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Showing posts with label Activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Activists. Show all posts
4/4/19
1/9/19
Saudi Arabia: Disappeared Saudi couple highlights crackdown on activists shows disrespect for Human Rights of Saudi Government
The cases of Saudi stand-up comedian Fahad
al-Butairi and his wife, Loujain al-Hathloul, a women's right-to-drive
activist, who were arrested in 2018, has resurfaced following a Twitter
thread detailing their disappearance.
In a series of tweets, American writer and
television producer Kirk Rudell spoke about his friendship with the
Saudi couple who tried to challenge the kingdom's strict social rules.
The tweets about their disappearance went viral, spotlighting Saudi Arabia's crackdown on activists and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year.
Read more: Disappeared Saudi couple highlights crackdown on activists | Saudi Arabia News | Al Jazeera
1/21/18
USA: An anthropologist explains what happened to the American Empire - by Maximilian C. Forte
Has anything out of the ordinary happened to the US
as an imperialist power since the ascent of Trump to office? While the
continuities between Trump and his predecessors are considerable, have
there been any significant discontinuities that mark the first year of
this presidency? Is there any reason to think that the rise of Trump
could still become a historical turning point in the fortunes of the US
empire, one that accelerates its continuing decline?
Before proceeding any further I want to assure the
reader that none of what follows is meant to validate those who lament
Trump because they think he is not imperialist enough, not sufficiently
sanguine about maintaining a US-dominated “world order,” because for
them these are essentially positive values worth maintaining.
It is neither my intention to donate free labour to provide confirmation
bias for any activist cause, nor to caress any of the prevailing
political sentiments of the moment.
For reasons that differ from the imperial advocates
of the legendary “liberal international order,” one can still make the
case that Trump — added to an array of other actors and forces,
both national and international — is far from an ideal figure for
empire, and one can make that case without having to praise the virtues
of empire. Similarly, it would be irresponsible to reduce analysis to
one single actor, one single ideology, divorced from the web of social
and global relations that always move together, even (especially) when
at odds, in reshaping if not undermining empire.
For the complete report click here : A anthropologist explains what happened to the American Empire
12/9/17
Armenia: Two Armenian activists released from Turkish jail
Two political activists of Armenian origin were released from a jail in Turkey on Friday, December 8, Akhaltskha.net reports.
Cemil Aksu and his wife, Nurcan Vayiç Aksu, were arrested by Turkish police due to social media posts that were critical of the Turkish government.
An author and environmental activist, Aksu, was arrested on October 25 in the city of Artvin for allegedly “praising crime and criminals” in his social media posts. Aksu is the local co-chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and is one of the editors of the Gor-Hemshin cultural magazine.
His wife, Nurcan, another activist of Armenian origin, was also taken into police custody on October 19 in a house raid due to her social media posts. Vayiç is a rights activist and a member of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP). The couple is from the town of Hopa in Artvin, in what is commonly known as the Hemshin region, around 12 miles of the Georgian border.
As long-time political activists and writers, the Aksus have written and spoken out not only about local history and identity in the Hemshin region, but also on environmental matters, women’s rights, and Turkish politics, among other matters.
As a result of the couple’s arrest, their eight-year-old child, Arev, is now being taken care of by his aunt.
Read more: Two Armenian activists released from Turkish jail - PanARMENIAN.Net
Cemil Aksu and his wife, Nurcan Vayiç Aksu, were arrested by Turkish police due to social media posts that were critical of the Turkish government.
An author and environmental activist, Aksu, was arrested on October 25 in the city of Artvin for allegedly “praising crime and criminals” in his social media posts. Aksu is the local co-chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and is one of the editors of the Gor-Hemshin cultural magazine.
His wife, Nurcan, another activist of Armenian origin, was also taken into police custody on October 19 in a house raid due to her social media posts. Vayiç is a rights activist and a member of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP). The couple is from the town of Hopa in Artvin, in what is commonly known as the Hemshin region, around 12 miles of the Georgian border.
As long-time political activists and writers, the Aksus have written and spoken out not only about local history and identity in the Hemshin region, but also on environmental matters, women’s rights, and Turkish politics, among other matters.
As a result of the couple’s arrest, their eight-year-old child, Arev, is now being taken care of by his aunt.
