· October, 2006

Stories about Protest from October, 2006

Poland: News and Opinion

  31 October 2006

The beatroot writes about media freedom in the EU, the fear of the Polish plumber (again; 70 comments so far), a Sudanese woman giving birth on a bus in Warsaw, and a few other matters.

China: Writings on the walls

  31 October 2006

Back in the day, big character posters were mostly used for vile purposes, so when they started popping up recently on shop fronts in a remote corner of China's Yunnan province, it's no surprise mention was made at major Chinese forum Tianya. From Tianya blogger Big Reporter (大记者): 云南石林县惊现”大字报” Shilin...

Mexico: First Hand Account of Oaxaca Violence

  31 October 2006

Having met Bradley Will a week before his death in Oaxaca, British Journalist John Dickey asks, “does a gringo always have to die for the world to act?” Dickey also adds: “What you probably won’t hear either is that the APPO people do not carry any firearms. Their only weapons...

Hugo Chavez in the Iranian left-wing blogs

  31 October 2006

Hugo Chavez, the leftist Venezuelan President, has developed a very friendly relationship with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Islamist President. Iran even awarded the Venezuelan President its highest state medal for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff against the international community. This alliance was discussed a couple of months ago among...

Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will

  30 October 2006

Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico. It's ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca, with the shooting...

Kyrgyzstan: Lack of Competence

  30 October 2006

Mirsulzhan Namazaliev writes that both the government and the opposition in Kyrgyzstan are destabilizing the country by failing to engage in dialogue. He says that only well-known and respectable centrist politicians can fix this situation.

Voices from Zimbabwe

  30 October 2006

Following recent reports chronicling the decline in Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS prevalence, the spotlight has now been turned on to the effect anti-AIDS campaigns have wrought on traditional Zimbabwean morals and values: Zimbabwe's lead in condom use and condom sale worldwide has produced mixed reactions, with some sections of society welcoming the...

Bangladesh in Turmoil

  29 October 2006

Bangladesh is going through turbulent times as the row over an interim caretaker government chief persists who will lead the country towards the upcoming parliament election in January 2007. This unique caretaker government (CTG) system adopted in Bangladesh constitution worked in past three elections. However this time the opposition parties...

Russia: LJ and Politics

  28 October 2006

On October 25, International Herald Tribune published Evgeny Morozov's opinion piece on the recent developments in the Russian blogosphere. On his blog – Sharp & Sound: Perspectives On Modern Politics – Morozov wrote: […] I’ve been surprised how little coverage the story has received in the Western media…Hm, virtually none…...

Mexico: Teachers Return to Classrooms, APPO Wants Proof

  27 October 2006

Mark in Mexico says that all hell broke loose once the striking Oaxacan teachers voted to return to their classrooms: : APPO has begun to lock down the city. There were the usual charges of vote manipulation to which a union spokesman replied, ‘If someone's going to level such charges,...

Indonesia: Rise of Democracy

  26 October 2006

Adam's Gecko in Bangkok looks at the rise of democracy and de-centralisation of power in Indonesia. The blogger has interesting perspectives from a trip to Indonesia in 1992, just after a pro-democracy movement in Thailand.

Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus

  26 October 2006

Alpine Pastures – Jailoo (c) Christopher Herwig, www.herwigphotos.com It's time to strike our tents (or Kyrgyz yurts in the Jailoo in this case), the summer is over (although in Kazakhstan's capital Astana there's snow even in August…). Which also means more time for Central Asia buffs to spend in front...

Ethiopia: this was a massacre

  26 October 2006

The Sub-Saharan Africa Roundtable declares, “This was a massacre,”: “Ethiopia struck me as a story of crucial importance. Parliamentary elections had just been held on May 15, and the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy charged fraud upon the announcement of the results. Anti-government demonstrations transformed into riots, which Ethiopian...

DRC, Belgium: Anti-Kabila Demonstration

  26 October 2006

Congolese demonstrating in Brussels last weekend. Photo by Etienne Ngandu. In anticipation of the presidential runoff taking place this Sunday, October 29 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, opposing Jean-Pierre Bemba to incumbent Joseph Kabila, a demonstration took place in Brussels, Belgium last weekend in qualified support of Bemba but...

Voices from South Asia

  26 October 2006

Bangladesh: - What does Bangladesh need now for a better future? Angelmorn has a ten point prescription. - Rifat of Close your eyes and try to see is critic about the noise pollution in Bangladesh, especially using the loudspeakers. - Shafiur of imperfect world | 2006 informs that many of...