By: Suhrob Majidov, CACI, April 8, 2009
On March 26, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomalii Rahmon, signed several legislative acts which had already been passed by both chambers of the Tajik Parliament. Among them was a new Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association. The Law stipulates certain restrictions on the registration of small religious communities; it allows for state censorship of religious literature and for a number of other restrictions, such as prohibiting prayer in hospitals and prisons without special permission from the authorities.
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Dismantling totalitarianism? Turkmenistan under Berdimuhamedow
By: Slavomír Horák and Jan Sír, CACI, March 2009
The death of Saparmyrat Nyýazow (also referred to as Türkmenbasy the Great), officially announced on December 21, 2006, marked the end of one of the most repressive regimes of the twenty-first century. For one and a half decades, and since Turkmenistan gained independence in 1991, President Türkmenbasy concentrated in his hands all constitutional as well as informal powers within the country. His rule also deeply affected the overall political culture in Turkmenistan.
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EUROPE
UK: Tamil demonstrators block streets
By: BBC News, April 20, 2009 Tamils staging an ongoing protest in central London have blocked roads around Parliament Square as they demand a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. The Metropolitan Police said about 3,500 people had gathered at Parliament as MPs returned after Easter. The demonstrators began rallying two weeks ago over the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers separatist group. Read full article… UK: Secret police intelligence was given to E.ON before planned demo By: Matthew Taylor and Paul Lewis, Guardian, April 20, 2009 Government officials handed confidential police intelligence about environmental activists to the energy giant E.ON before a planned peaceful demonstration, according to private emails seen by the Guardian. Correspondence between civil servants and security officials at the company reveals how intelligence was shared about the peaceful direct action group Climate Camp in the run-up to the demonstration at Kingsnorth, the proposed site of a new coal-fired power station in north Kent. Read full article… Belarus: Independent journalists detained in Klyotsk By: Charter 97, April 20, 2009 On April 19 in Klyotsk policemen detained two independent journalists. Their video cassettes and equipment were confiscated. As Radio Racyja was informed by a human rights activist from Klyotsk Syarhei Panamarou, he and two journalists were detained by a Klyotsk policeman. They were released in three hours. However, expensive equipment and video cassettes with materials of shooting were seized. A copy of the confiscation report was not issued for them. Read full article… Belarus: Rallies with a demand to demolish Lenin monuments banned By: Charter 97, April 20, 2009 In Polatsk local authorities have banned a picket with collection of signatures for pulling down two Lenin monuments. As Radio Svaboda informs, opposition activists from Polatsk have planned to hold a picket on April 23. In answer to their appeal they received a denial from the city executive committee. As said by the member of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party and “young Belarus” campaign Ales Krutkin, the deputy chairman of Polatsk city executive committee Mikalay Illyushonak wrote that the picket “could undermine the public security ” on the square near “Rodina” cinema. Read full article… Czeck Republic: Chilly Prague welcome awaits for Lukashenko Georgia: Opposition rallies fail to unseat Saakashvili Organizers of Moldova’s twitter revolution remain at risk Armenia: Election of Yerevan mayor may bring new tensions
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MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
Iran delays execution of juvenile offender
By: RFE, April 20, 2009 Iranian human rights activists say the execution of juvenile offender Delara Darabi has been postponed, RFE/RL reports. Darabi, who was due to be executed on April 20, was sentenced to death for a murder she allegedly committed at the age of 17. Darabi’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, said the victim’s family has refused to attend the execution by hanging. Iranian law requires that the verdict be carried out only in the presence of the victim’s family, resulting in the postponement. Read full article… Walkout at Iran leader’s speech at UN conference By: BBC News, April 20, 2009 Diplomats have walked out of a UN anti-racism conference during a speech by the Iranian president in which he described Israel as “totally racist”. Dozens of delegates got up and left, moments after two protesters wearing coloured wigs disrupted the start of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech. Read full article… Roxana Saberi, a prisoner of Iranian politics By: Henry Newman, Guardian, April 20, 2009 The trial of Roxana Saberi was patently unjust. In Tehran last Saturday the 31-year-old Iranian-American journalist was convicted on charges of espionage for America and sentenced to spend the next eight years in prison. The kangaroo court met for only one day entirely behind closed doors and has presented no evidence in public. Her father, Reza Saberi, told me by phone that for the first 15 minutes of the trial she and her lawyer were under the mistaken impression that they were at a meeting to determine the date of the hearing. Read full article… Iran: Ahmadinejad promises fair appeal for reporter By: David Usborne, The Independent, April 20, 2009 One day after a closed-door court in Tehran sentenced an American-Iranian reporter to eight years in prison for alleged espionage, aides to Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he told prosecutors to make sure she is fairly defended in her appeal. The latest signals from the Iranian leadership may help avert or delay a damaging new diplomatic row between Tehran and Washington at a time when overtures from President Barack Obama seem to offer some hope of thawing relations that have been on ice for three decades. Read full article… Iran: Ronak Safarzadeh was sentenced to six years imprisonment By: IHRV, April 17, 2009 The court sentencing of Ronak Safarzadeh, a women’s rights activist in Kurdistan