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A non-violent Greek activist was arrested on Friday May 25, 2007, at a non-violent demonstration in the village of Artas, Bethlehem, Palestine. The demonstration was organized by Palestinians and joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists.On Sunday, May 20, Israeli Occupation Forces uprooted 28 apricot and date trees in order to build a sewage system for the Illegal Israeli colony of Efrata. Israel is also continuing to build the Apartheid Wall right through the center of this village.The Greek activist has been charged with "assault leading to injury" and "disrupting soldiers work," both of which are completely bogus.This demonstration was non-violent. Not a single rock was thrown, yet the soldiers responded to the protesters with force.

 

On April 27th, 2007 Holy Land Trust in cooperation with the Popular Committee against the Wall in the South of Bethlehem Villages held their weekly nonviolent demonstration. A mass demonstration was organized against the Annexation Wall around the settlements of Gush Etzion and Efrata. Residents of all areas affected by the wall – starting from Beit-Jala, Al- Walaja and Battir in the North of Bethlehem to Umm Salamoneh, Beit Ummar, Surif and Al-Jab'a in the South of Bethlehem– in addition to International and Israeli activists took part in this nonviolent protest against the expansion of the settlements in that area. The demonstrators held balloons with the four colors of the Palestinian flag as well as holding signs that call for stopping the erection of the illegal Wall. After Friday’s midday prayer, around 300 people gathered in the lands of Umm Salamoneh where the demonstration started towards route 60 in opposition to Efrata settlement. Major General Jibril Rajoub made a speech on lands that belong to Al-Khader villagers where he pointed out to Israel’s no intentions to making peace on this land since it still insists on destroying the Palestinian lands and constructing the Apartheid Wall whereas Mr. Qais Abdulkarim, “Abu Leila” a member of the Legislative Council considered the construction of the Wall a violation to all the international conventions and called upon all the international organizations, especially the United Nations, to interfere and to stop the Wall from being constructed. Mr. Sami Awad, the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust talked about the purpose of this demonstration and its importance in sending out a message to the settlers, that they are unwanted here on our Palestinian lands, he also reiterated that the Wall is being built for Israel’s own benefit in order to seize more Palestinian lands and annex it to the illegal settlements. A huge force of Israeli soldiers later on blocked the demonstrators and prevented them from marching on the road that leads to Efrata Settlement; they also attacked and pushed many participants aggressively. After the demonstration was over Israeli soldiers intended to harass and stop some activists, international volunteers and journalists in a way of pushing them not to join any other demonstrations in the future.

Palestinian rap group DAM, Da Arab MC's created this music video about the life of Palestinians in Israel. They're from Lod, a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, so they're Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (often called "Israeli Arabs"). They usually rap in Arabic, but they made a Hebrew version of this song with a music video to get their message out to the majority of Israelis who don't speak Arabic.

 

Free Burma.Aung San Suu Kyi, born 19 June 1945 in Yangon (Rangoon), is a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience and advocate of nonviolent resistance. Aung San Suu Kyi was the third child in her family. Her name "Aung San" derives from her father, "Kyi" from her mother and "Suu" from her grandmother.[6] A Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru peace prize by the Government of India for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention, with the Myanmar government repeatedly extending her detention. According to the results of the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi earned the right to be Prime Minister, as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party, but her detention by the military junta prevented her from assuming that role.She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; Daw is not part of her name, but an honorific similar to madam for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt". Strictly speaking, she has only the one name, though it is acceptable to refer to her as "Ms. Suu Kyi" or Dr. Suu Kyi, since those syllables serve to distinguish her from her father, General Aung San.

 

Budrus Village in the West Bank has a long history of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation and to the construction of the Apartheid Wall on its land.This video was made by Israeli activists. It documents a typical nonviolent demonstration and the violent response from Israeli soldiers

Over the summer, tens of thousands of Kashmiri protesters jammed the streets demanding independence from India. It was the biggest public outcry since the revolt of 1989, when mass demonstrations were a prelude to years of militancy. The difference today is that a new generation of politically-minded youth is leading the way. While frustrations over the heavy-handed presence of Indian forces and economic inequalities still run deep, they are choosing non-violent means to push for change.

 

