protests

protest photos from the US RNC 2008

MHolterhaus — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:34:18 -0500

As follow up to my last post, I'd like to pass along some links to photos of the Republican National Convention protests in St. Paul, MN, USA. Most of the march was quite peaceful, but several groups of anarchist/vandals did incite some violence, which unfortunately overshadowed the nonviolent message that most people carried that day.

The Uptake's RNC photostream: http://flickr.com/photos/theuptake/

Here's a set I took while observing the protests yesterday: http://tinyurl.com/5meodg

In case you're not familiar with the site, flickr is a great, free photosharing sight that makes it easy to upload, edit, and share photos with the world.

citizen journalism live: follow US Republican National Convention protest activities

MHolterhaus — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:36:38 -0500

I think people around the world would be interested in how theuptake.org, a very innovative citizen journalism group, is capturing the protests and other activities through mobile video and liveblogging. Their homepage contains some great live feeds. I would also recommend following @theuptake and @pipress on twitter to follow live SMS updates.

I witnessed firsthand some of the proceedings today, and I think they're doing a great job objectively covering what the major outlets won't touch.

Can the language of Otpor! be universal?

Wendy D — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:00:55 -0500

In the late 1990s, the organization Otpor! developed in
Milosevic-ruled Serbia.
Considered by many as a rag-tag group of student protestors, the group soon
became the leading citizen-based force for resistance to the Milosevic regime.
Otpor! used non-violent tactics to create a broad base of citizen support and
delegitimize the Milosevic regime domestically and even internationally.

In our New Tactics database, you can find the details of
some of Otpor!’s work and methods, one in particular is entitled “Organizing
demonstrations outside of police stations after arrests of activists.” At first
glance, it might seem that demonstrations by young people after an arrest
wouldn’t serve to rattle a regime as brutal and infamous as Milosevic’s.
However, looking more closely at the work of Otpor! it’s clear that they can
serve as a model for young people’s movements all around the world, even living
under very repressive regimes.

Otpor! stood in the face of adversity and not only had an
international impact, but managed to keep up morale, consistently add new
members to their group, gain international respect (it eventually got funding
from the U.S. State Department), and reach its ultimate goal of helping to
bring down Milosevic.

Otpor!, like many other protestors in non-democratic
societies, faced scrutiny, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests from the government.
Instead of letting these things slow their movement, Otpor! used arbitrary
arrests by the government (whose intent was to intimidate and silence protestors)
as a means of gaining media coverage, motivating other activists, and exposing
and mocking the government’s illegitimacy.

Looking at this tactic makes me wonder how it can be applied
to other situations in other countries. In the news right now (for a multitude
of reasons) is Iran.
Recently, over 100 students protested at a speech by President Ahmadinejad at Tehran University.
According to CNN, the students got into the speech despite tight security and
started yelling things like “death to the dictator.” News of anti-Ahmadinejad
protests is becoming rarer as of recent because of increasingly tough
crackdowns on anti-government activity. According to CNN students were once the
main force behind the reformist movement in Iran, but with all the governmental
crackdowns the student voice has been stifled considerably.

So is it possible for Iranian students to develop something
like Serbia’s
Otpor! to combat the violations on their human right of expression and
assembly? Are there things that make Serbia’s
political situation in the late 90s vastly different than Iran today?
What are the first couple of steps to organize something as successful as
Otpor! in a climate of repression like Iran?

Human Rights Education Exchange

Looking at recent events in Myanmar...

Wendy D — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:25:01 -0500

For the past month, Buddhists monks have been marching and practicing civil disobedience in Myanmar (formerly Burma).This past weekend (September 23) the marches gained more participants, and attention. The Associated Press reports that upwards of 100,000 people led by hundreds of Buddhist monks marched through the streets of Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. Some protestors marched for over 12 miles, and 1,400 people walked right up to riot police blocking their path. The protestors chanted prayers and calls for peace in front of police, and near the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy leader long detained under house arrest.

Monks are well regarded and respected in Buddhist Myanmar, and their voices act as a moral authority. Since the monks are leading the protests, other sympathizers feel safer and more compelled to participate. The marching by the monks is civil disobedience at its best. The repressive military government is hesitant to crack down on marchers because of the public scorn it will garner both nationally and internationally.

The last large demonstration in Myanmar was in 1988 when hundreds, if not thousands, of people were injured or killed by military government forces suppressing the protest. With history like that and a culture of iron-fisted military rule many people in Myanmar are hesitant to speak or act against the government for fear of swift retribution. However, with the monks leading the protests, people are noticing a change in the tides. Also, the monks act as a visible safe guard for other protestors, who can feel confident that the government will try to avoid confrontation with beloved public figures.

