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Saturday, 30 January 2010 |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Academic Webinar Series
ICNC is pleased to announce the launch of our Academic Webinar Series live lectures and discussions on topics related to nonviolent conflict and civil resistance that are available to you online or over the phone. Our first webinar will be on Thursday, February 4th, 12pm - 1pm EST. Jack DuVall, President of ICNC and co-author of the book A Force More Powerful will present, "The Core Dynamics of Civil Resistance."
View the flyer...
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.
View the flyer...
Download the application form...
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CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN
 Honduran coup d'état spawns resilient civil resistance
By: Tom Loudon, Truthout, January 28, 2010
The military takeover of Honduras unleashed a broad based, sustained resistance movement inside the country. A spirit long dormant in Honduras was awakened, transforming the country into a hub of political activity previously unimaginable. The resistance movement has brought together people from many sectors of Honduran society, including large numbers of disaffected Liberal Party members.
Read full article...
El Salvador: Activists link mining company to murders
By: Edgardo Ayala, IPS, January 27, 2010
Environmental activists in El Salvador allege that managers of a gold mine owned by a Canadian corporation are implicated in the murders of three anti-mining activists.
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Haiti untold: Nonviolence and humanization at the grassroots
By: Randall Amster, Waging Nonviolence, January 27, 2010
Having done relief work following Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, I have found that people are more likely to work together - even if only out of necessity - when severe hardship strikes. In fact, it is precisely the isolation and individualism of ordinary daily life that tap into our worst instincts, while the removal of these impediments can actually liberate our better qualities.
Read full article... |
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SOUTH AMERICA
Protests continue in Venezuela following two deaths
By: CNN, January 27, 2010
Protests over media freedom continued in Venezuela Tuesday, a day after two student protesters were killed in separate clashes. Student leaders opposed to cable operators' decision to drop five television channels, including an opposition station, for failure to follow broadcast laws pleaded for an end to the violence at a demonstration in front of the state-run broadcaster.
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Venezuelans protest censorship of popular TV channel
By: Mery Mogollon and Chris Kraul, LA Times, January 26, 2010
Protests broke out in Venezuela on Monday after cable companies dropped transmission of a popular channel that the government declared had broken telecommunications laws by not broadcasting President Hugo Chavez's speeches.
Read full article...
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EUROPE
OSCE against decree on internet censorship in Belarus
By: Charter 97, January 28, 2010
The new law shouldn't become a restrainer for freedom of expression on the web according to OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti. It is good that over the last two or three years Belarusian authorities tried to abstain from any actions aimed against journalists, closure of newspapers, excessive use of powers of the Information Ministry, Haraszti noted in an interview to BelaPAN.
Read full article...
Belarus: Interior Minister justifies total lawlessness by riot policemen
By: Charter 97, January 28, 2010
At today's press-conference in Minsk journalists grumbled to the minister of the Interior Affairs Anatoly Kulyashou at brutal actions of policemen during opposition rallies, when photo reporters and cameramen were hindered from performing their professional functions, Radio Svaboda informs.
Read full article and view the photos...
Russia: Prosecution against opposition blogger stopped
By: Alexey Sidorenko, Global Voices, January 28, 2010
The first criminal case against a blogger Dmitri Soloviev in Russia has a happy ending. After two years of investigation and three socio-linguistic assessments, experts didn't find any evidence of "incitement hatred against police and Russian Security Service officers."
Read full article...
Russian opposition to fight rally ban in court
By: RFE, January 27, 2010
The opposition Other Russia group is going to court in St. Petersburg to defend its right to hold a rally on January 31 in support of freedom of assembly. The city's Law and Order Committee earlier refused permission for a rally on Nevsky Prospect, the city's main street, and proposed Chernyshevsky Park outside the city center as an alternative venue.
Read full article...
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MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
Egypt: The right to speak up
By: Marwa Rakha, Global Voices, January 28, 2010
Egyptian bloggers and activists held a conference on January 22 in defense of their right to speak up after more than 20 Egyptian bloggers were arrested when their train arrived in the village of Naga Hammady where the Coptic massacre took place.
