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Yemen: “Our blood is not cheap” (Videos) · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.
Tens of thousands of protesters across Yemen rallied for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh after Friday prayers.
Two protesters were shot dead in Yemen's second-largest city Aden on Friday, February 25, in what appears to be confrontations between anti-Saleh groups and police. At least 34 others have been wounded, most by live gunfire.
In the Yemen's capital Sanaa, people were especially worried about rivaling demonstrations scheduled for Friday, but no major incidents were reported. Around 10,000 pro-Saleh supporters rallied in Sanaa's Tahrir square, just four kilometers from where approximately 30,000 to 50,000 anti-Saleh protesters gathered at the University of Sanaa.
For and against the government
In the roughly two weeks since protests began in Yemen, an estimated 17 people have died and dozens hurt in clashes between anti-Saleh demonstrators and pro-government groups and security forces.
Since protests across the Middle East began to spread, opposition groups have squeezed concessions from Saleh, like a promise to not run in the 2013 presidential election and to enable more national political dialogue. Yet anti-government protesters (and outside observers) accuse pro-Saleh groups of hiring thugs to beat them with daggers and clubs.
After pro-Saleh groups shot and killed two anti-government protesters on Tuesday, February 22 (and wounded many others), President Saleh ordered police to offer “full protection” to anti-government protesters, and, if necessary, separate them from pro-government groups.
Yemen is arguably the poorest country in the region, and the mostly young anti-Saleh protesters have been demanding economic development and human rights. They say Saleh has been in power for too long (since 1978) and has reigned over a notoriously corrupt government with a poor human rights record.
Saleh supporters say his downfall would bring chaos to a country only 15 years removed from its last civil war with a southern secessionist movement. Yemen still faces multiple security issues, like an on-again off-again war with tribes on its northern border.
Aden
Here is a photo from the demonstration in Aden where one protester was killed and 19 others reported wounded. In a video uploaded to Twitpic by snuraddin, protesters chant: “Ali you bastard, our blood is not cheap.”
#today #youth #protest in #almansurah #aden #yemen Image by Twitpic user snuraddin.
Aden is the former capital of what was once the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) before unifying with North Yemen in 1990 to form the current Republic of Yemen.
According to accounts on Twitter:
@aden_voice: Ali Abdullah Saleh's soldiers have no qualms about killing southerners and to fire live bullets in the head#Yemen #aden
@aden_voice: they are burning pictures of #President of Yemen and #Yemen Flag in alorood area Aden, #protesters demanding the independence of South #fb
@aden_voice: Security opens fire on the protesters at Camp Victory in Khormaksar and news of the martyrs and the wounded. South Yemen#Aden #Yemen #fb
@snuraddin: #protesters burn #tires in revenge of what happened to their #friends in AlAreesh #khormaksar #aden #yemen
Sanaa
The country's capital witnessed dueling protests today, and citizen caught a lot of the action in videos. A video uploaded by tomwfinn shows the sit-in at the University of Sanaa.
Here is a round-up of the day's events in Sanaa:
@JamjoomCNN: Prayers just finished – as soon as they were done entire crowd rose up chanting “People are calling for the fall of the regime” #Yemen #yf
@Yemen_2011:(Hashem @AJELive) cars w speakers infornt of pro-gov marchers #Yemen – plenty of banners – speaking of Dialogue committee by Prez -
@JamjoomCNN: One sign reads: “No to dialogue, no to negotiation” This crowd has one demand… That Saleh step down #Yemen #yf
@shephardm: Word on the street is that gov't loyalists getting about $20 + food and qat to stay at Tahrir Square. That's a lot of money here. #yemen.
@JamjoomCNN: Oppo. politician @ anti-govt demos today:”This is a people's protest. We're joining the youth to be among them and not to lead them.” #Yemen
@tomfinn__ Crowds are deafening here at Sana'a university #yemen there must be over 30,000 people
@JamjoomCNN: One student :”President Saleh is stubborn but our movement is a peaceful one and we'll keep coming day after day in greater numbers.” #Yemen
@shephardm: Talked with one pro-Saleh demonstrator who said wanted to show support so country wouldn't collapse. Wants to wait for elx in 2013. #yemen
@Abou_3ali: dozens of thousands at #Sanaa university today! So exciting!! More and more people there and so different… #Yemen #yf
@shephardm: But one cop raised his baton and came toward me when he saw my camera. Guess he didn't get the “be nice to journos memo” from pres. #yemen.
@gregorydjohnsen:  Pro-Salih protests look fairly small on tv – anyone on the ground have a sense of numbers?ite
@gregorydjohnsen: I was there a couple of hours ago, can't have been more than 10,000 pro-Saleh supporters
@shephardm: Went inside military PR office known as 26th of September. A dozen video cameras. Wonder about “citizen journalists” on the street. #yemen.
@ionacraig: Single panicking soldier who aimed at protesters after firing in air nearly changed course of events today. Snr officer grabbed gun from him
@yemen4change: For security reasons, bloggers from #Yemen, please do NOT disclose your locations! There is gov wide crackdown on online bloggers
@ionacraig: Came closer than I'd like to being shot today, lost my phone and then a pro-saleh guy hit me round the knee with a stick by mistake. Bad day
@WomanfromYemen: liberals, islamists, socialists, young, old, students, unemployed, teachers, doctors, men, women etc at the protest #sanaa #yemen
@WomanfromYemen: overwhelmed w/joy at the peaceful and festive atmosphere today in #sanaa, #yemen. not sure how many ppl were there but i think around 50,000
@Abou_3ali: People prayed, ate, chanted, danced, chewed, at #Sanaa U. and it's still going on! LOVE IT!! Yalla ya shabab !! #Yemen #yf
Taiz
News Yemen reports that “tens of thousands” protested in Taiz, the country's third largest city. Here are some photos from Friday's events.
Here is a video of protests from Taiz, uploaded by sadekmaktary
Another video, titled “funeral of a martyr Liberty Square in taiz,” was uploaded by sadekmaktary
Finally, a  video of the protests beginning immediately after Friday prayers, uploaded by @kasinof
From Twitter:
@dia_assada: As Freedom Sq had no more capacity, inhabitants around the Sq opened their houses’ yards n roofs 4 prayer performers. #Taiz #Yemen
Ibb
Here are some photos of protests in the city of Ibb, about 150 kilometers from the port of Aden.
This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.


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Africa: Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Boukari Ouédraogo wrote [Fr] on his blog: ” The 22 edition of the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou will take place in Ouagadougou from February 26th to March 5th. This year's theme is “African Cinema and Markets.”

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Armenia: Apathy or revolution? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Footprints compares the situation in Armenia with that in Egypt, but says that despite the problems it is unlikely a similar uprising will occur. In particular, the blog blames apathy among the youth and a fractured opposition.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Social Networks for Social Revolution? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, the extra-parliamentary opposition in Armenia is now seeking to replicate events in the former Soviet republic, and not least because 1 March 2011 will mark the 3rd anniversary of post-presidential election clashes which left 10 people dead. However, although there has been some coverage in the local media, there has been next to none outside of the country.
In part, some believe, this has been because few expect them to succeed. While Azerbaijan has made the ‘watch list’ of several foreign media outlets, Armenia and especially Georgia have not. Footprints offers its opinion as to why.
The Egyptians did it. They dispelled a regime that they knew to be oppressive and corrupt, which limited their freedom of expression and movement and held them hostage to failed opportunity and poverty. […] Through social networking they got the message out and people took to the streets, refusing to relent until their demands were met. Mission accomplished.
But here in Armenia, chronic whining reigns society. People here, young and old alike, are so obsessed with the idea of “the country’s not a country” that they see no other way out of the similar problems that Egyptians dealt with for over 30 years. […] And not to discount the Armenians’ suffering, but Egyptians seemed to have suffered far worse during their decades of tyrannical repression and “emergency” rule. […]
[…]
I’ve had a few conversations with people about the events in Egypt, and they recognize the need to do the same here. They realize the missed opportunity they had in March 2008. But they also know that no one’s ready to try again. The youth, as a dynamic source of potential, are inactive. The opposition is as fragmented as it ever was. There’s no unity amongst the Armenian people here, and until everyone gets on the same page to work for the common goal, the country, in their eyes, will remain not a country. That shouldn’t be an option.
Opposition Rally, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian
The Armenian Observer appears to be one of those discontent with the situation in Armenia, but uninterested in the extra-parliamentary opposition's renewed attempt to come to power. The blog comments on the speech made by its leader, former president Levon Ter-Petrossian, at a rally staged a week ago in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Reuters and AFP estimated attendance at between 5-7,000 people while the local media put it at 10,000.
“The plight of our people is no better than the plight of the peoples of those countries, and Armenia’s regime is no less dictatorial and hated than the regimes in those countries,” opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, Armenia’s first President told the crowd before it marched through downtown Yerevan.
[…]
However, I don’t think the crowd, which wasn’t there during HAK’s previous rally, came because they now suddenly started to trust the opposition force more. The opposition movement hasn’t done anything to earn that trust over the past couple of years.
Such a rally, including one scheduled to mark the 1 March anniversary, would have happened regardless of Egypt and Tunisia. However, some analysts believe, events in the Arab world at least proved encouraging. This even extends to examining the potential use of Facebook and Twitter  to enact regime change.
However, online activity remains incredibly low for now at least, with only 324 people both inside and outside of Armenia joining an unofficial Facebook page, Armenian revolution of reform : March 1, 2011, for the next major demonstration at time of writing. The Armenian Observer comments on the situation.
Zurabian, who isn’t even registered in Facebook, told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, that monitoring of the world’s largest social network carried out by the opposition force has revealed “great support” for the HAK among the population of Armenia. He than went on to conclude, that HAK supporters are educated people, who “have access to Internet technologies and social networks.”
[…]
Currently there are 123,000 users registered from Armenia, which is something like 4% penetration in total population terms. So it is sheer utopianism to claim, as Zurabian did in his interview with PanArmenian.net, that social networks “provide great opportunities to overcome information blockade imposed by the Armenian authorities via total control of television.”
Few, however, take such claims regarding online support seriously, but if the situation with Facebook is bad, it is even worse on Twitter, although @hpNYR, an opposition supporter in the United States, has made an incredible effort to popularize the use of both Facebook and Twitter, including attempts to encourage use of a #1mar hashtag, almost single-handedly.
Nevertheless, some believe, it might be too little too late.
Even so, YouTube is at least being used by the pro-opposition A1 Plus, formerly a television station controversially forced off the air less than a year before the bitterly disputed presidential election in 2003. A video uploaded today, for example, shows a minor confrontation between police and opposition youth activists off Yerevan's Republic Square.
Whatever happens in Armenia next week, for now at least it appears that social networks will not have played a significant role. Of course, some like Armenian student and Global Voices author Yelena Osipova argue that they shouldn't necessarily always be viewed as a total solution anyway.
Meanwhile, as the extra-parliamentary opposition in Armenia prepares for 1 March, activists in neighboring Azerbaijan are looking to the 11th.


