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April 9th, 2009
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Peru: Ex-President Fujimori Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori received his sentence: 25 years in prison convicted for crimes against humanity during his 1990-2000 administration. He was found to be guilty in his role of 25 murders during the operations against the Shining Path terrorist insurgency that gripped the nation. The blog Fujimori on Trial has been following all of the developments over the course of the trial. With the news of the ruling, the mainstream media has placed the news on the front page, and Espacio Propio [es] collects the covers on many of the country's newspaper. Of course, many Peruvian bloggers write their reactions.
The blogger from Pepitas [es] writes:
Este es un fallo histórico. Un tirano es sentenciado y permanecerá en la cárcel por lo menos hasta el 2020 (su condena es hasta el 2032 pero sí tiene derecho a beneficios carcelarios) Lo cierto es que Fujimori saldrá de la cárcel cuando tenga 81 años. No podrá ser indultado o amnistiado en un futuro. Que quede claro. Alan está advertido y también la hija del chino asesino y ladrón.
The blog CPM II [es] makes things completely clear with the post: Justice: The murderer and thief is sentenced:
Se ha hecho justicia! Que en esta hora exaltante y gratificante para todos los demócratas del Perú, nuestro pensamiento vaya a las víctimas por cuyo asesinato fue juzgado el ex tirano, para ellos y para sus padres, hermanos, esposas e hijos. Para todos aquellos que, tras las masacres de La Cantuta y de Barrios Altos se quedaron por años hundidos en el dolor y en la desesperación de ver calumniados a sus seres queridos y de verse acusados ellos mismo de simpatizar con el terrorismo por reclamar la justicia y verdad.
Another blogger, Andrés Edery, writes [es]:
Sin ni siquiera haber asimilado aún esta gran noticia, se me ocurren dos cosas al vuelo: 1) La próxima vez que algún mandatario peruano quiera hacer justicia con sus propias manos, se lo pensará dos veces. 2) ¿Fujimori es el único político de alto rango que debe responder por su, presunta o no, responsabilidad en una matanza? Yo creo que hay otro, y bien gordo.
In Spacio Libre [es], there is optimism in this news:
ayer ha sucedido un hecho singular en nuestra historia nacional. Un hecho sobre el cual los peruanos nos sentiremos orgullosos por generaciones. La condena al ex Presidente Fuijmori hecha por una Sala Especial de la Corte Suprema, con la mayor pulcritud jurídica posible, nos hace pensar que no solo Otra Mirada, sino también otro Perú es posible. Un país en el que delincuentes como Fujimori están notificados de que sus crímenes no quedarán impunes, más allá de los altos cargos que puedan ocupar en el Estado.
Evaristo of Perú Político [es] writes about some basic points of the sentence:
¿Cuál es la lógica de la autoría mediata dentro de una organización de poder?
Ser autor mediato no solamente significa estar a la cabeza de una organización de poder. Si ello fuera el caso, el gerente general de una empresa podría ser acusado si un trabajador suyo cometiera, de forma aislada, un crimen. Para ser autor mediato en una organización de poder, el culpable tiene que que tener “dominio de voluntad”. Es decir, debe tener control sobre las acciones de sus súbditos.
To be the mastermind does not only mean being the head of a power organization. If that is the case, the general manager of a company could be accused if a worker would commit a crime in their own. To be a mastermind of an organization of power, the guilty must have “control of the will power” of the workers. In other words, must have control of the actions of their subordinates.
In Perú es Babel [es] emphasizes the attitude taken by Fujimori's daugther, Keiko, who is trying to clear her father's name and has also been speculated to be a future presidential candidate:
Keiko ha manifestado que ese fallo “ha sido una victoria para el terrorismo”. ¡Por Dios qué falta de visión democrática! En otras palabras ha dicho que los deudos de esos casos eran terrucos. Además de dejar bien claro de que si la sentencia les salía a favor, ahí si había justicia y de serles desfavorables -como lo fue- el fallo es prevaricador, injusto, ilegal, en otras palabras se pican. No ¡pes!
