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March 03 2012
Russia: A Last-Minute Overview of Pre-Election Blogging
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
On Dec. 31, 1999, as Russians were celebrating New Year's Eve, a holiday that transcends religion and politics, President Boris Yeltsin went on the air and announced that Vladimir Putin would be instated as acting President. Before signing off, he added: “I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true. And also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes.”
In the aftermath of the devastating apartment bombings that occurred in September 1999 and the launching of the Second Chechen War, Mr. Putin's sole platform for the 2000 Russian presidential election was counter-terrorism in the North Caucasus. Beyond that, Mr. Putin refused to campaign or to join a political party. Nevertheless, he finished first among the 11 candidates with 53% of the vote - and the “Putin Era” began.
Twelve years later, Mr Putin's candidacy seems much more turbulent, as protesters took to the the streets alleging improprieties in the Dec. 2011 parliamentary elections. Still, polling data suggests that he is heading into Sunday's election with the support of the majority of the electorate.
Protesters hold a poster against the Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin during a rally for fair elections in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo by MIKE KIREEV, copyright © Demotix (25/02/12).
For World Affairs Journal Blog, Vladimir Kara-Murza contextualized the March 4 election in a post entitled, “In Sunday's Vote, It's Putin Vs. Russia”:
On Monday, Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki was at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, attending a performance of Rodion Shchedrin’s opera Dead Souls. As the performance was getting underway, spectators noticed Penderecki in the box and started booing. The legendary musician was bewildered, not understanding the reason for such hostility. Only later was it explained to him that the audience mistook him for Vladimir Churov, the chairman of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission — to whom he indeed bears an uncanny resemblance.
As Sunday’s presidential election draws near, the public frustration with Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly apparent. Over the weekend, thousands of Muscovites formed a human chain alongside the 10-mile Garden Ring Road — inspired by the pro-independence “Baltic Way” of 1989 — to protest Putin’s return to power and demand free and fair elections. In St. Petersburg, thousands of people from across the political spectrum marched through the city center calling for “a peaceful revolution.” Attitudes to the regime are also being expressed in less political ways: a mock Channel One “news report” from the future showing Putin’s arrest and trial in Moscow became an instant online hit, with five million views in one week. […]
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog provided the background for the candidates running against Mr. Putin:
[…] Indeed, the Russian presidential election has been anything but ordinary. Sure, the official cast of characters remains virtually identical to past contests, save a few additions. Communist Party stalwart, Gennady Ziuganov still plays the role of “loyal opposition in-chief,” the aging face of a Communist Party that has the organizational resources to actually present a political alternative to Putin, but lacks the so-called “Leninist will” to adapt to present political conditions. Part of that adaption, however, would require dumping Ziuganov and forsake its aging electorate, something the KPRF mandarins and rank and file are still unwilling to do. Opposite Ziuganov is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, another perennial “loyal oppositionist.” Zhirik plays the harlequin in this grand performance, adding outrageous, comic relief to a show already thin on drama. In a way, Zhirinovsky reflects the whole process itself, a clown for a clownish spectacle. Then there is Mikhail Prokhorov, the new addition to the cast. Prokhorov serves as a kind of Khodorkovsky-lite (since the real Khodorkovsky is less pliable and, well, in jail for the foreseeable future). An oligarch who “made” the bulk of his wealth in the “loans for shares” scheme that saved Boris Yeltsin from defeat in the 1996 Presidential election, Prokhorov, unlike Khodorkovsky, not only understood the rules of the game, but also played them correctly. But the biggest question that has dogged Prokhorov is not his past, but whether he’s a Kremlin project or not. I suspect that he’s a mixture. One thing is clear to me after reading Julia Ioffe’s profile of him in the New Yorker is that Prokhorov’s biggest obstacle is that he’s a sleazeball. Bringing up the rear is Just Russia’s candidate, Sergei Mironov. His candidacy only inspires one question: Who’s he? […]
Along with the results of the election itself, freedom of expression has been a resounding issue for the past few months.
Committee to Protect Journalists Blog provided details to the backlash the Russian media endured after its coverage of the protests surrounding the controversial Dec. 2011 parliamentary elections:
[…] On December 12, Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, owner of the Kommersant Publishing House - which produces independent business daily Kommersant and several other news outlets - announced that he was sacking Maksim Kovalsky, chief editor of the popular weekly magazine Kommersant-Vlast. Demyan Kudryavtsev, the publisher's executive director, announced he would resign. The news was a huge blow, as Kovalsky and Kudryavtsev are leading journalists and considered fathers of Kommersant and its publisher.
The magazine's coverage of the parliamentary election was surely the reason for Kommersant's beheading. A week after the vote, most of Kommersant-Vlast's coverage was of the alleged fraud that led to public outrage and protests unprecedented in Russia in the past decade. But Usmanov - believed to be in Putin's close circle - zeroed in on a formal reason to punish the magazine. In its December 12 issue, Kommersant-Vlast published a picture of a ballot cast in London for the opposition Yabloko party; the ballot carried a hand-written insult to Putin across it. Usmanov publicly scolded the magazine for “unacceptable use of coarse language,” and said it was unethical and “on the borderline of hooliganism.” The magazine removed the picture from its website, but it was circulated on social networks, including Kommersant reporter Oleg Kashin's Twitter account.
The removal of Kovalsky and Kudryavtsev angered their colleagues at Kommersant. Two days later, dozens of journalists from Usmanov's news outlets - including independent news website Gazeta - signed and published online an open letter headlined, “We are forced into cowardice.” Veronika Kucyllo, a long-serving deputy editor at Kommersant-Vlast, announced her resignation in protest of Usmanov's decision.
