Aunohita Mojumdar, Eurasia.net, March 8, 2010 Cooperation between Afghan women activists on this scale is new. Though active since 2001, the efforts of various women's rights organizations have been scattered and sometimes competitive, says Hassan, who feels she did not get enough support from women MP's. "We don't see each other as complementary," she says, attributing the weakness of the movement to the long period of disempowerment. But, as the women's movement is now starting to come together, Hassan is preparing for a struggle. "We have to be ready for a fight," she asserted. Read full article...
Vietnam human rights lawyer freed after serving three years in prison By: AP, March 8, 2010 A Vietnamese human rights lawyer has been released from prison after serving a three-year sentence for spreading propaganda against the state. Read full article...
UN must step up for the women of Burma By: Lucy Turnbull, The Sydney Morning Herald, March 8, 2010 All Australians should reflect on the lives of women who are permanently marked by deep and deepening tragedy and injustice - women such as Aung San Suu Kyi and countless thousands of Burmese women. Read full article...
Taiwan: Groups here fight for human rights in Burma By: China Post, March 8, 2010 Human rights groups and women's organizations in Taiwan yesterday urged the world community to reinforce support for Burmese women leaders who have been locked up for long jail terms for advocating democracy in the Indochinese country. Read full article...
Burma military passes key election laws By: BBC, March 8, 2010 Burma's military government has approved election laws that pave the way for polls expected this year. Details of the laws have not yet been revealed but they are likely to include issues such as campaigning and the number of candidates per constituency. Read full article...
Vietnamese ex-soldiers, families protest failed foreign labor deal By: Viet Tan, March 5, 2010 Around 100 people, including many former soldiers, staged a protest against a Vietnamese regional military headquarters they said had cheated them out of overseas jobs, protestors said Friday. The crowd gathered Thursday in front of the headquarters of Military Zone 4 in the city of Vinh in central Vietnam, accusing senior military officers of taking downpayments from soldiers in return for the promise of overseas employment that never materialized. Read full article...
Cambodia's proposed NGO law stirs suspicion and concern By: Reuters, March 5, 2010 A proposed law regulating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cambodia is raising concerns among advocacy and aid groups that it will be used by the government to restrict their activities in the impoverished Southeast Asian country. During a ceremony in November to mark 30 years of NGO-government cooperation, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said a law governing the non-profit sector would be next on the agenda after the enactment of an anti-corruption bill. Read full article...
Thailand: Ex-leader vows nonviolent struggle to regain power By: Denver Post, February 28, 2010 Populist former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra and his supporters denounced a court order to seize $1.4 billion of his assets and vowed Saturday to pursue a nonviolent struggle for what they said would be a people's democracy. Read full article...
Tongans ready to bear arms in democracy fight By: TVNZ, March 6, 2010 Tongans living in New Zealand say they are ready to bear arms to fight for democracy in their homeland. Read full article...
UN expert calls for culturally sensitive reforms for indigenous people in Australia By: UN News Center, March 9, 2010 Despite recent advancements in tackling the human rights of indigenous people in Australia, an independent United Nations expert today called on the country's authorities to develop new social and economic initiatives and to reform existing ones to allow respect for cultural integrity and self-determination. Read full article...
West Papua Advocacy Team report By: Free West Papua, March 2010 This is the 70th in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. Read full article...
Ethiopia: State chief calls on women to make May national elections democratic, peaceful By: Walta Information Center, March 8, 2010 Chief Administrator of the Oromia State, Abadula Gemeda, said women need to play active role in the efforts being made to make the upcoming May national elections democratic and peaceful. Read full article...
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai urges peaceforce for next poll By: Cris Chinaka, News Daily, March 7, 2010 Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday Zimbabwe should invite international observers and a peacekeeping force to ensure that its next national election is free and fair. Read full article...
Candidate slaying in northern Ethiopia stirs calls for an inquiry By: Howard Lesser, VOA News, March 7, 2010 The stabbing death of an opposition candidate in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region is raising new calls for an inquiry and an easing of 2009 repressive legislation that critics say is restraining political activity in the weeks leading up to this year's 23 May general elections. Read full article...
Uganda: Religious leader and activists petition parliament By: Global Voices, March 7, 2010 Religious leaders and activists petition parliament in Uganda: "On Monday 01 March 2010 a delegation of activists AIDS service providers, Spiritual mentors and counsellors took centre stage in Kampala when they met the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda Rt. Hon. Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuka over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill..." Read full article...
