Blogging the democratic revolution
Hat tip to Stefania for letting me know about this. Tell me everyone, how often do you see this happen? DAMASCUS: Chanting “freedom, freedom,” about 200 Syrians protested on Sunday outside a Damascus state security court where a prominent human rights campaigner accused of opposing the state was on trial. The area was sealed off by about 50 riot police as demonstrators, including many Kurds, carried posters of the defendants and banners denouncing the emergency law in force in Syria since the Baath Party took power in 1963. Among three activists on trial Sunday was prominent campaigner Aktham Naisse, who…
Constitutionally, the Lebanese electoral law must be passed a month before the elections are to take place. Which means they have have three days left– April 29th. New and short-living Premier Mikati wants to hold the election over a period of three days. Parliament on Tuesday opened a nationally televised debate of a policy statement by Premier Mikati’s newly formed government, which is seeking a vote of confidence on a basis that the elections would be held in three stages on May 26, 29 and 31. The prime minister has made it plain that he was unshakably determined to hold…
It’s a little opportunist, but the Belarussian opposition has to take advantage when it can! They took the anniversary of Chernobyl and turned it into a rally against Lukashenko. MINSK, April 26 (Reuters) – Police in ex-Soviet Belarus on Tuesday detained more than two dozen protesters who tried to present a petition to President Alexander Lukashenko on the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Belarus’s small opposition, which accuses Lukashenko of systematically violating human rights, traditionally stages its largest protest of the year on the anniversary of the accident which contaminated a quarter of the country’s territory. But given…
I guess this means there’s no chance of a unity government, though that was far-fetched anyhow. Here are the cold, dry results. Announcing the results, the head of the CENI National Electoral Commission, Kissem Tchangai-Walla, said Gnassingbe of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) won 60.22 percent of the vote in Sunday’s poll while the main opposition candidate Emmanuel Bob-Akitani captured 38.19 percent. “In view of these results … the candidate of the RPT has been provisionally elected,” said Kissem Tchangai-Walla. The electoral commission chief said the provisional results must be confirmed by the constitutional council under Togolese law…
The United Nations flew into Beirut Sunday night to make sure that they’re “really gone.” Let’s see how well they can do that. But UN jabs aside, this is actually really good news, with some corrupt pro-Syria Lebanese security heads resigning as well. SYRIAN troops complete their withdrawal from Lebanon today, ending almost 30 years of occupation and paving the way for the country????????s first free and fair elections in a generation. Positions were bulldozed and checkpoints dismantled as the last tanks and artillery guns were removed for the short trip home. Lorries filled with troops and equipment belched black…
One of the most hilarious and scary headlines of the day has been that Putin mourned the downfall of the USSR in his “State of the Nation” address. In his annual state of the nation address to parliament and the country’s top political leaders, Putin said the Soviet collapse was “a genuine tragedy” for Russians. “First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves…
I’m not sure what day the election results are supposed to be announced, as a date hasn’t been written in anything that I’ve read. I’m going to have to assume that it will be announced whenever they are done counting… and recounting. The problem here is that everybody knows that the longer it takes the government to count the vote, the more chances they have to commit fraud. So get a load of this. Togo’s opposition is awaiting results from Sunday’s presidential election, amid street violence that has killed several people and injured dozens. Voters were asked to choose a…
I have been wondering this question for a really long time now, as the main Pora! site I visited hasn’t been updated in quite a while. There has been news of the new student youth movement in Russia called Red Pora!, but that news is sparce. Thankfully, we have orange revolutionary Dan McMinn. He has a great post up outlining the history of the youth movement and where Pora! is going. The Basic Ultra-Abridged Description of Pora Pora sprung up in fall of 2004 as a primarily youth protest organization focused on the election of 2004. During the Orange Revolution,…
Regime Change Iran’s week in review is up. Email alerts are your friend. A very important item, I think, is the news of a petition signed by 2.8 million Iraqi Shiites against Islamic Iran’s intervention.
Togo has become a place of fright as the populace has gone to the polls and voted. It is literally a situation that you cannot believe is real, and that if you blink, it will all go away. But it won’t go away. After living 38 God-forsaken years under a despotic military state, the people of Togo are sick of their government and wish to erase the memories of widespread imprisonment, famine, and poverty. What we are seeing in Togo is what could have happened in Zimbabwe if they had taken to the streets. The outcome now is very uncertain,…
You didn’t hear about it. I didn’t hear about it. Almost all contact with the outside world has been cut off for a week due to widespread protesting. Belize, the only English-speaking country in Central America, disappeared off the map for the past week and almost no one noticed. Since April 15 the tiny country the size of Wales has been without telephone links as a result of strikes and protests. Only a few internet cafes with satellite connections provide a tenuous link to the outside world. The prime minister, Said Musa, said technicians at the main telephone company had…
I just came across this article in Mosnews saying that $5 million has been set aside in the soon-to-be approved emergency war spending bill for democracy programs in Belarus. The U.S. Senate has approved an extra $81 billion war budget that includes $5 million for programs aimed to support democracy in Belarus, RIA Novosti reports. The programs will be under the control of the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The Bureau announced earlier this month that $2 million would be spent on ???????consolidation of democratic parties??????? in Belarus. I started looking around the bill for it,…
Back in February, Togo experienced a constitutional coup of sorts. ÄDictatorÅ Gnassingbe Eyadema died after a long, treacherous rule of 38 years. The coup happened when his son, Faure Gnassingbe, decided to assume power despite constitutional law dictating otherwise. The UN, of all bodies, said no to this happening, so what did Faure do? He immediately amended the constitution! Immediately afterward, the African Union, the same one that endorsed Mugabe’s reelection, condemned the move and imposed immediate sanctions on the country. So did the United States. Faure stepped down, and on March 3rd, elections were called for April 24th. This…