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Bahrain: Day of Mourning Observed · Global Voices
Yacoub Al-Slaise

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.
Friday (Feb 25) was officially announced as a ‘Day of Mourning‘ for all the martyrs who have fallen since Bahrain's Day of Wrath protests, which started on February 14th 2011.
Blogger Mahmood Al-Yousif reflects on this day of mourning through his latest post:
Let us just pause for a little while and thank them for their sacrifice. And hope that their spilt blood will not go without changing this country for the better for every single person on these islands. They died fighting to allow us to live with the most basic of human rights; to live with dignity. With respect for human, political and economic rights. For a bilateral constitution which defines the relationship between the government and the people. For equal opportunities. For transparency. And for the eradication of corruption.
I salute them and all those who have gone before them.
May they rest in peace, and may this country and its people never forget them. I hope that their names be solidly etched on the Pearl at the spiritual centre of the protests so that we never forget.
Wearing black and reading or listening to Quran are the main signs of mourning periods across the Islamic World.
@GhadeerAlDaaysi جمعة الحداد على أرواح الشهداء، اتمنى من جميع البحرينيين الاتشاح بالسواد. #Bahrain #UniteBahrain
Bahrain National Radio and Television observed the day of mourning by broadcasting Quran and Islamic programming.
@SuhailAlgosaibi شئ جميل ان يذاع القرآن الكريم في الراديو. Better late than never. #Bahrain #feb14 #lulu
@JustNawaf (On Bahrain TV) @yslaise mixture of religious programs and Quran (so far) #Bahrain #Lulu #Feb14
Disgusted and frustrated from the lack of coverage to the anti government protests on Bahrain TV, many protesters wondered if they will start covering the martyrs’ march on Friday.
@BAHRAINIAC I thought it was an official mourning day announced by the gov? Where is BTV not covering the martyrs protest? #bahrain #feb14
Although not covering the entirety of the martyr's march, BTV did broadcast clips from the march during its news bulletins:
@Othman_Janahi Well done BTV.. They just showed on the news the march of today..
As for the martyrs’ march itself, blogger Redha Haji uploaded an album on Flickr depicting the events of the whole march, which went peacefully. It started at two separate locations (Seef Mall and Salmaniya Intersection) towards Pearl (Lulu) Roundabout.
Martyrs’ March from Salmaniya towards Pearl Roundabout courtesy of Redha Haji's Flickr
The Bahrain Youth Initiative Facebook Page [ar], an initiative by some of Bahrain's youth to promote reconciliation and dialogue have called to visit the martyr's families and give their condolences on Saturday.
تنظم مبادرة شباب البحرين زيارة إلى أهالي ضحايا الاحداث الاليمة يوم السبت الموافق ٢٦ فبراير في الساعة ال ٤ عصرا حيث ستكون نقطة التجمع في مواقف مجمع سترة ومن يرغب بالمشاركة الالتزام بالوقت المذكور
للاستفسار ٣٩٢٦٢٦٦٥
info@bhryi.com
This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

author: Yacoub Al-Slaise


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Bahrain: Minor Ministerial Changes · Global Voices
Yacoub Al-Slaise

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.
Rumours had been flying around on Friday evening (February 25th) of ministerial changes within Bahrain's government. The rumours were confirmed in Saturday's newspapers, where details of four ministers getting sacked (Eng. Fahmi Al-Jowdar – Ministry of Electricity and Water / Dr. Faisal Al-Hamar – Minister of Health / Shaikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa – Minister of Housing / Shaikh Ahmed bin Atteyatallah Al-Khalifa – Minister of Ministerial Council Affairs).
Ministerial changes in Bahrain government. Image courtesy of Al-Wasat Newspaper
In their places, two current ministers were reshuffled including: Majeed Al-Alawi switching from Ministry of Labour to Housing and Dr. Nizar Al-Baharna from Ministry of State and Foreign Affairs to Ministry of Health. Minister of Oil and Gas Affairs Abdulhussain Mirza also was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Electricity and Water. Two new ministers entered government with Kamal Ahmed as Minister of State and Jameel Humaidan Undersecretary of Labour being promoted to Minister of the same ministry.
Reactions from social media have been mixed to say the least:
@hussain_info Ppl in #bahrain considers the removal of 4 ministers meaningless for #feb14 & expecting new rallies #lulu #fb
@SamehFoulad على صفحة معتصمي الفاتح على الفيس بوك يوجد الكثير من التعليقات الغير مؤيدة لتغيير وزاري http://on.fb.me/f0TYVw #Bahrain #lulu
@luluroundabout2 #bahrain #LULU #14feb مو وزيرا الدفاع والداخلية قتلوا ابناء الشعب بدم بارد لماذا لم يقالا عاى الاقل للتظاهر بحسن النية
@BRNY600 I think sacking the ministers is a sign of good intent … Good I say … #Bahrain #Feb14
@Dr_Sadiq التغييرات الترقيعية تؤكد ان النظام لا يزال يضرب على وتر الطائفية وكأن مشكلة المعارضة مع الحكومة مشكلة سنة وشيعة #Bahrain #feb14
@mohdashoor 3 ministers sacked as protesters remain in Martyrs Square #Bahrain, and insist on the resignation of the whole government.
@mahmood تعديل وزاري يطيح بـ 4 وزراء: http://bit.ly/grhEW4 good start. Now prosecute Attiyatallah and his stooges, weed them out & get rid of them.
@emoodz Was Bandergate discovered yesterday? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Bandar… #iwonder #bahrain #lulu
@emoodz Sacking three ministers is baby step in the right direction.. #justsaying #bahrain #lulu
This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.


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Bangladesh: A Much Awaited Victory · Global Voices
Rezwan

Photo blogger Monirul Alam catches the joy of Bangladeshi fans in images after winning against Ireland in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Bede People – The River Gypsies · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh Unlocked highlights the bede people, the river gypsies of Bangladesh.


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Bangladesh: Clinical Trial Of A Cholera Vaccine Raises Questions · Global Voices
Rezwan

This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.
Recent international news on Bangladesh was presented in a very positive light – the world's largest clinical trial of a cheap oral cholera vaccine will be conducted in Dhaka, which can save tens of thousands of lives every year. The reports do not contain much except that the study involves nearly 250,000 people near the capital. This will be a cheap alternative to the currently available vaccines and two-thirds of the 250,000 people involved in the trial will receive two doses of the Indian-made vaccine and the rest will receive a placebo.
A cholera hospital in Bangladesh. Image by Flickr user Mark Knobil.  CC BY
Blogger Judhisthir followed [bn] the news and was surprised that the local media was silent on this issue:
একমাত্র প্রথম আলো ছাড়া আর কোন পত্রিকায় এটির কোন খবর খুঁজে পেলাম না, প্রথম আলোতেও পাওয়া গেলো ১৮ই ফেব্রুয়ারির পত্রিকায়, অর্থাৎ কর্মসূচি শুরু হবার একদিন পরে, তাও তৃতীয় পৃষ্ঠার এক কোনায়। উপরের লিঙ্কগুলো খেয়াল করলে দেখবেন বিদেশি সংবাদ মাধ্যমগুলো এ খবরটি দিয়েছে একদিন আগে বা ঘটনার দিনে। স্বাস্থ্য মন্ত্রণালয়ের ওয়েব সাইটে কিছু পাওয়া গেলো না, সেটা আসলে আশা করাও উচিৎ হয় নি।
So the question comes why is this silence? Judhisthir finds out some stunning facts:
২.১. ভ্যাকসিনটার নাম হলো ShanChol। নির্মাতা ভারতের Shantha Biotechnics, যেটি ফ্রান্সের Sanofi Aventis-এর একটি প্রতিষ্ঠান।
২.২. ভারতের স্বাস্থ্য বিভাগ এটি অনুমোদন করছে,কিন্তু বিশ্ব সাস্থ্য সংস্থা (WHO) এখনও করে নি। চিন্তার বিষয় হলো, ভারত সরকার ভ্যাকসিনটি ব্যবহারের অনুমোদন দিলেও জাতীয় পর্যায়ে বিশাল আকারের কোন কর্মসূচী নেয়ার কোন পরিকল্পনা তারা অনুমোদন করেনি।
২.৫. ShanChol এর প্রাথমিক ডোজের কার্যকারিতা বছর দুয়েকের মধ্যে অনেক কমে যায়, এবং তখন বুস্টার ডোজ দেয়া জরুরি। [..] প্রশ্ন থাকে বাংলাদেশের মত তথ্য অব্যবস্থাপনা আর স্বাস্থ্য অসচেতনতার দেশে এই বুস্টার ডোজটি নিশ্চিত করা কতটুকু সম্ভব সেটি নিয়ে।
And these raise more questions:
৩.১. প্রথম প্রশ্ন, ভারতীয় কম্প্যানীর তৈরী ভ্যাকসিনটির ব্যাপক আকারের ট্রায়াল ভারতে হলো না কেন? ভারতের তৈরি টীকা বাংলাদেশে পরীক্ষা করাটা শুনতে ভালো লাগে না, যখন ভারত নিজেই এই পরীক্ষা করতে চায় না। ভারত কিন্তু কলেরামুক্ত কোনো দেশ নয় যে তাদের এই পরীক্ষা করার দরকার নেই।
৩.৩. দেশের সংবাদ মাধ্যমে আর জড়িত প্রতিষ্ঠানগুলোর ওয়েবসাইটে এই বিষয়টি প্রকাশ না করাটাও বেশ বিরক্তিকর। এটা কি বাংলাদেশি মিডিয়ার উদাসীনতা? নাকি এটা ইচ্ছে করে গোপন রাখা হয়েছে?
৩.৫. ভ্যাকসিন ট্রায়াল নিয়ে সারা পৃথিবীতে কেলেংকারি কম হয় নি। বিশেষ করে প্ল্যাসিবোর ব্যবহার নিয়ে সবসময়ই বিতর্ক আছে। তবে আজকাল মানুষকে সাবজেক্ট হিসাবে ব্যবহার করা হলে ন্যুনতম কিছু নীতিমালা পালন করা হয়। সাবজেক্টের কাছ থেকে সজ্ঞান অনুমতি নিতে হয়। [..] প্রশ্ন হলো, ভ্যাকসিন ট্রায়ালের ক্ষেত্রে এরকম এথিকস কতটুকু অনুসরণ করা হচ্ছে? মীরপুরবাসীরা কি জানেন তারা একটি পরীক্ষার সাবজেক্ট? যে ৮০ হাজার লোক প্ল্যাসিবো পাবেন, তারা কি জানবেন যে তারা কনট্রোল গ্রুপের সাবজেক্ট মাত্র? নাকি আমাদের দেশের সরকার আর অন্য দেশের ভ্যাকসিন নির্মাতারা আমাদের ভালোটা আমাদের চেয়ে ভালো বোঝেন, তাই এসব খবর মীরপুরবাসীদের না জানানোই ভালো?
Jason Kerwin at Methodlogical points out:
Basically, most vaccines have to stay cold so bacteria and other microbes don’t grow in them.  To stay cool (and safe) from the factory to the patient,  vaccines require an effective cold chain.
This isn’t a problem in most of the U.S., where vaccines are shipped cold from the factory, in refrigerated containers, and kept cool at clinics and hospitals. But it may be a challenge in places in like Bangladesh where infrastructure is not as developed. The result is either spoiled vaccines or vaccines that don’t make it to rural, isolated populations.
S. M. Mahbub Morhsed, a commenter in  Judhisthir's post says:
আমেরিকায় একটি নতুন ঔষুধ ডেভলপ করতে এক বিলিয়ন ডলারের মত খরচা পড়ে। স্বভাবতই তাই এরা গিয়ে ভারতের মত জায়গায় ঔষুধ ডেভলপ করছে। এবং বাংলাদেশকে বেছে নেয়া হয়েছে গিনিপিগ হিসেবে।
Another commenter Safi says:
নাগরিক অধিকার বা মানবাধিকার জাতীয় শব্দগুলো আমাদের জন্য প্রযোজ্য না
Now the big question is who will answer the above questions.
This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.


