Nonviolent action around the world – 29 January 2010 (Part 2)

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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