Keiko has stated that this decision has been a “victory for terrorism.” My god, what lack of democratic vision! In other words, she said that the relatives of the victims were terrorists. In addition, it was left clear that if the sentence fell into her favor, then justice would have been served, but if it would have been unfavorable - as it was - then the decision would be unjust, illegal. No way!
Supporters of Fujimori do not agree with the decision. Juventud Fujimorista 2011 [es] (Fujimori Youth) defends the ex-president:
El Presidente Fujimori, quien nos salvó del Terrorismo (razón por la cual ahora lo han condenado en una muestra claramente vengativa), quien pacificó a nuestro país derrotando a Sendero Luminoso y MRTA (razón por la cual le han sentenciado a 25 años de cárcel), quien fundamentó una economía sólida, gracias a la cual Toledo y García incluso se han tomado la libertad de sentirse orgullosos de tener una presidencia con una “economía estable”.
Guille of Pueblo Vruto [es], even though he is not a Fujimori supporter, writes:
esta condena tiene sesgo político. Me parece un poco fuera de lugar llamarlo un triunfo de la democracia porque hay selectividad en los fines y exceso innecesario en los términos (ver imagen de portada) que alimentan pasiones en ambos, polarizando antidemocráticamente el ambiente. Del probo juez César San Martín se conoce su compromiso con los DD.HH. Pero lamentablemente estos de un tiempo a esta parte se han convertido en instrumento político. La tolerancia del derechohumanismo mundial (que ha estado presente en primera fila en el proceso y la sentencia contra Fujimori) hacia personajes como Fidel Castro y Hugo Chávez (que tienen un record mucho más largo, abultado y gravoso que Fujimori e, incluso, Pinochet) así lo demuestra. Por eso no descarto que este fallo sea producto de no poca presión política y que pueda servir de capital para ciertos afanes, incluyendo los del propio fujimorismo.
Silvio of Gran Combo Club [es] tries to imagine Fujimori's future:
Las opciones de Fujimori son secundariamente legales. Ya pidió la nulidad y seguirá su trámite. Su teatro de operaciones pasa ahora de lleno a la política. Posiblemente se trate de que sus víctimas se den por bien servidas con lo ocurrido el día de hoy. Una opción sería que se declare nulo el veredicto de hoy. ¿No es posible? En el año 2003 se desestimó la acusación contra Fujimori por las esterilizaciones forzadas. Fujimori tiene varias acusaciones pendientes, como la del caso Castro Castro.
There are certainly many options and it is certain that ex-president Fujimori still has a lot of supporters. Any achievements that may have taken place during his administration are overshadowed by the discovery of the immense corruption and attacks against human rights. And as always, there is much left to be said [es].
Macedonia: Facebook Removes Ministry of the Interior's Personal Profile
Macedonian portal IT.com.mk reported that Facebook removed the personal profile of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of Republic of Macedonia (MOI), due to disrespect of the terms of service.
Alleged reasons for canceling the profile included the fact that personal profiles are intended for personal and noncommercial use by individual persons, posting of disturbing photographs on the profile – including post-mortem remains of crime victims, as well as the opportunity for violations of privacy of other Facebook users.
The creation and especially the removal of the MOI’s personal profile on Facebook attracted significant attention of the Macedonian public.
After the publication of the profile, the article in Utrinski vesnik, published on April 4, related statements by journalists invited to become “friends” with the MOI via the profile. The journalists perceived this act as potential threat to their privacy, because after the establishment of this “friendship” the profile administrator would gain access to all their activities in this social network.
Daily Dnevnik voiced similar concerns about threats to media freedom on Feb. 14, after a MOI employee repeatedly requested that the paper supply a list of mobile phone numbers of journalists who cover political or social topics. The closure of that scandal included a public apology by the MOI.
MOI officials quoted in the initial article by Utrinski vesnik stated that the profile is “unofficial” means of communication and its goal is to make the police closer to the citizens.
During the last weekend, some citizens used the opportunity to ask where they can report violation of the Constitution and the Law on Macedonian language, which stipulate that state bodies must adhere to certain linguistic standards, alluding on the use of Latin instead of Cyrillic alphabet on the profile and the lack of proofreading. However, instead of providing a reply, the anonymous administrator of the profile simply deleted these inquires.
