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24 May 2011 15:41

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World: Hosni Mubarak to be tried for the deaths of protesters

  • Mubarak will stand trial over Tahrir Square protests: Reportedly in ill health, former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak will stand trial for his alleged crimes, among them the deaths of protesters during the nation’s revolutionary movement in Tahrir Square (over 800 died before Mubarak’s departure), and the illegal acquisition of wealth during his time in office. Mubarak is in a hospital at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, while authorities also detained his two sons, also charged with corruption, in Cairo’s Tora prison. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 May 2011 13:53

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World: The Third Intifada: Social media rocks the Middle East again

  • The violent protests happening in Israel today got at least a small spark from Facebook. Large numbers of Palestinians are protesting today (with harsh reaction from Israeli soldiers) after a movement called the Third Intifada sprung up on the social media site. The previous two Intifada movements, which Palestinians used to protest against Israel, were also quite violent. The Facebook page for the current movement had about 300,000 supporters before it the social networking site took it offline due to messages inciting violence against Israel. The movement has since moved to its own website. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 May 2011 16:41

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World: Syria’s Assad vows no firing on protests

  • So, would you trust this guy? That’s the question facing members of the Syrian opposition. Syria has been a hellish place for those protesting the Bashar al-Assad government of late, as live rounds have been fired into protests, many have been captured (and, given the human rights record there, almost certainly tortured), and even army soldiers who’ve refused to unload on civilians have been shot dead by the state police. Now, however, the opposition says that Assad has vowed there won’t be such attacks made on a planned protest on Friday. Forgive us if we’re skeptical, but Assad’s brutality is a cat that was let out of the bag a long time ago. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2011 13:48

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World: Assad government turns up military might against protests

  • The dance of an authoritarian state: The crackdown against those Syrians with the courage to protest the rule of Bashar al-Assad is already horribly violent — human rights groups claim the deaths of more than 300 people by the hands of the Assad government since the protests began. That’s just the visible deathtoll, to boot — Syria is widely regarded as one of the world’s worst states on human rights, with torture being a valued tactic, so it’s hard not to believe there are people having some pretty terrible things done to them as we write this. Tanks have now been unleashed into Dara, the origin of much of the anti-government protest. Once you’ve arrived at this point, can there ever truly be a “going back?” It looks like Syria may face a protracted and bloody conflict. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Apr 2011 17:25

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World: “Walk to Work”: Did Uganda shut off Twitter & Facebook?

  • No, no, it is not us; it seems it is the government that has blocked the service. Even us, we are crying like you.
  • A Warid telecom engineer in Uganda • Expressing frustration that Facebook and Twitter reportedly no longer working in the country. The report — which would be the second bout of social media downtime the country has faced in the past few months — suggests a degree of par-for-the-course suppression as Ugandan citizens plan a “walk to work” protest for Monday, to fight against quickly-increasing food prices. Which, by the way, has been a root cause of much of the unrest throughout northern Africa of late. (hat tip John Ness) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Apr 2011 14:29

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World: Syrian security forces reportedly killing Syrian soldiers

  • issue As we mentioned yesterday, there have been reports that members of the Syrian army have been shot and killed by the government’s own security forces, because the soldiers had refused to open fire on protesting civilians.
  • example Witnesses have told Al Jazeera and the BBC that Mourad Hejjo was one such soldier; his family and a human rights monitors say he refused to fire as the army moved into Banias, and was thus killed by security force snipers.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 14:45

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World: Hundreds protest Syrian crackdown at Damascus University

  • The scene in Syria: Hundreds of students have begun protesting, rallying around Damascus University in support of those shot and killed by Bashar al-Assad’s government in its violent response to pro-democracy protests. In past days, there have been many hectic reports of government forces firing on and killing both civilians, as well as military personnel. Al Jazeera reports that many present have said the government’s security forces fired upon the Syrian Army because the army wouldn’t open fire on civilians. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Apr 2011 13:38

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World: Nine people killed in Kandahar amid Koran-burning protest

  • Blood continues to flow over Terry Jones: Yesterday, we mentioned the deaths in Afghanistan that had occurred when a protest against Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones boiled over. Sadly, the violence has spread: 9 more have been killed in Kandahar, ostensibly because Jones burned several Islamic holy texts on March 20th. Not to belabor our earlier point, but it seems worthwhile to balance disdain for Jones’ self-serving and gross bigotry with some basic honesty about what it’s caused- namely, that a danger intrinsic to any religion that takes itself very seriously is that it can cause overreactions to slights against it. The deaths of 20 people in 2 days because somebody on the other side of the planet burned some books is a tragic example. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Mar 2011 14:53

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World: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad defiant in anticipated speech

  • The oldest trick in the book: Faced with an upswell of protest against his government (during which deadly violence was turned on the citizens), Syria’s Bashar al-Assad gave a much anticipated speech. In explaining the protests against him, he resorted to a very familiar tactic for repressive heads-of-state facing public anger; blame it on a foreign conspiracy. Protesters had hoped to hear some concessions on reform, especially on Syria’s emergency powers law, which allows arrest without warrant. Sad to say, no such statement was to come from Assad, for whom the Parliament chanted “Only God, Syria, and Bashar!” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2011 12:55

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U.S.: Wisconsin union-busting bill blocked for procedural reasons

  • It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law).
  • Judge Maryann Sumi • Explaining why she just blocked the just-passed law limiting collective-bargaining agreements in Wisconsin. Why’s that, you ask? Well, as a Democrat noted when Republicans passed the law, they violated the open meetings law to make it happen. The idea behind the law itself wasn’t blocked, though — meaning the Republicans could theoretically pass the bill again. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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