5.02.10 democratization

Reinstate Malalai Joya to Afghanistan's Parliament: Feminist Banned for Honesty

Joya at a UNIFEM conference, Photo: AfghanKabul, 2007

Summary:

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The Burmese Cyclone, Nonviolent Action, and the Responsibility to Empower

Pushing the relief truck out of the mud, photo: Beyond Rangoon Project, May 17, 2008
Authors: Patrick Meier

Summary:

It is not acceptable to let regimes like Burma's dictate the rules of humanitarian intervention.

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Stop the Killing: Arab Activists Call for Ending the Death Penalty in Arab Countries

Egyptian labor bloggers Hossam el-Hamalawy and Kareem el-Beheiry. Kareem was jailed from April to early June 2008 after promoting and covering an April 6 general strike (partially organized via Facebook!) and ongoing independent labor union activism cente

Summary:

Sharia'a law insists that room be left for forgiveness and reconciliation.

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A Politics of Inclusion: An Interview with Egyptian Democracy Advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim

 Following a fire in the Qale't el-Kabsh slum of Cairo, residents were promised replacement housing and compensation, but many received nothing. After a prosecutor told residents and the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights that they would not pursue

Summary:

Women got upset and marched to the Royal Palace. The King called me and said, 'Saad, do you see what is happening?' I said, 'Yes, but that is democracy, your Majesty.'

From

The Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change

Summary:

The process of change has begun. It is not directed against anyone, but requires everyone's efforts.

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Syrian Human Rights Defenders Brave Jail: Repression Met with Waves of Resistance

Syrian stamps celebrating the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Photo: Joseph Morris

Summary:

Ali Abdullah has been jailed three times. One of his sons is serving a five-year sentence for involvement in a pro-democracy youth group. The other chose exile.

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Diversity is the Revolution: The Tharwa Manifesto for Nonviolent Change in the Middle East

Families of Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, and Egyptian men who disappeared into Syrian prisons during the Lebanese civil war staged a sit-in protest in front of the UN House in Beirut for more than a year. photo: E. Zarwan,June 27, 2006

Summary:

We approach our struggle in the spirit of hope, love, and magnanimity.

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Fighting Repression with Love: The Traumatic Effects on Women who Speak Out

Vote Poster

Summary:

Instead of addressing the issues that the women are protesting about, the government has responded by using brutal force and attacking anybody who engages in peaceful demonstrations and protests, even peaceful ones.

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"Z" is for Zimbabwe: Silence & Turmoil as a Country Potentially Unravels

Article 21 poster
Authors: Bill Fletcher Jr.

Summary:

Colleagues of mine in Zimbabwe were jailed and tortured by the Mugabe administration, but I was expected by pro-Mugabe activists in the USA to say nothing, and indeed, to deny everything.

From

The Zimbabwe We Want

Summary:

Zimbabwe needs a new national vision to restore our self-confidence, dignity, and hope.

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