Read full article...
Israel signals tougher line on West Bank protests
By: Isabel Kershner, NY Times, January 28, 2010
For more than a year, this village has been a focus of weekly protests against the Israeli security barrier, which cuts through its lands. Now, the village appears to be at the center of an intensifying Israeli arrest campaign. Apparently concerned that the protests could spread, the Israeli Army and security forces have recently begun clamping down, arresting scores of local organizers and activists here and conducting nighttime raids on the homes of others.
Read full article...
Iran's opposition extends olive branch, unrequited
By: Michael Slackman, NY Times, January 28, 2010
Furthering a trend that has been visible for several weeks now, a prominent Iranian opposition leader made conciliatory remarks on Thursday that were apparently aimed at defusing tensions and ending the nation's political crisis. So far, however, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not demonstrated a similar willingness to compromise, say Iran experts inside and outside the country.
Read full article...
Iran 'executes two over post-election unrest'
By: BBC News, January 28, 2010
Iran has executed two men arrested during the period of widespread unrest that erupted after June's disputed presidential election, reports say. They had been convicted of being "enemies of God", members of armed groups and trying to topple the Islamic establishment, Isna news agency said.
Read full article...
Iran protesters must keep all eyes on February 11
By: Saeed Ghasemynejad, RFE, January 28, 2010
The recent statement of the sheikh of reforms (as the supporters of Mehdi Karrubi call him) resulted in a situation that has many lessons for all of us. The flap began with an interview Karrubi did with the state-run Fars News Agency on the sidelines of the congress of the Mardomsalari political party.
Read full article...
Iran: A 'mourning mother' recalls Evin prison
By: RFE, January 26, 2010
Blogger Jomhoriyat has published writings by one of Iran's mourning mothers about her detention in Tehran's Evin prison. The Mourning Mothers had in recent months been gathering every Saturday in a park in Tehran but they've come under pressure from the security forces and several of them have been detained and harassed.
Read full article...
Wife of Iran's Mousavi says he does not recognize government
By: Washington TV, January 26, 2010
Iranian pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has still not recognized the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, said. "We neither officially recognize the government of Ahmadinejad nor do we compromise with it; rather, we are following up people's rights and demands with honesty," she said in an interview.
Read full article...
Iran leader predicts "destruction" of Israel
By: Washington TV, January 26, 2010
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that the international community would one day witness the "destruction" of the state of Israel.
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Khamenei says US using internet to "defeat" Iran
By: Washington TV, January 26, 2010
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused the United States of trying to use the internet as a tool to defeat the Islamic Republic. Speaking in the northern city of Amol in Mazandaran Province, Khamenei also said that Washington had been planning to orchestrate "riots" in Iran.
Read full article...
Merkel says February "decisive" month on Iran sanctions
By: Washington TV, January 26, 2010
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that February would be a critical time for the international community to decide on new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Speaking after talks in Berlin with Israeli President Shimon Peres, she said that the issue of sanctions would be tackled next month, when France holds the rotating chair of the United Nations Security Council.
Read full article...
Two-thirds of the world can hold Iran accountable
By: Sam Sedaei, Huffington Post, January 26, 2010
Over the past few months, Iran has showed continued defiance in face of demands by the international community to answer questions about its nuclear program. Meanwhile, the country's internal turmoil following the fraudulent election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as President Obama's attempts to open dialogue with Iran have impacted the regime's coherence and strategy in responding to criticisms and demands about its nuclear program.
Read full article...
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CENTRAL ASIA
Uzbekistan: Drop slander charge against photographer
By: Human Rights Watch, January 28, 2010
The Uzbek authorities should immediately drop the baseless slander and insult charges against the prominent photographer and videographer Umida Ahmedova and allow her to carry out her work and exercise her right to freedom of expression without government interference, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Freedom House: Kyrgyzstan rated "not free"
By: Ryskeldi Satkeev, Ohmy News, January 27, 2010
The US based, independent watchdog organization Freedom House has published the 2010 edition of its "Freedom in the World" report, which indicates a regional pattern of declining human rights and democratic reforms in the Central Asian republics. Specifically, the report highlighted a recent set back in Kyrgyzstan, a country which a few years ago was characterized as "Island of Democracy" in Central Asia.