Another important theme this election season has been the role of citizen media as a catalyst of political activism in Russia. Even though they are harder to censor than mainstream news sources, they are not totally immune to censorship, however, as Global Voices discussed in a post entitled, “Why are Russians Protesting Now?”
In a post entitled, “The Man Vladimir Putin Fears Most,” Wall Street Journal Blog predicts that blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny will have an impact on the presidential election:
[…] Anticorruption blogger and activist Alexei Navalny will be in the middle of it — as he has been over the past three months of Russia's unexpected political awakening. By the tens of thousands, Russians shed their fear and apathy to protest December's fraud-ridden parliamentary elections and Mr. Putin's hold on power. From a crowded stage of opposition figures, Mr. Navalny has emerged as the charismatic and fresh face of the movement.
The next phase will test him and the opposition. The series of large demonstrations after December exposed the shallowness of support for Mr. Putin in the large cities and public frustration with the political stagnation and lack of accountability in Russia. Yet the rallies forced no notable government concessions. Though weakened, Mr. Putin gets a new term and possibly energy to reverse his slide or to crack down. […]
Tolik Belenko's Russian-language LiveJounal blog included a link to a “Nashi” announcement [ru] that the pro-Putin youth group has made plans to quash civil unrest in the aftermath of the elections:
On March 5, a few thousand activists from the groups “Nashi” and “Steel” will take to the streets of Moscow in order to prevent any illegal activity aimed at destabilizing society in the aftermath of the Russian presidential election.
LJ user tolik_belenko also shared the link to Nashi's announcement on his ya.ru page [ru]. Readers' comments were somewhat ominous.
Johnny TraHvoltin wrote [ru]:
This has already happened, though not with us, but in China, when [Mao Zedong] occasionally called out the [Red Guards Hóng Wèibīng] troops to the streets in order to maintain order. How did it end? Read history.
Svetlana wrote [ru]:
It's not yet tomorrow. Why guess? We shall see.
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
India: TV Channels Protest Against Lawyers In Kannada
Sans Serif reports that several local TV channels in Kannada blacked out their screens for two minutes on air to protest the violence unleashed on journalists by lawyers at the Bangalore courts last Friday.
Russia: Pre-Election Summaries
At OpenDemocracy.net, LJ user drugoi (Rustem Adagamov) “outlines how his trust in the outgoing president vanished and sums up the mood in Russia’s capital just days ahead of the country’s presidential election.” Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog examines the “known knowns and unknown unknowns” of the upcoming vote and its aftermath.
March 02 2012
World: Global March Against the Syrian Dictator
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
In March 2011, when Syrians started taking to the streets to demand freedom and justice, it was hard to imagine that a year later the regime would have killed thousands of people and tortured and arrested countless others. The city of Homs has been besieged since the beginning of February and suffers an unprecedented crackdown against its entire population, with a death toll of 100 every day. While international powers have not agreed on the need to pressure the Assad regime, global citizens solidarity with Syrians has been increasing and it will likely garner more support now that we are reaching the anniversary of the Syrian revolution.
An initiative called Global March for Syria aims to take people from all over the world to the streets on March 15, 16 and 17 in support of the Syrian people's struggle. The campaign is explained in a video called “Against a dictator” that has been widely shared online.
Marches for Syria are already planned in 16 cities, and the list keeps growing every day. Activists have created a Facebook event with information on the different marches, where they encourage citizens worldwide to stand with Syria against oppression:
One year since the Syrian revolution began. One year of violence against peaceful protesters and innocent civilians. One year of bloodshed. And one year of a brave stance against great evil, but the Syrian people have vowed to never stop until the fall of the regime, until they gain freedom and dignity. On March 15-17, 2012 let's stand with Syria against oppression and take a moment to remember the thousands of lives sacrificed since March 15, 2011.
The list of marches (please add yours to the Facebook event and as a comment to this post) are as follows:
Toronto - Canada; Washington DC - USA, Ottawa - Canada, Calgary - Canada, Montreal - Canada, Chicago - Illinois, US,
London - UK, Geneva - Switzerland, Seine - France, Paris - France, Paris - France, Bergen - Norway, Zürich - Switzerland,
Germany - Munich, San Francisco - USA and New Zealand.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
Palestine: Youth Activist Fadi Quran Released From Israeli Prison
Palestinian Youth Activist and Stanford Alumnus Fadi Quran. Photo by Jeff Mendelman. Used with permission.
Palestinian youth activist Fadi Quran was released on bail from an Israeli prison. The news was welcomed by dozens of Twitter users who expressed great joy.
On Twitter, Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab reacts to his arrest:
@daoudkuttab: Israelis threw @fadiquran an American Palestinian nonviolent activists deep in Israel with 2 other Palestinians. No US murmur !!!. #freefadi
Quran was arrested in Hebron on February 23rd - the day of his birthday - after allegedly pushing an Israeli police officer. At the time of the arrest, Fadi and his peers were protesting against the closure of Shuhada Street in Hebron, one of the city's main thoroughfares, on which Palestinians have been forbidden to walk or drive on for over a decade.
A video of Quran's arrest was uploaded on YouTube by the New York-based Institute for Middle East Understanding:
Social media networks quickly picked up on Quran's arrest. On Friday, a Facebook page Free Fadi Quran was created. Quran's friends and supporters also changed their profile pictures on different social media platforms to show solidarity. And on February 26th, Quran's Stanford colleagues created the website freefadi.org to raise awareness about his arrest. On Twitter, news about his arrest and later on his release was tweeted under the hash tag #FreeFadi.
