By: BBC News, October 12, 2009
Israeli authorities have demolished two Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem, in defiance of international calls to stop such actions. Palestinian reports say a family of five was forcibly evicted from their home in the Beit Hanina district before the building was demolished. UN officials say such demolitions violate international law and raise serious humanitarian concerns.
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Iraqi poet Abbas Khidr recounts his experience of torture in Iraqi prison under Saddam
By: Middle East Media Research Institute, October 12, 2009
Interviewer: “What was your interrogation like, Abbas?” Abbas Khidr: “The Iraqi interrogation? The Iraqis do not interrogate, brother. All they do is torture. For example, if you give them a piece of information, you get yourself into trouble, because they want more information. They begin by asking you: ‘Have you heard about us?’ Have you heard about the torture in Iraqi prisons?’ The interrogator asks you that, in these exact words. ‘Do you confess or not?’
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Saudi activists challenge government with new rights group
By: Paul Handley, Google News, October 12, 2009
A group of veteran Saudi activists challenged the government on Monday by announcing a new association to push for human and political rights, saying the rights situation has deteriorated in the kingdom. Eleven activists said they rushed out their announcement on creating the Association for Civil and Political Rights because the government was already trying to stifle the move by questioning potential signatories.
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Freedom House discussing Egyptian electoral oversight
By: Hesham Allam and Shaimaa Yehya, Almasryonline, October 11, 2009
A high-ranking delegation from the US-based Freedom House organization will visit Egypt next week to discuss how the government and civil society can strengthen civil and human rights in the country. The talks will focus primarily on the organization’s request that Egypt introduce the reforms before the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
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Tunisian opposition party plans to boycott elections
By: Africa News, October 11, 2009
A major Tunisian opposition party has announced plans to boycott the nation’s October 25 national elections, claiming that the majority party is working to manipulate the outcome. The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has already been blocked from competing in 17 districts after authorities ruled its applications ineligible. That would mean 80 per cent of Tunisians would not have the option of voting for the party.
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From boycotts to Bil’in – an interview with Jonathan Cook
By: Jeff Gore, The Comment Factory, October 11, 2009
Jonathan Cook is a British journalist based in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel. His latest book, Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair, was published by Zed Books in October of last year. Jonathan was kind enough to take the time to answer the below questions, many of which surfaced after recently spending some time in Palestine myself.
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Bil’in demonstration gathers gas canisters instead of olives after being denied access to lands
By: PNN, October 10, 2009
Prevented from picking their olives, Palestinians resorted to a different sort of harvest Friday afternoon. International, Israeli and Palestinian activists gathered again yesterday in western Ramallah’s Bil’in Village to demonstrate against the Wall. Chants calling for peace and justice were met with rounds of noxious gas. At the end of the demonstration activists emptied their sacks into one large pile. Instead of fresh green olives, a symbol of Palestinian livelihood, there was a mound of gas grenades, a symbol of occupation.
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Bil’in protester on Obama’ Peace Prize: ‘We need our land now, not tomorrow’
By: Adam Horowitz, Mondoweiss, October 10, 2009
Iyad Burnat, a leader of the nonviolent protests against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil’in, responds to Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize: “Today, when I came home from our nonviolent demonstration in Bil’in, after the soldiers shot tear gas and after seeing the violence of the Israeli soldiers, I heard that President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize.”
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Morocco should release Western Saharan detainees
By: Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights, October 10, 2009
On 8 October 2009, seven human rights defenders from Western Sahara were abducted from the Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco, allegedly by the Moroccan authorities. It is thought that the abduction of the seven human rights defenders may be linked to the visits they had made to Sahrawi refugee camps in south-west Algeria during their stay abroad.
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Iraqis take to streets to protest government
By: Sameer Yacoub, Google News, October 10, 2009
Hundreds took to the streets Saturday throughout Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing a growing discontent among Iraqis that is overshadowing concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to take over from withdrawing American troops. Low oil prices have left the Iraqi government struggling to restore infrastructure after years of neglect, corruption and insurgent attacks, as well as to rebuild their security forces before a planned American withdrawal in 2011.
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Support Palestine, boycott Tesco
By: Greg Wilkinson, OccupiedLove, October 10, 2009
Earlier this week I removed Tesco dates, in packets labeled “Origin: West Bank,” from the shelves of Tesco’s Swansea Marina store. Since last January, I have confiscated a number of similar packets and written to Tesco CEO Terry Leahy explaining why. I offered to repay the cost of the goods I confiscated if he could show the dates were not the product of illegal Israeli settlements. In the ensuing correspondence, Tesco neither addressed the settlement issue nor took up my refund offer. I was banned from their stores but not prosecuted.