This video documents a demonstration and metta meditation in support of justice, democracy and loving kindness in front of the Myanmar (Burmese) embassy in Washington, DC October 4, 2007. The woman speaker is Nnin Nnin Pyne (h2pyne(at)yahoo.com). The man leading the metta mediation is Hugh Byrne, a teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in DC.Democratic rule ended in 1962 when General Ne Win led a military coup d'état. He ruled for nearly 26 years and pursued policies under the rubric of the Burmese Way to Socialism. Between 1962 and 1974, Burma was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general, and almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalized or brought under government control (including the Boy Scouts). In an effort to consolidate power, General Ne Win and many top generals resigned from the military and took civilian posts and, from 1974, instituted elections in a one party system.Between 1974 and 1988, Burma was effectively ruled by General Ne Win through the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP)., which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party. During this period, Burma became one of the world's most impoverished countries. The Burmese Way to Socialism combined Soviet-style nationalization and central planning with the governmental implementation of what most Westerners would consider superstitious beliefs. Criticism was scathing, such as an article published in a February 1974 issue of Newsweek magazine describing the Burmese Way to Socialism as 'an amalgam of Buddhist and Marxist illogic'.Almost from the beginning there were sporadic protests against the military rule, many of which were organized by students, and these were almost always violently suppressed by the government. On July 7, 1962 the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University killing 15 students. In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force.A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974.In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalized plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989.In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 489 seats, but the election results were annulled by SLORC, which refused to step down. Led by Than Shwe since 1992, the military regime has made cease-fire agreements with most ethnic guerrilla groups. In 1992, SLORC unveiled plans to create a new constitution through the National Convention, which began 9 January 1993. In 1997, the State Law and Order Restoration Council was renamed the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).On 23 June 1997, Burma was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The National Convention continues to convene and adjourn. Many major political parties, particularly the NLD, have been absent or excluded, and little progress has been made.[citation needed] On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005, officially named the new capital Naypyidaw, meaning "city of the kings".In November 2006, the International Labour Organization (ILO) announced it will be seeking - at the International Court of Justice.[40] - "to prosecute members of the ruling Myanmar junta for crimes against humanity" over the continuous forced labour of its citizens by the military. According to the ILO, an estimated 800,000 people are subject to forced labour in Myanmar.The 2007 Burmese anti-government protests were a series of anti-government protests that started in Burma on August 15, 2007. The immediate cause of the protests was mainly the unannounced decision of the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council, to remove fuel subsidies which caused the price of diesel and petrol to suddenly rise as much as 100%, and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase fivefold in less than a week. The protest demonstrations were at first dealt with quickly and harshly by the junta, with dozens of protesters arrested and detained. Starting September 18, the protests had been led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those protests had been allowed to proceed until a renewed government crackdown on September 26. During the crack-down, there were rumors of disagreement within the Burmese military, but none were confirmed. Some news reports referred to the protests as the Saffron Revolution.Protesters in Yangon with a banner that reads non-violence: national movement in Burmese, in the background is Shwedagon PagodaOn 7 February 2008, SPDC announced that a referendum for the Constitution would be held, and Elections by 2010. The Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 was held on May 10 and promised a "discipline-flourishing democracy" for the country in the future.World governments remain divided on how to deal with the military junta. Calls for further sanctions by Canada, United Kingdom, United States, and France are opposed by neighboring countries; in particular, China has stated its belief that "sanctions or pressure will not help to solve the issue".

On May 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country when winds of up to 215 km/h (135 mph) touched land in the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division. Reports estimated that more than 130,000 people are dead or missing from Cyclone Nargis that hit the country's Irrawaddy delta. Damage totaled to 10 billion dollars (USD); it was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history. Adds the World Food Programme, "Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out." The United Nations projects that as many as 1 million were left homeless; and the World Health Organization "has received reports of malaria outbreaks in the worst-affected area.Yet in the critical days following this disaster, Burma's isolationist regime complicated recovery efforts by delaying the entry of United Nations planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies into the Southeast Asian nation. The government's failure to permit entry for large-scale international relief efforts was described by the United Nations as "unprecedented.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma

 

The Bil'in conference on popular resistance ends with anti wall nonviolent protestjune 06.2008The Third international conference on popular resistance which was held in Bil'in for the third year in a row, was concluded on Friday with a press conference followed by a nonviolent protest against the wall.Around midday, the participants of the conference went to watch a football match between the villagers of Bil'in and the international participants of the conference near the wall. The football game, which coincided with the start of the European Championship tournament, was, according to Abdullah Abu Rahme, the conference moderator, a message to the world that Israel, also denies the Palestinians the right to play. Soon after the match started, Israeli troops showered the players with a number of tear gas bombs which forced them to stop the match. A number of the players and the spectators were treated for gas inhalation.Following the football game, the conveners, including a number of Palestinian Parliamentarians, marched towards the construction site of the wall and were faced by Israeli army violence as they arrived at the gate of the wall. Israeli troops operating there fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the demonstrators. Dozens were treated for gas inhalation and for bruises resulting from being hit with the rubber-coated steel bullets, including Louisa Morgantini, Deputy Speaker of the EU Parliament and the Irish Nobel Laureate and activist Mairead Maguire, in addition to Julio Tuscano, an Italian Judge. were wounded. This is the second time Maguire is wounded in Bil'in's protests. In 2007 she received a rubber-coated steel bullet to her leg as she participated in the protest that followed the second international conference in the village.This years conference, which was organized by the Popular Committee against the wall and Settlement in Bil'in, started on Wednesday with more than 300 Palestinians, internationals and Israelis participating.The Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad spoke at the opening session followed by Louisa Morgantini, vice president of the European Parliament.Fayyad called on the European Union not to upgrade relations with Israel until it adheres to its peace process obligations.He also stressed that the Israeli settlement policy is one of the major impediments for peace.In her speech, Morgantini, said that the Parliament must work to put an end to the occupation and lift the blockade, and revive the agreements signed between the two sides. She emphasized the importance of adhering to international resolutions, especially those relating to Jerusalem as a shared capital for both peoples. She also addressed the tragic situation in Gaza and demanded an end to the siege.Meanwhile, Maguire, accused Israel of denying the Palestinian people their basic right, and stated that Israeli policies lead to the perpetuation of a state based on racism and the creation of facts on the ground.