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Cameroon: Police Use Brute Force Against Protesters · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Opposition groups in Cameroon organized protests on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 to call for President Paul Biya to leave office. President Paul Biya, who is running for re-election later this year, has been in power for 28 years. Paul Biya's Special Intervention Brigade crushed the protest with brute force.
Presidential candidate Kah Walla gives a victory sign as police use water cannons on her:
Writing about the protests, Eliza Anyangwe wonders why protests in Sub-Saharan Africa do not seem to be news:
There’s revolt in the air. And on the streets of Egypt, Libya, Yemen…
But when it comes to sub-Saharan Africa, it doesn’t seem to be on the news. It seems the oppressive regimes of the continent are no one’s problem until the violence spills onto the marble staircases of foreign embassies or the diplomatic community are shamed out of their inaction by the rallying cries and sacrifies of the masses for democracy. For change.
Cameroon began that journey yesterday, 23 February. It was more a whisper than a shout: a group of a few hundreds peacefully demanding an end to the 28 year rule of Paul Biya. That group was met by army officers in full riot gear as they walked the streets of Douala, Cameroon’s delapidated commercial capital, who first spray the group leader and presidential candidate Kah Walla with the water cannon and as she and the other drenched protesters board the army truck, they are beaten with batons.
Up Station Mountain Club reports that members of the group Cameroon Ô'Bosso are being detained:
6 Members of Cameroon Ô'Bosso are being illegally detained for the last two days.
Dinamou Moise
Dorksidi Raphael
Ekwa Essi Franck
Dadina Bazai
Njengoue Kameni Joseph
Mbondo
David Were members of the team organizing the protest in Douala on Wednesday, February 23rd.  The gendarmes descended upon them at about 8:00 a.m. before the protest had begun.  The gendarmes arrested our colleagues and seized the 200 t-shirts and 200 water sachets that they were carrying to give out to other protestors.
However, one reader says that they might have been released:
It looks like they have been released. This group is headed for the same treadmill that SCNC has been experiencing. They need to talk to SCNC and strategize. This is the cycle:
Public demonstrations announced by the pressure group
Massive show of force to intimidate the public from joining
Peaceful demonstration barely begins
Nasty public beating of the pressure group, again to intimidate the public, but not enough beating to cause fatal injuries
The public watches in fear. If there were no beating they would join
Detention of members of the group
Release of the group before international outrage begins
After some rest, the cycle is repeated
Brutalization of protesters in Cameroon by The Chia Report:
These are the scenes that the government propaganda machine, Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) is not airing. Their focus is denying that Cameroon is not Libya or Egypt or Tunisia or Bahrain. But there is not denying from these pictures that the intolerance is the same; that the dictator is hell bent like Gaddafi to die in power; that the local press is pressed to stay quiet or share the government propaganda.
Finally, read a protest diary:
Kah Walla, the presidential candidate for Cameroon Ô’Bosso, who led yesterday’s peaceful protests that was brutally quelled by the army sent this dairy of events leading up to and during the protest and reflects on lessons learned.
About 12:45 p.m. The forces of law and order show up.  An armada.  About 70-80 policemen, two water cannons, riot gear and shields.  We remain firm and as previously decided, sit, to show we are non-violent.  These boys (and a few girls) do not have that word in their vocabulary.  They use their clubs to begin seriously hitting on some of our protestors.  To their grand surprise, I walk up to ask them to stop.  The chiefs then realised they had Kah Walla, “l’oiseau” [bird] as one of them called me, right in front of them.  For a few minutes they could not figure out what to do with me and had me walking back and forth while they decided to put me in a truck or in a car.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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China: Jasmine Revolution, Week Two · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A week after small protests took place in Beijing and Shanghai and failed to materialize in the other 11 cities mentioned in the anonymous blog post which sought to spark a Jasmine Revolution in China, a second round of protests are scheduled for today in 23 cities across China.
Chinese scholar, writer and blogger Ran Yunfei, now being held on charges of subversion of state authority. Photo by Flickr user RebeccaMacK.
Since last week, a growing number of arrests have been made, the venue of the Beijing protest has become a construction site, ramped-up Internet censorship targeting a growing list of words has had the unintended effect of leaving little but pro-Jasmine voices online, ‘China’ is suspected of having DDoSed Twitter, the 50 Cent Party has beleaguered itself with launching a saliva war against liberal Chinese Twitter users, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has abruptly announced a netizen chat session set for first thing Sunday morning.
Follow the GVO Team China Twitter account for English-language updates throughout Sunday aiming to represent the full extent of opinions regarding the struggling movement, unless they all resemble this February 26 post from an anonymous new blog devoted to the Jasmine Revolution cause:
民主的春天暖人心，让我们散步去
茉莉花革命来了，她的脚步是那样清晰，听起来虽然不大，但每个向往民主的中国人心中都能感受到她，她是那样亲切，那样让人振奋。五千来被专制和残暴奴役的大地又重新萌动起来，春一样的感觉……不，这就是春天，春天已经来到，只不过是初春，民主之芽已经破土而出，这是实实在在春的感觉，暖人心的感觉。
来吧，朋友们，不要再害怕冬的寒冷，它即将过去，让我们走出家门，走上广场，用我们心中的暖意呵护着民主之芽，只要我们坚持，总有一天她会茁壮成长。
记住那特殊的日子：2011年2月20日。
Mark this special day: February 20, 2011.
明天，也就是2011年2月27日也即将成为另一个特殊的日子。让我们用我们双脚把今后的每个周日都变成这样一个个特殊的日子。坚持就是胜利。未来的变化还很难预测，但不管怎样，既然天意在冥冥之中让我们找到了这个可行的方法，我们就不该放弃。这个方法的好处是，一旦约定，就可以让分散的每个人单独实施，一次成不了事，就两次、三次……，多次之后，总有一次会汇聚成民主之河，冲刷掉一切腐朽专制强加在我们身上的枷锁。
当然，专制独裁者不会轻易放弃，它会用暴力来恐吓和镇压我们，恐吓已经开始，看国内网站上已经在首要位置出现“埃及火烧警察”的图片，这就是恐吓，这是它们惯用的伎俩，六四时它们就用这些招数，它们是人类历史上最卑鄙的一群人。然而，现在已然不同，网络发展，民智已开，民主潮流滚滚而来，它们已经是黔驴技穷。
将来的任何变化，都不要为所动摇，人人做到从我做起，坚持散步，广为宣传，攻破专制堡垒的那一天一定能到来！
走，那我们散步去！
Don't be shaken by any of the changes ahead. Together, we will overcome. We will persevere in stepping out, we will spread the word, and the day on which the autocratic stronghold is broken is guaranteed to come!
Now let's move, to the streets!

author: John Kennedy


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Egypt: Is Feb25 the Restart Button for the Egyptian Revolution? · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Yesterday, one month month after the 25th of January, the protesters went to Tahrir Square to celebrate and call for the toppling of the government that was appointed by the former president, Hosni Mubarak. Egyptians are starting to feel suspicious about the future of their revolution, and they are still not sure if the old personnel of the Mubarak regime, who are still in charge, could be trusted. Later at night, some protesters decided to sit-in and camp in Tahrir Square and in front of the parliament.
At night, things didn't go the way they expected though. Manal tweeted about the military police trying to evacuate the area by force.
Zeinobia compared what happened today to the first day of the revolution.
Some users on Twitter on the other hand believe that the actions taken by the military police can be justified.
However, Ahmed Zaki Osman and Zeinobia don't digest such justifications.
Zeinobia adds:
Finally, more reactions and videos of last night are still being released.
Update:
The Army issued an apology on their official Facebook page [Ar].
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

author: Tarek Amr


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Egypt: Revolution’s Not Over, Army Attacks Protestors · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
One month after a revolution began to demand political reform, Cairo's Tahrir Square was again the scene for bloody violence as the Egyptian army moved to quash continued protests for civilian rule.
Thousands of Egyptians demanded the departure of the government of prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. Image by Adham Khorshed, copyright Demotix (25/02/2011).
Two weeks since the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak, Egypt remains grappled in a tug of war between protestor demands for immediate democratic reform and a potent military refusing to cede power.
The use of force by the Army on thousands of peaceful protestors yesterday is a stark contrast from several weeks ago, when the Army appeared to be sympathetic towards public calls for Mubarak's resignation.
Citizen journalists from Cairo reported on Twitter that the army beat protestors with clubs and electric prods, and had sexually abused women.
Yesterday's violent confrontation suggests that patience on all sides is wearing thin, as protestors become increasingly frustrated at the military's reluctance to implement promised democratic reform.
It is also clear that, although Mubarak is no longer ruler, the army-backed political system that empowered his dictatorship for 30 years remains largely intact.
Egypt's revolution has entered a new phase as reform efforts are now aimed at reducing the military's role in political affairs. Protestors may be in for a long fight as the violent suppression of protests yesterday reveal an Army determined to hold onto its influence in the volatile country.
monaeltahawy #Egyptian army and military police beat and arrested peaceful pro-freedom demonstrators in #Cairo today. The revolution continues. #Jan25
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

author: Antoun Issa


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Iraq: To the entire WORLD, #IRAQIS are coming… · Global Voices
Salam Adil

