democracy

Come to the City of London to help point them in the right direction. Wednesday 1 April 2009 is Financial Fools’ & Fossil Fools’ Day. People & Planet are calling a nationwide day of action to make the links between unaccountable financial power and its disasterous climate impacts. Focusing on RBS-NatWest, as part of the Ditch Dirty Development campaign, P&Pers will expose the bank’s foolish involvement in fossil fuel projects, and call for a just transition to renewable and sustainable energy sources. 1 April is a good time to mobilise for the AGM actions in London and Edinburgh.

RBS actions are part of broader activism on the G20. Organisations and networks across the UK and Europe including the Put People First coalition, Climate Camp and Rising Tide are all making links between the financial crisis and climate change.

Popular comedian Zarganar faces 45 years in jail for organising aid runs to victims of Cyclone Nargis which hit in May. He is the latest in a string of opposition activists to be jailed by the military government for

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a recent University of Washington report.

Since 2003, 64 people unaffiliated with news organisations have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, according to the 2008 World Information Access (WIA) report. And last year, three times as many people – 36 – were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, the report revealed.

More than half of arrests since 2003 were made in China, Egypt and Iran, but British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have also been detained. The average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months, while the longest sentence recorded was eight years.

Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights,or suppression of protests. The report said the rising number of arrests indicates blogging’s growing political importance, especially in times of political uncertainty such as around general elections or large protests.

This year, the report predicts the number of bloggers arrested will exceed 2007 numbers thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S.

Join the Zim Human Rights Forum on 26 June – the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has been documenting political violence since its inception in 1998 and, since July 2001, has been issuing Monthly Political Violence Reports. In addition, the Human Rights Forum has issued a total of 34 special reports, many of these concerned with violence during elections. The Human Rights Forum has consistently indicated that the majority of violence recorded has been undertaken by both state agents and supporters of the ZANU (PF) party. The Human Rights Forum has been vindicated in its allegations, both by reports of independent human rights organisations and bodies as well as by the decisions of the Zimbabwean courts.

…is the government. Support Burma Campaign’s call to bring human rights and democracy to Burma.

In the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis that hit Burma on 2 May, more than one million people are homeless, up to 128,000 killed.

This natural disaster was turned into a man-made catastrophe by Burma’s brutal regime. They blocked international aid and left thousands without food, shelter or medicine. The real disaster in Burma is the government.

Burma is ruled by one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. It ruthlessly persecutes, imprisons and tortures human rights and democracy activists. Thousands of men, women and children are used as slave labour. Out of sight in the jungles of Eastern Burma, more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed, rape is used as a weapon of war against ethnic women and children. Countless civilians have been killed in the regime’s war of ethnic cleansing.

The people of Burma have asked for our support. Every day they live in fear of arrest, torture and imprisonment. The Burma Campaign UK is answering their call but they urgently need your help. Please join the campaign or make a donation.

A PWYP campaigner has been arrested in Gabon at the start of an EITI trip that calls for disclosure of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining. Marc Ona had been granted a US visa to attend the New York event, but was prevented by police from boarding the airplane at Libreville airport after he had already cleared security and passport control. There is no legal basis or justification for this travel ban nor has Mr. Ona been notified in writing by the authorities.

Gabon is a member of the EITI International Board, a celebrated global initiative for disclosure of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining. Civil society participation in the oversight of these public revenues is a key component of the multi-stakeholder nature of the EITI, and harassment of NGOs active in the process is contrary to Gabon’s obligations under the initiative.

“The international community and supporters of EITI should make clear to the Gabonese government that it must respect the rights of civil society campaigners to engage in a constructive dialogue on issues of public interest”, said Marc Ona.

After the brutal suppression of popular demonstrations against South Korea’s new US beef import deal, the government is requesting that portals delete dissident blog postings. The Internet is playing a key role in mobilising public opinion around the issues. People are using blogs and online forums to share their experiences in marches, expose police brutality, and debate the issues and effective ways of protesting. Netizens, media activists, and online newspapers provide live coverage on the internet using cameras, mobile phones and notebooks. Police are now threatening to ‘manage’ opinion on the internet and investigate activist users.

Anti-apartheid veterans have put their names to an open letter lamenting the parallel injustices in the history of struggle in Israel and South Africa. With high profile celebrations now going on to mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, prominent South African activists have drawn stark links between the former apartheid regime and the policies of the current Israeli state.

The IWPR reports on evidence that proves the Zimbabwean election recount was a ruse to divert the nation’s attention from the ruling party’s next move in its battle to extend its hold on power