Carrefour boycott,Non-violent protest against France from Qingdao China. Patriotic students shouted, "Carrefour, closed!" To protest the French government's unfriendly to the Chinese peopleCarrefour has been rolled into a campaign mixed up with both boycott and anti-boycott.We hope you are able to boycott Carrefour at least on 1 May, to deliver, by the empty Carrefour that day, one message to the western world: Chinese shouldn’t be humiliated! Chinese people shouldn’t be insulted!The boycott against Carrefour is going to spreading all over the country, and we anticipate your presence! Thank you. Carrefour, the French retail giant, is the newest target on the list of what cyber-nationalists in China hate and aim at. Cell phone text messages calling on boycotts are popping up, over 5000 net cafes in China, as Daqi.com summed up, have been rife with posts against Carrefour, and quite a few radical netizens have already made the slogans into practice.The boycott is supposed to be caused by the recent grief and violence the Olympic torch relay suffered from in France and the saying that a big shareholder of Carrefour, LVMH group, has donated money to the Dalai Lama.The Olympic torch relay that just ended in Paris is not as peaceful as most of Chinese know about. Let’s see what French and its government have done when Chinese carried the torch, a symbol of peace and friendship into their territory.1. Before the relay, a French TV station called on people to protest on street for the reason that they “don’t want Chinese flags flaunting all over”.2. The torch was forced to extinguish for 4 times under the violent disruptions of Tibet separatists.3. The French police in charge of security simply stood by to see the separatists snatching the torch, and striking the disabled torch carrier.4. At where the torch went by, hordes of French waved the flag of separatists, clamoring “Free Tibet’, “Shame on China” to protest against China.5. Groups of young men even scrambled the Chinese students’ Five-star flags and tore them up, two sides in conflict.6. When the sacred fire passed by the City Hall of Paris, the banners and slogans of pro-Tibet independence were hung out and all the alderman put on the pro-separatism badges, a behavior that made the planned ceremony there cancelled.7. The major media in France reviewed the torch relay with such headlines— Fiasco in Paris(Figaro) and A Slap on ChinaAnd it’s not unusual to see such comments tightly following up the petition.Completely boycott Carrefour.Furthermore, QQ groups all over China were set up to recruit boycott activists. A list shows that places including Chongqing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, more than 20 areas totally, have joined this cyber campaign, during which netizens can communicate by the IM tool to make the whole protest more organizational. In fact at Kunming, a city in southern China, netizens have extended their slogans to the realityby protesting in front of the local Carrefour. The banner reads:Support Olympic, oppose Tibet-independence; boycott French products and Carrefour!The following pictures show the protest in the city of Wuhan. Notice that the banner has exactly the same word as that in Kunming.

This time the rivaling voice doesn’t fade as years ago when the appeal of boycotting Japan products was at climax. Even on Tianya.com, a well-known marketplace of bold clamors and patriotism, the petitions of anti-boycott don’t shy away.In Tianya, netizen Lepel said in his post “you are so unwise to boycott Carrefour, or, you think us too unwise”,I feel it so ridiculous when hearing that so many people are organizing a boycott against Carrefour. I bear great sorrow for their blindness, which is as much stupid as the boycotts against Japanese, American and all western products long time ago. Do you have to isolate China from the world again? Reviewing the anti-Japan activity years ago, I wonder what we commons have really got the campaign. When the tension between the governments came to ease, the anti-Japan action that slightly crossed the line got a crackdown….and we have not yet learnt a lesson from that, and now we are going to have anti-France.Fine, with the boycott, you would simply favor advantage to all other supermarkets and let people go further and spend more for daily shopping. Anything else?Someday in the future when a new French president comes into power or the policy gets changed, everything will just go back to “Long live China-France friendship”, sooner or later. At that time, won’t it be laughable to look back at what we are doing now?Boycott Carrefour? Come on! You are actually boycotting the Chinese manufactures, Chinese workmen there and the country of our own, because Carrefour pays tax to our government!!! Are you able to boycott Paris mayor? BS. Why should I boycott? Our dynasty (allusion to the ruling party-translator) has not yet called on, and perhaps soon they will talk greatly on the China-France friendship.In history, it used to fight hard with Vietnam, but what about now? Friendly conversation and fellowship between us two peoples! Who care about those soldiers died there? F…Ten years ago when the Chinese embassy was bombed by U.S army I was even more indignant that the “patriotic young men” today. Our city is taking pain to introduce the Carrefour in, every official extremely busy on that plan. What should I do? Boycott? Then I will be clashing with our party and country.Anti-Japan anti-France anti-German anti-Korea anti-Taiwan anti-Italy anti-Australia anti-Vietnam anti-Britain anti-U.S…anti-world…anti-universe.But NO anti-autarchy and corruption. So tragic men.This is called “the government digs holes, and zealous youngsters plant trees”.Finally, an analogy might reveal how a lot of people view this patriotic action.The patriotic youngsters are the condom of the party— discarded right after orgasm.The points of the two camps diverge sharply. Rumors have been heard that Carrefour is going to make considerable discounts on 1 May to counteract the planned boycott. And it has announced that it will always be the friend of Chinese. But even not so, the chances of a successful boycott campaign is doubted, as the predominant public opinion years ago for a boycott over Japan didn’t make a good shot, while today the each side is equally strong.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/04/16/chinacarrefour-under-boycott-threat/