The battle over the impeachment of Mexico City’s popular leftist mayor is heating up, with demonstrations planned for Sunday. They are hoping to get up to 400,000 people. A rally planned for Mexico’s capital city on Sunday could prove the defining moment in the complicated legal tangle involving Andr????s Manuel L????pez Obrador, Mexico City’s popular leftwing mayor and presidential aspirant. There are two possible outcomes. A big, non-violent ???????silent march??????? the mayor’s strategists hope for 400,000 protesters would show the nation that popular support is not waning for Mr L????pez Obrador, who faces arrest on a contempt-of-court charge. Demonstrations are…
Of course, Gutierrez is a scumball for stacking the Supreme Court with his political bed partners and the mass protests against him were totally warranted. But apparently there was something wrong with the vote that kicked him out, and it has the OAS concerned. QUITO, April 21 (Xinhuanet) — The Organization of American States(OAS) Thursday gave the new government in Ecuador 24 hours to explain how the Congress concluded that President Lucio Gutierrez should be removed from office, the local press reported. The request came after Ecuador’s acting representative to the OAS, Jaime Barberis, told an emergency session of the…
Even as he reiterates his commitment to democracy, either he is lying or does not know the definition. The pro-Putin Duma is expected to pass legislation that would further restrict qualifications for parties entering the legislature. Russian MPs have approved a crucial second reading of a controversial law which could increase the Kremlin’s control over parliament. The bill, which is expected to be adopted, would change the way parliamentary deputies are elected. Members of the lower house, the Duma, would be chosen by proportional representation, with parties needing 7% of the vote to get seats. Critics say it will be…
You want it? I don’t have it. But Andy does! Check out Siberian Light for everything that’s happened this week in Russia.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with seven Belarussian dissidents today in Lithuania and assured them that Belarus is on the road to democracy, their biggest chance being the next presidential election. VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Belarusian dissidents Thursday she thinks an end to authoritarian rule in their country is within reach. She drew a rebuke from Russia’s foreign minister for earlier comments about Belarus. After meeting with the seven dissidents, Rice said next year’s presidential election in Belarus offers ééan excellent opportunity” to focus on the need for credible elections in the country,…
The third and last round of the Saudi municipal elections are over. The votes still need to be counted and winners announced, but in any case, they will probably turn out relatively similar to the previous two rounds. Riyadh, 21 April (AKI) – Saudis went to the polls on Thursday for the third and final phase of the Kingdom’s historic municipal elections after twelve days of intense campaigning, which officially ended on Wednesday. Some 140,000 Saudis were expected to vote in the poll, but they are only electing half the members of their municipal councils. The other half will be…
Work, work, work. In the meantime, though, the third round of municipals are starting up in Saudi Arabia. JEDDAH, 21 April 2005 ???????? The business city of Jeddah will go to the polls today with the rest of the Western Region to elect new municipal councils in Saudi Arabia????????s historic democratic exercise. As many as 548 candidates are contesting for seven Jeddah seats, pinning their hopes on some 80,000 registered voters. Saudis in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah as well as Taif, Qasim, Hail, Tabuk, Al-Jouf and the Northern Border Region also go to polls today in the…
In an unprecedented move, the Human Rights Association of Syria has filed the first ever accusations of torture against Assad’s regime. (Via: Norm) With Syria under international pressure over its presence in Lebanon, and amid a wave of agitation for democratic reforms across the Middle East, Syrian lawyers are now daring to file the first cases of torture against the state. The Human Rights Association of Syria (HRAS), a non-governmental organisation operating in Damascus, announced earlier this month that it would launch several cases in a matter of weeks. ….. ÄKÅeeping track of political prisoners is next to impossible in…
Talk about good timing. The ten minute interview was done in the White House and broadcast directly to Lebanon. President Bush has insisted anew that Syria should “get out completely” from Lebanon and let the Lebanese people decide their own future in internationally monitored elections on schedule and free from external influence or intimidation. Bush pledged, then, to drum up global monetary assistance to help “this country back on its feet.” In a rare direct address to the Arab world, Bush also said in an interview broadcast by Beirut’s LBCI television network from the White House he wanted the Assad…
I know that the third round of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia are coming up, so I checked out Arab News, which has a lot of material up, but I came upon this article noting that legislation had been passed in Kuwait allowing women to both vote and participate in municipal elections. KUWAIT CITY, 20 April 2005 ???????? In a first step toward granting women full political rights, Kuwaiti lawmakers agreed yesterday to allow women to vote and run in local council elections, but the measure requires more legislative action before it would become law. The measure was taken on…
Remembering my post from yesterday on Armenian and Azeri opposition groups, I come across this article on RFE/RL describing the Azeri opposition movement. Prague, 19 April 2005 (RFE/RL) — Several opposition leaders and former government officials announced on 12 April the creation of a new election bloc to run for seats in Azerbaijan’s Milli Meclis, or national parliament. The alliance is known as Yeni Siyaset (New Politics). It includes Namazov, the chairman of Azerbaijan’s Public Forum nongovernmental organization, and a onetime aide of late President Heidar Aliyev. Other members are Lale Sovket, the former chairwoman of Azerbaijan’s Liberal Party and…
Yesterday I posted that Georgian President Saakashvili will predict where the next revolution will be on April 22 during the next GUUAM summit. Check out what this article has to say. TBILISI. April 19 (Interfax) – Georgia’s parliament plans to adopt an address that will be sent to the people of Belarus this week. “The parliament of Georgia is confident that the fraternal people of Belarus will be able to overcome all resistance which is being put up by internal and external retrograde forces, and this wonderful European country will not be isolated,” reads the draft document. Chairman of the…