Ethiopia: The Democracy Paradox By: Ethiopian Media Forum, March 6, 2010 The stage for this article was set by two events. Firstly, at the forefront triggering the writing was the second round inter-party debate of March 2nd in preparation for the May 23rd national election. Secondly, coincidentally in the background was The Democracy Paradox (Project Syndicate Sept 14, 2009), an article by Dominique Moisi, a respected French commentator on international issues and visiting professor at Harvard University that I read moments before watching the debate on video. Read full article...
South Sudan media "under attack" By: Peter Martell, AFP, March 5, 2010 Southern Sudanese journalists are facing increasing intimidation as the security services clamp down on reporters ahead of landmark elections in April, a media rights watchdog warned on Friday. The southern-based Agency for Independent Media (AIM) said it recorded several "disturbing reports" of the harassment of journalists across the autonomous south in 2010, including arrests and violence. Read full article...
Zimbabwe: Trade union leader forced to flee, say Christian students By: Peter Kenny, All Africa, March 5, 2010 The World Student Christian Federation and its Zimbabwe Advocacy Office say they are shocked at recent attacks on trade union leaders by police and security forces in Zimbabwe during a period when the southern African country is trying to reconcile bitter divides. Read full article...
Women: Reflections on our human rights By: Open Democracy, March 8, 2010 It's seventeen years since women's rights were recognised as human rights at the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna. openDemocracy writers examine the struggle to turn these rights into a day-to-day reality for women and girls and examine the challenges that lie ahead... Read full article...
For young activists, video is their voice By: Boston Globe, March 5, 2010 When Elisa Kreisinger wanted to protest the newly diminished visibility of gay characters and story lines on television, she didn't launch a petition drive or write an angry op-ed piece. Instead, like many other members of the YouTube generation for whom the visual language is a native tongue, she found a way to have her say with video rather than words. "I wouldn't have done it if it was text-based,'' said Kreisinger, a 23-year-old Simmons College grad from Cambridge. "Things are more easily communicated through video . . . And there can be more powerful statements.'' Read full article...
Cracking entrenched systems of corruption By: Fumiko Nagano, Blogspot, March 4, 2010 Last month, I had the pleasure to meet again with Shaazka Beyerle, Senior Advisor at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. Having examined a multitude of nonviolent grassroots campaigns against corruption around the world for her own research, Beyerle shared with me not only numerous interesting cases, but also her observations about the factors that contribute to the success of civic efforts to fight corruption. Read full article...
The godfather of nonviolent resistance? By: WBUR, March 3, 2010 From his two room office in East Boston, Massachusetts, 81-year-old Gene Sharp runs the Albert Einstein Institution; Sharp has inspired opposition movements around the world. His slender book "From Dictatorship to Democracy" has been translated into more than 30 languages. In it, he lays out a framework to resist dictatorial governments. Read full article...
A guide to mobile security for citizen journalists By: Mobile Active, March 1, 2010 Citizen journalism, and with it the rise of alternative media voices, is one of the most exciting possibilities for mobile phones in activism. Mobile phones are used to compose stories, capture multi-media evidence and disseminate content to local and international audiences. This can be accomplished extremely quickly, making mobile media tools attractive to citizens and journalists covering rapidly unfolding events such as protests or political or other crises. The rise of mobiles has also helped extend citizen journalism into transient, poor or otherwise disconnected communities. Read full article...
Le militantisme décalé des féministes de La Barbe By: Le Monde, March 6, 2010 Stupéfait, le président du conseil général des Yvelines interrompt sa lecture et regarde autour de lui, ébahi. Une femme, puis une autre viennent d'entrer en silence dans l'hémicycle rouge et or de l'hôtel du département de Versailles. Elles sont maintenant une dizaine, alignées au pied de l'estrade : sous les lustres de cristal, elles se tiennent debout, impassibles, une barbe postiche sur le visage. L'une d'elles porte une pancarte où l'on peut simplement lire : "La Barbe". Read full article...
2010 Rights & Democracy John Humphrey Award By: PCD Network, March 7, 2010 "Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) presents the John Humphrey Award each year to an organization or individual from any region of the world for outstanding achievement in the promotion of human rights and democratic development. The Award consists of a grant of $30,000 and a speaking tour of Canadian cities to help increase awareness of the recipient's human rights work. It is named in honour of the late John Peters Humphrey, the Canadian human rights law professor who prepared the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Read full article...
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