 

A series of kings ruled Tibet from the 7th to the 11th century. At times, Tibetan rule may have extended as far south as Bengal and as far north as Mongolia.[citation needed] Tibet appeared in an ancient Chinese historical text where it is referred to as fa. The first incident from recorded Tibetan history which is confirmed externally occurred when King Namri Lontsen sent an ambassador to the Chinese court in the early 7th century.[16] However general, the history of Tibet begins with the rule of Namri Songzen, who first attempts to unify Tibet. His son Songtsän Gampo (604–649 AD) united parts of the Yarlung River Valley and ruled Tibet as a kingdom. In 640 he married Princess Wencheng, the niece of the powerful Chinese emperor Emperor Taizong of Tang China. Tibetan forces conquered the Tuyuhun Kingdom of modern Qinghai and Gansu to the northeast between 663 and 672 AD. Tibet also dominated the Tarim Basin and adjoining regions (now called Xinjiang), including the city of Kashgar, from 670 to 692 AD, when they were defeated by Chinese forces, and then again from 766 to the 800s. The Tibetans were allied with the Arabs and eastern Turks. In 747, Tibet's hold over Central Asia was weakened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi, who re-opened the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750 the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas river (751), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence resumed. Tibet conquered large sections of northern India and even briefly took control of the Chinese capital Chang'an in 763 during the chaos of the An Shi Rebellion.[17] There was a stone pillar, the Lhasa Shöl rdo-rings, in the ancient village of Shöl in front of the Potala in Lhasa, dating to c. 764 AD during the reign of Trisong Detsen. It also contains an account of the brief capture of Chang'an, the Chinese capital, in 763 AD, during the reign of Emperor Daizong.

Tibetan protesters today scaled the walls of the UN compound in the Nepalese capital.Police detained 60 other exiles who were protesting outside the building in Kathmandu, dragging some into waiting vehicles.Around 18 Tibetans climbed into the compound to demand UN intervention following the Chinese crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet.Protests have taken place almost every day in Nepal since the unrest began earlier this month.Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers will begin debating a European response to the crackdown during two days of talks.The negotiations come amid calls from some politicians for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.The demonstrations in Tibet have been the most sustained challenge to China's rule there since 1989. Beijing has sent troops into Tibetan regions to enforce calm following clashes that the government claims have killed 19 people, but Tibetan authorities in exile say have resulted in 140 deaths.Today, the Chinese ambassador to Britain told a BBC interviewer that she wanted to keep politics separate from the Olympics.Fu Ying said the games should be treated as a separate issue."I'm very worried because for days, for weeks, we have heard about the Beijing Olympics as if it's a UN conference for solving all domestic problems," she added. "For the Chinese, it's about sports."She claimed foreign journalists were being restricted in China to protect them from recent violence and said the Chinese government would speak to the Dalai Lama so long as he was not demanding Tibetan independence.The Olympic torch would go through Tibet despite recent unrest, she added.Matt Whitticase, of the Free Tibet Campaign, said China was taking the torch through the Himalayan region to "underscore baseless claims to sovereignty".He claimed Beijing was using the Olympics as "a platform for self-aggrandisement on the world stage".The vice governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, today told reporters that monks who disrupted a state-organised media trip to Lhasa yesterday would not be punished.More than 30 monks at the Jokhang temple - the most sacred in Tibetan Buddhism - burst in on a briefing during the first foreign journalists' tour since riots erupted in the Tibetan capital on March 14.Interrupting a speech about inter-ethnic harmony by the head of the temple's administrative office, the lamas surrounded the journalists and said: "They are tricking you. Don't believe them. They are lying to you."The incident lasted around 15 minutes, after which unarmed police took the Tibetans to another area of the temple.China's state-run Xinhua news agency noted that the media tour had been briefly disrupted by monks."What they said is not true," Chilin said. "They were attempting to mislead the world's opinion."However, Tibetan activists said they remained concerned about retaliation by the Chinese authorities."There are serious fears for the welfare and whereabouts of the monks," the International Campaign for Tibet said.Bowing to political pressure, the Chinese foreign ministry has allowed a group of foreign diplomats to visit Lhasa today and tomorrow. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/28/tibet.china1

Thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated in Nepal and India on Thursday, a day before the Olympics open in Beijing, demanding religious rights and saying China should not be allowed to host the games while its harsh rule over their homeland continues.Police broke up a protest by about 2,000 Tibetans, including many monks, nuns and schoolchildren, in Nepal's capital. The protesters threw rocks and bricks at police, who retaliated by beating some of them with bamboo batons. Police official Bharat Lama said 570 protesters were detained and no one was seriously injured.Tibetan activists said the protest was aimed at urging other nations to put pressure on China."We timed our demonstration just before the Olympic Games begin in China to try to draw maximum attention," said Lakpa, an activist who uses only one name.Many demonstrators wore T-shirts that said, "Free Tibet. Stop killing in Tibet."In India's capital, New Delhi, heavily armed paramilitary forces manned roadblocks around the Chinese Embassy and hundreds of police surrounded several thousand marchers, as India sought not to embarrass Beijing ahead of the games."There is no human rights, no justice and no freedom inside Tibet," said Konchok Yangphel of the Tibetan Youth Congress, one of the more radical exile groups.The protesters said China's rule of Tibet violates the Olympic spirit.Several hundred protesters also marched in Dharmsala, the northern India hill town where the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile is based. India is home to the largest Tibetan exile community and its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.Tibetan exiles in both Nepal and India have been staging frequent protests to show their support for the uprising that erupted in Tibet's capital in March, and to protest China's hosting of the Olympics.The March protests were some of the biggest in almost 50 years of Chinese rule. Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before Communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries. http://a.abcnews.com/International/wireStory?id=5530903

In October 2008, the Maldives held its first multi-party elections, toppling 30-year incumbent Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and replacing him with Mohamed Nasheed, a former political prisoner and according to Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) opposition members, rabble-rouser extraordinaire. Indeed, this is how members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and others connected to the party were and still are viewed: as a mob of uneducated activists who took to the streets in undignified protest. But what few people know is that behind the clamour of MDP as well as those who joined their fight was a well-designed plan. And behind the plan, there was Canvas – an organisation of trainers and consultants that travel the globe to transfer their skills, knowledge and principles of non-violent struggle. The ideas exported by Canvas were born out of Otpor, a youth movement in Serbia, which has been credited with the bloodless revolution that brought down Slobodan Milosovic. “Maldives was fourth in line of our successes,” says Srdja Popovic, the executive director of Canvas. “Others include the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia.” In the latter, students offered soldiers roses when the army was deployed by Eduard Shevardnadze, who had ruled Georgia for more than 30 years.Learning the basicsIn 2006, Canvas travelled to the subcontinent to hold three training sessions on non-violent resistance: one in Male’, one in Addu and one in Colombo. The aim was to arm MDP activists as well as members of civil society with a set of tools that could be used to overthrow government using non-violent methods. Around 20 people attended each of these sessions, some of whom, says Popovic, are now in government. The three main principles espoused by the theory of non-violent struggle are unity, planning and discipline. “What we normally do in our workshops,” says Popovic, “is to equip people to help them achieve their vision of tomorrow.” But, he is quick to add that this vision is “home-grown” and not exported.At the heart of Canvas’ schooling is the dissection of power and obedience. Power structures must be weakened and obedience converted into disobedience. The theory of non-violent struggle, says Popovic, “is that no ruler can do without the consent of the people and if people don’t obey, then the ruler can’t rule.”PillarsImran Zahir, an MDP activist who was jailed seven times under the former president’s regime, said that before receiving Canvas training, activists were just “doing this and that...but we didn’t know what to do.”One of the training exercises involved the identification of the pillars which support a regime. Generally, these include police and military, bureaucracy, the education system, organised religion, media and business institutions. The goal of non-violent struggle is to extract as many of the pillars from the regime by eroding their loyalty or by persuading them to deny their skills, knowledge, materials or resources to those in power. “If you undermine these pillars,” says Popovic, “the building will collapse.”The key to destabilising these pillars, adds Imran, is to “pull” rather than “push” people. Although it may seem self-evident, pushing consolidates a person’s allegiance to a regime. This, he says, is one of the main lessons activists learnt. Further, once the power structures within the Maldives had been analysed, "it took weeks" to bring the system down.PlanningCrafting a strategic plan is another key element of non-violent struggle. According to Shahinda Ismail from NGO Maldivian Detainee Network, “the importance of planning” was a central part of the instruction. “Until we participated in these trainings,” she says, “we didn’t know how important planning was...To the point of having back-up plans. Before, most of what we did was quite ad hoc.”Unity, the second mainstay of non-violent struggle, was, says Shahinda, “the whole success” and formed the basis of the United For Change campaign. Following the first round of the presidential elections, when no single candidate obtained more than 50 per cent of the vote, those opposed to Gayoom saw uniting behind Nasheed as their only hope of change.When Shahinda was asked to join the campaign, her first course of action, she says, was to consult the Canvas manual, Non-violent struggle: 50 crucial points. “Everything I did for the group, I got from the book.” During this time, Canvas held Skype workshops with opposition party members as they tried to mobilise the masses for a rally to display a united front for change.MobilisationDrumming up support is another fundamental component of non-violent struggle, which “relies heavily on numbers,” says Popovic. The strategy is to draw people to the movement with incentives personal to them. A movement’s “vision of tomorrow” must involve listening to all groups as “people are the stakeholders of change”. Activists must listen to all members of society in order to ascertain where public dissatisfaction lies. “When developing a vision of tomorrow,” says Popovic, “you need to realise that people will take risks for what is personally most important to them. Only when individuals see how the struggle will benefit them, will they join, he adds. “If you leave people out, you leave voters out.” Before being schooled in the principles of non-violent struggle, Imran concedes, the movement had one sole aim: to depose Gayoom. “We didn’t know we had to get the votes. But then we realised that even if we did bring Gayoom down, it would be very hard to find legitimacy. We realised we needed to see beyond that.” Dilemma ActionsA dilemma action is a situation in which any response from the opponent will result in a negative outcome. Nonviolent strategists think of how to create a “lose-lose” framework for the opponent and “win-win” framework for the movement. Over the last few years, this was put into practice on several occasions. In October 2008, protesters displayed a leaflet-filled coffin as a symbol of custodial deaths. This, says, Popovic, is a perfect example of a dilemma action. If police try to stop people from taking leaflets, they will appear as the aggressors but by failing to take action, the protesters’ message is allowed to reach the public.In another instance, shortly after Canvas arrived in the Maldives for the first time, a non-violent democracy group, Gaumataka, marked the death of Evan Naseem, who died at the hands of prison guards, by delivering flowers to police and government officials. At the time, the group said the flowers were “a symbol to urge the police to stop all brutality and to join hands with people to bring about a just and democratic Maldives.” Although it is unclear to what extent the principles of non-violent struggle have assisted members of the MDP and civil society to create a just and democratic Maldives, “If we contributed anything to your victory, then I am very proud,” says Popovic. http://www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=6149