The blogger Virtuelna qualified the profile as “total amateurism”, and pointed at the paradox contained in the statements by official institution which claims to communicate unofficially. In addition, she wrote (MKD):
[…] They should publicly reveal who’s behind the profile. Honestly, I am terribly interested in who the public servant is - a MOI employee - spends mine and your tax money on continuous “facebooking.” The changes on the profile are very frequent, almost every second, and during regular work hours, meaning that “somebody is constantly lurking…” Hey, my boyfriend complains I’m a cyber[-addict]. Therefore, I qualify for employment at the MOI. I would have no problem to receive a state salary to update a Facebook profile 8 hours per day. On top of that, I promise to be very active on Facebook Chat too, and I can also maintain several distinct profiles simultaneously!!!
[…]
The profile also contains photographs which must come from a MOI archive. Shouldn’t publishing of such content require a special permission? Or the public servants can be careless, and share whatever they find on their workplace servers […]
On April 8, Utrinski vesnik published (MKD) a statement by Damjan Arsovski, editor of IT.com.mk:
I got the idea to get in touch with Facebook after reading an article stating that Macedonian laws do not prohibit the MOI to open such profile, but nobody mentioned anything about the compliance with the internal rules and regulations of Facebook […]
Janko Ilkovski, a TV host running the pro-government call-in show “Jadi burek” also addressed the MOI Facebook profile issue. He recently gained notoriety by calling for action against the peaceful protest organized on March 28 by a group dissatisfied with the government’s decision to use public funds for building a new church in Skopje. “The counter-protest” turned violent, and the police failed to prevent the pro-government mob from thrashing a number of students. In his show aired on April 7, Ilkovski referred to the act of contacting Facebook as a form of ‘snitching,’ and several times repeated the name of the man who dared to turn the attention of the foreign company to the MOI profile.
Pro-government columnists and bloggers wage a campaign against talking about country’s problems abroad, branding it as ‘snitching’ and high treason.
In a statement for Radio Free Europe about this case, Darko Buldioski, representative of the NGO New Media Centre, opined that closing of the MOI profile resulted from lack of knowledge of the responsible employees, who failed to read the terms and conditions.
In fact, Facebook does not prohibit legal entities and institutions to use their platform, but they must use the so-called pages and groups, or rent advertising space. These means provide opportunities for presenting information in a manner which is far less invasive in regard to privacy of the regular users when compared to personal profiles reserved for individuals.
Privacy protection remains an extremely important topic in Macedonia, which still struggles with the burden of the totalitarian regimes. Before 1990, the state surveillance system included use of technological devices and recruiting relatives, friends and colleagues of “suspects” who had to inform the authorities about their every move. In an excerpt from her book “Communist Intimacy” published (MKD) on the portal Okno.mk, writer and teacher Jasna Koteska related the tragic experience of her family resulting from the four decades of systematic surveillance over her father, the late poet Jovan Koteski:
When you look upon this diffusion of state power and its most perfidious penetration in the intimate world, executed through your friends, you cannot ask: where did they draw the line? The parts of the dossier made available to the family reveal that some of my mother’s friends, spouses of our famous poets, were also police informers. Where does this list end? What surprises linger behind the black markers that hide the identities of some of the still-secret informers?
Brunei: Creating Environmental Awareness
The recent Earth Hour event has seen the world banding together in the endeavour to raise awareness on the need to look after the fragile environment of the Earth. Voting for Earth was called out. As reported by my fellow GV author Noor Hidayah, in the case of Brunei, many bloggers seem to be supportive of the initiative and local papers have provided more reporting on the event. While many saw Brunei’s participation as an achievement, many also deemed it as an insufficient action to preserve the environment.
One of the local papers, Brudirect, reported on the last minute attempt to get people involved in the Earth Hour event. Although several corporations such as car dealers, hotels and individuals participated, they feel too little was made in educating the public about the event.
“While the initiatives made by these admirable few are commendable and exemplary, Brunei's efforts have been far overshadowed by the vast efforts in the neighbouring countries leaving Brunei, a country that makes up one third of the Heart of Borneo, far behind in eliminating complacency and ignorance of climate change and its devastating effects on the Earth.”
