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EUROPE
Moldova: the Twitter revolution that wasn’t
By: William H. Hill and David J. Kramer, openDemocracy, May 28, 2009 Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, has spent a rare few weeks in the news after violent protests erupted on 7 April in the capital Chisinau. The violence broke out following the ruling Communist Party’s apparently clear-cut victory in the nation’s April 5 parliamentary elections. This gave the Communists just under fifty percent of the popular vote, and 60 deputies in the 101 seat Moldovan parliament. The result was sufficient to elect the speaker and the government, but was one vote short of the 61 seats required to choose the country’s next president. Read full article… Poland forced to move democracy celebrations By: Damien McElroy, Telegraph, May 28, 2009 Poland has been forced to move its celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the country’s first free elections away from the city regarded as the birthplace of the democracy movement in the Soviet bloc. The government has announced it is moving events away from Gdansk because of a threat of violent protests from the Solidarity trade union. Gdansk Shipyard was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement, whose opposition to the Soviet regime led to the end of Communist Party rule in 1989. Read full article… Belarusian intellectuals demand release of political prisoners Georgian opposition mulls more radical forms of protest
By: RFE/RL, May 27, 2009 Seven weeks after the Georgian opposition launched its campaign to force President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign, up to 55,000 people congregated at a soccer stadium in Tbilisi on May 26 in support of that demand. Despite dwindling participation at their protest actions in recent weeks, opposition leaders had said earlier they hoped to mobilize 100,000 protesters. It is unclear, however, whether and for how long that upsurge of popular support for the opposition can be sustained, especially in light of growing tactical disagreements between radical and moderate opposition leaders. Russia: Moscow increasingly represses civil society |
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MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
Iran: Journalist says she falsely confessed to spying
By: MSNBC, May 28, 2009 Journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent four months in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, said in her first in-depth interview that she initially confessed to being a spy but later recanted. In remarks to National Public Radio News, Saberi, 32, said her confession was forced and that she believes her decision to recant prompted the Iranian prosecutor to send her case to trial instead of allowing her to go free. “My confession was false and I thought I had to fabricate it to save myself,” she said. Read full article… Iran urges citizens to vote |
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OCEANIA
Fiji lawyers caught between rock and a hard place after decree
By: Radio New Zealand International, May 28, 2009 A lawyer for Fiji’s ousted Prime Minister says most lawyers will have little choice but to apply for practising certificates under a new presidential decree. Under the Legal Practitioners Decree, the issuing of practicing certificates will be transferred from the Fiji Law Society to the Chief Registrar. All lawyers will have to apply for new certificates in just over two week’s time if they wish to continue to practice law. Read full article… Fiji law society raided |
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Podcast: Laureate Mairead Maguire – Building ‘deep democracy’
By: openDemocracy, May 29, 2009 In the third podcast from the Nobel Women’s Initiative gathering in Antigua laureate Mairead Maguire spoke to Jane Gabriel about a new politic she sees arising: one in which ‘deep democracy’ is built by people standing up, building ‘personal democracy’ one to one, and demanding that the money be taken out of militarism. Listen now to some of the ideas discussed during three days of women ‘Redefining democracy for peace, justice and equality’, and to Mairead Maguire’s call to action. Listen to podcast… Global poverty: The human-rights dimension |
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Algérie: Le Front Polisario lance sa chaîne de télévision
By: Jeune Afrique, May 28, 2009 Le président autoproclamé de la République arabe sahraouie démocratique (RASD) a inauguré le 20 mai la première chaîne de télévision du Front Polisario. Elle devrait largement relayer les positions de ce mouvement dans la région. La chaîne est soutenue par le Front Polisario. Ce mouvement souhaite un référendum sur l’indépendance du peuple sahraoui. Le Maroc, lui, se déclare prêt à garantir plus d’autonomie à la population à condition qu’elle reste sous sa souveraineté. Read full article… Honduras: Copinh amenaza con la insurrección si no hay consulta continuista |
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The Protest Singer
By: John Kehe, CS Monitor, May 27, 2009 Alec Wilkinson has written a short volume about a slim fellow who has lived a gigantic life. Pete Seeger is one of those iconic American names – like Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan – that evokes more legend than man. The Protest Singer is the intimate portrait of the man who sparked the folk boom of the 1950s, marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, stood up to McCarthy-era blacklisting and the Ku Klux Klan, and spent 40 years cleaning up the Hudson River. Read full article… |
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Hellraisers awards: Great acts of student activism
By: Kiera Butler, Mother Jones, May 27, 2009 Recently, Harvard students protested the university’s decision to stop offering anonymous HIV testing. It’s a great idea-and we know today’s students activists have plenty more where that one came from. MoJo, Campus Progress, and WireTap would like to hear about all feats of student activism (the more creative the better) from the past school year in time for the Hellraisers, our first annual student activism awards. Here’s how it works: You tell us about your favorite activism antics. Selected nominees will be featured in the September/October 2009 issue of Mother Jones. Read full article… Tactical dialogues: Engaging pro-bono lawyers New IWPR handbook for Sudanese journalists
Civic Driven Change – A concise guide to the basics
By: Kees Biekart and Alan Fowler, Transnational Institute, April 2009 This short booklet introduces new ideas about how civil society is taking charge in guiding development by taking key roles in society to respond to the most pressing issues the world faces such as poverty, injustice, conflict and environmental degradation. The authors highlight the special characteristics and elements of the approaches and problem-solving used and led by citizens. A concise guide to the basics emerges from the initiative of an international core group of practitioners and critical analysts which came together to ask: What would a citizen-centered story of change in society look like? Read full article… |
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How to bypass internet censorship
By: The Communication Initiative Network, January 1, 2008 This manual offers an introduction to the topic of internet censorship and a presentation of techniques and tools used for circumventing this filtering. It is an outgrowth of concerns about the effect of internet blocking mechanisms, and the implications of censorship – concerns expressed by individuals and groups working to ensure that information available on the internet is freely available to everyone who wants it. “How to Bypass Internet Censorship” is designed for a non-technical audience, with what the publishers characterise as clear, user-friendly explanations of software and methods for circumvension of online censorship. Read full article… |
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.
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