Nepalese police detain a Tibetan protester near the Chinese consulate in Katmandu. Photograph: Binod Joshi/APHuman rights campaigners scaled up anti-China protests today with demonstrations around the world and an unauthorised broadcast from inside Beijing as the Olympic opening ceremony began. While a heavy police presence ensured the streets of the host city remained calm, Chinese authorities were unable to stop the pirate radio transmission by media group Reporters Without Borders in the capital.Using transmitters and a homemade antenna, the message, broadcast in Mandarin, English and French, urged the government to relax state control of the media and called for the release of imprisoned journalists. Meanwhile, large protests were held in cities including London, Hong Kong, Delhi and Kathmandu.In London, around 200 protesters converged on the Chinese Embassy in Portland Place, shouting anti-China slogans and waving "Free Tibet" placards.Demonstrators from Tibet, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Burma joined forces to protest against human rights violations and China's hosting of the Olympics. Beating drums and chanting, the group unfurled banners attacking China for supporting the Burmese regime while another flag read "End murder, rape and torture in Zimbabwe". In a small side-street away from the main protest, pro-China demonstrators in smart suits held a smaller, more muted gathering in support of the games, waving Chinese and British flags.In Delhi as many as 3,000 Tibetan monks and refugees shouting anti-Chinese slogans clashed with police as they braved heavy rains to protest next to India's parliament.Hundreds of protesters dressed in yellow and green "Free Tibet" T-shirts stamped on posters of the Chinese president, Hu Jintao. In Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, 3,000 Tibetan monks and exiles took to the streets, demanding an end to Beijing rule in their homeland.In the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, more than 1,300 Tibetans, including nuns and monks, shouted and wept as they marched on the Chinese consulate. Protesters chanted "China out of Tibet" and "Stop cultural genocide". Many wore red and blue ribbons emblazoned with "Free Tibet" around their heads.Police said they detained more than 400 people, many of them women, but that they were likely be freed later in the day.And in Hong Kong, Matt Pearce, from Bristol, England, hung two banners on road signs on the Tsing Ma bridge. The banners read "We want human rights and democracy" and "The people of China want freedom from oppression".Officials shut down traffic on the bridge's upper deck where Pearce was protesting. Television footage showed Pearce wearing a horse's head mask and a white shirt bearing the Olympic rings, while carrying a guitar. His protest ended after about an hour when men in plain clothes bustled him away.Hong Kong police said in a statement that officers arrested Pearce for causing a public nuisance and he was being held for questioning.A Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator, Emily Lau, and a Hong Kong group critical of China's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989 were expected to protest later near the Olympic equestrian venue.Olympic organisers moved the equestrian event from Beijing to the former British colony of Hong Kong because of a rash of equine diseases and substandard quarantine procedures on the mainland.The Beijing games have become a focus for activists critical of China on issues ranging from its human rights record and heavy-handed rule in Tibet to its abortion policies and repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.Beijing considers the games - which cost billions of dollars and took seven years to prepare - a huge source of national pride, and is desperate to ensure they go smoothly. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/08/china.tibet