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Is Israel arresting prominent boycott leaders?
By: All Headline News, October 9, 2009
Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank campaigner said by activist groups to be the first Palestinian to be imprisoned solely for advocacy of international boycotts against Israel. Mohammad Othman, a 33 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, had his detention extended by 12 days at a hearing at Salem military court in the north of Israel on Thursday. Israel’s internal security service had requested a 23-day extension.
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CENTRAL ASIA
Azerbaijan: Bloggers take stand in own defense
By: Mina Miradova, Eurasia Insight, October 9, 2009 Jailed Azerbaijani youth activists-bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli testified in their own defense on October 9, repeating earlier arguments that the state’s accusations of hooliganism are intended to silence their criticism of the government. Both young men largely repeated what has become the defense’s standard line of argument during the one-month trial – that the duo were attacked on July 8 in a Baku cafe by the two men, Vasul Mammadov and Babek Huseynov, who now claim to be the victims of an attack by Hajizade and Milli. Read full article…
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SOUTH ASIA
Indian troops kill seven, sparking protest in Kashmir
By: World Bulletin, October 7, 2009 Indian troops on Wednesday killed seven Kashmiris in separate villages, forcing some of them to run through a river in fierce gun battles across Kashmir, police said. People took to the streets in the area to protest against the killing of “innocent youth”, Kashmiri media said. Read full article… India: Weapons of mass desperation |
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
Suu Kyi back in Burma’s political arena
By: Didier Lauras, Daily Times, October 12, 2009 Although still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has returned to an active political role by initiating dialogue with both Myanmar’s junta and Western nations, analysts say. In the space of seven days, after a Yangon court rejected the pro-democracy leader’s appeal against her recently extended house arrest, her status appeared to shift rapidly from political prisoner to potential key negotiator. Read full article… Millers and Katies reject made-in-Burma Burma’s exiled Muslims Thailand: Protest in Bangkok calls for PM to step down Indonesia: Dozens of groups want peace talks with Jakarta Getting to know Burma’s ruling general Zen master decries Vietnam’s treatment of monks Six Vietnamese activists jailed |
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EAST ASIA
China: Activist keen to go head to head with protesters
By: Lincoln Tan, The New Zealand Herald, October 13, 2009 Exiled Chinese Muslim leader Rebiya Kadeer says she wants to “meet with the enemy” during her New Zealand visit. “Change can only happen when you change the hearts and minds of those who oppose you,” she said as she arrived in Auckland yesterday for a four-day visit. Chinese students plan protests at her two meetings today at the University of Auckland and the Pioneer Women and Ellen Melville Hall in High St, central Auckland, and Ms Kadeer says “bring it on”. Read full article… Xinjiang riots – China sentences six to death China: Internet human rights declaration |
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OCEANIA
Repatriate Plan worries Papuan immigrants
By: Edy Haryadi, Viva News, October 12, 2009 The Indonesian government is trying to repatriate thousands of West Papuan independence activists who are currently residing in Papua Nugini. One of the activists, Samuel Ingamar said they would not return home until their dreams of having political independence is accomplished, as it was published by the Australian Network News on Monday, October 2009. Read full article… “Win we have and win we shall” – Fiji freedom bloggers The corruption, abuse and nepotism in the Fiji military forces |
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Using nonviolent direct action to stop investor shakedowns of entrepreneurs
By: By Will Alone, October 11, 2009 Jason Calacanis is all a twitter about investors charging startups to pitch their ideas to them and calls on such investor groups to stop. If they don’t, he is willing to use nonviolent direct action tactics to get them to stop. Read full article… Nobel Obama, noble Gandhi … and these ignoble times ‘Extraordinary’ activists win human rights award Defining digital activism: Part 3 – where are we going? |
By: Paul Schemm, Google News, September 29, 2009
A Swedish journalist and blogger specializing in Egyptian labor issues was stopped by security at Cairo airport early Tuesday and was ordered deported from the country, his girlfriend and the Swedish embassy said. Per Bjorklund, 30, who spent the last year covering labor strikes in Egypt, was returning to Cairo with his girlfriend from their native Sweden via Prague, when he was detained.
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US: Biography- Majora Carter
By: CNN, June 6, 2008
Majora Carter grew up in the South Bronx at a time when America’s cities were emptying into the suburbs. She fought a vociferous campaign against a planned waste facility that would have seen 40 percent of New York’s municipal waste coming to the South Bronx. “We were already handling 40 percent of the city’s commercial waste here,” she says. In 2001, after the defeat of the scheme, Carter founded the non-profit environmental justice solutions corporation, Sustainable South Bronx. Its central tenet is that people shouldn’t have to move out of their neighborhoods to live in a better one.
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