Stanford student Lila Kalaf's online petition was created on change.org to call for his release.
Fadi Quran was one of the members of the nonviolent freedom rides organised in November 2010.
Palestinian Freedom Riders
The movement was modeled following the 1963 freedom rides in the United States against racial segregation. In this case, Palestinians protested against apartheid which prevents Palestinians from traveling freely to Jerusalem from West Bank.
Iran: “Should We Vote Again?”
The Islamic Republic is preparing for parliamentary (Majlis) election on Friday, March 2, 2012. It is the first national election since the controversial 2009 presidential election and subsequent mass demonstrations. While several opposition groups have called for boycotting the election, the Iranian state is employing anti-Western propaganda to bring citizens to the polls.
Setare Iran has published [fa] a poster with an image of Neda, a young woman killed during protests, with a slogan that says, “I do not vote.”
Neda: I do not vote
The blogger says:
Beyond the question of whether taking part in this election is useful or not, how can someone go to the polls after all these martyrs and with thousands of innocents imprisoned? This election on Friday will not honour our votes. It is a test for a regime who considers that the intelligence of the people is non-existant. Neda's innocent gaze does not let us to sell our honour to a dictatorship.
Azarakan says [fa]:
Contrary to the regime's propaganda that says Western countries will attack Iran if people do not vote, boycotting the election makes the regime understand it does not have any legitimacy. It forces them to stop challenging the international community with its nuclear program.
A 1-minute film recalls that members of parliament backed backed the last fraudulent election, and brought economic misery to the country.
The final message of the video questions, “Should we vote again?”
Of course, not all Iranian bloggers share the same opinion on the election. Ahestan considers that problems do not get solved by not taking part in the election because the political participation of the people can be a strong answer to enemies (”a fist to their mouth”). “If they [enemies] encourage people not to vote, then why should the Islamic Republic not encourage them to vote?” he says.
To vote or not to vote, may finally not be the question, since some analysts predict the government will report a turnout of 60 percent or higher, regardless of what happens on Friday.
March 01 2012
Chile: Netizens Speak Out Against Mall in Chiloé
With the hashtag #malldecastro [es] Chilean netizens are reacting to a project to build a mall in Castro, Chiloe, in an archipelago in Southern Chile. Gerárdo Espíndola of Mi Voz wrote a post [es] on the project, showing pictures of the mall's current state. El Repuertero, a citizen newspaper of Mi Voz, also posts pictures [es] of the mall altered by Twitter users to show their discontent with the project.
Russia: The Early Days of Government Transparency
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
“Make your work available online.”
It may seem a harmless demand, but in Russia it's more than that.
Such a request led to Alexey Navalny, a famed anti-establishment blogger and activist, scrutinizing public procurement contracts to expose shady practices by officials and private companies.
Navalny's project, RosPil [ru], helped earn him the reputation of Russia's most viable opposition leader — though he says he won't partake in or respect elections that aren't clean (a popular stance these days).
The RosPil project exposes corruption in Russia. Photo: Sven Hultberg Carlsson
That Navalny and other contributors to RosPil were able to examine public procurements — a job that needs doing not only in Russia — is thanks to a small triumph of open governance. At the end of 2005, enough pressure had been laid on the Kremlin for its leaders to make public procurement contracts available to the public.
The simple but insistent demand had come from the Freedom of Information Foundation (FIF) [ru], a non-profit founded in 2004. In a recent interview with Global Voices, Ivan Pavlov, its chairman, argues that open access to government information enbles citizens to act as a check on their rulers:
Everyone agrees that corruption is a huge problem in Russia. But the government's solution has been stronger government control. I believe that public control is much more effective. Government information must therefore be available so that the public can exercise control over it and oversee its actions.
Our demand is that the government and all public institutions make everything that isn't secret available to the public on a website.
The Foundation has made encouraging advances in their field. Early in Dmitry Medvedev's presidency, when his reform initiatives had a semblance of bite to them, work on Russia's Freedom of Information Act began to gain momentum.
With the help of persistent officials at Russia's Ministry of Economic Development — officials who, coincidentally or not, “no longer work there” — the Duma passed what Pavlov deems a “revolutionary” and “very progressive” piece of legislation:
The Freedom of Information Act was Medvedev's greatest achievement as president. I am an optimist and still believe the act will change the whole Russian system. But the government has to use this immense resource as a way to change. So far, that hasn't happened.
The act has been in effect since 2010. Its implementation is lacking. Little if any information is provided when requests are put to authorities, prompting the Foundation to litigate against secretive bodies that, believe it or not, are breaking the law.
Veracity tests have become a daily routine. When Medvedev proclaimed the need for an independent judiciary, Pavlov’s organisation put Russian courts to the test.
Many courts were unwilling to publish short bios and pictures of their judges online, but some reacted positively to the challenge. Pavlov says:
The courts may have published this information because they wanted to take the lead in our ratings. But I hope that these courts also understand how such a decision can contribute to society.
Of course, making information available online does not guarantee transparent governance. Pavlov admits that sensitive information is the hardest to expose.
Very few government agencies, federal or regional, want their financial records in public view. Information on cash flow, which could expose corruption, is kept secret — not only by the authorities, but by non-profit organisations as well.
And in the week of Russia’s presidential elections, there is an elephant in the room. Vladimir Putin, very likely about to enter his third term as president, favours a closed society. Russia’s ministries, reluctant collaborators even during Medvedev’s presidency, are much less prone to cooperation now.