Lhasa (AsiaNews) – A group of Buddhist monks blocked a tour of 26 foreign journalists in Lhasa, led by the Chinese government, crying out that there is no freedom in Tibet and that the Dalai Lama is not responsible for the recent violence there.  Some of them after having cried “Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!”, broke down in tears.The surprise encounter occurred this morning while the group of journalists visited the Jokhang Temple. The monks interrupted the temples’ chief administrators address.  Government representatives tried to drag the journalists away.  Some of them however, succeeded in exchanging a few words with the demonstrators.The visit by the group of 26 was organised by the government in their efforts to show that order has returned to Lhasa, in the aftermath of violence which erupted on March 14th, when monks and Tibetans clashed with police and the Chinese army.The tour of the foreign press is the first since the revolt, organised and orchestrated to reinforce the official line on the clashes: that the Dalai Lama is responsible for the unrest that the victims were only Chinese, and that China is working to develop the region.This morning the group of journalists – who were “advised” not to move about alone for security reasons – visited a clinic which was attacked during the violence as well as a burned shop, where 5 Chinese girls lost their lives.  In precedence the journalists were permitted to watch film footage of the violence attributed to the protesters (see. photo).Beijing maintains that 22 people died in the clashes.  The Tibetan government in exile affirms that at least 140 people were killed.The monks succeeded in speaking to journalists using the mandarin language.  Some of them said that they wanted to run the risk of the serious consequences of their actions, for love of truth.  “Do not believe them – a monk told a journalist from Usa Today – they are deceiving you, they are telling you lies!”. http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11862

Beit Ummar: At a protest against Israel's destruction of Palestinian land. A crowd of young Palestinians clap and sing songs toward the Israeli Occupation Forces while the older Palestinian protestors are attacked by the Israeli soldiers. Video shot while working with the ISM (international solidarity movement) this summer, 2006

 

LAHORE: About 1,500 lawyers, civil society activists and political workers took to The Mall to rally for the reinstatement of the sacked judges on Thursday.The National Coordination Council gave the protest call. Followed by the general house meetings, the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) and Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) took out their rallies from Aiwan-e-Adl and the Lahore High Court respectively. The two rallies joined at GPO Chowk and marched towards the Punjab Assembly Hall. Solidarity: Workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Tehreek-e-Khaksar (TK), the Labour Party Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Insaf (TI), the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) also took to The Mall to show solidarity with the protesting lawyers. They joined the rally at GPO Chowk holding flags in support of their party leaders.On their way to Charing Cross the protesters shouted slogans against the government and the chief justice of Pakistan for “using illegal means to get his daughter more numbers in FSc”. Lawyers who were contesting upcoming elections of the LHCBA and LBA were showing more aggression against the government apparently to win over other lawyers. Pledge: The protesters demanded that the government reinstate the sacked judges as soon as possible. At the Chairing Cross, senior lawyers spoke to the protesters and pledged to continue their movement until the reinstatement of sacked chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other sacked judges. Advocate Hamid Khan said that lawyers, civil society and political parties were united on the reinstatement of the sacked judges. He said allegations against Justice Dogar had put a new spirit in the lawyers’ movement. He said they wanted Justice Dogar to be tried. He said appointing a chief justice as an acting governor was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C19%5Cstory_19-12-2008_pg7_46

Hundreds of people marched against the wall in northern Tulkarem last this week, including the Governor and members of the World Council of Churches.The nonviolent message was strong at the demonstration began at the Municipality Building with the General Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees for Social Action and to the Resist the Wall in the forefront.Several foreign supporters were also accompanying the action that includes a month-long sit-in to the west of the town along the Wall.This was part of an ongoing series of events in Tulkarem in honor and memorial of 60 years of Al Nakba and 41 years of occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.The Tulkarem Governor stressed the importance of a broad popular movement against the Wall and called on the international community to compel Israel to honor the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion and destroy the Wall.A foreign supporter said that people all over the world are beginning to wake up with major support for Palestine coming from all corners.After the speeches, the singing and chants, Israeli forces fired gas into the crowds of nonviolent demonstrators, including the local population, members of the World Council of Churches, Palestinian officials, and foreign supporters.Palestinian News Network,

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2874&Itemid=28

 

Global Uprising to Include Exiles' March to Tibet New Delhi -- Five leading Tibetan organizations announced today the launch of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement", a new coordinated Tibetan resistance effort in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Games will take place only months before the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising against China's invasion of Tibet. The movement's organizers are calling on Tibetans worldwide to join protests during the Beijing Olympics and support a return march of exile Tibetans to their homeland. "Today, in the spirit of the 1959 Uprising and in memory of the courageous Tibetans who sacrificed their lives for Tibet's independence and continue to resist China's brutal occupation, we are launching a unified movement to bring about an end to Chinese rule in Tibet," said Tsewang Rigzin, President of Tibetan Youth Congress.The organizing committee that China's leadership is using the Beijing Olympics as a platform to gain international acceptance and to legitimize its illegal rule in Tibet. After almost five decades of oppression and cultural assimilation, the situation inside Chinese occupied Tibet is dire. "We are calling on Tibetans worldwide to join us at this critical moment when China is trying to spread its Olympics propaganda," said B. Tsering, President of the Tibetan Women's Association. "Together, we will seize this unprecedented opportunity to voice Tibetan resistance and reinvigorate our freedom struggle." The march to Tibet is an initiative by exile Tibetans to strengthen Tibetan resistance by taking the struggle home. The march will commence on March 10th, the 49th commemoration of the Tibetan National Uprising in Tibet. Tibetans worldwide will engage in non-violent direct actions and mass protests during China's Olympic torch relay and the Games themselves. "Our message to China's leadership is loud and clear that after fifty years, Tibetans in exile are determined to return to our homeland and be reunited with our Tibetan brothers and sisters," said Ngawang Woeber, President of the Gu Chu Sum, the ex-political prisoners' association. Members of the organizing committee: Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women's Association, Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet, National Democratic Party of Tibet, and Students for a Free Tibet, India.