Read full article...
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
Indonesian VP says democracy "excessively exercised"
By: People's Daily, January 29, 2010
After an unofficial meeting between the vice president and officials of Indonesian Young Businessmen Association (HIPMI), an official said the vice president was concerned about the development of Indonesia's democracy which he regarded as overly free.
Read full article...
Vietnam jails human rights award winner
By: Reuters, January 29, 2010
Vietnam on Friday sentenced yet another democracy activist to jail in what political analysts say is an intensifying crackdown on dissent. A court in the northern port city of Haiphong convicted writer Pham Thanh Nghien of "conducting propaganda against the state" and sentenced her to four years in prison
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Vietnam sentences democracy activist to four years
By: AP, January 29, 2010
An author and democracy activist who criticized Vietnam's communist government was sentenced Friday to four years in prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the state, her lawyer said.
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Vietnam: Dangerous convictions
By: The Economist, January 28, 2010
On January 20th a court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Le Cong Dinh, a 41-year-old lawyer, and Nguyen Tien Trung, 26, an activist, to prison terms of five and seven years for advocating multiparty democracy. For both, the road to prison began with Western scholarships. Mr Dinh has a law degree from America; Mr Trung took a masters in France.
Read full article...
Indonesia anti-government protests against corruption
By: BBC News, January 28, 2010
Thousands of Indonesian demonstrators have taken to the streets in anti-government protests. Protesters say President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has not delivered on his promise to eradicate corruption during the first 100 days of his second term.
Read full article...
Burmese Buddhist monks share plight with Tibetan exiles
By: ANI, January 27, 2010
An 18-member Burmese monks' delegation, which arrived here on a three-day visit, shared their plight with Tibetan exiles here on Tuesday. "We have few Burmese who are visiting Dharamsala and also with them they have brought a very powerful documentary called Burma VJ, a documentary about the Burmese monks protest in 2007.
Read full article...
Burma: Blogger Zarganar turns 49 in jail, he still has 34 years to serve
By: RSF, January 27, 2010
Blogger, comedian and human rights activist, Zarganar, marked today his 49th birthday in prison. He is still being held in Myitkyina jail in the north of Burma, where his health is worsening because of jaundice and high blood pressure.
Watch the video his sister-in-law made about him...
Cambodia: Sam Rainsy jailed 'in absentia'
By: RFA, January 27, 2010
A Cambodian court sentenced the country's best-known opposition leader in absentia on Wednesday to two years in jail for allegedly uprooting border markings, Sam Rainsy and his party said. Sam Rainsy, Prime Minister Hun Sen's main rival, was stripped of parliamentary immunity in November and charged with inciting racial discrimination and intentionally damaging wooden posts demarcating the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
Read full article...
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EAST ASIA
Tibetan poet and activist Tsundue honoured by Indian NGOs
By: Phayul, January 28, 2010
Tibetan poet and activist Tenzin Tsundue has been felicitated with a "lifetime achievement award" for his fight for Tibet's independence at a republic day celebration in Bangalore.
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China vs. the U.S.: Good governance or consumer democracy?
By: Nathan Gardels, Huffington Post, January 28, 2010
China is certainly doing things its own way. Google, the very symbol of the information revolution, is locked in a standoff with that country's Communist rulers and their murky party hackers.That a harshly ruled but prospering China is no longer emerging but has emerged is all the buzz at this year's Davos conclave.
Read full article...
China: Vaclav Havel sends message of solidarity to Liu Xiaobo and family
By: HRIC, January 27, 2010
Vaclav Havel, playwright, former dissident and first president of the Czech Republic (1993-2003), expressed strong solidarity and sympathy with jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and his family in a recent interview with Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.
Read full article...