… so says @ArabPeople
Iraqi people were inspired the revolutions around the Arab world and announced their own day of rage on 25th February. The main demonstration centred on Tahrir Square in Baghdad but there were similar protests all over the country. @ArabPeople wrote:
#Iraq just started and it will surprise the entire #Arab world. No other revolt that started in 17+ locations. It's just the beginning.
The Iraqi Revolution Facebook page published a list of demands translated in full here which concludes with:
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT PROMISES AFTER TODAY
- We are fed up with political bids, we are fed up with honeyed promises, we are fed up with prosthetic decisions that some officials use to throw dust in the eyes of the people.
- Empty promises will not satisfy the hungry, and the cheap bids will not put clothes on the naked, and the shinny slogans will not quench the thirst of liver behooves.
- Silence is no longer a choice for any of us, so we will no be silenced after today…
-So how long will the Iraqis be divided into two classes, one that eats the beef, and the other eats the leaf!!
- And how long will a group of people receive multiple salaries, each salary covers a whole tribe, and the other people can’t get a single penny from the wealth of their homeland!!
- And how long will a group will receive warmth from the fire caused by the process of burning the public funds while others are dying because of the cold at the night of winter!!
- And how long will some enjoy the iced water in the heat of summer time while the others quench their thirst with the sewage water!!
AS GOD IS OUR WITNESS.. WE WILL NEVER BE SILENCED
IQ4C published the plan of the Baghdad demonstration with a picture:
and tweeted after:
Tired with beating ate today,it was good training to express my freedom in peace, I am a peaceful man, then a civilian # iraq # iq4c # feb25
Sunshine reports from Mosul where her cousins took part in the demonstrations. She repeated some amazing pictures of the protests and named the event:
today is called “the Friday of anger” and this revolution is named al nakheel's revolution “the palms revolutions “.
She writes:
The greatest thing is , people's intension is not to make coias or destroy…
Another pleasing thing is, people prayed “Friday's prayer” together in Al Tahreer in Baghdad , Sunnis and Shiites together and they shouted ” we're brothers Sunnis and Shiites and we're not going to sell this country”, the same thing happened in Sulaymania when Kurds and Arabs prayed together .. the citizens are united, it is the government that try to separate us and extend cultic , but it's not going to happen, no matter how tricky and pity plans they make..
I pray for a new hopeful future, and today I am proud of Iraqis, I know how great people we have here, and how much the Iraqis endured not only through the last 7 years, but since Saddam took control ..
Warnings from the powers that be
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, blamed Saddamists and  al-Qaida for organizing the protests and Iraqi Shi'a religious leaders told people not to demonstrate. Healing Iraq commented ( here and here):
Maliki's scare tactics won't work with Iraqis anymore and only serve to undermine his credibility. Iraqis are fed up with cronyism, corruption …
Typical reaction from the clerical establishment which wants to see Iraq's Shia remain under its thumb in order to keep their coffers full. These anti-corruption protests sweeping the country from Sulaimaniya to Basrah are a huge threat to those who are impeding progress in the ‘democratic’ Iraq.
Abbas Hawazin added:
The course of conduct [the Iraqi government] has employed in approaching these demonstrations was EXACTLY like the one all the surrounding tyrannies employed: anxiety borne out of a deep-seated uncertainty in its own legitimacy, the too-late scramble to make promises, the questioning of the protests’ background and intentions using old bogey-men … I am SOLIDLY against this government now.
Kassakhoon believes that these demonstration are only the beginning:
The demos also showed how the government is weak and terrified from the people when pushed thousands of security forces to seal off the roads, mainly the bridge that leads to the already heavily fortified Green Zone when erected tall concrete blast walls.
None of the government officials dared to show up before the demonstrators, but instead they only talked to State-run TV …
It is right that today's protests ended on the ground, but they are still live inside the protesters. What we witnessed today was only a small ice ball that just started to roll and it will get bigger day after day.
In contrast to Maliki accusing the protestors of being supporters of Saddam, Layla Anwar the nearest thing among Iraqi bloggers to a Saddamist took a somewhat different view of the protests:
Protest my ass. Where were you when the tanks rolled in ? where were you when the sectarian Shiites and their turbaned mullahs swayed you with a couple of hundred dollars for a finger dipped in purple ink for a “democratic” vote…
Where were you when we escaped in droves, living the lives of dogs in exile…where were you when the militias you praised and danced for decimated us all? Where the fuck were you?
Where were you when you let another sectarian whore from Iran take power again, for a second tenure and you sat and talked of national reconciliation and ballot boxes ?!
Where were you when the Iraqi Resistance was struggling against the invader ALONE ?
…
Demanding better living conditions from puppets is IDIOCY. Hundreds of foreign companies are making a living off your backs, bringing in their own staff and leaving you, so called educated class working as blue collars in your own country…
So where were you ? …
Give me a break you hypocrites.
Iraq is my biggest love and you are my biggest disappointment.
Go protest as much as you like, I will not lend you my voice. I've been a lone voice for the past 5 years and suffered the worst abuse in your name. Go protest all you like.

author: Salam Adil


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Latin America: On teleSUR’s Coverage of Libya Uprising · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

Latin American news channel teleSUR, backed by the Venezuelan government and broadcasting from Caracas, managed earlier this week to send several journalists (including a special correspondent, Jordán Rodríguez) into Tripoli to cover the ongoing uprising in Libya. Nonetheless, its coverage [es], which seems quite different to the one provided by other international news media, has caught the attention of many Latin Americans.
Latin American news channel teleSUR. Image by Flickr user alejandro! (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Unlike the Egyptian protests, when teleSUR mostly relied on the coverage by Al Jazeera English (both outlets have a content deal since 2006) and which were celebrated as a “victory” by the network, teleSUR seemed to have, specially during the early days of their coverage inside Libya, a favourable bias to the country's ruler Muammar Al Gaddafi. Critics of teleSUR have claimed it is a “propaganda tool” for left-wing Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and last week when rumours emerged about Gaddafi having fled to Venezuela, many people were reminded about the close relationship between the two leaders.
Prometeo from Poder5 [es] compares teleSUR coverage of Libya with the one by outlets such as Al Jazeera and the BBC:
La cosa es que a los medios no se les ha permitido filmar todo como quiesieran, solo la televisor del estado funciona lo que se ve por Al Jazeera y otros ha sido por periodistas valientes que se ha infiltrado y por ciudadanos libios que han tomado fotos con su celulares y cámaras para enviarlas fuera.
Curiosamente la Cadena de noticias Tele SUR ha tenido acceso al mismo lugar donde estaban las manifestaciones y reporta que todo está bien
[…]
Yo pregunto, ¿será que los de TeleSUR llegaron a otro país por equivocación? ¿Será que están manipulando la información? ¿Será que hay una agenda de parte del gobierno de Hugo Chávez, el dueño de TeleSUR, para lavarle la cara a su amigo Gaddafi?
There was also some controversy in Argentina [es], when state news agency Télam used teleSUR's coverage to report that “Tripoli is in peace”.
Argentinian Observatorio Marxista de Medios publishes an e-mail [es] sent by a writer working for the local Trotskyist party's weekly newspaper, where he also criticizes teleSUR's coverage of Libya:
Se entiende por qué Telesur, la cadena de noticias con sede en Caracas, tomó de forma muy distinta los acontecimientos sucedidos en Egipto y los que hoy sacuden a Libia. Mientras semanas atrás retransmitía casi a tiempo completo lo que registraba Al Jazira, hablando de la “revolución social triunfante”, hoy apenas informa sobre lo que pasa en Libia, dando un trato especial al gobierno de Gadafi e incluso diciendo que “prosigue la tensión en Libia con protestas a favor y en contra del presidente”. Pero no pueden transmitir mucho, ya que cualquier información más o menos seria que tienen que dar desde allí habla de la brutal, sanguinaria y letal represión que Gadafi descarga sobre la población Libia.
But Ález Arango, from far-left blog Utopia la palabra, defends teleSUR [es] and criticizes Welsh philosopher (and supporter of Hugo Chávez) Alan Woods‘ stance on the Libya crisis:
Telesur cuenta con un equipo periodístico en el corazón de Trípoli. Se trata de un medio de comunicación alternativo que informa de manera objetiva acerca de los sucesos que tienen lugar en el Norte de África.
[…] Quiero manifestar que los informes del señor Alan Woods están basados exclusivamente en informaciones provenientes de los medios de prensa occidentales procapitalistas incluyendo Al Jazeera […] Hacer eco a las informaciones de las agencias de prensa occidentales y tomarlas como la verdad revelada implica la enorme probabilidad de incurrir en falsos juicios de interpretación aacerca de la realidad y hacerse parte del coro que encabeza occidente cuyo propósito es el de ocupar Libia y posicionarse en ese territorio para ganar espacio y poder confrontar desde allí el auge revolucionario de los pueblos árabes.
Anti-Chávez satire blog El chigüire bipolar mocks teleSUR [es] with a post titled: “teleSUR reports that Libya looks ‘completely normal’ from Google Earth.”
Twitter has not escaped from the controversy. Alonso Moleiro (@amoleiro), a journalist in Caracas, states:
El e[]pisodio de Libia es la muerte defin[it]iva de la credibilidad de Telesur.
Santiago B. (@santib_), also from Caracas, wonders:
¿Será que Telesur no se pilló al propio embajador de Libia ante la ONU llorando por la matanza de miles de sus compatriotas?.
@elojocondientes tweets from Argentina:
TeleSur está haciendo una cobertura espectacular. te recomiendo que sigas el programa Dossier de W Mrtinez. Impecable. #Libia
Venezuelan Twitter user Abi (@AbiG90) says:
Me gustaria saber que piensa ahora el conductor de Dossier y telesur con todas las pruebas que hay en video de lo que acontece en Libia
Carlos R. (@komunikt) writes from Caracas:
segun Telesur lo que ocurre en #libia es una riña entre vecinos que no trasciende mas alla de la callecita donde hubo los manotazos.
@radiomachaca jokes:
Telesur Informa:Queman mansion de Gadaffi en Lybia pero trankilos esa es un vieja Tradicion Para demostrarle su amor a el Lider
Al Giordano from NarcoNews posted a long critique of teleSUR, calling it a “flop” and claiming that the network “has treated its viewers to a total cover-up and whitewashed version of events in Libya. It has served as a clownish propaganda vehicle for the embattled Libyan dictator.” His post has received many comments, and a few days later, Giordano published a comment where he reveals that there is an ongoing controversy inside teleSUR:
It may also be of interest to our readers that the reporter, Reed Lindsay [sent by teleSUR to western Libya], is a 2003 graduate of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, and we have received information from other TeleSur journalists that there is a strong debate within that news organization at present over its coverage of Libya, perhaps unprecedented in the network's six years in that journalists within the channel – the workers of the station – have strongly objected to the simulation and dishonesty that plagued TeleSur's Libya coverage up until now. As with the larger Bolivarian revolution, there are many, many people of conscience who see human rights and resistance as higher priorities than geopolitical alliances, so things have taken an interesting turn, to say the least. Let's hope to see more of it.
On Friday it was reported that a teleSUR crew was arrested [es], despite being inside a diplomatic Venezuelan vehicle; Mr Rodríguez's cellphone was seized (where he had recorded some footage in Tripoli), and he and his cameraman Jesús Romero were beaten by a group of policemen. On Saturday, Rodríguez tweeted [es] that foreign news media reporters will stay at Tripoli's Hotel Roxes.