The Freedom of Information Foundation operate from their offices in St. Petersburg. Photo: Sven Hultberg Carlsson
Even historical records, politically less toxic for today's leaders, are off limits. Historians researching the Soviet-era repressions cannot examine victims’ records without explicit approval by each related family.
Why, then, would information incriminating the Kremlin directly be brought to light?
Pavlov explains:
Putin cannot control the whole system. My hope is that the popular demands we have seen increase since the Duma elections last year will bring about change.
We see Russia developing in our research. In 2005 two thirds of Russia's federal executive agencies had no websites. Today all of them do.
But projects like RosPil cannot be alone. Civil activists and NGOs must use the Freedom of Information Act to expose situations where there is no justice.
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
Azerbaijan: Massive protests in Quba
Emin Milli's blog posts photos and video of massive protests in Quba, a regional center in Northeast Azerbaijan. The blog says the house of the governor of the region has been burned down and that military units are reportedly being dispatched to the city.
Hungary: Tax Administration Investigates Citizen Activists
Véleményvezér blog commented [hu] on the news of the most popular citizen movement's activists being checked by the National Tax and Customs Administration, interpreting it as a sign of fear by the ruling party Fidesz: “Two years after [winning] a two-thirds [majority], they're already catching flies, they're chasing civil activists.” The movement being targeted now started from a Facebook page ‘One Million for the Freedom of Press in Hungary‘ (aka Milla; hu; over 99,000 followers) and organized several rallies against the new media law and the government's politics. On the Hungarian national holiday on March 15, Milla is planning to hold another rally.
February 29 2012
Cuba: Worry about Hunger Striker
Uncommon Sense hopes that political prisoner Ernesto Borges' fate will not go the way of so many other hunger strikers, saying: “He needs you to learn his story and to spread it so that his life can be saved.”
Bangladesh: Boycotting Indian Products To Protest Brutality At Border
In January 2012 a 12 minute long uncut video of brutality on a Bangladeshi cattle trader by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) (warning: graphic content) went viral on the Internet. Originally uploaded by an Indian human rights organization Masum, this video attracted widespread condemnation from Bangladeshis. According to reports by Human Rights organizations Indian BSF has killed more than 1000 Bangladeshis in last 10 years which has been condemned by international communities.
The Indian media were quick to point fingers [bn] at Pakistan for the release of the video, which spread more fuel to the fire. Himu at Sachalayatan quips [bn]:
কিন্তু আনন্দবাজারের রিপোর্টে বিএসএফের এই মারধরের সমালোচনার কোনো গন্ধ নেই, তার ভিডিও ছড়িয়ে পড়া নিয়েই তাদের যত মাথাব্যথা।
Graph showing the number of killings by BSF from March 2009 to February 2012. Image courtesy Dhushor Godhuli
আমাদের দেশের লোককে বিএসএফ এভাবে পেটায় বাংলাদেশীদের ব্যাপারে তাদের সামাজিক ধারণা, প্রশিক্ষণ, নির্দেশনা আর অভিজ্ঞতার ওপর ভর দিয়ে দাঁড়িয়ে। বিএসএফ বাংলাদেশীদের সমপর্যায়ের মানুষ জ্ঞান করে না। পৃথিবীতে বহু বড় দেশের সাথে ছোটো গরীব দেশের সীমান্ত রয়েছে, সেখানে সীমান্ত রক্ষীরা কিশোরদের গুলি করে মারে না, যুবকদের ন্যাংটা করে পিটায় না। এই মার বিএসএফ গরুচালানীদের দিচ্ছে না, এই মার ভারতের আমলাযন্ত্র দিচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ রাষ্ট্রের নাগরিককে। [..] এই পীড়নের পেছনে সবচেয়ে বড় যে চালিকাশক্তি, সেটা যত না ঘৃণা, তারচেয়ে বেশি তাচ্ছিল্য।
Blogger Dhushor Godhuli [bn] talks about an archive where all the atrocities of BSF are being chronicled. The blogger points out that the claims of the number of deaths are different between Indian and Bangladeshi authorities. The actual numbers quoted by the human rights organizations are much higher.
The recent remarks by the BSF chief that the shootings will not stop has created much more anger amongst Bangladeshis. So the netizens have decided to launch a campaign to stop the killings at border. Blogger Himu writes [bn]:
মার্চ ১ হোক আমাদের ভারত বনধের দিন। এই দিন আমরা ভারতের কোনো জিনিস কিনবো না, ভারতের কোনো সেবা নেবো না, ভারতের কোনো চ্যানেল দেখবো না। আগের আটত্রিশ দিন আসুন আমরা এই ডাক ছড়িয়ে দিই, সবাইকে জানাই। পরিচিত সবাইকে বলি, নিজেদের আত্মসম্মানের কথা স্মরণ করিয়ে দিই। আমরা কুকুর নই, আমরা মানুষ। আমাদের মানুষের মর্যাদা দিতে হবে।
Image courtesy Oli Syed Mahbub
In another post Himu explains [bn] why the boycott is needed:
এই কর্মসূচি সীমান্তে বাংলাদেশী নাগরিকদের ভারতীয় সীমান্তরক্ষী বাহিনী কর্তৃক নির্বিচার হত্যা ও নির্যাতনের প্রতিবাদ হিসেবে পালিত হচ্ছে।
[..] প্রশ্ন উঠতে পারে, আমরা অল্প কয়েকজন মানুষ এই কর্মসূচি পালন করলে ভারতের কী এসে যাবে? [..] এর উত্তর হচ্ছে, এই বর্জন কর্মসূচিতে আমরা যেন একদিনেই অভীষ্ট লাভের স্বপ্ন না দেখি।[..] এই বর্জন আমাদের হাতে একটি শান্তিপূর্ণ কিন্তু শক্তিশালী অস্ত্র, এর নিয়মিত চর্চা এবং প্রচার আমাদের শক্তিবৃদ্ধি করবে, এবং ভারতের রাজনীতিক ও আমলাযন্ত্রের কাছে ক্রমশ শক্তিশালী বার্তা পৌঁছাবে।
Mukti blog does not think that such boycott is really going to work up the Indian businesses enough to lobby the Indian government to discipline BSF. However, the blogger adds:
Hmm, I suppose some folks will still believe that, just as others will continue to believe that Indian foreign policy establishment is always scheming to subjugate Bangladesh. But to the more reality-based-people, I submit that boycotting Indian goods has limited effectiveness beyond symbolism.
