By: Taiwan News, October 8, 2009
Opponents of President Hugo Chavez voiced concerns Wednesday that a newly approved law legalizing armed civilian militias to work with the military could be used to crack down on opposition protests. Pro-Chavez lawmakers deny the government plans to use the militias to break up street protests, saying the armed groups would be deployed only if Chavez declared martial law amid widespread political upheaval or natural disasters.
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Venezuela bans “Family Guy”- but “Baywatch” is ok
By: Charlie Devereux, Huffington Post, October 6, 2009
Stewie Griffin, the animated character from the hit cartoon “Family Guy,” has caused offense here in Venezuela by singing a ditty lauding marijuana’s restorative properties. El Aissami blamed U.S. drug consumption for fueling Venezuela’s narco-trafficking market and suggested that “adult” cartoons such as “Family Guy” were mouthpieces for the U.S. government’s tolerant attitude toward drugs. “Family Guy” is not the first cartoon to receive short shrift from authorities in Venezuela.
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Ecuador’s Shuar gird for conflict after protest
By: Jeanneth Valdivieso, Miami Herald, October 1, 2009
Several hundred Shuar Indians wearing black war paint and toting wooden spears on Thursday reinforced a highway blockade that police failed to break up earlier in a bloody melee that left one Indian dead and at least 40 police injured. Police pulled out of the southeastern jungle region on orders from leftist President Rafael Correa, who is in an intensifying dispute with indigenous groups that say proposed legislation would allow mining on their lands without their consent and lead to the privatization of water.
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EUROPE
The Nobel Peace Prize
By: The Norwegian Nobel Committee, October 9, 2009 The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Read full article… The Berlin Wall – what really made it fall Russia’s war on words Chechnya: President Kadyrov libel trial reveals danger faced by human rights activists Turkish police break up protests Turkey: IMF meeting in Istanbul marked by police-protester confrontation “European Belarus” activist arrested for leaflets about trade union rally Turkey: Violating online free speech UK: Five held in coal depot protest |
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MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
Iraq releases Iranian dissidents
By: BBC News, October 7, 2009 A group of 36 Iranian opposition members have been freed after nearly three months in custody in Iraq. The men were returned to Camp Ashraf in northern Iraq, where more than 3,000 People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI) members have been confined since 2003. A spokeswoman for the group told the BBC they had been tortured in custody and were now being treated in hospital. The men were detained by Iraqi police in July during a raid on the camp in which seven PMOI members were killed. Read full article… West Bank: Protest poetry Gaza: Hamas bans women from riding motorbikes Campaign member Jelveh Javaheri receives six month sentence Egypt: Protest at Azhar over Aqsa Mosque raid |
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SOUTH ASIA/CENTRAL ASIA
Nepal’s Tibetans squeezed as China flexes muscles
By: Claire Cozens, AFP, October 7, 2009 As Beijing marked the 60th anniversary of Communist rule last week, police in Nepal quietly rounded up dozens of Tibetan exiles they said were suspected of planning to hold anti-China protests here. The pre-emptive arrests in early morning raids across the capital Kathmandu were the latest sign of an increasingly hard-line approach by Nepalese authorities to the country’s Tibetan population. Read full article… Uzbekistan: Officials forcing entertainers to sing praises to the government – or else By: Eurasia Net, October 6, 2009 As it struggles to keep a lid on political dissent while also trying to keep the wheels from coming off the economy, the government of Uzbekistan is co-opting the country’s entertainment industry. Local show-biz personalities are being forced to conform to the state’s wishes, and those who don’t get with the program are having the plugs pulled on their careers. The experience of Yulduz Usmanova, dubbed Uzbekistan’s “Madonna,” highlights the extent of Uzbek government meddling in show business. Read full article… |
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
Burmese-American to get Suu Kyi Lawyers
By: CBS News, October 7, 2009 Two lawyers for detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have agreed to defend a Myanmar-born American jailed for allegedly planning to incite unrest in the military-run country, the lawyers said Saturday. Attorney Nyan Win said he and fellow lawyer Kyi Win were approached by the U.S. Embassy to represent Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has been in prison since being arrested Sept. 3 on arrival at Yangon airport. Read full article… Aung San Suu Kyi meets with Burmese government minister Vietnam democracy activist jailed Vietnam teacher jailed for advocating democracy Vietnam: Spate of blogger trials to start tomorrow, another blogger held incommunicado |
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EAST ASIA
China: Stopping people’s grievances from visiting Beijing
By: Andy Yee, Global Voices, October 7, 2009 The letter and visit petition system is an administrative system for hearing complaints and grievances from individuals in China. In August 2009, the Central Commission on Political and Legal Affairs of China issued an opinion document which encourage people to resolve their disputes by legal means and demanded local governments to intercept visit petitions to the central government. The authority is concerned about the rapidly increasing number of petition visits to Beijing which may disrupt social stability. Read full article… Beijing battles online ‘disharmony’ China: Tweets during the national holidays In China, a headless Mao is a game of cat and mouse China: Police, curbs mark anniversary |
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Herta Müller wins Nobel Prize in literature
By: Motoko Rich and Nicholas Kulish, NY Times, October 8, 2009 Herta Müller, the Romanian-born German novelist and essayist who writes of the oppression of dictatorship in her native country and the unmoored existence of the political exile, on Thursday won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. Announcing the award in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy described Ms. Müller as a writer “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” Her award coincides with the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Europe. Read full article… Activists in 15 countries launch historic global collective bargaining campaign Talks for an arms trade deal going at snail’s pace as figures show over 2000 die per day from armed violence IsumaTV – Indigenous community media and online activism Defining digital activism – part 3 – where are we going? |
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Call for applications for the 2010 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University
By: Craig Zelizer, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, October 7, 2009 The application for the 2010 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University is now available. HRAP is designed to prepare proven human rights leaders from the Global South and marginalized communities in the U.S. to participate in national and international policy debates on globalization by building their skills, knowledge, and contacts. The Program features a four-month residency at Columbia University in New York City with a structured curriculum of advocacy, networking, skills-building, and academic coursework. Read full article…
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By: Peaceful Uprising, September 6, 2009
The banner sat on the edge of the railing, and we peered down below at the thousands of concertgoers moving like ants through Gallivan Plaza. It had been long summer for Peaceful Uprising, trying to stay active in the face of climate change while student activists disappeared for vacation, and the desert heat fried our brains. But now we were about to make our move, with a flash mob and banner drop in the midst of a free Toots and the Maytals concert.
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To protect public land, eco protesters get creative
By: Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine, January 31, 2009
The outlaw spirit lives on in the work of contemporary monkeywrenchers like Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old college student who singlehandedly disrupted a multi-million-dollar land auction that would have put hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in southern Utah in the hands of oil and gas companies. But DeChristopher didn’t use sabotage or homemade bombs-just chutzpah.
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