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


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Mauritania: Pro-Democracy Protests Break Out in Nouakchott · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Protests broke out in Nouakchott, Mauritania's capital today, after young people assembled themselves online to call for rallies, which demand social, political and economic reforms, and an end to Mauritania's military rule.
Up to 2,000 protesters have reportedly marched to Blockat Square, where some intend to camp, until their demands are met. Among their demands are a cap on rising costs of living and a solution to the problem of unemployment. Others spoke out against discrimination and the fall of the military rule.  This youth movement follows similar movements we have been witnessing across the Arab world since the Tunisian uprising – youth assembling themselves both in real life and virtual spaces, and protesting on the streets until their demands are met.
Mauritania's protests coincide with similar youth movements in Bahrain, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen and Libya.
On a Facebook page, one of the groups calling for the protests state:
Their mission reads:
Although the pages has 200 likes only, the protest seems to have materialised, as young Mauritanians march towards freedom and democracy.
Here is a snap shot from what happened today from Twitter:
@NickKristof: The democracy uprising is spreading to new parts of Africa: Cameroon, Gabon, Zimbabwe, Mauritania.
@Dima_Khatib: What a day ! Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Yemen, Libya, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq… anywhere else? Arabs demonstrating on the streets
@Malakyz: Today made history: Protests in #Libya, #Yemen, #Egypt, #Tunisia, #Bahrain, #Morocco, #Iraq, #Palestine, #Jordan, #Mauritania. SOLIDARITY
@ZEKELMOUDEN: Now thousands of youth marching in Mauritania claiming end Aziz's junta ruling the country, better live conditions and real democraty.
Akhbar tweets (Ar):
@bandolero69: The waves of protests have even spread to the impoverished state of Mauritania, where hundreds of people took to the streets of Nouakchott.
@mauritaniedem1: some protesters came to #blockatesquare on their feet, couz the government stopped the buses. #Mauritania #feb25 http://yfrog.com/h4xygxp
This is the spot protesters took over in Nouakchott, #Mauritania
@buthaina: WhoHoo!! #Now #Mauritania! Welcome aboard #Nouakchott – #Responsible #Freedom #Democracy #Fail #Corruption
@Doylech: The main square in Nouakchott in #Mauritania now has a name yes Tahrir square
@vatyma: #Mauritania: Protesters chant “Bayteen wa mkamleen layn timshou 3ana kamleen!” (we're sleeping over and from now on until the regime leaves)
@Abdarrahmen: From Blockate square #Mauritania http://twitpic.com/43o2c4
@Abdarrahmen: Saket Lash ” Why you don't talk ” From Blockate square #Mauritania http://twitpic.com/43o4r4
@AbdallahJeilany: the protesters started built their tents and try to organize everything because they scared from thuggish to disrupt the protest #Mauritania
@mauritaniedem1: the protesters Now are more then 5000 and they r increasing. :)#Mauritania
Abdullah Jellany explains (Ar):
Abdellahi2 adds (Ar):
@mauritaniedem1: some thugs were trying to beat #Aljazeera reporter Mohamed Baba Achefagha. but the protesters prevented them. #Mauritania
@AbdallahJeilany: some criminales wanted to rob a bank next Blockate but the protesters capt them and calm the situation #mauritania
@mauritaniedem1: The protesters stood up against the thuggish in #Mauritania In order to prevent them from vandalism and now the situation is fine. #’Feb17
@Abdarrahmen: One of the protesters try to burn himself at Blockat square, but finally they arresteds him #Mauritania
@: Saket Lash “Why you don't talk ” #mauritania http://twitpic.com/43p61h
@Abdarrahmen: National Tv broadcasts images of the demo this day it's just like copy-paste the experiance of egypte-libya National tvs #Mauritania
@Doylech: The Mauritanian PM has promised to improve economic situation and give pieces of land to the poor following demos #mauritania
@virtualactivism: Nouachkut: ‘the people want the fall of regime’. Holy God!!! there goes #Mauritania too. I suggest Arab League disband immediately
@mauritaniedem1: My name's Freedom bornin Tunisia, raised in Egypt, studied in Yemen and #Mauritania, fought in Libya and I'll grow up in all the Arab world.
More photographs from today can be found on the protest pages on Facebook here and here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Oman: The People Want an End to Corruption · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The people want an end to corruption” chanted thousands of Omanis, who have been protesting since Friday in Salalah and Sohar, as well as other parts of Oman.
Last week's similar – but smaller protests in Sohar and Muscat – have brought about a cabinet reshuffle today, where Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said changed six ministers. The announcement was made today but that didn't seem to stop the wave of protesters who have gathered to demand more rights over the previous two days.
According to Dhofari Gucci, who blogs from Salalah, the protesters demands are as follows:
What demands? They want the following from His Majesty the Sultan:
.
(1) An end to corruption in the government
(2) More jobs for people in need
(3) increase in salaries for the poor, widows and divorced women
(4) Lowering prices
(5) An end to financial and administrative wasta (influence/nepotism) in the government and private sector
(6) And other demands.
She continues:
Evidently protests have erupted in Sur, Sohar, Shinas, and more in Muscat. What is going on in the Arab world?!!
Tweets:
Following are reactions on the protests, as well eye witness accounts on the ground, from Twitter: Evidently protests have erupted in Sur, Sohar, Shinas, and more in Muscat. What is going on in the Arab world?!!
@sultanalqassemi: Al Hurra: Eyewitness: Thousands are protesting in Oman. Protesters are unhappy about the ministerial changes, calling it the same faces.
@ihab23: @monaeltahawy Currently 200-300 protesters in Sohar #Oman, demanding pay hikes&replacement of specific ministers. Protesters blockin main rd
@jaredcohen: Protests in #Oman; that is when you really know the revolutionary fervor has spread; sultan reshuffles cabinet in response
@Maithams: There doesn't seem to be any police action..Earlier in the evening the police was helping the traffic caused by the protester #Sohar #Oman
Omani1970 tweets [ar]:
Omani1970:
@Maithams: Protesters in #Sohar Roundabout at 12 am! #Oman http://twitpic.com/443l9k
@Maithams: About 30 trucks are parked on the main rounds heading towards #Sohar roundabout! Cars are using the service roads #Sohar #Oman
Omani1970 [ar] reports the protests in Salalah and Sohar continue:
@blakehounshell: “We want the Shura Council to have legislative powers!” doesn't exactly trip off the tongue. http://t.co/xGN53vE #oman
@Maithams: A protester from #Sohar Roundabout told me “200 cars are coming from Sur to join the protest here in Sohar!” #Sohar #Oman
@Maithams: Although there was some violence earlier today, the protest seems to be peaceful now! #Sohar #Oman
@AbdulHamidAhmad: Sit-in in Sohar town in Oman forces hypermarkets to close down. http://j.mp/g1cgdf
@ihab23: Sohar, #Oman protesters r pulling truck drivers out of vehicles&taking their keys to block the main highway.Also some looting of supermarket
@Maithams: The protesters attacked lulu hypermarket and took water and rice! Some damage was there! Lulu closed at 8 #Sohar #Oman
@Matthias_Sailer: @Malik_73 see how fast this can change: now first protests in #Oman
@Elshani2010: @yvonneridley @Elshani2010 @ArabRevolution No its definetly Oman, they reshuffling/panicking to avoid further protest. http://t.co/4h5Am4t
@sunnysingh_sw6: While Oman sultan shifts deck chairs on the Titanic protests break out insisting changes in cabinet are cosmetic. They really dont learn!
@Maithams: #Sohar protester ruin the beauitful Globe Roundabout with spray paint #Oman http://twitpic.com/443qpz
@Maithams: Some of the lamps in the roundabout got destroyed! All the walls r filled with spray paint writings of their demands #tragic #Sohar #Oman
@MariaOcean: to those who vandalize during protests, shame on u.that is not how Omanis act. hope things get through peacefully. #Sohar #Oman .k G.night
@PinHead95: hehe! protests have started in #oman now. Goodbye Autocracy, hello Democracy. #feb17 #jan25
@NellaLou: Surprised 2 hear about #Oman protests.Seemed fairly progressive last time I was there.Sultan Qaboos is not stupid.I think he will see reason
@ihab23: Apparently ‘protests’ have been occurrin other parts of #Oman as well.Gov's office in #Salalah, #Muscat, #Shinas? http://bit.ly/etsbjl
Videos:
This video, from khawar107, shows protesters in Salalah last night chanting for an end of corruption:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPML7XXC8V0
And this video, from sohar9999, shows scenes from today's protests in Sohar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IYuWU37G4U


text:
Pakistan: Unexpected Snowfall In Lahore · Global Voices
Rezwan

Guppu.com reports that “on February 26, 2011, Lahorites witnessed an extraordinary day when all of the sudden, dark clouds came and it felt as if the winter has come back, and snowfall started.”


text:
Palestine: Demands for a Unified Nation set for March 15 · Global Voices
Ammoun AAY

Handala – symbol of the Palestinian youth – torn between Fatah (right) and Hamas (left)
As the Arab world witnesses uprising after uprising, seeing dictators fall and others exposed one after another, the Palestinian case looks like the ultimate goal. The fate of Palestine has long suffered from its neighbors’ incapability (more or less intentional) of forming a strong block against Israel, whether through feeding the divisions inside the Palestinian political scene, or more directly by being an ally of Israel.
When in 2006 the last elections saw Hamas’ wide victory, the Palestinian Authority (PA) – backed by the USA, Israel and the EU among others – unilaterally decided to form its own government, while Hamas ruled over Gaza. A civil war between Hamas and Fatah supporters finished to settle the divisions, immediately followed by the ongoing Israeli siege on the Strip, while in the West Bank the Occupation continues to take root deeper and deeper in what is left from the Palestinian territory.
In late November, one month before Mohamed Al Bouazizi’s self immolation sparked the Revolution in Tunisia, an anonymous group called Gaza Youth Breaks Out (GYBO) emerged, yelling at the world a manifesto full of anger, throwing words at Israel, but also at their political leaders, and calling for change:
There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalizing this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope. […] What is our leitmotiv? Freedom. And for that, we know that we need the Palestinians and their leaders to unite against the Zionist Occupier. And that’s precisely why we call for action. Now. Not in 6 months, not in a year, not wait until another massacre strikes us.
The manifesto has immediately drawn the attention of Western media, which fueled most of pro Palestinian activists’ speeches against the GYBO group. While many accused them of giving reasons to Israel to maintain the siege on the little enclave by venting the way they did against the Palestinian political factions, some try to give a more balanced view:
@asa_wire I honestly think @GazaYBO did not realize the extent to which Hamas are covered in racist fashion in the Western media. I also think some in the Western solidarity movement are blind to the possibility that Gaza youth have legitimate complaints against Hamas.
Thrown in turmoil for lack of support from most of the activism spheres – where criticism of Palestinian factions as Hamas is almost considered as the step before collaboration – the movement resurfaced when we witnessed the first victories of the Arab revolutions.
On twitter, reactions were immediate:
@davrs May be wrong, but the @GazaYBO “F*** ‘em all” manifesto seems to have presaged all the events we've just witnessed
@GazaYBO Mubarak is officially out and in celebration of that GYBO announces the 15th of March as the day of the revolution against division in Gaza!
Strengthened by the Palestine Papers episode that shed light on the PA's concessions – way beyond the acceptable for many Palestinians – the idea grew bigger. It then spread to the West Bank, where less organized groups joined the movement, calling the Palestinians to rally on March, 15. A common page has been created on Facebook – initially in Arabic “الشعب يريد إنهاء الانقسام” then in English “The People want the End of Division” – that, unlike the previous move by Palestinian youth, gathered thousands of Palestinians and Arabs in a couple of weeks. Their demands made their way to Mondoweiss, which published the English translation of their call:
We call on the governments of the West Bank and Gaza to respond to the legitimate demands of the people:
1 – the release all political detainees in the prisons of the PA and Hamas
2 – the end of all forms of media campaigns against each others
3 – the resignation of the governments of Haniyeh and Fayyad to re-build a government of national unity agreed by all Palestinian factions representing the Palestinian people.
4 – the restructuring of the Palestine Liberation Organization to contain all the Palestinian factions and get back to its initial aim: Palestine's freedom
5 – the announcement of the freeze of negotiations until the full compatibility between the various Palestinian factions on a political program
6 – the end of all forms of security coordination with the Zionist enemy
7 – the organization of presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously in the time chosen by all the factions
A first event in support of the Egyptian revolution took place in Ramallah on February, 5, then several others followed. Thousands took the streets for one same reason; they’re not calling for the end of the regime, but they want “to bring the regime back to life, united in the Palestinian cause.”
Amira Sliman – protester: “I am here in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to see an end to the division. Because there is one nation and one people”
more
The main political parties reacted more or less desperately; the PA called for anticipated elections in September and promised reforms and Cabinet reshuffle, Gaza government – suspecting the groups of serving foreign agendas – cracked down on any peaceful rally and confiscated personal equipments. Both keep on blaming the other for the current political split while officially claiming they are seeking reconciliation.
When asked about their motives, GYBO members replied:
In the West Bank, people are concerned with settlements and the wall. Here it's the siege. I tell people I'm from Gaza, not from Palestine, and that's very sad. We want the spirit of one people to come back.
Some go even further:
@jbaboun I'm excited to report THE end of division! It can be done. There should be elections without Fatah or Hamas or any other faction, I mean we seriously need to “refresh” everything here!
Organizers stay realistic; for the “March 15″ campaign to succeed, they need numbers and even if their demands sound legitimate, it’s a whole different story to make the political factions settle on a common program and overcome years of national divisions. One thing is sure, whether for Palestinians in the West Bank, or in Gaza, or even abroad, the recent events in the Arab world brought back a new hope in change and a collective consciousness that only unity will make them reach freedom.

