Clipmarks | invictus's Democracy collection

Five Women Buried Alive - and the Media Ignore It

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:43:15 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Last month, the U.S. media were full of stories about the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan. But another event that same week in Pakistan -- that tribesmen buried five young women alive for wanting to choose their own husbands -- got almost no coverage.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the women's "crime" was that they defied tribal elders and arranged marriages to men of their own choosing in a civil court. They were abducted at gunpoint by some men and dragged off to a remote field, where they were beaten, shot, thrown into a ditch, and then, while still breathing, smothered to death with rocks and mud.

Yet not even when a member of the Pakistani parliament, Israr Ullah Zehri, defended these barbaric killings as "century-old traditions" -- when he said that killing women who defy male control by wanting to chose their own husbands is necessary to "stop obscenity" -- was there international outrage.

Tags: pakistan, human rights, murder, traditions, women, democracy

Myanmar's fascist junta extends Suu Kyi house arrest

Tue, 27 May 2008 21:38:47 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Those who showed their incompetence to aid the cyclone victims, proving their determinism to oppress Myanmar people. If this knave, filthy junta still holds the power and dares to extend Suu Kyi's arrest arrogantly, only one thing can be said: Shame on the world.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, a move that dismayed some of the Western nations who promised millions of dollars in aid after Cyclone Nargis.

Officials drove to the Nobel laureate's lakeside Yangon home to read out an extension order in person, said a government official, who asked not to be identified.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who just returned to New York from a weeklong aid mission in Myanmar, expressed disappointment but refrained from sharp criticism.

"I regret the decision of the government of Myanmar to extend for a second consecutive year the detention and the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi," Ban said.

The 62-year-old Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a 1990 election by a landslide only to be denied power by the army, has now spent nearly 13 of the last 18 years under some form of arrest.

Tags: myanmar, aung san suu kyi, fascism, asia, junta

Stop Arming Israel and Saudi Arabia

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:34:46 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: mrzine.monthlyreview.org

Bush's renewed arming of Saudi Arabia and Israel forces the issue. But we can turn his scheme against him and the Democrats, equally guilty of such outrages. The old saying is "a mountain only stands out because of the flatness of the surrounding ground." They have gotten away with their crimes because no movement focused on confronting our educated with the complete range of their international religious demagoguery. They built European Christian Democratic parties against Stalinism, patronized the creation of an Orthodox Jewish state, organized an Islamic front on the Soviet Union's borders, culminating with the arming of such terrorists against the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan.

If we resolutely challenge Bush now, we can generate enough discussion of the potentially disastrous consequences of the deal that, even if we can't stop Congress from funding it, we can continue, confident that we will convince enough people in reasonable time.

Tags: united states, bush administration, israel, saudi arabia, hypocrisy

Turkey moves to change speech law

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:04:35 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Opponents of Article 301 say the law does not allow free speech

The Turkish government says it will change a controversial law restricting freedom of expression.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said a new bill would be put before the Turkish parliament in the coming days.

The law, known as Article 301, bans perceived insults to Turkish identity or the country's institutions.

It has often been invoked by nationalists against those who argue the Ottoman empire committed genocide against Armenians.

"Several drafts have been prepared in line with proposals by civic groups. The cabinet will discuss them at first opportunity, select one and submit it to parliament," Mr Sahin told Anatolia news agency.

He did not give details of how the law would be reformed.

Nobel-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink were both prosecuted under the law for their comments on the mass killings of Armenians.

Tags: turkey, free speech, democracy, freedom of expression

Burma, Chevron, slave labor, Rice and more

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:51:21 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.

Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm.

The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.

Tags: burma, chevron, capitalism, condoleezza rice, imperialism, hypocrisy

Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:37:07 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Benazir Bhutto made a dramatic return to Pakistan on Thursday, ending eight years of exile to launch an ambitious political comeback, as tens of thousands of supporters gathered to greet her amid massive security.

Bhutto, who is expected to seek the premiership for an unprecedented third time and partner in ruling Pakistan with U.S.-backed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was in tears as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where jubilant crowds of flag-waving, drum-thumping supporters waited to give her a rousing welcome.

"I counted the hours, I counted the minutes and the seconds, just to see this land, to see the grass, to see the sky. I feel so emotionally overwhelmed," said Bhutto, who wore a white headscarf and clutched prayer beads in her right hand.

"And I hope that I can live up to the great expectations which people here have," she said.

Tags: benazir bhutto, pakistan, asia

Global Hypocrisy on Burma

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:59:03 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

As for the Burmese people themselves what the world’s wilful impotence in dealing with their brutal rulers indicates is that ultimately they will have to achieve democratic rule in Burma entirely on their own strength.

The people of the world will of course support them in whatever way they can but to expect governments around the globe to help topple the Burmese military regime is as unrealistic as asking the regime to step down on its own. There is no option but to keep the struggle going.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

As the Burmese military brutally cracks down on a popular uprising of its citizens demanding democracy the question on many minds is – so what is the world going to do about it?

From the trend visible so far the answer is simple- nothing at all.

Nothing, that is, beyond the usual condemnations and pious appeals for ‘peaceful dialogue’ and the posturing at international forums in support of the Burmese people.

It is not that nothing can be done at all – to begin with, how about kicking the illegitimate military regime out of the UN seat it continues to occupy and replacing it with the country’s elected government-in-exile? Why should Burma continue to be a member of ASEAN or for that matter, by default, also of the Asia-Europe Meeting or ASEM?

The answers to these elementary questions are quite elementary too- it is Burma’s abundant natural resources and investment opportunities that really matter.

Tags: burma, myanmar, world, hypocrisy

Monks keep up protests from prison

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:44:09 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Thanks to Sahara for the source link.