And yet, the energy and passion behind this activism shouldn’t be underestimated. This kind of citizens’ activism — initiated by bloggers — can actually make a difference.
Diganta responds in a comment in the above post:
BSF has built up what I can call world’s largest extortion racket. Only way to stop this could be to legalize cattle trade between India and Bangladesh. [..]
Image courtesy Asif Mohiuddin
ভারতীয় নাগরিক বন্ধুদের কাছে অনুরোধ জানাচ্ছি, অবিলম্বে মানবতাবিরোধী এইসকল কর্মকান্ড বন্ধ করতে আপনারা সোচ্চার হন। আপনারা আমাদের বুকে গুলি চালাতে আপনার ট্যাক্সের টাকা দেবেন না। আপনাদের সরকারকে বলুন অবিলম্বে এসব বন্ধ করতে। আমরা জানি আপনারা কখনই আপনাদের বিএসএফ এর পৈশাচিক বর্বরতার পক্ষের নন, কিন্তু সেটা পরিষ্কার ভাষায় আমরা শুনতে চাই।
Puerto Rico: March Against the Pipeline
Hundreds of people across the whole island joined the “National March: Puerto Rico stands firm against the Pipeline” that took place on Sunday 19 February in the city of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. The demonstrators marched from the Capitol (the Legislature) to the Governors Mansion (La Fortaleza) in rejection of the so-called “Green Way,” a project proposed by the administration of the governor Luis Fortuño, which is looking to build a 92-mile-long tube to carry natural gas from the south coast of the island to San Juan, on the north coast, through the central mountain range.
The march was organized by the community organization Casa Pueblo [en] based in the town of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has led the attempts to put a stop to the so-called “Green Way”. Environmentalists have argued that, if the project goes ahead, it would have a negative impact on the aquifers and rain forests on its path, causing irreparable damage to the island's ecosystem. Grassroots organizations and people against the construction of the pipeline have called it the “Pipeline of Death.”
Photojournalist Ricardo Alcaraz shares some of the images he shot of the demonstration. All photographs have been published with his permission.
People from all sectors of civil society joined the demonstration.
The protesters marched from the Capitol to the Fortaleza. In the background you can see the west side of Olympic House, the headquarters of the national Olympic committee.
Various sectors have complained that the project would cause serious damage to the flora and fauna of the island. Several endangered species live on the proposed pipeline route.
Congressman Luis Gutiérrez also joined the demonstration.
There were a number of performances along the march.
Wrapped with the Puerto Rican flag.
No Puertorican protest goes ahead without la plena, the favourite rythmic drumbeat on demonstrations.
Russia: An Overview of the Pre-Election Anglophone Blogging
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
The pre-election month of February has been filled with reports of large-scale gatherings of both the opponents and the supporters of Russia's current regime. On Monday, Feb. 27, however, as the countdown to the March 4 presidential vote entered its final stages, the news of the foiled attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, the Russian PM and one of the presidential candidates, temporarily succeeded in shifting the spotlight onto the person who may re-enter Russia's political scene as the head of state quite soon - and away from the citizens, their hopes, fears and demands.
Below is a quick overview of what some of the Anglophone bloggers have been writing about the pre-election politics in Russia this past month.
Mark Galeotti of In Moscow's Shadows shared initial thoughts on the Putin assassination plot:
[…] I’m willing to accept that this was a real plot, not some complete fabrication (as some seem to imply). On the other hand, the news was obviously held back with the aim of seizing the news cycle just before the elections. This is not exactly unique to Russians, but considering the wide scale skepticism, even downright disbelief with which the revelation has been greeted in Russia, this does not seem to have been an especially effective tactic. To be honest, how many times can you play the same kind of card? […]
Mark Adomanis wrote this on the same issue:
[…] Discussion has already turned to the political significance of this plot, and it is fully possible that it augurs for a “tightening of the screws” and that Putin will once again use the threat of terrorism as an excuse to tighten political control (recall that the most dramatic re-centralization of political power occurred in the aftermath of the attack on Beslan). However I lean towards a slightly less malign interpretation in which the thwarting of this plot is merely a PR stunt and an opportunity for some (mostly harmless) pre-election chest thumping: Putin will get a chance to play the aggrieved victim of aggression, a role he plays very well, and say a few things about the tenacity and determination of his government in confronting and defeating terror. We’ll see what happens, but given the totality of the political situation in Russia and the obvious weakening of Putin’s position I don’t think a dramatic re-centralization of power is even possible, at least without the widespread use of force. […]
St. Petersburg: "For Putin" banners inside a bus that has brought people to a presidential campaign rally in support of the Russian PM. Photo by YURY GOLDENSHTEYN, copyright © Demotix (18/02/12).
