· January, 2007

Stories about Protest from January, 2007

Kurdistance: The Kirkuk Referendum

  31 January 2007

While the Kirkuk Referendum isn't expected to take place until December 2007, it is creating waves within Kurdistan, Iraq and their neighbors. Why the flurry of activity now? The Iraq Study Report recommended that the referendum be delayed, citing the the area as a “powderkeg”. The Republic of Turkey wants...

Nepal: Madhesh Is Burning

  31 January 2007

Madhesh is the southern plains of Nepal where half of the country lives. Madhesi are the people of Nepal, roughly half of the country. The Madhesi have been discriminated against for centuries. Now they are in a revolt that feels like the second part of the world shaking April Revolution....

Peru: Racism at the Beach

  31 January 2007

They say that to work is no offence, that there is no job that one should be ashamed of. It sounds logical, but not everyone seems to think that way. Many Peruvians, some think too many, leave their motherland to look for a better job opportunity abroad, where they often...

Swahili Blogosphere: CIA's Role in the Zanzibar Revolution, Bloggers Association, The Wretched of the Earth, and Protesting UK's $12M Secret Payment

  30 January 2007

Following their virtual conference last November, Tanzanian bloggers are currently discussing the details of the organization they are intending to form. A blog has been set up by the interim committe, to facilitate the process. So far, they have chosen the name for the organization, Jumuiya ya Wanablogu Tanzania (the...

South Korea: latest development in Daechuri

  30 January 2007

Days in Daechuri has the latest updates on the anti military base movement in Daechuri: The villagers, exhausted by several years of resistance to government threats and attacks, have in principle agreed to move out of their village. However, other Koreans continue to organize against the US base expansion.

Guinea: Victory over Dictatorship?

  29 January 2007

Seckasysteme comments on the end of a national strike in Guinea last week that resulted in the signing of an encouraging agreement with the Lansana Conte regime (Fr): “The 17 days of violence with their arrests, killings, persecutions and sacrifices of all sorts were worth it for the valliant people...

Arabisc: Egyptian Bloggers Tie the Knot

  29 January 2007

Like in Egyptian movies, there is a thin line between imagination and reality in Egypt, where two politically active bloggers get close to each other at an anti-government rally, then fall in love and finally get married. Blogger Albara Ashraf reports this happy story, without failing to conjure some of...

Kenya: courage is not enough

  29 January 2007

Mental Acrobatics on why courage is not enough, “Courage is not enough. We saw it from the youth, we saw it from Githongo. To succeed in your goals, you need strategy as well.”

Israel: Jamming Against Forced Prostitution

  26 January 2007

Tel Avivian blogger Yohay Elam today attended a jamming session to make noise against forced prostitution. “Hundreds of women are held against their will in central cities in Israel, and “employed” as prostitutes. The authorities know where they are, and don’t act to release them. The media usually ignores these...

Trinidad & Tobago: Nationwide shut-down and media hype

  26 January 2007

Keith Francis questions the quality of some of the information being circulated by the media and others about the events surrounding yesterday's nationwide shut-down in Trinidad and Tobago, including the arrest of the shut-down's organiser. The shut-down is supposed to continue today.

Bolivia: 1/11: An Eyewitness Account

  25 January 2007

Jim Shultz on the violent protests that broke out in Cochabamba two weeks ago: “Since then I have also spoken to a half dozen people who were eyewitnesses to those events. One of those accounts, from a non-participant, Jonas Brown, a US citizen who lives in the exact spot where...

Arabisc: Hijab-clad Doll Under Fire in Tunisia

  25 January 2007

This is Fulla, the Hijab-clad Arab Muslim adaptation of the decadent West's Barbie doll. Our Barbie wears the Hijab (head scarf) and Islamic attire – a long dress with long sleeves. While she is a blessing to many parents in the Muslim world who are happy to see their children...

Latvia: Border Dispute

  25 January 2007

Marginalia writes about Latvia's border dispute with Russia and about “putting things in order”: “When a state “puts things in order,” it has a sad tendency to forget real people and real places, methinks.”

Trinidad & Tobago: National shutdown

  25 January 2007

Taran Rampersad, Roslyn and Hassan Voyeau weigh in on the national shutdown which is supposed to be taking place in Trinidad and Tobago today. Taran has also posted a photo of the promotional flyer on Flickr.

Kenya: conscious music from the slums

  25 January 2007

From Pambazuka News at the World Social Forum, “As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, conscious musicians Hope Raisers speak to Robtel Pailey from Pambazuka News about their music, justice and the obstacles they face being political artists living in the slums of Nairobi.”

Ukraine: Two Years of Yushchenko's Presidency

  25 January 2007

Two years ago, Dan and Lesya McMinn of Orange Ukraine were among hundreds of thousands of people who came to Kyiv's Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) on Jan. 23 to listen to Victor Yushchenko's inaugural speech. As many others, they had to overcome quite a few obstacles to catch a glimpse...