Blogging the democratic revolution
Heading out there now. Full report to come. UPDATE: I’m back. I acted like a freelance journalist and sat down with the poll monitor for an interview for about an hour and a half. Am working on the report of what I learned about this process, and most importantly, what goes on inside this guy’s head. CRIMINY: Had to drive halfway across the world to buy a new card reader for my digital camera. I was able to get pictures of the ballots, the ballot box, and the “poll monitors” themselves. And a lot of information. The guy really thought…
Whenever Iran has an election of some sort, its agents host polling stations all around America attempting to further legitimize itself. Last time this happened, authorities were able to bust up many of them. The SMCCDI has information on how you can help intervene. The list of cities and addresses where these polling stations will be set up has been released. If you are a blogger near one of these stations, you may want to check it out. There is a station set up a few miles from my house and I will be investigating first thing in the morning…
From Reuters: Unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among the first to vote, told Iranians they would be endorsing not just their chosen candidate, but their country’s Islamic system. “Whoever you vote for among those seven candidates, it’s a vote for him, the Islamic republic and the constitution,” he said after using a special ballot box at his official residence. That is exactly why such a drove of people are planning on avoiding the ballot box today.
Gary Metz of Regime Change Iran has the opinions of several Iranian bloggers who seem to express the sentiments of quite a bit of the electorate. Here are the ones he posted below: The Adventures of Behi — Tonight, I was talking to Mrs. Behi about the decision we shall make for the election tomorrow; voting or not voting. We have been dubious about this since the start of the election campaigns we have been always having a good will for the reformists but still are not convinced about their capability to keep their promise in getting the non-elected parts…
A fantastic post by Gary Metz, and heartening news that the U.S. is really going to stand by the Iranian people just as they are about to boycott the election in massive droves. In a unique display of unity in broadcasting the same feed into Iran. These broadcasters are providing a marathon of reports into Iran. These broadcasters are calling for a boycott of the election which begins in a few hours. The united effort brings together Apadana TV, NITV, ParsTV, XTV, and KRSI radio. I am told that they will soon broadcast a statement from the son of the…
I just received this email from the Young Ethiopian Diasporans relating the declining situation in Ethiopia following the brutal murders of dozens of protestors by the authorities. Here is the latest, as Jimmy Carter looks on calmly: When all else fails, beat up reporters and take 3000 prisoners. Last Friday, Ethiopian PM Meles stated that: ???????There is no turning back from democracy??????? http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050610/wl_nm/ethiopia_meles_dc_1 And how does a ???????Capitalist on the outside, Marxist on the Inside??????? prime minister not ???????turn back from democracy???????? Here are four simple steps: 1) For starters you need to start kicking out western media. Start with…
I haven’t given this idea thought before. Very interesting. (Hat tip: New Mongols) ULAAN BAATAR, Mongolia — While the world powers grapple with how to check North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, Mongolia has quietly engaged the country and is pressing it to undertake reforms in a more direct manner. The primary tool to woo Pyongyang is Mongolia’s own successful transition from a Stalinist state to a free-market democracy. Once allies within the Soviet bloc, North Korea and Mongolia chose very different tacks after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990. While North Korea’s continuing Stalinism has brought it to the brink of…
The Moldovan parliement recently signed a Ukraine-drafted accord on how to move forward with the Transdniestria separatist conflict. HISINAU, June 10 (Itar-Tass) – Moldovan parliament has approved a plan of settlement of the conflict with the breakaway Dniester region proposed by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Parliament also has adopted an address to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on principles and conditions of demilitarisation and democratisation of the Dniester region. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and the government attended the parliamentary sitting. The declaration approving the Ukraine-proposed settlement plan said it ???????lacked some moments, including the withdrawal of…
King Gyanendra ended the three month state of emergency this past April 30, meaning he was supposed to ease up tight controls on civil liberties imposed since February. Of course, that didn’t happen. In the most recent example of his power grab, over 100 journalists were arrested for protesting against the restrictions. Police arrested nearly 100 journalists Monday after scuffling with them during a protest to demand King Gyanendra immediately lift media restrictions in Nepal imposed four months ago. … Protesters from the Federation of Nepalese Journalists were arrested as they marched into a restricted area near the royal palace,…
Yesterday I posted on the third round of the elections in Lebanon taking place in Bekaa and Mt. Lebanon. It was termed “the mother of all election battles” because it pitted in tightly contested races the electoral lists of the now split opposition led separately by Hariri-Jumblatt and Aoun. A lot of the success of the Hariri-Jumblatt anti-Syria coalition depended on their victory during this round, given that 58 out of 128 seats were at stake. If Aoun scored a steady political ground, it would make the aforementioned much more shaky. Well, he did, so let’s see how well I…
Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit is hosting this week’s carnival of revolutions, catching you up on everything that has gone down this week in the democratic movement. “So let????????s cut to the chase, down to this past week????????s developments in democracy, elections, tyrannous acts, human rights, and pie. Apple pie.”I knew that quote would come back to get me! On a similar note, Arthur Chrenkoff has a new installment of good news in Iraq. Also critical reading.