Eugene Ivanov of The Ivanov Report has produced a series of posts on the upcoming election: The Dinosaur (on Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Feb. 9) Putin and the Polls (Feb. 16), Putin and Elites (Feb. 21), and Putin and Protesters (Feb. 26). In the latest post, he put the recent rallies into perspective and explained their significance for Putin's political future:
I’m puzzled when someone begins comparing the number of people participating in pro- and anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia: to me, it’s like comparing the number of apples with the size of oranges. I get even more puzzled when I hear that by putting more people on the streets, the Kremlin “has won” over its opponents. It’s about the same as to say that because the admirers of Yo-Yo Ma can be comfortably accommodated in the Carnegie Hall with its 2,800 seats whereas Britney Spears can easily attract a crowd of 30,000 fans at a sports arena, the pop diva is ten-time better musician than the venerable cellist.
[…]
What the protesters should really pay attention to is their message. Brought together by the power of a single emotion – the outrage at the rigged Duma elections – they now need to transform their “raw feelings” into a set of comprehensive political goals and demands. Far from trying to beat the Kremlin in the game of numbers, the protesters should actually reduce the size of their columns by decisively parting with the nationalists, monarchists and the like. And if they want to broaden their appeal, they would better outreach to industrial workers whose loyalty to Putin is only conditional and may rapidly disappear should Russia’s economic situation deteriorate.
[…]
Yet, the major reason Putin so far hasn’t made any attempt to start a dialog with the protesters is that he doesn’t understand them. Putin seems to be genuinely at a loss to figure out why a bunch of well fed people would go on a protest action, especially if their grievances are caused by such a nuisance as “irregularities” in the parliamentary elections. The concept that some people may value their principles and their dignity over material well-being seems to be completely foreign to Putin. (Apparently, there are no such people in the close circle of Putin’s associates.) That’s why he tries to explain their behavior by something he can comprehend: money, directives from the State Department, or “orange leprosy.” […]
Following the Feb. 4 opposition rallies, Mark Adomanis compared the turnout in Moscow with that in other Russian cities:
[…] One thing that does seem noteworthy, though, is that the protests in other Russian cities seem to have been rather underwhelming. […]
[…]
What does this mean for the future of the protests? Well, probably nothing good. Putin and his team are not going to be easy to displace, and I think only a sustained and truly nation-wide popular mobilization could possibly compel them to do so. As always, the situation is fluid and should be watched closely, but there are certainly indications that Putin’s grip on power remains quite secure in large sections of the country. His image has taken a very big and very noteworthy dent, but at this juncture it seems improper to project the palpable anger and frustration of Muscovites onto all Russians. […]
Kevin Rothrock of A Good Treaty moved a few levels down from the overly familiar nationwide politics story, taking a closer look at the relatively obscure local confrontation that occurred in the town of Lermontov in Stavropol region; not surprisingly, he discovered that the latter shared its most important elements with the former:
Yesterday, the town of Lermontov (located in Russia’s North Caucasus) experienced what some are calling “a small revolution.” As the state municipal building was preparing to close for the evening, a collection of townsfolk and former members of the city council gathered and eventually forced their way into the main lobby. Once inside, reporters accompanying the activists took turns interviewing ex-deputies and disgruntled locals. Acting head of the city’s government Viktor Vasil’ev warned protesters that they were breaking the law by illegally occupying state property. Undeterred, the former deputies announced the beginning of an indefinite hunger strike, promising to occupy Lermontov’s municipal building night and day, until their demands are met: chiefly, the cancelation of the city’s upcoming local elections, which the ex-deputies consider to be illegitimate because they were denied the right to participate.
[…]
The Lermontov ‘crisis’ has something for everyone. If you’re a diehard enemy of the Putin regime, there are former city officials protesting in the open, linking local regional corruption to the Kremlin’s evil influence. Certainly, many aspects of the Lermontov election — barred candidates, political control of the courts, and the squashing of local independence — echo the larger criticisms commonly made of ‘Putinism.’
On the other hand, fans of the Prime Minister seem to find it inspiring that several of the assembled protesters are reaching out to Putin in the tradition of ‘good tsarism,’ hoping that he’ll notice their plight and swoop in to right the city’s wrongs. […]
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
February 25 2012
Russia: Bloggers' Photo Reports and Reflections on Pro-Putin Rally in Moscow
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
On Thursday, Feb. 23, ten days before the March 4 presidential election, the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed thousands of people at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The Guardian's Miriam Elder described the event as “a gathering reminiscent of Soviet spectacle both in rhetoric and style”:
[…] Thousands of workers from the provinces were bussed in or rushed on to trains to attend the event. […]
A rally in support of PM Vladimir Putin took place in Moscow on Feb. 23, ahead of the presidential election on March 4. Photo by Irina Firsova, copyright © Demotix (23/02/12).
A number of Moscow-based bloggers attended the Feb. 23 rally, too. Below is a selection of their photo reports and observations, along with some of the remarks from their audiences.
LJ user mi3ch posted 17 photos and wrote [ru]:
Absolutely ordinary people. Trusting. Good. Like my aunt. Like my next-door neighbor. Students, workers, [state employees], pensioners. Seven out of ten - women. Mothers and grandmothers. And they really like Putin. He is so brave and decisive. […]
Their main distinction from [those who attended the opposition's rallies at Bolotnaya Square] are their faces. At Luzhniki, hardly anyone was smiling. And almost everyone walked silently. […]
LJ user otshellnica rebuked the blogger [ru] in the comments section:
At Bolotnaya, you could find the same [unsmiling] faces in the multi-thousand crowd. Just as there were nice and smiling faces at this rally. You, of all people, shouldn't be playing with such cheap arguments.
