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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- It was carried through the streets of Cairo during the revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak: a black flag emblazoned with a clenched white fist.The symbol of resistance originated in the most unlikely of places for an Arab uprising - the Serbian pro-democracy movement that overthrew dictator Slobodan Milosevic.The peaceful sometimes fun-loving tactics of the Balkan student revolutionaries were so successful that they opened up shop mentoring other protest movements in eastern Europe, plotting strategy for successful uprisings in Georgia and Ukraine.

Prestigious award for human rights and democracy, the Danish Fund Poul Lauritzen "this year was awarded to two Serbs, Srdja Popovic and Slobodan Đinović for" contribution to democracy and its promotion throughout the world ", two former" RESISTANCE-ASA, with its organization: the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action.

In the United States, the first week of October passed by without much fanfare. However, for about 10 million Serbian citizens, it was a time to celebrate. This past week was the tenth anniversary of the Serbian people’s victory over communist tyrant Slobodan Milosevic and of the moment the country joined the ranks of the world’s newest democracies.Milosevic was brought down not by bombs, bullets, or a military coup, nor was he even brought down the ballot, although the presidential election of Kostunica was the lynchpin. Milsoevic was forced out of power in a massive display of nonviolent civil resistance that represented the first truly democratic transition of the 21st century.

Members of NGO "Women in Black" attend a protest in Belgrade, Serbia, July 10, 2010, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 to raise public awareness of the war crimes. (Xinhua/Beta)On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Women in Black" organized a protest in Belgrade on Saturday to raise public awareness of the war crimes that occurred in that Bosnian enclave in 1995.Approximately 30 activists held a banner in Belgrade's Republic Square, which read "Do not forget the genocide in Srebrenica, Solidarity and Responsibility."According to Zorica Trifunovic of the NGO "Women in Black", the goal of this activity, which they have organized since 1996, is to demonstrate that "we know what happened in Srebrenica."

 After December 5th – the date that will be remembered in Italy’s history as ‘No Berlusconi Day’ - the colour purple gained sufficient media attention to guarantee it significance beyond any momentary trend. It’s the symbolic colour of a battle for the affirmation of democracy, for the respect of our Constitutional Charter as the foundation of civilised living, for the defense of a free and plural information system, for the construction – in short – of that cultural and political renovation process that has been far too long delayed in this country.

FIVE anti-nuclear power protesters blocked the entrance to Sizewell power station today. Representatives from the People Power not Nuclear Power Coalition wearing arm tubes locked themselves on to concrete just under the barrier at the main entrance around 6.40am. The demonstrators brought big black barrels with them daubed with 'Don't Nuke the Climate'. Other protesters are also there in support.The group said they are demonstrating against the flawed government consultation on nuclear new build - which ends today - and the dumping of local democracy.

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- The final results from Ukraine's presidential election on Wednesday showed former Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich winning a close race, but an official declaration of a victor was still to come.Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has refused to concede defeat and plans to demand a recount in some districts, officials from her party, Bloc Tymoshenko, said Tuesday.The tally from the Central Election Commission from Sunday's runoff showed Yanukovich holding 48.95 percent of the vote, and Tymoshenko claiming 45.47 percent. Nearly seven in 10 registered voters showed up at the polls.

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greek workers were holding a one-day strike Wednesday to protest government efforts to stave off a financial crisis.Thousands of public-sector workers and their supporters began the 24-hour walkout at 9 a.m. (2 a.m. ET), though local media said workers at Athens' main international airport began their strike at midnight.Government offices, courts and schools were closed, though public transportation largely continued to operate.The umbrella civil servants trade union ADEDY, which called the strike, said most of its 500,000 workers were on strike, though that number could not be confirmed. When strikes are called in Greece, non-union members often will join those on the picket lines.

Political observers have praised the recent Ukrainian elections, saying the outcome of Sunday's second round contest between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and one of her predecessors, Viktor Yanukovych, is not predetermined.  That's in stark contrast to neighboring Russia, where the 2008 election of President Dmitri Medvedev was a forgone conclusion.  VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky contrasts presidential elections in two former Soviet republics.About 3,000 foreign election observers declared that, despite a few irregularities, the first round of Ukraine's presidential election on January 17 met international standards for honesty.

Russian officials have scrambled to contain the damage after thousands of people took part in the country's biggest anti-government protest since the start of the economic crisis.The governing United Russia party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dispatched a delegation to Kaliningrad, a western exclave bordering the EU, where protesters called for economic and political change over the weekend."We have plans to go to Kaliningrad and get ourselves familiar with the situation on the spot ... and find out what was the basis of the demonstration," said Sergei Neverov, a senior United Russia official.Speaking on the Ekho of Moscow radio, he said the delegation planned a series of meetings, including with local officials and prominent figures.At least 10,000 people turned up for a demonstration in Kaliningrad on Saturday, according to organisers. Police put the turnout at 6,000.

Romania's opposition Social Democrat party says Sunday's presidential election was rigged and plans to contest the result. Official results showed incumbent President Traian Basescu with a winning margin of less than 1%. Earlier, exit polls had predicted victory for his Social Democrat rival, former Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana. Both candidates had claimed victory on Sunday night in what correspondents describe as a bitter contest. "We have proof of fraud," Social Democrat vice-president Liviu Dragnea was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. "The exit poll, the large number of annulled votes... massive electoral tourism and other things obviously force us to contest the result."