author: Ammoun AAY


text:
Russia: Bloggers Deconstruct Isolationist Propaganda  · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

"Dictators team is loosing 2:0 – Cartoon Putin: go, Muamar, go", Illustration by Sergey Elkin
As Russia is approaching another parliament (2011) and presidential ( 2012) election cycle, the voices of state propagandists get louder.
The upcoming election process, tamed and controlled by the Russian President's office and the ruling party “United Russia,” will be happening in the context of the Arabian “Spring of Nations 2.0.”
This fact inspires pro-Democracy activists, as well as regime advocates (often called okhraniteli, or “protectors”). Unlike the previous election cycle (2007-2008), such “regime-protective” rhetorics  are seriously challenged by Russian bloggers.
While revolutions sweep the third North African regime in a row and echo similar developments in Iran, Gabon and even Albania (not to speak of Middle Eastern countries), nervousness of the high-ranking Russian politician is getting more and more evident. On February 22, 2010 the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin expressed their concerns on the matter. Blogger propagandists followed suit.
In a public address in Kabardino-Balkaria (region recently hit by terroristic attack and murder of four Russian tourists), Dmitry Medvedev stated:
Посмотрите на ситуацию, которая сложилась на Ближнем Востоке и в арабском мире. Она тяжелейшая. […] В ряде случаев речь может пойти о дезинтеграции больших, густонаселённых государств, об их распаде на мелкие осколки. […] Такой сценарий они раньше готовили для нас, а сейчас они тем более будут пытаться его осуществлять. […] Но всё происходящее там будет оказывать прямое воздействие на нашу ситуацию, причём речь идёт о достаточно длительной перспективе, речь идёт о перспективе десятилетий.
Medvedev didn't explain whom he meant by “they,” however, usual suspects for “they” are either United States or the world government. Anton Nosik was among the first to respond to president's addres:
Мне, грешным делом, казалось, что события в арабских странах происходят по какой-то своей внутренней логике, которая к России не имеет даже самого опосредованного отношения. Очевидно, я жестоко ошибался. За всем стоят они. И цель у них одна: сделать плохо нам. Именно в этом контексте нужно — отныне и до окончания выборов 2012 года — восприминать все мировые события: не только беспорядки в Африке, но и любые наводнения, землетрясения, тайфуны и цунами. Любой катаклизм на свете — всего лишь сценарий, который они готовили для нас. Что-то у них там не заладилось, и рвануло не у нас, а в Новой Зеландии. Но нас не обманешь. Мы знаем, что всё это они против нас затеяли. И любые беспорядки в Бенгази теперь будут оказывать прямое воздействие на нашу ситуацию.
Andrey Malgin, was overwhelmed, too:
Кто “они”? Откуда здесь застарелая кагэбэшная метафора “сценарий готовили”?
Сказал это ДАМ на совещании по противодействию терроризму. Неужели он не в курсе, что Каддафи стоял у истоков международного терроризма? Что он снабжал деньгами и оружием ИРА и ЭТА? Что на территории Ливии были основные тренировочные базы террористов, съезжавшихся туда со всего мира? Что по его приказу взорвали дискотеку с сотнями посетителей в Западной Германии? Что по его приказу был в воздухе взорван самолет над Шотландией? Что за всё это его разбомбили в 1986 году и ввели международные санкции в 1990-м? Я уже не говорю о том, что и Каддафи, и большинство свергнутых сейчас руководителей сами пришли к власти в результате государственных переворотов.
Medvedev said that on the meeting dedicated to counter terrorism operations. Doesn't he know that Qaddafi was standing at the origins of international terrorism? That he supplied IRA and ETA? That Libyan territory hosted major terrorist training bases from all over the world? That after his order a disco club in Western Germany has been blown up? That after his order a plane over Scotland has been blown up? That he was bombed in 1986 and the world introduced international sanctions in 1990? I'm not speaking about the fact that Qaddafi, as well as most of dismissed leaders got their power via coups.
Igor Sechin, in his interview to “Wall Street Journal,” was more specific. Speaking of political stability in Russia and possible parallels to the situation in Egypt, he said:
In this case, we need to more closely examine what has happened in Egypt. See, well, what senior managers of Google have been doing in Egypt, what kind of manipulations of the energy of the people took place there.
Roman Leibov, one of the first Russian bloggers, and renowned linguist, reacted [RUS]:
Названо имя Зверя
[…]
Вот оно как. Google, значит.
Nikolay Starikov, a writer and blogger with a distinctive anti-american approach wrote [RUS]:
Я уже писал, что при каждой «революции», на крышах домов появляются люди с снайперскими винтовками. Они убивают демонстрантов, под видом «правительственных сил». Судя по тому, что «неизвестные снайперы» никогда не появляются одновременно в трех-четырех местах одновременно, речь идет о 1-2 мобильных группах.
The quotation followed a detailed analysis. For Starikov, Maghreb events reminded Arab revolution in the Ottoman empire inspired by T.E. Lawrence rather then the “Spring of Nations” of 1848 (this example, however, leaves also a lot of space for isolationists’ speculations).
The common view of “the global conspiracy” was presented by Yevgeniy Fedorov on February 21, 2010 during a public debate with popular blogger Alexey Navalny. Responding to accusations in corruption, Fedorov exclaimed:
жесточайшая кампания, направленная на, конечно, дестабилизацию обстановки в стране. Она идет наряду с терактами. Это кампания, направленная на разрушение страны
And further on:
Мы же с вами понимаем, что, допустим, в Интернете, и это показывает наш анализ, приблизительно несколько тысяч человек сидят на аутсорсинге у американского посольства. Их задача – дестабилизация в стране. Ну, работа такая. Такие же люди работали в африканских странах. То есть, фактически мы четко видим, что в России готовится какой-то бунт […]
Navalny's arguments that many members of the “United Russia” were more economically tied with “the West” than any blogger were ignored by the opponent but not the listeners. After the debate was over, radio DJ offered the audience to vote either for Navalny or Fedorov. The results spoke for themselves: 99 percent of listeners voted for the anti-corruption blogger Navalny.
The formula of isolationism and anti-Americanism has it's long traditions in the Russian/Soviet propaganda since the Second World War. Saving country's territorial integrity was an important part of Putin's election campaign back in 2000. It seems like that “United Russia” and Putin are willing to use the template once again. It seems that now it would be a much harder task. Not only bloggers can analyze, compare and check the information on the events abroad. As Twitter and online media outlets provide faster and more credible information of the events happening, they reach bloggers faster than official propagandists and politicians. This “first interpretation,” as Marina Litvinovich, a Russian blogger and analyst, uses to call the effect, gives the advantage of bloggers in receiving, interpreting, and broadcasting the world events. In this framework, spiced up with cynicism and humor, traditional isolationist propaganda looses, as Navalny/Fedorov vote illustrated.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Internet Freedom As Cold War 2.0 · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Hillary Clinton at George Washington University, photo by Gregory Asmolov
On February 15, 2010 Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, shared her vision of the Internet’s role in the modern world. New remarks emphasized  the definition of the cyberspace as “the public space of the 21 century” and the U.S. commitment to promote Internet freedom.
It seemed that this kind of speech would be supported by bloggers all over the world. Surprisingly, Russian bloggers and, not surprisingly, Russian media were mostly skeptical about Clinton's speech. Article titles vividly illustrate the framing of the address: “Top-Level Trolling: U.S. Government Plans To Enlighten Russian Citizens Via Twitter” (Vzglyad [RUS]), “Strategic Twitter Offensive: the U.S. Claims Authority Over Defending Free Internet All Over the World” (Gazeta.ru [RUS]), “Enemy Voices In 140 Symbols” (Polit.ru [RUS]) .
Two elements of the speech attracted most attention. The first one is the launch of State Department Twitter account in Russian. And the second one is the  decision of the U.S. to invest $25 million in the “Internet freedom” initiatives.
Twitter as the Ultimate Information Weapon
Despite the fact that Russia wasn’t the main topic of the address and was mentioned only twice (one mention included reference to Help Map project as an example of the Internet's potential), the majority of blog posts were much more critical than mainstream media.
There were two major points of criticism. The first group of bloggers accused the U.S. in intents to use the Internet for triggering revolution inside Russia. Other bloggers protested against the U.S. involvement in regulation of the Internet and suggested that the “Internet freedom” speech automatically makes any blogger a U.S. collaborator. Liberal bloggers themselves tried to make fun of the speech and discussed who would receive $25 million. Some of the bloggers questioned to what extent the U.S.-based Twitter can make any impact on Russian audience.
Cenzor1998 titled his post: “The State Department wants to Feed Russian bloggers” and wrote [RUS]:
Началось. Та же катавасия, что в 90-ых. Нельзя Западу верить. Нужно срочно создавать альтернативные источники информации.
LJ blogger socialism_vk in a post titled “Cold War 2.0 in Twitter” explained [RUS] that “obviously treacherous Americans want to make fools and subjugate people from other countries by managing public opinion through the major Internet evil – Twitter.” With some irony, the blogger expressed his hope that “the progressive and innovative president Medvedev” who knows how to use the “malicious Western tool,” would be able to protect his own people by hypnotizing them with tweets about governmental discussions and sending “proper messages.” The blogger, however, predicted [RUS] the escalation of “The Cold War 2.0”:
Возникает закономерный вопрос: придут ли Госдеп и Пентагон […] в “Одноклассники” и “В контакте”, дабы и оттуда на русском языке вести новую холодную войну, приводя в действие все те же планы по разрушению нашей страны? Какой ответ помимо наших главных защитных интернет-бастионов – твиттера Медведа, блогов кибер-нашистов и Лиги безопасного интернета – может дать Россия?
An anonymous commenter at Gazeta.ru explained [RUS] noted efficiency of Twitter compared to Pentagon:
информационное оружие экономически выгоднее… 25 млн. против 300 млрд. бюджета пентагона :) Поражает только циничная откровенность заявлений…
VZ.ru commenter Olesya Semenova suggested [RUS] to use the same “weapon” against the U.S.:
интересно можем ли мы так же воздействовать на американцев. У них ведь далеко всё не так уж радужно. Демократии нет .Дур дом с образованием ,корупция и т.д. и т.п. Американский народ должен знать как его дурят, насилуют и уничтожают зарвавшиеся амриканские же политиканы.
Some of the Kremlin-affiliated bloggers identified a linkage between the Internet Freedom speech and John McCain's interview a day earlier. Blogger Demidov-Anton published [RUS] a statement on behalf of “ Rossiya Molodaya” movement that said every efforts of the “American pseudo-democrats to impose the Egyptian scenario on Russia will be prevented.”
Bloggers also noticed that several hours prior to Clinton's speech, Sergey Ivanov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, said [RUS] that the Internet was one of the major tools for terrorist and anti-social activities. Blogger ivn_derevnya  compared [RUS] two politicians:
Говоря о разном, в результате они говорят об одном, что интернет из нерегулируемого и достаточно свободного и безцензурного пространства превращается в арену новой холодной войны XXI-го века…
We Don’t Want More Politics on the Net
Many liberal bloggers who don’t consider the U.S. an enemy were also extremely critical. Anton Nossik, famous liberal blogger, argued [RUS]:
Свежее выступление Хилари Клинтон про Госдеп, который выделит 25 миллионов долларов на помощь блоггерам во всём мире, иллюстрирует одно моё давнее наблюдение.
Любой чиновник, когда он лезет рулить Интернетом, национальным или зарубежным, должен быть посылаем нахуй в ту самую минуту. К американским чиновникам относится в той же мере, что и к российским, или египетским.
The recent speech by Hillary Clinton about the State Department's plan to invest $25 million in assistance for bloggers all over the world provides an illustration for my old argument. Every official that tries to rule the Internet, the national or international one,  should be sent to Hell immediately. It is relevant to the same extent for American officials, as well as for Egyptian and Russian ones.
Nossik reminded that crackdown on Wikileaks has been one of “the most vivid examples of the Internet censorship west to the Great Chinese Wall”. Plus, Clinton’s address could endanger liberal bloggers:
Даже если бы не было никакого Ассанжа, ее заявление находится по ту сторону добра и зла.
После таких дебильных выступлений любой Лукашенко, Ахмуди, Сурков и Назарбаев может смело объявлять любого критика власти “платным агентом Госдепартамента”.
ivn_derevnya developed [RUS] this argument:
…еще вчера я, ты, все,  были просто блогерами… А теперь мы стали агентами влияния США, и кто его знает может даже владельцами счетов с зеленью, за бугром. И навальный и гудков и все все все… И теперь на деньги иностранные – мы представляем угрозу безопасности страны – мы террористы и экстремисты… Мы враги государства и иностранные агенты…
Petroffvalerij wondered [RUS] if the Internet freedom speech actually served the interests of the Russian ruling party “United Russia”:
И теперь получилась “забавная” ситуация: любой автор ругающий в блогосфере политику правящей “Единой России”, в глазах читателя автоматически становится соискателем “Премии им. Хилари Клинтон”… “Подстава” вышла однако… Может её наша “Единая Россия” об этом попросила?
The liberal top-bloggers themselves tried to make a joke of the story. One of the most popular bloggers Ilya Varlamov tweeted [RUS]:
State.gov Twitter in Russian?
@ClintonRussia: Fake account of the Secretary of State. Screenshot
The State Department didn’t tell where the $25 million would go. Russian Netizens, however, had different information. Fake @ClintonRussia account has been registered (a reference to real @MedvedevRussia and fake but popular @KermlinRussia) that was actively tweeting [RUS] in deliberately misspelled Russian :
Пожалуйста, скажите мне, Twitter-счетов политических деятелей в вашей стране, разделяя принципы свободы и прав человека.
Later, the account started to address the most popular liberal bloggers:
"@Navalny we will contact you!"
Some of the Russian bloggers wondered [RUS] if the real account would able to do the same:
Ежели твиттер Госдепа будет вестись с такой же периодичностью, что и ЖЖ-аккаунт посла США в России Дж.Байерли, то революции в России по типу египетской можно не опасаться как минимум до конца текущего столетия:)
The efficiency of Twitter as a medium was also questioned [RUS] by Svetlana Romanova, blogger at Slon.ru:
Неизвестно, ставил ли Госдеп своим сотрудникам в соцмедиа какие-либо показатели эффективности, но в России этим сервисом микроблогов пользуется в лучшем случае 0,4% населения. […] Так что шансов у twitter-аккаунтов Госдепа получить звание «прожектор новой перестройки» мало.
It should be mentioned that the State Department’s Facebook Account in Russian is one of the 10 most popular fan pages on Russian Facebook [RUS]. It has 42, 672 fans and increases every month.
Surprisingly, I was able to find just one positive reaction to the “Internet Freedom” speech. An anonymous commenter responded [RUS] to Gazeta.ru article:
Удивительно, какой наш народ зашоренный… Ему побоку, что политики сша в кои то веки выступили с верной мыслью, актуальной и для нашей страны, а в ближайшем будущем – актуальной вдвойне. Нашему народу важно, что “а х-ли говорят за меня? а я так не считаю! сша опять лезут в мою жизнь! Не дают спокойно и гордо существовать!”
Lost in translation
One may assume that the reaction of Russian bloggers could be an unexpected surprise for those who had developed the new U.S. Internet freedom strategy. Hillary Clinton, however, wasn’t the first one to approach Russian citizens online. In 2008, the undersecretary for public diplomacy James Glassman announced creation of Russian language “Digital Outreach Team”, that would engage in RuNet discussions about American politics. The initiative was badly received.
There are probably a number of explanations for this type of reaction. One of them is offered [ENG] by Steven Corman and his colleagues. They suggest the U.S.  communication failures in other countries are caused by the lack of understanding that “a meaning cannot simply be transferred, like a letter mailed from point A to point B,” but it depends primarily on ”interpreting one-another’s actions and making attributions about thoughts, motivations, and intentions”.
Corman writes: “Interpretation by a receiver is influenced by an array of factors that are outside the control of—and may even be unknown to—the sender” and concludes that “A message might increase understanding, but it might also create misunderstanding.”
It looks like Russian reaction to the Internet Freedom speech by the Secretary of  State is an example for the latter. Maybe clever foreign policy should take into account the other’s systems of interpretation and not just send the message from A to B.