“A 19-year-old local student studying at Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah admitted to being ignorant of Earth Hour. When told of the efforts of schools in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, she said: “They never mentioned anything about Earth Hour in school let alone what it is about.” The absence of local public service announcements has also left much of the public “in the dark” on the significance and importance of Earth Hour 2009.”
Interesting enough, the University of Brunei Darussalam supported Earth Hour.
“Staff members of UBD spoke of how the awareness of energy conservation in students should be embedded as part of their curriculum as it was important for the next generation”. Assistant Registrar for the Chancellory, Kenny Liew said that with this cause, it would put UBD on the level of a world-class university. “This is a good step forward for us, not just on the education side but also to create awareness amongst the university's community as well as the public,” he said. “I don't think Earth Hour is transparent in Brunei because some people still do not know the rationale behind it. Someone needs to highlight the main purpose behind it and we hope that UBD can advocate it,” he said.
Another local paper, Brunei Times, reported that
Many Bruneians are still in the dark on the procedures and objectives of participating in Earth Hour 2009 to battle global warming.”The concept to take action against global warming is interesting and has potential, but its feasibility has to be questioned, said Frankie Tong, a sales executive working in the private sector.”I have seen an advertisement about it on Astro but to be honest I have no idea what it is about or what it is for,” said the 25-year-old. “I think it is kind of stupid to urge the public to switch off their lights because most of us will not pay attention to it. It might be a better idea to have the government shut down the power for us instead,” he added.
Blogger Hard Break Kid mentions the places where Earth Hour was observed while Nurture Nature uploads a video about Brunei's participation during Earth Hour.
Blogger Scripted Destiny believes that joining Earth Hour is a vote to save the environment:
People of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.
DenCorp observes that Earth Hour was a failure in Brunei.
All and all, Earth Hour was a total failure in Brunei. There was no support. The senior citizens didn't understand the whole point. The younger couldn't care less.”
Slay3rzz points out what Earth Hour is all about
“The main objective of this campaign is to continue to be energy efficient beyond Earth Hour, making small actions everyday to achieve our goal in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Z-Fame is surprised to learn that Brunei joined the Earth Hour. Simplisti thinks that Brunei's participation in the event would improve its global image
We can show the world that we can do something. Then, maybe the perception that people of Brunei live on pokok (trees) will be banished.”
Green Campaign provides information on how to help reduce the negative impact on the environment by using reusable bags instead of plastic bags. Some of the green initiatives are already proposed before but not many are supporting them. In most restaurants and food stalls, styrofoams containers are used instead of reusable containers. The same goes for the reusable shopping bags. Although many initiatives were introduced to the public, the lack of incentives in using them made customers to leave them at home.
Personally, I use them but not all supermarkets welcome them. For instance, I was stopped by a security guard at a big supermarket for trying to bring in bags into the store. The lack of coordination amongst the staff organisation in the supermarkets created this set back. Also many supermakets do not want to stop providing plastic bags to customers for fear of losing customers.
The Earth Hour event highlighted the need for continued awareness on the need to preserve the fragile environment. There are many initiatives that can be taken up by ordinary citizens rather than waiting for government authorities or NGOs to highlight them.
Brunei's participation during Earth Hour
India Elections ‘09: Bloggers on the Varun Gandhi controversy
Election campaigning is in full swing in India and amidst all the frenzy, the Pilbhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has come under the scanner after one of its young BJP candidates, Varun Gandhi courted controversy over his allegedly communal and inflammatory campaign speeches during election rallies in his constituency on March 6th and 8th, 2009.
Over the next few weeks, video footage of Varun Gandhi's speeches were repeatedly splashed across TV channels. When questioned by the media and the Election Commission. Varun stated that the audio in the footage had been doctored and it was a ploy against him. Unmoved by his denial, the Election Commission sent him a show cause notice for violating the Model Code of Conduct, and later, on 22 March 2009, found him guilty of making ‘hate speeches'.
A spate of criminal cases lodged against him, on 29th March, Varun Gandhi surrendered before a local court in Pilbhit. He was arrested and jailed. The State Government has now booked him under the National Security Act (NSA) on “charges of inciting communal passion by making provocative and inflammatory speeches during [election campaign] meetings”.