LJ user maxsytch offered [ru] a different point of comparison between the anti- and pro-Putin rallies:
The difference was in the percentage of the people who came to Bolotnaya and Luzhniki voluntarily.
Ryazan-based LJ user tamrat elaborated [ru] on the definition of ‘voluntarily,' citing her city's participation in the Feb. 23 rally as an example:
People from Ryazan enterprises came voluntarily - and joyfully. And whether they are for Putin or not is irrelevant. They had a tour of Moscow for free! They were taken there, got fed, listened to a concert. And all this for free! People came back home happy. And nothing will change in our country until a person can be made happy with free food and a trip!
LJ user vova-maltsev posted 14 photos [ru] and recounted his quick conversations with some of the rally's participants:
[…]
- Why are you here?
- We've been brought in here, [damn it].
- Are you for Putin?
- [Screw him], our salary's 17,000 [rubles a month, $580].[…]
There were [Tajik migrant workers] sitting in one of the buses.
- Are you for Putin?
- [We work as cleaners in Izmailovo, damn it, and we are stuck here now. Will have to do our job all night.][…]
Nice [female] school cooks.
- What are you doing here?
- We've been dispatched here.
- To cook porridge [for the rally's participants]?
- Yes.
- Did you go to Bolotnaya?
- No, they didn't send us there.
- Are you for Putin?
- Yes, of course… Are you a journalist?
- Yes. I'm not for Putin.
- (whispering) We are all against him. All our teachers are against, too.
An anonymous reader left this comment [ru] to LJ user vova-maltsev's post:
[They are being drawn there forcefully.] They aren't even getting paid, the motivation is their fear of problems at work + 1 day off. This info is 100% true. Relatives work at a state enterprise, in Moscow.
LJ user panzicov (Alexei Vitvitskiy) posted 48 photos [ru] on his blog. Five of these photos, the blogger claims, show a group of people allegedly being paid for their participation in the rally:
[…] The conscience of the people costs 800 rubles [$27] for two hours, [the money] was being handed out at [Park Kultury metro station] right after the rally. […]
Seven photos in LJ user panzicov's report show a group of young black men carrying handmade banners with pro-Putin slogans on them. Another blogger, LJ user drandin (Igor Drandin), talked with these men, asking them where they were from, and posted the video [ru, en] on his blog and on YouTube; one of the men explained, in English, that they were from Kenya.
LJ user pier_luigi, commenting on LJ user panzicov's post, wrote this [ru] about Putin's Kenyan supporters:
North Korea this is not - not yet… But the representatives of international Putinism are very impressive!
LJ user tushinetc posted 16 photos [ru] taken before most of the rally's participants took their seats at the Luzhniki Stadium. One of the photos shows empty seats with identical plastic bags on them. LJ user tushinetc explained:
[…] Some organizations took good care of their employees, making sure they do not get cold while sitting on plastic [seats]. In each bag placed on the seats there's a blanket, as well as a candy and a tangerine, and on the seat itself, there's [a cloth mat for sitting]. […]
LJ user 2014imeretinka commented [ru]:
How mean! For a candy and a tangerine…
LJ user panfilosoff replied [ru]:
Not mean at all… If you don't attend, you'll have serious problems at work, and if you do attend, you'll get a reward and a tangerine. Everything's simple and logical.
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
February 24 2012
Cuba: Prisoners' Rights
Uncommon Sense republishes a statement by Amnesty International about “former prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia [whose] whereabouts are unknown following his alleged arrest in central Havana, Cuba, on 21 February”; Pedazos de la Isla, meanwhile, reports that “the political prisoner on hunger strike, Ernesto Borges, was taken from Combinado del Este prison of Havana to an unknown location on a stretcher and in critical condition.”
Bolivia: Disabled Protesters Clash with Police
Disabled Bolivians marching to demand higher government subsidies clashed with police on Thursday, February 23. Blogger Mario R. Durán [es] shares citizen photos of the clashes. On Twitter, netizens are using the hashtag #discapacitados [es] (”disabled”) to comment and report on the march.
Chile: Aysén Region and the Call for Decentralization
Protests, road blocks, and clashes between protesters and police continue as citizens of the Aysén region of Chile demand change. Global Voices contributor Elizabeth Rivera reported on the social movement behind the mobilization earlier this month and summarized their demands:
Their demands have been compiled in a petition list with 10 points [es] which basically ask for subsidies to balance food, water, electricity and fuel costs; quality health and education; employment equity and retirement pensions based on regional needs; greater citizen participation in the decisions that affect the region including natural resources exploitation; better access and infrastructure.
For many, the conflict in Aysén boils down to one problem affecting the whole country: centralization. “Santiago is not Chile,” is a phrase commonly used among Chileans who often feel ignored for living outside of the capital. Many of these Chileans have to move to Santiago to access better employment and basic services like healthcare due to a shortage of doctors in the regions.
As a result of a heavy focus on the capital, Santiago has been developing at a much faster pace than the rest of the country. Even the media's attention focuses on the capital, giving little air time to issues happening in the rest of Chile.
The protests in Aysén have brought centralization to the forefront of the national conversation, prompting several Chilean bloggers to weigh in on the issue.