author: Gregory Asmolov


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South Korea: Photos of Protest in Seoul · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Koreans held a protest in Seoul against the current administration yesterday, criticizing the government's unmet promises and its failures in several issues, such as high unemployment rate and the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Prolific Twitter and Blogger @givenjoy posted about 15 photos of the protest in his blog.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Tunisia: Peaceful Protests Turn into Violent Confrontations · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

This post is part of our special coverage of Tunisia Revolution 2011.
Protests calling for immediate political reforms and the resignation of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannoushi continue in Tunisia. Apparently, the ousting of the former President Ben Ali is not good enough for a large portion of Tunisians who seek an overthrow of the whole regime and cutting all ties with the past. On Friday, about 100,000 protesters gathered in the streets of the capital Tunis to rally against the interim government chaired by Ghannoushi.
Protestors in front of the Interior Minstry in Hbib Bouguiba Avenue photo by Khaled Nciri
Demonstrators, find it hard to trust Ghannoushi who has been a close ally of Ben Ali and a long-standing member of his government since 1989, serving as a Prime Minister from 1999 until today.
Later on the night of February, 25, peaceful protests suddenly turned to violent clashes between the police and protesters. It is not clear yet, what triggered the confrontations, but there is no doubt that security forces used tear gas and fired bullets into the air to disperse protesters, gathered at Habib Bourguiba Avenue, near the Interior Ministry.
Riot Police used tear gas to disperse protestors  photo by Khaled Nciri
Human Rights Watch(@hrw) only confirms the use of tear gas:
For past 90 mins, HRW watched police firing tear gas at demonstrators in front of Interior Ministry
On its Facebook fan page, the Interior Ministry reports that the protesters tried to break into the ministry's building:
عداد غفيرة من المتظاهرين عمدوا عشية يوم الجمعة إلى مهاجمة مقر وزارة الداخلية بشارع الحبيب بورقيبة بالعاصمة حيث القوا كميات كبيرة من الحجارة على مبنى الوزارة ومحيطها…
وحاول أعوان قوات الأمن الداخلي ووحدات الجيش الوطني تفريق المتظاهرين عبر إطلاق النار في الهواء وإلقاء القنابل المسيلة للدموع لكن المتظاهرين واصلوا بإصرار محاولاتهم اقتحام مبنى الوزارة.
Update: The Interior Ministry has reported that 21 police officers were injured in the clashes and that there was a lot of material damage to shops, a supermarket, and a police station.
A Tunisian blogger describes the situation at Habib Bourguiba Avenue as she saw it from her window:
C'est le K-O à l'Av H.Bourguiba. C'est la 1ère fois que je vois ça (par ma fenetre). C'est pire que se qui s'est passé le 14 Janvier. Les manifestants ont tout brulés, meme le centre de police près de l'Hotel Africa (Le 7ème). On a secouru des jeunes qui fuyaient la police et d'autres étouffés par les bombes lacrymogènes
Kais (@KaisEG) tweets:
Ça brule devant le ministère de l'interieur… (Source:mes yeux)
Mathieu Von Rohr,(@mathieuvonrohr) a Foreign Affairs Correspondent of DER SPIEGEL tweets:
Degeneration of peaceful protest into violence in #Tunis is sad to watch. Some ppl are understandably frustrated, but this does not help.
He adds:
Some hooligans now vandalizing shops on main avenue in Tunis.
The clashes have not caused any deaths but only one serious injuiry.
Vlademir Yebanov (@VlademirYebanov) tweets:
encore du sang sur l'avenue bourguiba.. un blessé grave vient d'etre hospitalisé maintenant
Julien Collinet(@jcollinet),a Canal+ journalist likens the clashes to a war:
Ambiance de guerre sur l'avenue Bourguiba
Nicola Beau, a French journalist and writer portrays in his blog Habib Bourguiba Avenue, on Saturday morning after a Friday night of violent clashes:
” On ne reconnait plus notre Tunisie”? Ce matin samedi, un spectacle de désolation, avenue Bourguiban au centre de Tunis, où tout a été saccagé. Des casseurs? des provocateurs? Ou des jeunes en colère contre l'incapacité du pouvoir actuel à prendre simplement la parole? Une certitude, les forces de l'ordre n'ont pas fait dans le détail. Des jeunes se sont réfugiés, affolés, dans les chambres d’ hôtels. La peur était revenue.
This post is part of our special coverage of Tunisia Revolution 2011.