As of today, Varun Gandhi continues to be in the eye of the storm as various political parties and their leaders try to gain maximum mileage out of the incident. The Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has gone as far as to court controversy himself after making a speech berating Varun. The BJP on the other hand, has renewed it's stance of backing it's protege Varun Gandhi with both political and legal aid.
The blogosphere too has been abuzz with opinions on the Varun Gandhi controversy.
Youth ki Awaaz writes:
If young leaders like Varun give such defamatory remarks, what can we expect from the others? The fact that India is a country with communal diversity makes it mandatory for each and every citizen to have a feeling of brotherhood.
Blogger ak too is apprehensive about young candidates like Varun Gandhi, who could also be tomorrow's leaders spewing such rhetoric. He says:
To hear someone so young like Varun Gandhi give out that hate speech against the muslims in such mean tones was just shameful. Are these the young leaders that is going to takle(sic) India forward??
Another blogger Vijay Vikram discusses what he feels was the motivation behind Varun's rhetoric.
It is a sad fact of Indian - for that matter all democratic polity - that aspiring statesmen have to appeal to the lowest common denominator for electoral gains. That is precisely what Varun Gandhi was doing. Varun Gandhi's remarks were borne out of political necessity, nothing else.
On the other hand, some bloggers have come out in support of Varun Gandhi, seeing him as a scapegoat in the drama of India's minority-vote politics. Sreekrishnan Venkatesan writes:
i did not find anything wrong in Varun Gandhi's speech. He warned any other religious fanatics killing Hindus, which to me looked very much normal. In fact this isn't as bad like congress which goes all out to playing the communal card, with non hindu religions. Hypocrisy in all its strength. Supporting a minority religious community is “Secular” while supporting Hindus is “communal”.
In this entire controversy, the role of the MSM has also come under scrutiny. Shahid Siddiqui of Media-Mania wonders why the TV channels devoted as much as over 22.57 hrs of prime time playing back the video footage. He asks:
If the media really believed that Varun Gandhi’s speech would cause unrest among a section of the people, did the repeat telecasts of the speech make any sense?…All the TV channels have overplayed the issue. It was not even authenticated if the CD was original. As per the ethics of journalism, it should not have been played as it has been done, especially during the elections….The role of media is certainly open to question. While reporting that it was a “hate speech” “blatantly communal” etc, did the media behave responsibly by telecasting the tape umpteen times a day for the last few days?
Bloggers are also discussing whether Varun Gandhi should have been booked under the NSA. Many of them seem to echo the words of the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, who stated that “The hate speech of BJP's Lok Sabha candidate Varun Gandhi did not threaten national security and a law other than the National Security Act could have been invoked to deal with it”. In this context,Vinay writes:
… punishing him under NSA is unwarranted. Even though his speech had the potential to disturb public order, the warning by election Commission and subsequent FIRs under Representation of People Act were sufficient.
The CD containing his speech came into light some 15 days later after he gave it. It means his speech did not lead to any violence immediately, which is actually case in most of the instances.
Listening to his speech one can say that it was more of rhetoric in spite of being venomous.
Nonetheless he deserves punishment, but not under NSA.
He has been arrested under the preventive detention clause of NSA, which is clearly doctored to prevent him from contesting elections.
Varun's lawyers have challenged his detention in the Supreme Court. The case will come up for hearing on April 13th.
This post is part of the Global Voices special coverage on Indian Elections 2009
Fiji: Court rules military government illegal
Fiji’s bloggers are reacting to a recent court ruling that deems the country’s military-backed government illegally came to power in December 2006. The court asks Fiji’s President to appoint a caretaker government to rule in its place until elections can be held.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, head of Fiji's military, came to power in December 2006 after months of conflict with the government of Laisenia Qarase over what he deemed its corrupt and racist policies. He claimed a state-of-emergency existed and assumed the role of President. He then appointed an interim Prime Minister, who advised Bainimarama to dissolve Parliament. Bainimarama stepped down as President a month later, and the country’s president appointed Bainimarama as Prime Minister of an Interim Government which would rule without a Parliament. It was Fiji’s fourth military coup since 1987.