Read more: Two Armenian activists released from Turkish jail - PanARMENIAN.Net
5/19/17
Germany: From the Bonn climate talks: Increasing ambition, inside and out. — by Douglas Fischer
Ambition is a recurring point of tension at the United Nations climate talks.
Activists keep pushing it. Scientists have made pretty clear we don't have enough of it. Those of us living a carbon-rich Western lifestyle have built-in pushback against it.
That conflict is how I found myself Tuesday at the back of a room packed with activists and other representatives, listening as Harro van Asselt, senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, called for more inclusion of "non-party" stakeholders in the UN climate talks.
First, a bit of history: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change arose in 1992 from a global concern that something had to be done about climate change.
Just what, exactly, has never been specified – and has consumed 25 years of annual talks. Preparation for the next round of talks this fall is underway right now in Bonn, and as usual those participating are broken into two main groups: "Parties" represent country governments."Observers" capture everybody else, from business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce to activists like Greenpeace to university researchers. Observers can send delegates to the talks (I teach, for instance, at Montana State University and have brought 11 student "observers" from my #climateclass here). Such delegates can speak at plenary sessions and, sometimes, participate in negotiations.
But the problem, van Asselt pointed out, is that in the end, when actual agreements are being hammered out, the only people at the table are the parties.
From van Asselt's view, governments tend to be dominated globally by fossil fuel and other entrenched interests, with little incentive to increase ambition. Nobody at the negotiating table, he said, has the inclination to "name and shame" countries into greater commitments.
I confess that, from the back of a room jammed pack with activists, I found the question curious. Civil society, from my view, has a strong presence here. And it often shapes the policies and people making up those governments at the negotiating table.
So I left that room and threaded my way across the cavernous Bonn World Conference Center, weaving past activists and observers, to a room where, by absolute chance, Prof. Samuel Frankhauser was presenting data showing the influence these talks—and the activists—have exerted on governments worldwide.
Frankhauser co-directs of the London School of Economics and Political Science's Grantham Research Institute. His team has tallied the amount of climate legislation worldwide and found 1,200 climate-related laws. The laws are in 164 countries, including 93 of the top 100 emitters.
That's up from 60 laws total just 20 years ago—a "huge amount" of lawmaking, he said. And it stems from the ambition coming out of these climate talks: He can trace 47 pieces of legislation directly to the 2015 Paris Agreement alone.
The sheer amount of lawmaking, he added, acts like a shock absorber to shifting political winds. The No. 1 topic nobody wants to discuss here, for instance, is President Trump's potential to dampen global ambition to cut planet-warming emissions. But as Frankhauser looks at his data, he concludes progress to date on climate will be hard to reverse.
"This is a body of law that is broad. It is big. It is deep. It is there to stay," he said.
Is that enough? Of course not. Frankhauser and many other groups have concluded laws and policies on the books are insufficient to meet promises made in Paris two years ago.
Read more: From the Bonn climate talks: Increasing ambition, inside and out. — The Daily Climate
Activists keep pushing it. Scientists have made pretty clear we don't have enough of it. Those of us living a carbon-rich Western lifestyle have built-in pushback against it.
That conflict is how I found myself Tuesday at the back of a room packed with activists and other representatives, listening as Harro van Asselt, senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, called for more inclusion of "non-party" stakeholders in the UN climate talks.
First, a bit of history: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change arose in 1992 from a global concern that something had to be done about climate change.
Just what, exactly, has never been specified – and has consumed 25 years of annual talks. Preparation for the next round of talks this fall is underway right now in Bonn, and as usual those participating are broken into two main groups: "Parties" represent country governments."Observers" capture everybody else, from business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce to activists like Greenpeace to university researchers. Observers can send delegates to the talks (I teach, for instance, at Montana State University and have brought 11 student "observers" from my #climateclass here). Such delegates can speak at plenary sessions and, sometimes, participate in negotiations.
But the problem, van Asselt pointed out, is that in the end, when actual agreements are being hammered out, the only people at the table are the parties.
From van Asselt's view, governments tend to be dominated globally by fossil fuel and other entrenched interests, with little incentive to increase ambition. Nobody at the negotiating table, he said, has the inclination to "name and shame" countries into greater commitments.
I confess that, from the back of a room jammed pack with activists, I found the question curious. Civil society, from my view, has a strong presence here. And it often shapes the policies and people making up those governments at the negotiating table.