author: Afef Abrougui


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Yemen: “I beg you to help us NOW” · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.
Citizen journalists, bloggers and Tweeps are reacting to a military crackdown in Aden, Yemen, on Friday, February 25, that killed an estimated five people and wounded approximately 25 anti-government protesters.
Friday's protests throughout much of the country were relatively peaceful  — even between both pro- and anti-government groups. But in Aden the military used tear gas and fired weapons at demonstrators around the city, according to press reports. What some are now referring to as the February 25 massacres came just days after President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried a more conciliatory stance toward anti-government protests by demanding the military protect the safety of protesters — even going to the point of physically separating groups with opposing viewpoints.
A spokesperson denied security forces killed and wounded protesters, putting the blame on “an armed group of separatists.” President Saleh said the Aden protests had attempted to disrupt Yemeni unity.
For the past two weeks, tens of thousands of mostly young protesters and human rights activists have been calling for the removal of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978. Anti-government activists argue Saleh's government is corrupt, violent and lacks feasible plans for economic development. In Sanna, thousands of demonstrators have also rallied in support of the president, who has promised not to run for re-election in the 2013 Presidential vote. Pro-government voices argue his early overthrow will send an already unstable country into chaos.
Press reports vary in the number of deaths since the demonstrations began, with estimates ranging between 21 and 35, along with scores injured. Anti-government protesters have been targeted by both pro-Saleh groups and government security forces.
Unity problems
Humans have inhabited the area of Yemen for millennia, but the Republic of Yemen is just over two decades old when the northern areas and southern areas were finally united in 1990.  In the southern part of the country, the seaport of Aden dates back to biblical times, and the city was first colonized by the Portuguese in 1513 and later the British. At that time, northern areas of the country were under Ottoman Turk rule.
As Britain's colonies gained independence, the area around Aden joined a federation of small neighboring states. After the fall of the Ottoman empire, the northern part of Yemen was an independent state, ruled by a Shia Imamate, which was deposed in 1962 by troops backed by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. This lead to the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic.  (The Houthi, supporters of the government deposed in 1962, continue a sometimes violent independence movement in the far northern part of the country.)
After decades of discussion, the two regions unified. Two decades later, many of the south remain unimpressed, and parts of the region is home to a simmering succession movement. Only has 30 per cent of the country's population hails from the south, but the region is rich in resources (read: oil), making it responsible for much of Yemen's economy. Southerners complain that eight out of every 10 barrels of oil pumped in Yemen comes from the south, but they see very few profits.
Violence in Aden
It's very difficult for journalists and human rights organizations to verify information in Aden, blogger Jane Novak writes. While most foreign journalists are in Sanaa, it is nearly impossible for foreign journalists to enter Aden. Local journalists, she says,  face “a broad and brutal clamp down”.
Here is a video, uploaded by muadshibnai, that shows peaceful protesters walking down the street and then being fired on.
After speaking to witnesses in different neighborhoods of Aden, Human Rights Watch reported:
At least one security officer stepped out and opened fire with a military assault weapon without giving a warning, the witness told Human Rights Watch. He said the gunman wore the gray uniform of the National Security Bureau. Police then immediately opened fire, shooting both into the air and straight at the crowd, and also fired teargas at the protesters, the witness said.
“Suddenly I heard screams, turned around, and saw two men on the ground,” the witness said. “One of them was shot in the head – he was lying on the ground face down, blood streaming from his head. He didn’t move. The other guy was screaming, ‘My arm! My arm!’ – he got two bullets in his shoulder.”
Security forces also opened fire without warning on another peaceful demonstration in the al-’Arish area of Aden, a human rights activist at the scene told Human Rights Watch. The activist said he saw at least five people fall to the ground after being hit by bullets, mostly in the legs.
From Jane Novak:
Aden residents report that the dead and wounded lay in the streets, sometimes for hours, as live fire from security forces pinned down medics, ambulances and other concerned citizens trying to give aid. Several areas reported that homes were randomly strafed. Electricity was cut in many parts of Aden.
Gunshots were heard throughout the night with the last report coming in at 4 am local time, a full ten hours after the assault began.
‘HELP us now’
Here are some sounds in what @AlaaIsam says were clashes in the Maalla district of Aden.
Here are some tweets from Yemen during Friday night's violence:
@al3ini: Situation in Aden is very difficult and tense #Yemen #Aden #YF
URGENT: Tanks are in streets of KhorMakser now #Aden #South #Yemen #Security
@AhlamS: Security forces in #Aden announcing “Emergency Situation” & curfew- firing live ammunition #yemen #YF
@AlaaIsam: Still my brother Munder stuck in KhorMakser, he said the army shooting on them and did not allow them to go to Crater.. Help please #Yemen
@AlaaIsam: URGENT: army forces prevents ambulance cars from entering alma'lla to rescue injured peaceful protesters #Aden #South #Yemen
@aboshaima2010: Many injuries in Almaala str. Peopel in need of help in Aden who can help to stop these crimes
@AhlamS: Urgent : News about gun firing directed at houses, and huge panic among citizens of #Aden, news of dead bodies Scattered in the streets…
@JNovak_Yemen: Msg from #Aden: security forces fire anti-aircraft machine guns on homes, army truck ran over kid in Crater #Yemen #YF
@AlaaIsam: To All Demonstrations in Taiz and Sana'a, i beg you to help us NOW there, Press on Security, let them stop the crime in Aden
@AlaaIsam: To All Media Please Promote Aden, Saleh Killing Us this moment in Aden
@AlaaIsam: to all Northerns, Aden need you to help, Army killing people here… please i beg you to help Aden
@snuraddin: #squares of #almansurah r armed #checkpoint with heavy weapons that I do not know their names #aden #yemen
the shooting still until now, in Maalla, Little Aden, KhorMakser districts, calm in Crater and Mansoora still free of army #Yemen #Aden
@AlaaIsam: Witness, 9 killed while their bodies are still there in front of Kenya plaza hotel in Maalla district #Yemen #Aden
@wsaqaf: ‘#Massacre’ reported as peaceful protesters in #Aden, #Yemen brutally attacked. Appeal sent to to help injured. http://goo.gl/yTDR0
@AhlamS: Slaughter in #Aden #Yemen Now: There is an urgent need for blood and medicine!
The day after
On Saturday, February 26, citizen journalists continue to report on a number of issues, including investigating rumors  the army is making it difficult to enter Aden, or even move around the city. This video uploaded by alaaisam shows a Saturday, February 26 morning protest in Aden's Crater district watched over by security forces, including those sitting in a tank.
Here is a photo of tanks on the way to the area of Little Aden.
From Twitter:
@al3ini: Today Internet is very slow in #Yemen and it is difficult to access Twitter #Aden #YF
@snuraddin: #security #checkpoints between #taiz & #aden denied entry of #citizens #yemen
@snuraddin: there is undeclared #curfew in #aden & #military #forces prevent moving within #aden #yemen
@snuraddin: is #aden a #war #zone #now ? why #people are not allowed to come in ? #yemen
@JNovak_Yemen: @alguneid #Saleh is trigger happy in #Aden because the oil, gas & port are there & some southerns want independence from north . #Yemen
@gregorydjohnsen: Uh-oh, talk of mercenaries and colonial remnants in Aden by President Salih of #Yemen.

author: John Liebhardt


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Angola: Mysterious call for youth revolution · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

“Agostinho  Jonas Roberto dos Santos” (clearly a composite of the names of deceased Angolan figures) created a website [link now broken] with a call for Angolan youth to revolt on March 7. Subsequently a Facebook page appeared. The online home of this mysterious group/individual moved [Pt] in recent days due to “insufficient bandwidth” at the first address.

author: Janet Gunter


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Armenia: Homophobia as propaganda? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia, one of two blogs written by Mika Artyan, comments on remarks by a major opposition politician linking emigration to homosexuality ahead of this week's rally to call for regime change. The activist blogger, one of the most prominent covering the 2008 presidential election in Armenia as well as its violent aftermath, notes that the opposition promises to “stop these processes,” but says that no revolution on the streets will result in real change in the country until there is a revolution in people's minds.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Rapping the Revolution of Reform · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Even if the use of social media ahead of an opposition rally scheduled to mark the 3rd anniversary of bloody post-presidential clashes which left 10 dead remains low, some activists are at least using the new online tools at their disposal. In particular, those behind a Facebook page to increase attendance for the demonstration have put together a video accompanied by a rap song.


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Azerbaijan: Great People’s Day · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Activists in Azerbaijan have opened a Facebook page, 11 March – Great People's Day in Azerbaijan / 11 Mart – Böyük Xalq Günü, to attract support for their plans to protest after being inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.


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Azerbaijan: Join Us · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Pro-opposition activists in the Armenian Diaspora are starting to use rap music to communicate their message ahead of next week's demonstration in Yerevan while youth movements in Azerbaijan have long been doing so. Uploaded to YouTube in October, one example is Shirbənd with Bizimlə ol (Join Us) as opposition groups in the oil-rich republic also warn of an “Egyptian scenario” unless new parliamentary elections are called.


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Bangladesh: On Meherjan · Global Voices
Rezwan

RealTime Bangladesh joins in the debate regarding the controversial big budget Bangladeshi film “Meherjan”, which was withdrawn from the theaters by its distributor.


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Cambodia: Cambofest Film Festival · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambofest: Film and Video Festival of Cambodia will take place on the first week of March.

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Who Ordered the Blocking of Opposition Websites? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Last month, an anti-government website was blocked by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Cambodia. The ISPs later denied that it received an order from the government to ban the critical website. The government also insisted that it is not a policy to block the website of opposition groups. Fortunately, access to the website was restored immediately.
But the issue of web censorship in Cambodia continued to sizzle this month as media groups leaked a letter by government information authorities asking ISPs to censor websites that allegedly harm Cambodian morality and tradition.
Sieng Sithy, deputy director of the Directorate of Telecommunications Policy Regulation at the MPTC, wrote an email to Ezecom, Metfone, Citylink, Digi, AngkorNet, WiCam, TC, Camnet, Online and Camintel thanking them for “cooperation” in blocking access to several websites, including KI-Media, Khmerization and a site featuring the art of political cartoonist Sacrava.
The government gave conflicting statements on the veracity of the letter. The Ministry continues to assert that web censorship is not being pursued by the government. Here are some parts of the controversial letter:
The e-mail, which was electronically signed by Sieng Sithy, deputy director of the ministry’s policy regulation, addresses service providers WiCam, Telesurf and Hello.
“We found that you are not yet taken an action, so please kindly take immediate action”
“Here below [are the] websites.”
“Again and again, In case of not well cooperation is your own responsibility”
Internet users in Cambodia complained that the mentioned websites have been inaccessible for many times this month. The ISPs blamed it on technical problems.
Cartoon by Sacrava
The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) condemns the reported blocking of critical websites
…the Internet was the only audio or visual media not fully controlled by the government. The censoring of controversial Web sites marks a significant milestone in the march toward a more oppressive media environment
The group also wants ISPs to explain to their customers why they agreed to comply with the government request to censor the websites
Did the government simply make a “request” that ISP providers block certain sites? If so, ISPs owe their customers an honest explanation as to why they have chosen to comply. Hiding behind excuses simply makes them complicit in the censorship campaign. Concerned customers should call their ISPs and demand a legitimate explanation for the ongoing outage of political opposition Web sites. Better yet, all ISPs should decline the government's request and restore full Internet access immediately.
Customers deserve to know whether they are giving their money to a company that is helping to enable a government censorship campaign.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is also worried about the intensifying media censorship in Cambodia.
According to media reports, internet use in Cambodia increased by 500 percent in the past year.


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Chile: Remembering 8.8-magnitude earthquake with tweets from Feb. 27, 2010  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Gonzalo A. Luengo O. compiled a long list of tweets [es] from February 27, 2010, when an 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile at 3:34 a.m. local time.

author: Silvia Viñas


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China: 50 Cent Party’s Fake Retweet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Several Chinese online activists have noticed that the 50 Cent Party has adopted a new tactic in creating fake retweets of prominent online opinion leaders. China Media Project has a brief account of the situation. Rebecca MacKinnon wonders if Twitter abuse team can deal with the problem of fake retweets.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Fake Media Photos of the Jasmine Revolution In China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

EastSouthWestNorth highlights anti-CNN bbs‘ criticisms of foreign media using fake photos when reporting about the “Jasmine Revolution” in China.