· November, 2007

Stories about Protest from November, 2007

Georgia: Media Doubts

  12 November 2007

Casting doubts over the reliability of the media in the South Caucasus, TOL Georgia says that an earlier report about one protester dying as a result of the clash in Tbilisi last week has been removed from the pro-opposition news source. During the April 2004 crackdown on opposition protests in...

Iran:Several Sufi Muslims Arrested

  11 November 2007

According to [Fa]Gonabadi blog,security forces attacked Sufi Muslims (dervishes) in Borujerd in Lorestan province and arrested more than 200 of them. The blogger says about 50 of these Sufi Muslims were beaten up and got injured.International media reports this event too.

Georgia: Discontent

  11 November 2007

Social Science in the Caucasus, the blog of the Caucasus Resource Research Center, takes the opportunity after last week's unrest in Tbilisi to analyze data collected since 2004 on the level of discontent in Georgian society.

Georgia: Accusations

  10 November 2007

Resistance Georgia points the finger at the Deputy Chair of Parliamentary Defence Committee for masterminding last week's suppression and violent dispersal of an opposition protest in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Incidentally, the anti-Saakashvili blog by human rights lawyer Anna Dolidze has also been quoted by the New York Times.

Georgia: Ambassador Resigns

  10 November 2007

Resistance Georgia and TOL Georgia report that Levan Mikeladze has resigned as Georgian Ambassador to Switzerland in protest at last week's police crackdown in Tbilisi. TOL Georgia applauds the diplomat for his courage while Resistance Georgia reproduces his letter explaining why.

Georgia: Non-violent Resistance

  10 November 2007

Via TOL Georgia and Unzipped, the former President of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Anna Dolidze, has set up a blog dedicated to “non-violent resistance to Saakashvili's dictatorial regime in Georgia.”

Georgia: Democracy in Crisis

  10 November 2007

TOL Georgia reports that democracy is in crisis in Georgia and says that it is obvious that Saakashvili will do anything in order to avoid the fate of his predecessor who he was responsible for removing from power in 2003.

Russia: Aleksei Pichugin's Trial Blogger Nominated for the BOBs

  9 November 2007

For the second year in a row, LJ user sivilia-1 (Russian journalist Vera Vasilieva) is taking part in Deutsche Welle's Best of the Blogs Awards (the BOBs). Her blog is devoted to coverage of the case of Aleksei Pichugin, former security chief of former oil giant Yukos, sentenced to life in prison for involvement in at least three murders; his arrest in 2003 marked the beginning of the Kremlin's attack against Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In the post translated below, sivilia-1 explains to her critics the choice of her blogging subject matter.

Georgia: Update

  9 November 2007

Oneworld Multimedia has posted an update on the situation in Georgia following the declaration of a state of emergency after this week's clashes with police in central Tbilisi. The blog also notes that the former French Ambassador to Georgia and ex-Georgian Foreign Minister has said that she will consider running...

Georgia: A True Democrat?

  9 November 2007

La Russophobe says that the decision by Mikhail Saakashili to hold an early presidential election is sign that the Georgian president is a “true democrat.” The blog argues that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, would not have done the same under similar circumstances.

Georgia: Election Gamble

  8 November 2007

Registan also has more on news that a early presidential election has been scheduled for January 5 in Georgia. The blog says that the move by the country's president is “tentatively good news for Georgia and the US” and “hopefully will put Georgia back on more or less the right...

Georgia: Early Presidential Election

  8 November 2007

TOL Georgia reports that an early presidential election has been called for January following clashes with police in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. In an earlier post, the same blog asks who is to blame for the situation in the country.

Ukraine: 1,000 Riot Police vs 50 Crimean Tatars

  8 November 2007

Ukrainiana critiques TV coverage of the recent clash between nearly a thousand of Ukrainian riot police and 50 Crimean Tatars at Mount Ay-Petri in Crimea – and asks some questions: “Why is it that some have to bear the full brunt of the law while others stay above the law?...

Pakistan: Student Protests, Police and the Underground Life

  8 November 2007

Students in Pakistan have joined activists in protesting the state of emergency imposed in the country. On 3rd November, the Lahore School of Management Sciences (LUMS) released a draft resolution on behalf of the faculty, students and staff condemning “gross political injustices that the nation has experienced in the past...

Georgia: Armenia Urges Political Solution

  8 November 2007

Oneworld Multimedia says that the Armenian Foreign Ministry has urged a “political solution” to the crisis in neighboring Georgia. As up to 90 percent of Armenian trade passes through Georgia, the blog says that such a declaration was to be expected.

Georgia: Online Petition

  8 November 2007

Unzipped posts details of and a link to an online petition which calls upon the international community to intervene in Georgia following yesterday's clash in central Tbilisi. It also requests the release of political prisoners, the lifting of the state of emergency as well as an end to restrictions on...