Laisenia Qarase challenged his dismissal in court, and in October 2008 Fiji’s High Court ruled the President could exercise prerogative powers during a public crisis. Thursday’s ruling found the President ‘s prerogative powers in this situation “did not continue to exist in Fiji after the 1997 Constitution.”
However, the judges argued that even if Qarase had not formally resigned as Prime Minister, he had not held office in over two years, making a “fresh start” necessary for Fiji. The judges called on the Interim Prime Minister to step down and the country’s President should appoint a caretaker government “independent of the parties to this litigation,” meaning neither Bainimarama or Qarase can become Prime Minister in the new government, which will remain in place until new elections are scheduled. However, because the Bainimarama government held power for two years, the judges deemed the actions and laws of that government legal.
Government lawyers asked the court to grant a stay on the ruling, but were refused.
Bainimarama addressed the nation after the ruling, claiming he would step down as Prime Minister while remaining head of Fiji’s military. This move, he said, effectively leaves the country without “a Prime Minister or any Ministers of the Sate. In other words we do not have a Government in place.” He has consulted with the President, he said, who will make a decision soon on the caretaker government.
At the heart of the country's political problems are poor relations between parties representing indigenous Fijians — who presently make up roughly 60 percent of the population — and the political parties representing Indo-Fijians — the descendants of tens of thousands of indentured workers brought by the British colonial rulers during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century to help build Fiji’s sugar industry. Bainimarama wanted to abolish the country's communal-based eleciton system in hopes to provide more power to political parties that appeal to people of both races.
The largely anti-Bainimarama political blogosphere in and around Fiji was ecstatic at the ruling. “Justice at last,” claimed one blog while another maintained “what a meaningful Easter it will be for the people in Fiji.”
At the Soli Vakasama Blog, commenter meme expressed relief:
Exciting news…at least Fiji and the whole world can be reminded that Qarase’s removal was unlawful…let’s pray and hope for the best!
Peace Pipe looks forward to this government's fall:
I am so so elated with this great news of joy. Of course it was coming this way as nothing is legal about a coup and if tested by law it will always be found illegal. It was so blatantly shameful the way [Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz SAYED-KHAIYUM] iarse was talking about power vacuum and other garbage about catching the bus and so on. Just get the heck out or else he should be charged with contempt. Old puppy puppet pressie should immediately call for a caretaker govt who would work immediately towards elections.
Raw Fiji News said Bainimarama said all the right things in his address to the nation.
Frank has kind of acknowledged that neither he nor Qarase can be caretaker PM but has stressed that he as the Commander of the RFMF will ensure that peace is maintained in Fiji.
That’s the way to go Frank!
Follow the rule of law and fight the fight legally, not with the guns cause your gun holders are now on the masses side.
Not everyone is so sanguine. Intelligentsiya surmises that Bainimarama will not step down as Prime Minister and allow his government to fall.
That’s right folks. Bainimarama as we’ve long known is ONLY about Number 1. Himself. And he certainly does not want anyone else stepping into his shoes or taking over his privileges. So right now at the fourth floor of his Govt Buildings office they are plotting and scheming the possibility of abrogating the constitution ASAP.
NZ PM John Key’s knew this even when commenting after the court ruling was handed down today. Australia also in response reiterated the need for the court ruling should be respected but everyone knows that Frank is an uncompromising terrorist thug.
Over at Intelligentsiya, Fiji Democracy Now begins asking questions on how Fiji will find a way forward.
But what we don't know is whether Voreqe Bainimarama will respect the court's ruling?
Or will he, like the outlaw he his, try and evade the law?
Will today's decision spur Bainimarama to turn his back on the Constitution and formalize his dictatorship?
And, if that happens, can he be confident of carrying the army and his rag-tag opportunist supporters with him?
Or will reason, common sense and decency prevail and will the army disown their commander on the grounds that he is only destroying Fiji in his bid to evade justice?
The other crucial question is the capacity of our President to abide by the court's ruling and appoint an independent person as a caretaker Prime Minister.
No doubt all of these questions will be answered in the next few days and weeks.