Clip Source: www.buddhistchannel.tv

Even in a makeshift prison, stripped of their crimson robes, Myanmar's monks are still defying the orders of the military regime that smashed their protests last week.

Many of the imprisoned monks are refusing to touch food from their military captors, symbolically maintaining their boycott of the Myanmar regime, according to reports emerging yesterday from unofficial sources in the isolated country.

Tags: burma, myanmar, buddhist monks, resistance, democracy

More arrests in Burma

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:45:40 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Myanmar's junta arrested more people on Wednesday hours after the departure of a U.N. envoy who came to the country to try to end a ruthless crackdown on protests which sparked international outrage.

At least eight truckloads of prisoners were hauled out of downtown Yangon, the former Burma's biggest city and center of last week's monk-led protests against decades of military rule and deepening economic hardship, witnesses said.

In one house near the Shwedagon Pagoda, the holiest shrine in the devoutly Buddhist country and starting point for the rallies, only a 13-year-old girl remained. Her parents had been taken, she said.

"They warned us not to run away as they might be back," she said after people from rows of shop houses were ordered onto the street in the middle of the night and many taken away.

Tags: burma, myanmar, asia, democracy, human rights, junta

Monks to be sent to prisons in Burma

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:14:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Myanmar dictatorship tries to curb the resistance by pushing the oppression further. Now monks, disrobed and shackled, will be sent to prisons, according to rumours.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Monks are absent, but people in Rangoon are going about their lives

Thousands of monks detained in Burma's main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC.

About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.

They are being held at a disused race course and a technical college.

Sources from a government-sponsored militia said they would soon be moved away from Rangoon.

The monks have been disrobed and shackled, the sources told BBC radio's Burmese service. There are reports that the monks are refusing to eat.

Tags: burma, myanmar, monks, resistance, oppression, asia, human rights, democracy

Burma's struggle, Aung San Suu Kyi's role

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:21:37 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.opendemocracy.net

Since the terrible events of “8-8-88”, millions of Burma's people have endured continuing repression, suffering, hunger and hardship under a pitiless dictatorship. But if they do not give in to the temptation of despair, much of the reason lies in the fortitude and constancy of Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who in surviving three periods of house arrest (of which the current one is the most severe and isolating) has proved herself an inspiration to her people.

Daw Suu (Daw = “auntie” in Burmese, a prefix of respect for a mature lady) is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and the recipient of the Nobel peace prize in 1991. Today, she will not be able to join her friends and colleagues to mark this melancholy anniversary. But in her Rangoon confinement, she must know that all Burmese who care for their country's freedom and future are connected to each other partly through the living presence of The Lady.

Tags: aung san suu kyi, burma, democracy, freedom

Satellites confirm reports of Myanmar violence

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 01:06:37 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images confirm reports earlier this year of burned villages, forced relocations and other human rights abuses in Myanmar, scientists said on Friday.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science said the high-resolution photographs taken by commercial satellites document a growing military presence at 25 sites across eastern Myanmar, matching eyewitness reports.

"We found evidence of 18 villages that essentially disappeared," AAAS researcher Lars Bromley said in an interview.

"We got reporting in late April that a set of villages in Karen state had been burned. We were actually able to identify burn scars on the ground -- square-shaped burn scars the size of houses."

Myanmar, formerly Burma, is suffering its worst unrest since a 1988 rebellion by students and monks.

The military government in the poor and isolated Southeast Asian country has long been accused of repression.

Tags: asia, burma, myanmar, democracy, human rights, oppression, satellite images

Turkey censors Wordpress; blogs can't be accessed

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:53:02 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: When I tried to post a new entry to my blog a few minutes ago, I came across this page. It says: "Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance."

At first, I thought it was my blog but after trying to access Wordpress.com's main page, I noticed the total Wordpress.com domain was blocked by the authorities.

Another ridiculous example of censorship on the Internet content, in Turkey. there are hundred thousands of blogs on Wordpress.com and none can be accessed from Turkey now.

This decision of the court is a shame for a country which claims to respect free speech. I protest this unfair blockage on Wordpress and call all the Turkish bloggers to support free speech and to condemn censorship.

Clip Source: wordpress.com

Bu siteye erişim mahkeme kararıyla engellenmiştir.

T.C. Fatih 2.Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi 2007/195 Nolu Kararı gereği bu siteye erişim engellenmiştir.

Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.

Tags: turkey, internet, censorship, wordpress, free speech

Wordpress.com is accessible again in Turkey

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:19:36 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: The ban was lifted and Wordpress.com blogs are accesible from Turkey, via Telekom's DNS servers. Still there is not an official statement and all I could find was this comment on Matt's (Wordpress.com founder) blog, posted by a Turkish user. According to rumours, an officer from the Army was spreading critical information using his blog on Wordpress.com and "some inexperienced technical employee" at Turk Telekom blocked the whole Wordpress domain, "instead of just banning that blog", when the court's written order arrived. Let's wait for monday, for further explanations.

Clip Source: photomatt.net

Hi,

As we have stated here in Turkish:

http://www.fazlamesai.net/?a=article&cmode=nested&sid=4674#30986

the issue is about some government officer (military related) spreading some information. This critical situation led to a fast court order and the district attorney issued a written order to TTNet, the main Internet and ADSL service provider of Turkey. They had to obey this legal order but some inexperienced technical employee blocked the whole wordpress.com domain in the DNS servers which led to this mess. In a few minutes a techical middle manager realized the situation and took required action. Within a few hours the wordpress.com domain was available (except the problematic blog which is still being blocked due to legal orders). The inexperienced employee is about to leave the job.

This is the situation now, provided FYI.

Tags: turkey, internet, wordpress