Interestingly, Myanmar’s ally China is believed to be playing a role in the Myanmar government’s reaction to the protests. With so much international scrutiny on China for the upcoming 2008 Olympics, Chinese officials are believed to be urging Myanmar to withhold any sort of violent reactions. In doing so, China would avoid association with further human rights abuses. However, Myanmar military officials are issuing more heavy-handed denouncements of the marches and monks as the protests continue.

As far as new tactics are concerned, using the Olympics as a leverage point has proven to be widely utilized in the case of China and 2008 Olympics. Various activist groups have pressured China to revisit their positions on many issues, most notably their relationship with Sudan, and its impact on Darfur. China receives a large percentage of their oil from the Sudanese government.

In Myanmar, tensions have been running high for the last month, since the government raised fuel prices to outrageous rates. This acted as a catalyst for the long simmering public discontent to be manifested.

The marches put international pressure and scrutiny on Myanmar, and reinforce the idea that citizens of that country are not happy with the situation and want change. The monks’ participation and leadership in the marches symbolizes a breaking point for the country and its people. While marching in protest isn’t necessarily a New Tactic in human rights, it is powerful and yet simple grassroots tool.

Let me know what you think about these developments in Myanmar. Does anyone know of any other cases where religious figures were particularly instrumental in starting and leading political protests? I’m sure there are many examples, but I’m curious about some of the most successful.

Follow these links for the news stories in major U.S. and international outlets:

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/24/myanmar.protest.ap/index.html

Msnbc: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20935091/

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7010839.stm

New Tactics Community Members

Sending Out an SMS: A rapid-response mobile phone network engages a youth constituency to stop torture fast

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:14 -0500

Sending Out an SMS

by Anneke Bosman

Download full notebook below. [*note]

Amnesty International-Netherlands recognized the power of text-messaging technology (also known as short-messaging service, or SMS) to attract new members, build awareness of the campaign against torture and engage new people in quickly responding to cases of torture through Urgent Action appeals. The initial result was 520 new members gained directly from SMS participation with over 5,000 additional people becoming active in the SMS urgent action campaign. This notebook puts special emphasis on how Amnesty took advantage of SMS technology to build a new constituency among young people.

Golden Misabiko, a journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested and imprisoned without any charge in January 2001. It was feared he would be tortured. Amnesty International sent out an Urgent Action to members all over the world. We, at the Dutch section, sent out a text message to 8,000 cell-phone users in the Netherlands who participate in our new text-message alert network. Within 48 hours we sent a protest fax with thousands of signatures to the authorities in the DRC. Golden was released in May 2001. He had not been tortured. Golden wrote to Amnesty, "When I heard in prison that Amnesty campaigned for my release I knew: Je vais sortir (I will be released)." And so it happened.

Amnesty International has found a new "weapon" to use in its battle against torture: cell-phone text messages. These messages of up to 160 characters and transmitted by cell phone are known in many countries by the acronym SMS, which stands for "short-messaging service." With these messages, protests can be gathered faster than ever, enabling Amnesty International to take action against torture and other abuses more quickly. About 39 percent of the cell-phone campaigns conducted by Amnesty in 2002 were successful. Prisoners of conscience were released, people who had "disappeared" were found and death sentences were not carried out.

Cell-phone campaigning also has a special appeal for youth, and we found this campaign attracted new younger members into Amnesty in a way that other outreach and activities had not. Young people are the most frequent and numerous cell-phone users, and it is young people that Amnesty wants to reach. Young people do want to campaign for causes they believe in, but like anyone else, they prefer to do so in a way that is consistent with their lifestyles and habits. By using this popular tool of youth culture, Amnesty draws in new activists who will add to its campaigning power for a long time to come.

In this tactical notebook I will describe how we developed this text-message alert network in the Netherlands and how it helped attract a new constituency of support. To understand this alert method, one must also understand Amnesty’s previous methods to involve its membership in responding to human rights abuse around the world. All Amnesty campaigns have a dual function. They direct a focused response to a place in the world where someone needs help, using simple actions that large numbers of people can participate in and know they are making a difference. At the same time, these campaigns educate the public and build a global consciousness about human rights abuses such as torture. The text-messaging campaign adds something new to both objectives. It can generate a faster response to help the victim, while at the same time expanding Amnesty’s educational impact to a new constituency.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.