 

Dear friend:*Now Tibet is not so far*When I packed my sleeping bag that early morning before sunrise for this long journey, I placed a white khatak at the altar of His Holiness and said I have decided, whatever happens, I will make my way through. Walking for almost 70 days with 300 people covering more than 900 kilometers hrough Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, we reached Almora town yesterday in the Kumaon Mountains in the north Indian state of Uttrakhand. From here Tibet is not very far.The March to Tibet began from Dharamsala on 10th March, the same day similar uprisings happened all around the world, organized by Tibetans and Tibet supporters, even in Tibet -- a global Tibetan uprising. We started with 100 core marchers, on our way many more joined us. As we leave Almora tomorrow into the high mountain valleys towards Tibet, we are 300 marchers and 8 support marchers who are foreigners from different countries, some of whom have been with us all the way from Dharamsala.All along the route, the Indian people have welcomed us with warmth, cheered our spirit and in some places offered us water and shelter. At most places we spent our nights in ashrams, Gurudwaras and schools, sometimes on empty grounds on the roadside, where the local municipality provided water in tankers driven by tractors. Indians have a culture of going for long journeys across their country for pilgrimages and therefore hospitality is a natural custom. The police have been sending an escort all along the route in jeeps or on motorbikes passing the security duty from one district to the next.You must be aware that we were arrested by Indian police in Kangra District on the 13th March and jailed us for 14 days. The second batch of the March was launched 3 days later and that carried on the March spirit. After our release, all 100 of us rejoined the March, but there is already a court case slapped on us. At the end of the last month, Choeying, Lobsang Yeshi and I had to appear in Dehra court and will have to do the same again in June. I learned that some people had the impression from various media reports that the March had been canceled. I myself received phone calls from few people whose doubts I cleared. Seeing an imminent confrontation at the border, His Holiness did advise the organizers against the continuation of the March, but after seeing the courageous non-violent uprisings that happened all over Tibet and the ongoing Chinese crackdown on our people in Tibet, our commitment was revitalized by their sacrifice and inspired us. Now we can't stop it. So we re-launched the March to Tibet from Delhi on the 19th April after a temporary halt.The journey from Delhi passing through UP was difficult; it was extremely hot, dry and dusty. The trucks and buses on the highway threatened to run over us sometimes rushing by our ears, and sometimes stopping by to pick our campaign flyers that we were handing out on the road. We walked, one after the other in a long single file like the multiple legs of a millipede -- one long body. Even when the head has taken the next turn, the tail is still trailing behind from the last corner.The Marchers wake up at 4 am, after washing and packing sleeping bags, tents and mattresses, we have breakfast and start walking at 5 am. Usually walking for 6 to 7 hours a day we cover a distance of 20-25 kilometers, sometimes walking even 27 or 28 kilometers. The logistics and kitchen team move ahead in trucks and set up the camp. At many places water is luxury. We bathe under hand-pump water taps on the roadsides; scores of monks bathe together sometimes in wheat fields. It's a great experience answering nature's calls in open fields under the moonlight with a jug of water by your side. Most of the marchers are Buddhist monks from the 3 monastic universities in south India; some old people who escaped from Tibet along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1959, the eldest one being 78. The youngest are wo 17-year-old boys, born and brought up in India and have never seen Tibet. There are several young mothers who left behind their family in the care of their husbands. Our communication team tries to reach out to the outside world and also arranges opportunities to talkto local media. During the evening gatherings, after the daily prayer, the media coordinator tells the news. Many times the Marchers applaud Tibet support actions taken in different parts of India and abroad. The protest against the torch in London, Paris, San Francisco, Canberra and Tokyo received huge appreciation. The ongoing Tibetan protests in Kathmandu are highly appreciated understanding Nepalese police brutality.We are now starting the last leg of the March. FromAlmora to the border is just barely 200 kilometers, and it will now be cold as we ascend higher into the Himalayas. I know returning to a homeland that is still under foreign occupation won't be easy. Chinese military will of course guard the border with machine guns, even Indian police will find an excuse to stop us. Confrontation is inevitable, but we are not stopping. We may even have to camp at the border for a long time, might have to call for international support and participation. We march into uncertainty.The March to Tibet is a process for us to return to our homeland and reclaim our right to be in our native land in freedom. Whatever happens, we have deep commitment to non-violence; we will not retaliate. We may be beaten, jailed or even shot at, but we are not giving up. And for me there is no other plan in life other than this March. For all of us marchers, this is our life commitment.

http://www.tibetanuprising.org/