In the meantime, we can only hope and pray that, finally, our beloved nation can find the right path leading out of the catastrophe that has been wrought by the actions of an outlaw.
Loyal Fijian has a list of seven possibilities on the near-term future for Fiji.
There a number of possibilities, in order of likelihood:
1. The President re-affirms Commodore Bainimarama as Interim PM
2. Interim Government overrules Appeals Court of Fiji under Doctrine of National Security Exigency
3. New independent PM is appointed who vacates office in favour of Commodore Bainimarama
4. Constitution is abrogated and the People Charter will serve as the framework to return Fiji to Parliamentary rule
5. Independent PM is appointed who calls for fresh elections in 12 months6. Mahendra Chaudhry is appointed as Interim PM
7. [Spokesman for Qarase] Peceli Kinivuwai is named as Interim PM
The Appeals Court of Fiji is not unexpected given the precedent that was set in Chandarika Prasad case that allowed a return to Parliamentary rule in 2000. As such, the planners in the IG would have sufficient time to work out their options.
[Links added by author to provide context.]
Georgia: Opposition protests in Tbilisi (Updated)
Twenty years after clashes with Soviet troops outside the main government building in Tbilisi left 20 dead, the Georgian capital today braced itself for possible problems as the country's opposition staged its first major rally since the August war with Russia.
Yesterday, Al Jazeera English's Matthew Collin posted a video report and backgrounder setting the scene for today's rally on his blog, This is Tbilisi Calling.
The Georgian capital is in a state of nervous tension, waiting and wondering what will happen tomorrow - April 9 - the day upon which the furious and embittered opposition has declared it will start the process of ousting President Mikheil Saakashvili through sheer force of numbers on the streets. Opposition supporters will start rallying outside parliament at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and their leaders say they won't leave until Saakashvili is gone too - however long it takes.
Despite some initial concerns about internet access, the GIPA Journalism School Blog has been covering events as they unfold.
We are journalism students in Tbilisi, Georgia, and we started this blog as a class project to cover the April 9, 2009 protest organized around the country, demanding that Georgian President Mikael Saakashvili to resign.
This blog contains our English-language coverage of the event. We are dedicated to providing objective, fact-based, balanced coverage. […]
In the first entry posted yesterday, Sherqqizi’s Blog introduced readers to the newly formed Why? public movement and says that local activists are finding a new lease of life since the November 2003 Rose Revolution.
The activities of “Why?” Public movement were started by seven activists secretly. The organization began to spread banners, stickers in the street at nights. But three weeks ago they held press-conference in an underground in Freedom Square and began to open activity. They thinks that this action means to go out from darkness to freedom. The movement has 160 members from Tbilisi and 20 from Batumi. Now they are working to draw in more people from whole Georgia. They have 15 coordinators which are responsible to draw in the movement.
At time of writing, a special Twitter channel, #tbilisi, has estimates of the crowd at anywhere between 20-40,000 people. However, in an entry posted early this morning, the GIPA Journalism School Blog said that the opposition hoped for larger numbers.
More than a dozen opposition parties hope to gather between 150,000-200,000 people in front of Parliament on April 9th — and the government officials said they have no plans to stop them, unless the crowd gets violent.
A few hours later at 5am local time, one of the contributers, Alibayli’s Blog, said that a candlelight vigils had already started.
About 60 people were gathered in front of parliament around 5 am to leave flowers and burn candles to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Day of National Unity, when 20 people were killed and scores injured when Soviet troops fired upon protesters demonstrating against the Soviet Union.
[…]
All of the early risers planned to return to parliament at 2 p.m., though not all are planning to support the opposition groups. Gogoladze, for example, is an opposition supporter. But pensioner Natella Turmanishvili said that she will come to the protest to heckle opposition supporters.
[…]
In preparation for the day’s demonstrations, an iron stage and 1 meter high wood fence were constructed in front of the Parliament building.
Soon after mid-day, Ketevan22’s Blog reported that 5,000 opposition supporters had gathered in different parts of the city and were marching towards the Georgian parliament. The blog also says that traffic was obstructed by demonstrators on the city's main central street.