So I left that room and threaded my way across the cavernous Bonn World Conference Center, weaving past activists and observers, to a room where, by absolute chance, Prof. Samuel Frankhauser was presenting data showing the influence these talks—and the activists—have exerted on governments worldwide.
Frankhauser co-directs of the London School of Economics and Political Science's Grantham Research Institute. His team has tallied the amount of climate legislation worldwide and found 1,200 climate-related laws. The laws are in 164 countries, including 93 of the top 100 emitters.
That's up from 60 laws total just 20 years ago—a "huge amount" of lawmaking, he said. And it stems from the ambition coming out of these climate talks: He can trace 47 pieces of legislation directly to the 2015 Paris Agreement alone.
The sheer amount of lawmaking, he added, acts like a shock absorber to shifting political winds. The No. 1 topic nobody wants to discuss here, for instance, is President Trump's potential to dampen global ambition to cut planet-warming emissions. But as Frankhauser looks at his data, he concludes progress to date on climate will be hard to reverse.
"This is a body of law that is broad. It is big. It is deep. It is there to stay," he said.
Is that enough? Of course not. Frankhauser and many other groups have concluded laws and policies on the books are insufficient to meet promises made in Paris two years ago.
Read more: From the Bonn climate talks: Increasing ambition, inside and out. — The Daily Climate
4/5/13
Russia: NGOs Facing Stiff Fines Amid 'Crackdown' - by Alexander Winning
Nongovernmental organizations across the country are being threatened with fines stretching to $20,000 or more, as authorities press on with sweeping checks that activists are calling a government-orchestrated crackdown on civil society.
Prosecutors have said the checks are aimed at uncovering extremist activity and are routine, but NGOs fear they are part of a wider campaign to bring the nongovernmental sector to heel. Many independent organizations say they would be forced to close if prosecutors follow through on threats of hefty fines.
"Several NGOs are being raided by prosecutors as we speak, and about a dozen have been sanctioned. But this is only the start. Eventually, I estimate that hundreds will be fined or sanctioned in other ways," said Pavel Chikov, a member of President Vladimir Putin's human rights council.
Russian prosecutors have strongly refuted claims that the NGO inspections are biased, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said during his weekly press briefing Thursday that authorities were "simply trying to bring discipline to the activities of foreign NGOs" and acting within the realms of Russian law.
U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul told the Russian Public Chamber on Thursday that, although he hoped the NGO checks would not strain U.S.-Russian relations, Washington was concerned about the "new challenges to contacts between our societies," Interfax reported.
Read more: NGOs Facing Stiff Fines Amid 'Crackdown' | News | The Moscow Times
Prosecutors have said the checks are aimed at uncovering extremist activity and are routine, but NGOs fear they are part of a wider campaign to bring the nongovernmental sector to heel. Many independent organizations say they would be forced to close if prosecutors follow through on threats of hefty fines.
"Several NGOs are being raided by prosecutors as we speak, and about a dozen have been sanctioned. But this is only the start. Eventually, I estimate that hundreds will be fined or sanctioned in other ways," said Pavel Chikov, a member of President Vladimir Putin's human rights council.
Russian prosecutors have strongly refuted claims that the NGO inspections are biased, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said during his weekly press briefing Thursday that authorities were "simply trying to bring discipline to the activities of foreign NGOs" and acting within the realms of Russian law.
U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul told the Russian Public Chamber on Thursday that, although he hoped the NGO checks would not strain U.S.-Russian relations, Washington was concerned about the "new challenges to contacts between our societies," Interfax reported.
Read more: NGOs Facing Stiff Fines Amid 'Crackdown' | News | The Moscow Times
1/18/13
Turkey: Tens of thousands gather in Turkey for Kurd activists' funeral -
Tens of thousands of Kurds gathered in a square in the main city of Turkey's Kurd-majority southeast on Thursday to pay a final tribute to three Kurdish activists who were assassinated in Paris last week.
Tens of thousands gathered Thursday for the funeral ceremony of three Kurdish activists who were shot dead in Paris in an attack many believe was an attempt to derail peace talks. Kurdish legislators, meanwhile, vowed to support peace efforts to end the decades-long conflict between Turkey and autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels.
The three female activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were slain last week at a time when Turkey is engaged in talks with the rebels’ jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to persuade his group to disarm.