More detentions in Tibet
By: RFA, January 27, 2010
The mother of two Tibetans detained for more than a month by Chinese security forces says she's concerned over the fate of her sons, saying they cannot speak to their family and have yet to be formally charged.
Read full article...
As Hong Kong's political system stalls, so does its democracy movement
By: Keith Brandsher, NY Times, January 27, 2010
The political system in Hong Kong is increasingly paralyzed, and street protests are growing more confrontational as public dissatisfaction on economic issues and a lack of democracy is rising. At the same time, the pro-democracy movement here has splintered, weakening its ability to press for changes.
Read full article...
Hong Kong lawmakers quit in push for democracy
By: BBC News, January 26, 2010
Five pro-democracy legislators in Hong Kong have resigned their seats in a bid to pressure Beijing for full democracy. The group says the resulting by-election will serve as a referendum on universal suffrage in the territory. Democrats want full direct elections by 2012 - several years ahead of the timetable set by China's government.
Read full article...
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OCEANIA
Papuans demand a referendum
By: Tempo Interactive, January 28, 2010
The situation in Timika has started to heat up again. After the resolution of a tribal war, Papuans are now demanding a referendum. Yesterday, at around midday, about one thousand Papuans in Timika demanded another referendum to decide Papua political status.
Read full article...
Papuans rally to gain international support
By: Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, January 28, 2010
Around 1,500 Papuans in Mimika staged a rally Wednesday to support the registration of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua and the International Lawyers for West Papua at the European Union in Brussels the same day.
Read full article...
An Australia day of celebration and protest
By: Antoun Issa, Global Voices, January 27, 2010
Australians celebrated Australia Day on January 26, an annual national holiday marking the arrival of British settlers to the Land Down Under over two centuries ago. The day tends to draw mixed emotions, as Indigenous Australians refer to the event as Invasion Day, recalling the day their lands were invaded by Britain.
Read full article...
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AFRICA
South Africa: Press freedom gets red card as world cup approaches
By: Clifford Derrick, CPJ, January 26, 2010
As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup and "soccer fever" reaches its height, press freedom may be left on the benches. Police have recently subpoenaed two journalists working for private station e.tv to reveal their sources in a story about a scheme to commit violent crimes during the big event.
Read full article...
Morocco slammed for Sahara travel ban
By: Tom Parry, Mirror, January 26, 2010
Human Rights Watch is calling for Morocco to end its effective ban on foreign travel for activists like Haider. Since August last year the authorities have launched a crackdown, turning back Saharawis at air or land borders. Human Rights Watch believes the measures are part of wider repressive measures to break the back of the independence movement.
Read full article...
Western Sahara: Refusal to renew passports of two Sahrawi human rights defenders
By: Front Line, January 25, 2010
The Moroccan authorities have refused to renew the passports of human rights defenders Ms El Ghalia Djimi and Mr Mustafa Al-Dah and return the passports to them, on 23 January 2010. This incident takes place in the context of a clampdown on human rights defenders in Western Sahara.
Read full article...
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST
Grannies with a mission
By: Diana Rico, Ode Magazine, January/February 2010
"The greatest distance in the world," Agnes Baker Pilgrim is fond of saying, "is the 14 inches from our minds to our hearts." Facing a world in crisis, these wise women believe solutions will come if we can shrink that mindheart distance to zero.
Read full article...
Negotiate or nonviolent action? Yes
By: Tom H. Hastings, (Hastings) On Nonviolence, January 29, 2010
Nonviolence is not shirking from engagement, and it's not an attempt to crush the opponent. It's a third way. It seeks dialog. It listens. But it also insists that it must be heard.
Read full article...
Speaking truth to power and people by demonstrating at public speeches
By: Jim Haber, Waging Nonviolence, January 28, 2010
The recent demonstration by antiwar activists on the Georgia Tech campus, in which audience members turned their backs on General Petraeus, is reminiscent of an attempt to disrupt a talk by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at last year's World Affairs Council in San Francisco.
Read full article...