Two interesting media stories – one is the next installment of the case recounted here, about the allegations by a regional Georgian newspaper that one of its journalists had been blackmailed by officials from the Georgian special services and the subsequent launch of an internal investigation by the Interior Ministry. Now President Saakashvili has received a letter from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum urging him to ensure thorough investigation and saying “We are seriously concerned that Georgian security services would seek to blackmail a journalist and interfere in editorial freedom. Such tactics are reminiscent of the Soviet-era KGB and have no place in a modern democracy”.

The art of protest is being redefined in Copenhagen. Yes, tens of thousands marched peacefully on Saturday, and some opted for sticks and stones. But another group, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, has embraced the bicycle as a symbol and medium for a new kind of environmental protest.On Wednesday morning, hundreds of bikers will swoop toward the building hosting the UN negotiations over climate change. This activist cavalry aims to divert enough police from the Bella Center to enable other protesters to successfully storm the fences cocooning negotiators and launch an alternative "people's summit" on climate change.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters held a major rally on Friday evening in Tirana, seeking a partial recount of the ballots cast during the 28 June parliamentary elections.The rally, which was organised by the Socialists headed by Tirana's mayor Edi Rama was also supported by smaller opposition parties from the left and right, which accuse the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha of electoral fraud.The rally. which was extended into a three day marathon by a few hundred opposition supporters and deputies who camped out in front of Berisha's office, closed on Sunday afternoon.Speaking at the closing rally opposition leader Edi Rama described the protest as the birth of a new political movement, while giving the government an ultimatum to accept his party's request for a partial recount.

Population experts are moving ahead with strategy and projects that go beyond treating men simply as perpetrators or, at best, uncaring and passive onlookers. Recently, more and more men are looked upon to become allies in combating violence against women."The current approach is that without men’s involvement, the problem cannot be solved," Karen Daduryan, a senior officer of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS as the U.N. body presented a study at a meeting in Istanbul Nov. 11-13 on women’s health in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. "Otherwise, the risk is that women returning home after assistance and shelter will be going back to violence by the same men. We need to try to change the attitude of men."

THE dissident playwright who led Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution has used its 20-year anniversary to warn his country that Russia is still a threat despite the demise of the Soviet Union.Vaclav Havel, 73, who played a pivotal role in overcoming communist rule in 1989, said the Russian Government had mastered the art of manipulating its population while maintaining a facade of democracy.''The era of dictatorships and totalitarian systems has not ended at all,'' he said. ''It requires [from us] alertness, carefulness, caution, study and a detached view.''Mr Havel's warning came as Czechs took to the streets of Prague in their thousands. They retraced the path taken by a student demonstration in 1989 that was a turning point in the country's history.

Not so long ago I was at a supper party about which I can give no other details than that the Cuban Ambassador and a well-known political industrialist were present. At some late, lubricated point between cheese and liqueurs, the captain of industry commended the man from Havana for his country’s imperviousness to such destabilising currents as democracy and individualism. Better stability, said the peer, winking, than chaos! I have heard the same thing, from similar sources, about China. It never, it seems to me, stops being said about the Middle East and Africa.

Should we, then, this week be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at all? When people under 35, who can barely imagine the Iron Curtain and the days when the Polish plumber was a defector, not an economic migrant, ask why 1989 was so good, do we actually have an answer?

US President Barack Obama on Monday made a surprise video address to celebrations in Germany marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall."There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny. There could be no stronger affirmation of freedom," Obama said of the fall of the concrete barrier that divided East and West Berlin for 28 years until November 9, 1989.In the message beamed into celebrations at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, once on the border between East and West Berlin, Obama told cheering crowds: "Even in the face of tyranny. People insisted that the world could change."

Guitars, keyboards and drums did not topple the Berlin Wall. But for the young people who helped bring down Communist regimes across Eastern Europe in the fall of 1989, pop music was a profoundly subversive force, inspiration and vital tool of protest for challenging and undermining a totalitarian state stricter than any parent.The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more. Now middle aged, some of the musicians who played in ostracism during those last gray years of Communist rule gathered in New York over the weekend for the festival Rebel Waltz: Underground Music From Behind the Iron Curtain. Performing at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village on Friday and Saturday, bands from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia commemorated the 20th anniversary of the wall’s fall with cascades of sound in the grand tradition of the British and American pop that first motivated them.

In the orgy of Reagan revisionism and capitalist triumphalism that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago, we have largely forgotten how and why the Cold War came to an end. It would be almost impossible to discern its real origins from today's Disney style celebration of the "Mauerfall" that began on Thursday evening with musical celebrities (e.g., Bono and Beyonce) and the European MTV awards in front of the Brandenburg Gate and ends this evening in the same place with a gala featuring political celebrities (e.g., Hillary Clinton) and sundry Nobel Prize winners (e.g., Gorbachev), a performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy (the Ninth Symphony) and a symbolic wall happening. A thousand large painted domino blocks stretching from Pottsdammerplatz to the Reichstag (that have actually divided the two Berlins again this week since cars can't get through!) will topple domino style -- sort of the way the Eastern bloc countries and then the Soviet Union did after November 9, 1989.