By: Mutumwa Mawere, ZimOnline, February 25, 2010
The story of power, influence and control in post-colonial Africa is a complex one reflecting the commonly shared ignorance of the majority about how to use existing and new tools to access, harness the energy and innovation of front-line professionals in Africa and the diaspora, local government, citizens and communities.
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Uganda: Women stage electoral commission demo at parliament
By: Gerald Bareebe and Katherine Haywood, All Africa, February 25, 2010
At least 30 female opposition supporters yesterday caught security off-guard and staged a sit-down demonstration at Parliament, demanding an overhaul of the Electoral Commission.
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Zimbabwe: Youths protest against sanctions & ‘pirate’ radio
By: Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa, February 24, 2010
Exiled radio stations, labelled pirates by the Robert Mugabe regime have once again come under attack from ZANU PF during a protest march by hundreds of youth members through the streets of Harare on Wednesday. The group, which had been bussed in from all over the country, were also protesting against the targeted sanctions still imposed on the Robert Mugabe regime.
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Guebuza confident that Lesotho will overcome crisis
By: All Africa, February 24, 2010
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who is the current chairperson of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Troika for Politics, Defence and Security, is confident that the SADC strategy drafted by the Troika summit in Maseru on Sunday and Monday will help Lesotho overcome the prolonged crisis that followed the February 2007 parliamentary elections.
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Ivory Coast opposition makes new demand
By: Al Jazeera, February 24, 2010
Ivory Coast’s two main opposition parties will join a newly formed government only when the country’s independent electoral commission (CEI) is reinstated, an opposition leader has said.
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Niger coup is West Africa’s latest democracy deficit
By: Lauren Gelfand, WPR, February 23, 2010
Following a trend that has become depressingly familiar in West Africa over the past 18 months, army officers seized power in Niger on Feb. 18, removing President Mamadou Tandja from office. The coup ends a political crisis that began last year, when Tandja used a popular referendum to try to indefinitely prolong his term beyond its December 2009 limit.
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Cote D’Ivoire: Uneasy calm after wave of protests
By: IRIN, February 22, 2010
An uneasy calm has been restored in cities across Côte d’Ivoire following fresh protests over the past few days, according to aid workers. The latest protests in the central-western city of Gagnoa left five dead and a dozen injured on 19 February.
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NORTH AMERICA
US: Internet freedom beyond circumvention
By: Ethan Zuckerman’s Blog, February 22, 2010 Secretary Clinton’s recent speech on Internet Freedom has signaled a strong interest from the US State Department in promoting the use of the internet to promote political reforms in closed societies. It makes sense that the State Department would look to support existing projects to circumvent internet censorship. Read full article…
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CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN
In solidarity with Pedro Brizuela in Honduras
By: Al Giordano, The Field, February 25, 2010 Yesterday afternoon between two and three o’clock gunmen knocked on the door of the home of Claudia Larisa Brizuela in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. When she answered the door, they assassinated her on the spot. Claudia, 36, was a member of the civil resistance movement in Honduras, and the daughter of Pedro Brizuela, union organizer, political strategist, radio host, columnist and good friend and collaborator of Narco News. Read full article… Cuba: Dissidents bid final farewell to hunger striker Cuba: Castro ‘laments’ death of hunger-striking dissident Peru protects mining company instead of citizens: Interview with Mario Tabra Guerrero
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SOUTH AMERICA
Venezuela: Chávez furious as OAS rights watchdog accuses him of endangering democracy
By: Rory Carroll, The Guardian, February 26, 2010 President Hugo Chávez vowed to withdraw Venezuela from the top human rights body in the western hemisphere last night after it accused him of endangering democracy and intimidating opponents. Read full article… Organization of American States report rebukes Venezuela on human rights Will James Cameron support real-life Ecuador struggle against Chevron? Resisting mining: Repression and uprising in Argentina
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EUROPE
Italy’s harmful conviction of Google
By: LA Times, February 20, 2010 In September 2006, four students at a school in Turin, Italy, beat and humiliated an autistic classmate. A fifth student captured the incident on her cellphone camera, then posted the digital footage to Google Video. It spent two months as one of the site’s most popular clips before Google took it down at the request of Italian police. Read full article… Greek protesters clash with police during strike
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Death penalty opponents see executions on the wane
By: Reuters, February 24, 2010 An increasing number of countries are abolishing the death penalty and even the most active users of capital punishment are taking steps to restrict it, a congress of abolitionists heard on Wednesday. Read full article… Ira Chernus on the ideas of American nonviolence New School conference on Iran’s politics of resistance Tracking “economic disobedience” Human rights education in the school systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A compendium of good practice |
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‘Women In Shroud’ documentary wins major award
By: RFE, February 21, 2010 “Women In Shroud,” a documentary coproduced by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Reza Kazemi, was awarded by the Cinema For Peace initiative that promotes humanity through film. The film explores the injustice toward women in Iran’s legal system and the “Stoning of Soraya M.” Read full article…
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2010 World Vision Peace Prize
By: Peace and Collaborative Development Network, February 2010 Nominations are now accepted for the 2010 World Vision Peace Prize. The Peace Prize is given in honour and memory of Steve Williams, World Vision UK’s Senior Policy Advisor on Peace and Conflict, who served as a great advocate for peace and justice in his professional and personal life before his sudden death in December 2007. Read full article…
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By: National Security Archive, July 9, 2004
“You should tell [Suharto] that we understand the problems they face in West Irian,” national security adviser Henry Kissinger wrote President Nixon on the eve of Nixon’s July 1969 visit to Indonesia. On the 35th anniversary of West Papua’s so-called “Act of Free Choice” and Indonesia’s first direct presidential elections, the National Security Archive posted recently declassified documents on U.S. policy deliberations leading to Indonesia’s controversial 1969 annexation of the territory.
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