This is big. Keep reading, you’ll see why. Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran’s Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections. The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. “We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights,” they chanted. More than 250 marched outside Tehran University, and about 200 others demonstrated two blocks away after hundreds of riot police swarmed in and barred them from joining the…
It looks like the Kuwaiti government has made good on its promises. When women got the vote, they promised that they would appoint women to the government. Bingo. KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait named its first woman cabinet minister on Sunday, less than a month after giving women the vote, a key plank in its democratic reforms. Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah announced rights activist Massouma al-Mubarak’s appointment as planning minister and minister of state for administrative development affairs, the state news agency KUNA reported. “Naming a Kuwaiti woman as a minister … is a special step we had longed…
Lebanon went to the polls for the third time today (I think they like it!) in the districts of Mt. Lebanon and Bekaa. Usually I would do a really long post and analysis, given that most news stories fail at covering the event well, but An Nahar did such a good job that it will require little further elaborating. Lebanon’s mother-of-all election battles is on, pitting Gen. Aoun and allied Syrian loyalists against a ‘strategic pact’ of major opposition groupings comprising Walid Jumblat, Saad Hariri, Qornet Shahwan and Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces. The polls opened at 7 a.m. Beirut time…
Everything you wanted to know related to Iran, published in a single sweet post. Also, make sure to check out the schedule of pro-democracy events over the coming week.
I just finished reading through a bombshell scientific survey conducted by the Iran Institute for Democracy to gauge public opinion in the country. It’s the only one of its kind out there that is so thorough and well-done that it is truly a must-read. For the complete executive summary, click here (corrected: this summary is from 2002, the summary for the latest hasn’t been released yet). Here’s the press release with much of the relevant information. A recent public opinion survey of Iranians, conducted by The Tarrance Group, surprisingly found that a vast majority (74%) of Iranians feel America’s presence…
Music to my ears. When Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon back in April, it was pretty obvious to the world that it left behind a thick residue of intelligence agents. The several bombs that have gone off, and the targetted assassination of an anti-Syria journalist, are part of a general pattern of political intimidation. Earlier in the week, the U.S. government reported that it had received a intelligence of a Syrian hit list made up of Lebanese opposition politicians. The assassination of anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir has relaunched the campaign to drive Syria away. Because of the great public…
The two-day work stay away that didn’t turn out so well yesterday fizzled again. A two-day strike called to protest a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe’s government on informal traders headed for a total collapse on Friday when most businesses opened as usual for the second consecutive day. A coalition of civic groups, supported by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had urged Zimbabweans to stay away from work on Thursday and Friday to protest the destruction by police of illegal homes and street businesses. Police said a week ago they had arrested nearly 23,000 people and a…
Joe Katzman from Winds of Change pens how Mugabe changed his mind about guns. As many of you know, I’m from Canada. We have a pretty different attitude to guns up here, and I must say that American gun culture has always kind of puzzled me. To me, one no more had a right to a gun than one did to a car. Well, my mind has changed. Changed to the point where I see gun ownership as being a slightly qualified but universal global human right. A month ago in Yalta, Freedom & The Future, I wrote: “Frankly, if…
Background: Zimbabwe officially Mugabe’s fiefdom, Opposition to protest Zimbabwe crackdown. It seems that this country, long tortured by tyranny, is at a crossroads in which there is no turning back. Mugabe is crushing the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, imposing a forced famine, and preparing to scatter his urban opposition to the country side. On this very day, the new parliament will open for the first time and Mugabe will officially unveil his constitutional changes: a rubberstamp senate, the nationalization of land, and domination of the electoral commission. The dictatorship is real. If the people don’t do something,…
Many of you may remember Le Sabot Post-Moderne, where the Discoshaman pretty much live-blogged the Orange Revolution in Ukraine during those amazing months. He’s back. Check him out.
THIS IS HUGE! Iran scored a 1-0 victory against Bahrain, securing a place in the World Cup. And the crowd goes wild, taking advantage of the joyous event to shout against the regime. Iran erupted in a frenzy of raucous celebrations after the Islamic state booked its place at the 2006 World Cup soccer finals in Germany with a 1-0 home win over Gulf rivals Bahrain on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of the capital Tehran after the match, filling the night air with volleys of firecrackers, whistles and horns. State media reported similar scenes…
Still breaking and unconfirmed of yet, but (via: Registan) Reuters is being told that 600 people are protesting in Samarkand. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has picked it up too. TASHKENT, June 8 (Reuters) – Hundreds of opposition supporters in eastern Uzbekistan held a rally on Wednesday in a rare protest since a bloody crackdown last month in a different part of the country, the opposition party said. The banned Free Farmers Party told Reuters 600 people were protesting on a farm in the Samarkand region which is home to a local activist who had been arrested by security forces. There…
Joshua Landis, living in Damascus, has a media roundup from around the world and talks about all of the proposals. The press, for the most part, has seen this as a “great step forward” — Ba’ath words actually — in reform toward democracy in Syria. But if that sounds too good to be true, then it probably is! Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it “the great sidestep.” Can you tell that I’m skeptical? President Assad has to worry about international pressure and internal political pressure, both of which will relate to how he proceeds with domestic reform.…
Gateway Pundit has been doing a fantastic job rounding up what’s been going on for the past two days. Students all over the country were peacefully protesting the rigged elections, when the army and police broke it up with brutal force. At the Addis Ababa Tegbare’ed (Technical School), police tried to disperse about 200 peaceful student protester today by brutally beating them. Construction workers threw stones at the police in support of the students. Several of them were arrested, as well as other non-students who joined the protest in the morning. Sapa-AP The police beat up the protesters using butts…