Read more: Tens of thousands gather in Turkey for Kurd activists' funeral - TURKEY - FRANCE 24
Tens of thousands gathered Thursday for the funeral ceremony of three Kurdish activists who were shot dead in Paris in an attack many believe was an attempt to derail peace talks. Kurdish legislators, meanwhile, vowed to support peace efforts to end the decades-long conflict between Turkey and autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels.
The three female activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were slain last week at a time when Turkey is engaged in talks with the rebels’ jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to persuade his group to disarm.
Read more: Tens of thousands gather in Turkey for Kurd activists' funeral - TURKEY - FRANCE 24
10/27/12
Russia detains top opposition leaders in Moscow - by Maria Antonova
Russian police detained several opposition leaders, including Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, during a protest held in Moscow Saturday against the latest wave of arrests of political activists.
Police claimed the detained activists violated public order after about 200 people gathered around the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) with signs protesting political repression against the opposition, including allegations of torture by one activist.
Anti-corruption campaigner Navalny, Left Front movement leader Udaltsov, and fellow opposition leader Ilya Yashin tweeted from the police station, where they were taken together with several other protesters.
"I was walking on the sidewalk. They detained me without any explanation," Udaltsov, one of the prominent organisers of mass protests against President Vladimir Putin, said on his Twitter account.
"Alexei Navalny has been detained," Navalny's spokeswoman Anna Veduta said on Twitter. "People have blocked the road shouting 'SHAME'."
Read more: AFP: Russia detains top opposition leaders in Moscow
Police claimed the detained activists violated public order after about 200 people gathered around the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) with signs protesting political repression against the opposition, including allegations of torture by one activist.
Anti-corruption campaigner Navalny, Left Front movement leader Udaltsov, and fellow opposition leader Ilya Yashin tweeted from the police station, where they were taken together with several other protesters.
"I was walking on the sidewalk. They detained me without any explanation," Udaltsov, one of the prominent organisers of mass protests against President Vladimir Putin, said on his Twitter account.
"Alexei Navalny has been detained," Navalny's spokeswoman Anna Veduta said on Twitter. "People have blocked the road shouting 'SHAME'."
Read more: AFP: Russia detains top opposition leaders in Moscow
4/15/12
Israel didn't have grounds to bar entry of 40% of 'fly-in' protesters - by Barak Ravid
"Forty percent of the non-Israeli citizens who were blacklisted and not permitted entry into Israel on Sunday were kept out even though the Shin Bet security service had no concrete information showing they were connected with so-called fly-in protest. This information comes from a high-ranking Israeli source with knowledge of the blacklist, who added that the Shin Bet also had no solid grounds for believing that 470 of the 1,200 people whom Israel labeled as "pro-Palestinian activists" intended to do anything illegal."
For more: Source: Israel didn't have grounds to bar entry of 40% of 'fly-in' protesters - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
For more: Source: Israel didn't have grounds to bar entry of 40% of 'fly-in' protesters - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
Israel blocks pro-Palestinian 'fly-in' - by Dan Balilty
Israel detained dozens of international activists as they landed at its main airport on Sunday, preventing them from entering the country to participate in a planned solidarity mission with Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel said the activists, part of an umbrella group called "Welcome to Palestine," were provocateurs who posed a security threat. But organizers said the event, meant to draw attention to Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinians, was nonviolent, and they accused Israel of using heavy-handed tactics to stamp out legitimate protest.
Israel is jittery about the prospect of a large influx of foreign protesters arriving because of deadly confrontations with pro-Palestinian activists in the past. In the worst instance, Israeli naval commandos clashed with activists on board a flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010, killing nine activists.
For more: Israel blocks pro-Palestinian 'fly-in' - World - CBC News
Israel said the activists, part of an umbrella group called "Welcome to Palestine," were provocateurs who posed a security threat. But organizers said the event, meant to draw attention to Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinians, was nonviolent, and they accused Israel of using heavy-handed tactics to stamp out legitimate protest.
Israel is jittery about the prospect of a large influx of foreign protesters arriving because of deadly confrontations with pro-Palestinian activists in the past. In the worst instance, Israeli naval commandos clashed with activists on board a flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010, killing nine activists.
For more: Israel blocks pro-Palestinian 'fly-in' - World - CBC News
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