province, has been sentenced to six years imprisonment, though her charge of ‘waging war’ was dropped. Her lawyer, Dr. Mohammad Sharif, has claimed that the court sentencing will be appealed. Dr. Sharif announced the sentencing news and said; “In the list of my client’s charges, she was cleared of the charge noted in the article 186 in the Islamic penal code, which includes the charge of ‘waging war’; for charges related to her membership in the group Pejak, according to article 499 of the Islamic penal code, she received five years imprisonment; and for her activities related to propaganda against the regime, she received one year imprisonment”. Read full article… Iran: New efforts in controlling internet and news sites By: IHRV, April 17, 2009 The Cultural Commission of the Islamic Parliament completed the review of a bill planned to be proposed to the government in an effort to add an amendment to article one, governing press laws. The bill is intended to place stricter controls on the press, internet sites and weblogs, and bill has now been placed in the task list of the parliament. Read full article… West Bank: One killed, dozens injured at the Bil’in weekly protest By: IMEMC, April 17, 2009 A Palestinian man was killed and dozens more injured on Friday during the weekly nonviolent protest in Bil’in village, near the central west Bank city of Ramallah. Local sources told IMEMC that Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah, 30, died when soldiers shot him in the chest with a tear gas bomb. The residents of Bil’in village marched towards the wall today after Friday prayers. The protest was joined by Israeli and international activists. Read full article…
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OCEANIA
U.N. calls for resumption of Fiji democracy
By: TVNZ, April 21, 2009 The UN Security Council deplored what it called a “step backwards” in Fiji, demanding that the South Pacific island resume moves toward democracy and hold elections as soon as possible. Read full article… Amnesty International warns of deteriorating human rights situation in Fiji
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The perils of Facebook activism: Walled gardens, serial activists and hackers
By: Gaurav Mishra, DigiActive, April 17, 2009 I have written before about the brilliant Pink Chaddi Campaign and highlighted the important role played by Facebook in helping the campaign go viral. Briefly, journalist Nisha Susan set up The Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose, and Forward Women on Facebook and urged women to gift pink panties to Pramod Mutalik, the head of the ultra-conservative Hindu group Shri Ram Sena, in order to shame him into backing down from his threats to disrupt Valentine’s Day celebrations. Read full article… Are Buddhists violent?
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‘After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance’
By: Anne Sibley O’Brien and Perry Edmond O’Brien, Spring 2009 For forty years Mohandas Gandhi led the people of India in a nonviolent uprising against the powerful British empire. Using nothing but their bodies, their minds, and their wills, Gandhi and his followers challenged a well-armed military force that had occupied their country for three hundred years. The world had never seen anything like it. Over the last century brave people across the world have taken a stand against violence and oppression. Against all odds, their actions have toppled governments, challenged unjust laws, and rebuilt societies. This is the power of nonviolent resistance. This is the legacy of Gandhi. Read full article…
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Useful media sites for news about conflict and peace
By: Peace and Collaborative Development Network, April 19, 2009 In today’s increasingly connected world there are thousands of resources available to obtain news and analysis about conflict and peace related issues. However, there are not that many sites that provide true in-depth analysis, reflection from a deep conflict or peace perspective. Within the field of conflict resolution there has also been a rapid growth in the field of peace journalism or peace media. The basic concept is that instead of media reporting passively on conflict related issues or doing a superficial analysis, or possibly serving as a tool to inflame and escalate conflict, media practitioners can play a critical role in getting at the roots of conflict, looking at underlying issues, reporting in peace initiatives, etc. For more information… New media and civil society in China: A roundtable discussion on the political impact of the internet By: China Digital Times, April 18, 2009 Participants will present their observations and share their experiences relating to the rise of the Internet, and its interplay with China’s media, society and politics. What is the state of new media in China? How do members of Chinese society employ these technologies to participate in politics and what it is the real impact? How does the Chinese government actually regulate and control the Internet? What role does the rise of Chinese cyber-nationalism play in this complicated process? For more information…
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Still under occupation, Iraqi unions find US allies By: Michael Eienscher, truthout, April 1, 2009
The two young members of Iraq Veterans Against the War were nervous about speaking to a crowd of Iraqis, in the Kurdish city of Erbil. They’d seen and done actions in Iraq they would do anything to undo. How would the crowd receive them? Read full article… Tunisian leftist opposition picks candidate
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The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict is pleased to circulate this daily selective digest of world news related to past, present and potential nonviolent conflicts, including active civilian-based struggles against oppressive regimes, nonviolent resistance, political and social dissidence, and the use of nonviolent tactics in a variety of causes. We also include stories that help readers glimpse the larger context of a conflict and that reflect on past historical struggles.
If you have specific items that you would like us to include in the daily digest, please send them to us. If there is a news or information source that you believe we may not be accessing, for purposes of selecting items, please bring that to our attention. Thank you.