Stories about Human Rights from August, 2010
Venezuela: Franklin Brito Dies After Several Hunger Strikes
Franklin Brito, a farmer who had been on a hunger strike since July 2009, died from a respiratory arrest in a military hospital on Monday night. Brito had lived through several hunger strikes protesting the confiscation of his land. Venezuelans reacted to the announcement of his death through Twitter and blogs.
Egypt: Utilizing Technology to Demand Accountability on Torture, Police Brutality
Bloggers and activists in Egypt are using freely available online tools to expose torture and police brutality and to hold the government accountable for these human rights abuses.
Cameroon: Prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga
Emeka writes about Cameroonian prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga: “Amid nationwide strikes and mass demonstrations, popular singer Lapiro de Mbanga, who had demanded that the president resign, was arrested and charged with inciting youth unrest. In September he was jailed for three years…”
Brazil: Bolivian Immigration in Numbers
Journalist Leonardo Sakamoto questions on his blog [pt], the official statistic placing Bolivia in the fortieth position as a source of immigrants to Brazil. An activist against slave labor, Sakamoto comments that hundreds come in yearly and are often explored in underemployment jobs, particularly in the greater São Paulo area.
Zimbabwe: Mugabe and the White African
Mugabe and the White African, is a documentary that chronicles the plight of Mike Campbell – a white African in his fight against the government of Robert Mugabe.
Cuba: Same Old Song
The imprisonment of three Cuban dissidents who were during a protest at the University of Havana proves to Uncommon Sense that “despite its release of some dozen members of the ‘Group of 75′ prisoners, the Castro dictatorship has not changed.”
Armenia-Azerbaijan: More dialogue through film
With national television in Armenia and Azerbaijan controlled by the authorities or government-linked individuals, there is little opportunity for independent reporting. Now more objective and human interest stories can be found on the Internet.
Ghana: Photos of Ghanaians threatened with relocation
Bunmi displays Devin Tepleski's portraits of the inhabitants of Bui, Ghana, who are threatened with relocation by a new hydroelectric dam.
Cuba: Naming Names
“After all the hubbub about Cuba agreeing to release 52 political prisoners in jail since the ‘black spring’ crackdown of March-April 2003, there still remain in prisons across the island 21 members of the Group of 75″: Uncommon Sense posts their names.
Cuba: Interrogation
Luis Felipe Rojas blogs about his detainment by the Cuban authorities and says: “I think about the path that has brought this country the totalitarian power that is eating away at itself. What will be my next punishment?”
Russia: Bloggers Outraged by Putin's Interview
Recent interview [RUS] of Vladimir Putin to Kommersant newspaper outraged many bloggers. They accuse Putin of a lie [RUS], ignorance [RUS], deliberate substitution [RUS] of the terms “police state” and a “state governed by a rule of law.” Other bloggers condemn [RUS] his attitude towards protesters: “You went out [on...
Taiwan: Students ask for more rights
A team of university student representatives from various universities and colleges established their official blog[zht] and published the 2010 evaluation result of students’ right in universities. They criticize some universities for opening courses just to ask students to do what employees should do, enforcing students to go to military courses, and...
India: A Message To Pastor Jones
Raja Basu from New Delhi is shocked by the heinous plan of Pastor Terry Jones to burn The Quran to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 incident. The blogger has this message to the Pastor: “by instigating people to burn The Holy Quran, you have actually brought yourself down...
South Asia: Bloggers On The ‘Ground Zero Mosque’
The recent debate on the planned Islamic Center/Mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, USA has been reverberated in many blogospheres around the world. In this post we will look at snippets of some interesting conversations on this issue by a number of South Asian bloggers.
South Korea: Extras Went On Strike
In South Korea, about one hundred extras from movies and soap operas went on strike, protesting over low pay and verbal abuse in the work place, South Korea's Segye [kr] reported.
Russia: Mari Paganism and Charges of “Extremism”
OpenDemocracy.net reports: “In their remote forest republic 400 miles east of the Moscow, the pagan Mari people are once again being harassed by the authorities. […] Ethnically kin to the Finns and Hungarians, their profoundly ecological religious worldview challenges Russian-led designs on their republic’s natural resources.”
Palestine: Abu Rahmah convicted of incitement for non-violent protest
Strong international, European, Arab, blogger, Twitter and media condemnation followed the conviction of non-violent Palestinian peace activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah, sentenced to prison by Israeli military court. Gabriel Nada rounds up reactions in this post.
Russia: “Jailbird Moms”
A Good Treaty writes about two Russian “jailbird moms” – Anna Shavenkova and Yulia Kruglova: “Two court cases in recent weeks have given Russia’s bruised citizenry a few additional reminders that the world is a cruel, extremely stupid place to live. Both these cases involve mothers of young children, but...
Angola: Armament Compared with Brazil and Israel
Every week the Em angola blog posts some figures about the country. This week, on war and violence, Gabriel Toueg makes a comparison between Angola, Brazil and Israel, concerning both legal and illegal armament.
Cuba: Double Standard
“On one hand they release some dissidents from prison, on the other those who attempt to say ‘I disagree’ get shoved behind bars”: Crossing the Barbed Wire comments on “the double standard policy assiduously practiced by the government as part of its greater foreign policy.”
Anguilla: One Step Back
Corruption-free Anguilla thinks that Montserrat's new draft constitution “does not advance government…rather, it sets Montserratians back decades, particularly in the area of human rights.”