Avlabari Metro Station was the starting place for the Conservative Party and Movement for the United Georgia. They reported choosing the place intentionally because the new administration offices of the president are also located at Avlabari district. By 12 p.m. nearly 1000 people had already gathered at this spot. Leaders of the party are waiting for more protesters and at 1 p.m. they started a march towards the Parliament.
[…]
Protesters coming from Georgian Public Broadcaster and Tbilisi State University are going to join near Philarmonic Hall. Because of the large number of people the movement of the cars is stopped on Rustaveli Avenue.
As protesters gathered outside the parliament building, the GIPA Journalism School Blog says an anonymous expat researcher in Tbilisi estimated the crowd at a little over 50,000, a figure largely in line with international wire estimates.
Just how does one estimate the size of a crowd? It depends on whom you ask.
Reuters calls it 50,000 while Agence France Presse (AFP) estimated 60,000, while Radio Free Liberty reported 100,000. Civil.ge reported that opposition leaders estimated 100,000 but they guessed much less by 3:30 p.m.
Georgian government officials downplayed the figures: Eka Guladze, first deputy minister of Internal Affairs, said observers reported seeing about 25,000 people.
[…]
But we put our money on a locally based, well-respected European researcher who prefers to remain anonymous. He’s applying a “leading international formula” based on the square meters of space covered by protesters and the crowd density.
His crowd estimate: 53,000.
Not that many Georgians will get to hear otherwise with Ketevan22’s Blog, one of the GIPA bloggers, noting that Georgian Public TV was not reporting live. The blog says some opposition leaders and protesters marched on the station.
[…] Kostava Street is almost blocked by the protesters. Conservative Party member Bezhan Gunava attempted to break into the broadcaster’s building.
Though they broadcast the program during their regular news hours at 12 and 4 p.m. and had plans to show the protest at 8 p.m., they did not, as opposition organizers demand, show the protests live consistently between 2 p.m.-8 p.m. The facility is protected by the police and Special Forces who are located throughout the building.
The blog also says that the day passed without incident, something that tweets on #tbilisi also indicated as the evening drew to a close.
dv0rsky: Well, this day in #tbilisi was surprisingly calm. I will write later an article about it (and post a link here of course)
mhikaric: @perspectivelute I think everyone, even those who seek change, are weary of upheaval. #tbilisi
perspectivelute: Impressive how calm everybody has been in #tbilisi - not just the lack of violence, but few histrionic statements. unusual for Georgia ;)
fieldreports: If the call for beers among int'l media is anything to go by at the #tbilisi marriott then protest coverage is winding down for tonight
More updates will be posted Global Voices Online if and when any new events occur. In the meantime, it's worth keeping an eye on the GIPA Journalism School Blog as well as Twitter at #tbilisi.
There are are also live updates from the mobile phone of Frontline Club blogger Guy Degen on Twitter (text), Utter (audio) and Qik (video).
Links for Thu, 2009-04
Ethan Zuckerman writes about the social media and other aspects of the protests in Moldova: “I posted the following to Twitter: ‘NYTimes argues Twitter leads to Moldova riots. Moldovan gov’t blames Romania. Romania = Twitter? […]' I got two interesting responses almost immediately. Dinu Popa noted: ‘[…] moldovan government blames everybody: the West, Romania, Jesus, even Russia(!). The real cause is fraudulent elections'.”
MoldovAnn posts an update on Moldova, including notes on “a ‘Romanian' flavor to the demonstrations” - and this on reports “that internet was cut off”: “Sasha said that external internet traffic had been shut down (ie Facebook, vKontakte, etc), but internal traffic had been and continues to be “on”, although overloaded by excessive demand. I’ve exchanged emails the last couple of days with friends in Moldova, so apparently not all external traffic was cut off- maybe just access to websites but it doesn’t seem like email was affected.”
A translation of LJ user varfolomeev-v's report (RUS) on how “The State is demanding money from former hostages in Beslan” - at Robert Amsterdam's blog.
Samuel Nichols, an American who works with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, writes about the parallels he sees between the history of the Native Americans and the situation of the Palestinians.
Frontline Club blogger Guy Degen posts an update on the opposition protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The media blogger also is also posting live updates from his mobile phone on Twitter (text), Utter (audio) and Qik (video).
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