Howard Zinn, historian, dies at 87
By: AP, January 27, 2010
Howard Zinn, historian and shipyard worker, civil rights activist and World War II bombardier, and author of "A People's History of the United States," a best seller that inspired a generation of high school and college students to rethink American history, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.
Read full article...
Remembering Howard Zinn, 1922 - 2010
By: Boston Globe, January 2010
Howard Zinn's brand of history put common citizens at the center of the story and inspired generations of young activists and academics to remember that change is possible. BILL MOYERS: There's a long tradition in America of people power, and no one has done more to document it than the historian, Howard Zinn. Listen to this paragraph from his most famous book: "If democracy were to be given any meaning...this would not come, if history were any guide, from the top. It would come through citizen's movements, educating, organizing, agitating, striking, boycotting, demonstrating, threatening those in power with disruption of the stability they needed."
Read full article...
What is human rights documentation?
By: Janaasher, New Tactics in Human Rights, January 27, 2010
Many of the featured practitioners here are documenting violations against political and civil rights. We create a record--hopefully a permanent record--of experiences of individuals who have survived violations of their right to life, to peaceful assembly, to security of person.
Read full article...
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NEWS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Azerbaiyán: Manifestaciones en Londres y París por los bloggers activistas juveniles detenidos
By: Gabriela Garcia Calderon Orbe, Global Voices, January 27, 2010
El mismo día en que a pedido de la defensa se aplazó la audiencia de apelación de los video bloggers y activistas juveniles Adnan Hajizade y Emin Milli, que se encuentran presos, los simpatizantes de los dos jóvenes protestaron en la parte exterior de las embajadas de Azerbaiyán en Londres y París.
Read full article...
L'investiture de Porfirio Lobo ne peut faire oublier le coup d'État et ses conséquences sur la liberté de la presse
By: RSF, January 27, 2010
A l'occasion de l'investiture, ce 27 janvier 2010, de Porfirio Lobo Sosa à la présidence de la République du Honduras, sept organisations - dont Reporters sans frontières - rendent public un rapport (version intégrale en espagnol) sur l'état de la liberté de la presse depuis le coup d'État du 28 juin 2009.
Read full article...
Exposition "exil, exit ? Vivre sans-papiers en Europe"
By: SPIDH, January 2010
Exil, exit ? Vivre sans papiers en Europe est une exposition pédagogique sur les conditions de vie et l'accès aux soins des personnes sans-papiers en Europe produite par Médecins du Monde et Sipa Press. Sous la forme d'une installation photographique et sonore réalisée à partir de reportages d'Olivier Jobard, elle sera présentée du 4 au 21 février 2010 avant d'être accueillie au prochain Forum mondial des droits de l'Homme qui se déroulera à Nantes du 28 juin au 1er juillet 2010.
Read full article...
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FILM REVIEW
The face of Burma's non-violent resistance
By: Brian McCartan, Mizzima, January 27, 2010
A new documentary by two Canadian filmmakers highlights the continuing, non-violent resistance to Burma's dictatorial regime by political and humanitarian activists who do so at great risk. The film, Breaking the Silence: Burma's Resistance, was shown for the first time to an English-speaking audience at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok on January 22nd.
Read full article...
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NOTICES
Research on cases of civic action and citizen participation
By: Georg Neumann, Social Transparence, January 2010
Georg Neumann would like to share with you this announcement for a research project carried out by Shaazka Beyerle, Senior Advisor with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. You may remember her presentation at the 13th IACC in Athens when this blog was started.
Read full article...
After Cairo: From the vision of the Cairo speech to active support for human dignity
By: Project on Middle East Democracy, January 2010
The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) is excited to announce the release of a new report, After Cairo: From the Vision of the Cairo Speech to Active Support for Human Dignity. The report includes 56 recommendations for the U.S. to address the four human dignity goals identified by President Obama in his June speech in Cairo: democracy, religious freedom, women's rights, and human development.
Read summary of the discussion...
Read full report...
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Awesome Words
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. ” Aldous Huxley
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