"Aysén is Chile." Protest in support of Aysén mobilizations, February 20, 2012, Santiago, Chile. Photo by Luis Fernando Arellano, Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Blogger Danae Mlynarz Puig [es] looks ahead to what might happen this year in Chile. She begins her post mentioning the social movement in Aysén:
Seguimos movidos en cuanto a demandas sociales, en estos días, Aysén se moviliza, en el extremo sur de nuestro país exigiendo descentralización, a un país tremendamente centralista, donde parece que todo pasa en Santiago. El estallido de Aysén nos recuerda lo que vivimos anteriormente en Magallanes, Isla de Pascua, Calama y otras ciudades, donde los habitantes de estos territorios se movilizaron exigiendo mayor compromiso del gobierno central por sus problemáticas, develando la enorme desigualdad territorial que vivimos en Chile y la falta casi absoluta de descentralización.
In El Quito Poder [es], Salvador Muñoz says that the problem of centralization is not new:
Los ayseninos afirman que ningún gobierno se ha hecho cargo de sus demandas. Los problemas de Aysén, Coyhaique, Magallanes, Tocopilla, Dichato, Calama y de todos los pueblos y ciudades de Chile son los mismos. Como señala la Asamblea Ciudadana de Magallanes en una declaración de solidaridad con el movimiento de Aysén, “Aysén y Magallanes reclamamos terminar con el centralismo oficial y corporativo, que ahoga a las regiones para beneficio de la capital, que no nos da participación en las decisiones de política pública y nos impide lograr una efectiva regionalización y descentralización”.
On a similar note, blogger and journalist Gabriel Sanhueza Suarez [es] says that the conflict in Aysén reveals a systemic problem:
El problema de Aysén es mucho más profundo que tratar de atender demandas sectoriales… o de acallar las movilizaciones enviando fuerzas especiales.
Es un problema sistémico, que implica repensar radicalmente la forma de entender el país, sacarse para siempre el chip del centralismo. Y sobre todo pensar e implementar políticas audaces que transforme la regionalización de una consigna demagógica a una realidad que nos permita tener un Chile justo en todas las esquinas de su territorio.
The problem of Aysén is much deeper than trying to address sectoral demands … or silencing the protests by sending special forces.
It is a systemic problem, which involves radically rethinking the way we understand the country, removing the centralism chip forever. And above all to think and implement bold policies to transform regionalization from a demagogic slogan to a reality that will allow us to have a fair Chile in all the corners of its territory.
Finally, Kaos en la Red [es] published a post by Patricio Segura from Aquí Aysén [es], a blog written from Aysén that has been covering the movement. Patricio ensures that this social movement wants to influence all Chile, not just Aysén.
[…] el Movimiento Social por la Región de Aysén no debe ser visto sólo como una revuelta por y para los ayseninos. Tiene mucho del país que queremos construir, donde se consideren las particularidades de cada ciudadano, de cada territorio. Nuestro tema es la verdadera descentralización, la verdadera equidad, el verdadero respeto, todo lo cual en el mercado no se puede transar.
Los habitantes de Aysén no queremos cercar con alambres de púas la región para que no llegue nadie más. Queremos ser un aporte para Chile y para el mundo, con lo que somos, con los bienes comunes presentes en este vasto y hermoso territorio, pero no queremos morir en el intento.
[…] the Social Movement for the Aysén Region should not be viewed merely as a revolt by and for the people of Aysén. It involves a lot of the country which we want to build, where the particularities of each citizen, of each territory, are considered. Our issue is real decentralization, true equity, true respect, all of which cannot be compromise in the market.
The people of Aysén don't want a barbed wire fence around the region to keep every one else away. We want to be a contribution to Chile and the world, with what we are, with the common good present in this vast and beautiful land, but we don't want to die trying.
February 23 2012
Colombia: Citizen Journalist Threatened Over Viral Video
Citizen Journalist Bladimir Sánchez has already received threats for making a video showing the forced evictions of farmers and fishermen protesting the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the department of Huila, Colombia on February 14 and 15. In less than three days, more than 600,000 people have watched it.
On Publimetro[es], Camilo Andrés García Cortés states that the video may be making history as the most watched Colombian citizen video, due to its half a million views during only two days. The Video the Colombian Government Doesn't Want Us to See[es] shows the violent eviction faced by two river bank communities standing up peacefully against the building of the dam, and pulls together the testimonies of those who faced the violence and were injured. The communities are against the dam construction because it will leave them without livelihoods if the river is diverted for the project. When describing the clash that injured protesters, both the community members and journalists present describe that there was no violence towards the authorities in spite of the attacks, and that the police restricted the access of journalists, peace observers and human right organizations to the area of the protest.
La acción violenta se cumplió coordinadamente entre el Gobierno Nacional y Emgesa contra campesinos y pescadores inermes cuya única respuesta fue cogerse solidariamente de las manos para abrazar el río Magdalena o lanzarse al mismo, mientras recibían cargas de gases lacrimógenos y granadas de aturdimiento, ocasionando varios heridos, entre ellos, el obrero de construcción Luis Carlos Trujillo Obregón quien perdió su ojo derecho.
On the interview with Publimetro [es] Bladimir discussed the threats he's received:
Recibí una llamada No aparece el número de la persona en el identificador (…) Me han enviado mensajes a mi correo. Me dicen que soy de las Farc, del ELN, que estoy atacando a la fuerza pública. Yo no soy nada de eso. Simplemente soy un realizador audiovisual que quiere mostrar la realidad de lo que pasa en el departamento del Huila.
In his Facebook page Zeitgeist Huila [es], Bladimir posted on February 23rd [es] that he had been receiving threatening calls, one including death threats.
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