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In 1999, ICT successfully pressured the World Bank to relinquish its funding to China’s Western Poverty Reduction Project through a two-pronged approach of mobilizing at the grassroots level to lobby the U.S. government and convincing Washington specialists to draft a claim to the World Bank investigation panel listing the internal policy violations.

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a Washington based, non-profit organization that has worked to promote human rights and self-determination for Tibetans since 1988.  In 1999, ICT launched a massive campaign to protest against the World Bank’s agreement to fund China’s Western Poverty Reduction Project, which proposed to move nearly 60,000 poor Chinese farmers into the Tibetan region.  ICT opposed such a project on the grounds that massive migration degrades the environment, and dilutes Tibetan culture.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in her final state of the nation address Monday that she doesn't plan to extend her time in office beyond her current term limit in 2010, flagging that the race to succeed her is under way. Ms. Arroyo, who is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday to discuss security and climate-change issues, has struggled to shake off speculation that she aims to stay in power after her term expires in June.

Phase 2 has begun. Six weeks after millions took to the streets to protest Iran's presidential election, their uprising has morphed into a feistier, more imaginative and potentially enduring campaign.The second phase plays out in a boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television. Just try buying a certain brand of dairy product, an Iranian human-rights activist told me, and the person behind you in line is likely to whisper, "Don't buy that. It's from an advertiser."

As tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the Iranian capital Wednesday to protest the results of last week's presidential election, Iranian-Americans in the Bay Area ensured that they, too, had their voices heard.

Tehran, Iran - Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival in the disputed presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, massed in competing rallies Tuesday as the country's most senior Islamic cleric threw his weight behind opposition charges that Ahmadinejad's re-election was rigged.

"No one in their right mind can believe" the official results from Friday's contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the landslide victory claimed by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi's charges of fraud and the massive protests of his backers "in the worst way possible."

"A government not respecting people's vote has no religious or political legitimacy," he declared in comments on his official Web site. "I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to 'sell their religion,' and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God."

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Marching in dramatic silence, many with tape over their mouths, hundreds of thousands of Iranians kept alive public support for opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi Wednesday even as the government stepped up efforts to thwart daily protests calling for a new presidential election.

More protests are expected Thursday after Moussavi, in a message on his Web site, called for an afternoon "ceremony of mourning," which he planned to attend.

Referring to those who have died or been wounded "as a result of illegal and violent clashes" with his opponents, Moussavi urged people to gather in mosques and holy sites and wear "mourning symbols" in a show of sympathy and support for the families.

Reporting from Cairo -- Footage of burning cars, masked boys and bloodied protesters in Iran is playing across the Middle East, captivating Arab countries where repressive regimes have for years been arresting political bloggers and cyberspace dissidents.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni nations have tense relations with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Shiite-led theocracy ruling Iran. But they don't want protests in Tehran to inspire similar democratic fervor in their countries -- especially the merging of Facebook and Twitter with a potent opposition leader like Iran's presidential challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Un-noticed by a world otherwise obsessed with the threat from Islamist extremism, a 20 year old Muslim separatist struggle in South Asia has embraced non-violence.Since July this year, more than 40 protesters, all unarmed, have been gunned down by Indian security forces in the beautiful but deeply troubled Kashmir Valley.

The World Economic Forum has drawn the ire of thousands of protesters representing a wide range of issues including workers rights, the environment and the US war on terrorism. The streets outside of the WEF had been relatively quiet, the only large protests being members of the Falun Gong movement holding silent vigils to call for an end to persecution by the Chinese Government. But on Saturday police helicopters circled the streets of midtown Manhattan as several large-scale marches converged near the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, the forum venue. Organisers of the marches had promised boisterous but non-violent protest, and there were few confrontations between police and protesters. A police officer told BBC News Online: "We have a massive show of force here. "With all that's happened here, I don't think that it is time to be messing with the New York Police." The New York Police had promised a zero tolerance policy for lawbreaking and quickly arrested two protesters during an anti-war demonstration in the morning. They were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking traffic near the hotel. But it was the exception during a day of colourful and enthusiastic protest. Protests began Saturday with an anti-war demonstration of some 2,000 people. Saturday's first large-scale protest, organised by a group called Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, saw several thousand demonstrators carrying placards calling for the US to end funding to Israel, not to broaden anti-terror action to Somalia, and to "Let Iraq live".  Later they were joined by a march of several thousand that began from Central Park and wound its way through the streets of midtown Manhattan to within blocks of the Waldorf-Astoria. Fifth Avenue shoppers dressed in designer fashions and fur were perplexed and slightly put out as they tried to navigate a route through the curb-to-curb carnival. In addition to the environmental and labour messages common to anti-globalisation protests, the Enron scandal was emblematic for many of the protesters of the dangers of corporate influence. Ironically shaking the tin, one protester begged for spare change for the bankrupt energy company. The police allowed the march to proceed with minimal interference, and the protesters rarely tested police lines. The colourful demonstrations of dissent included an anarchist cheerleading group. Their homemade sweatshirts called for "Pom poms not bomb bombs". Many of the protesters carried messages critical of the war on terror. Not only did they call on the US not to broaden its military campaign to Iraq and Somalia, but they also questioned domestic initiatives such as anti-terrorism laws passed in the wake of the attacks last autumn. Protesters also responded to criticism that somehow protest was inappropriate as the nation and New York City recovered from 11 September. One protester carried a placard which read: "I'm a patriot and I dissent."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1798204.stm

Eleven nonviolent protestors were detained and several others were injured during a nonviolent protest against Israeli settlements and outposts in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Friday morning. Eight Israelis, two internationals and one Palestinians were arrested by Israeli troops and police. The protest was organized by the "Youth Gathering against Settlements" in Hebron and was supported by International and Israeli peace activists.

Tarek Abu Hamdiya, one of the organizers told IMEMC over the phone that the plan was to build a shack opposite to the illegal wooden shack the settlers built in the Bweira are near Hebron. Abu Hamdiya confirmed that the land is owned by Palestinians from Hebron and that the settlers have illegally erected the shack.  He added "the protest today was meant to give the Israeli settlers a message that we are here and we will not succumb to their pressure and attempts to force us out." According to Abu Hamdiya, settlers assaulted the protesters with batons and stones, and attempted to remove the shack built by the protestors, which caused some friction.  Israeli troops and police backed the settlers and forced all the Palestinians, Internationals and the Israelis out of the area.

Abu Hamdiya added "This is the third week in  a raw we come to protest here, and we are completely nonviolent, despite of the settler and police violence."

http://www.imemc.org/article/60319

What is Non-Violent Resistance?Non-Violence is an alternative to either armed resistance or passive acceptance of the status quo. It is both a strategy and a philosophy which rejects violence as a means to promote change, and instead aims to change power relations through assertive acts of omission (refusal to do something) or commission (actively challenging the status quo). It is a method by which to change the minds of both the oppressor and oppressed so that a new reality can be built upon different perceptions of the ‘other’.

Up to 70 protesters are blocked the entrance to Raytheon. A protest outside the Londonderry premises of US defence firm Raytheon has ended. Up to 70 people from the Derry Anti-War Coalition blocked workers from entering the building in Springtown on Friday morning. They were protesting against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Police have used batons and water cannon to break up a civil rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. At least 30 people, including MP Gerard Fitt and some children, have been injured. Reports say police tried to disperse the protesters by using their batons indiscriminately and spraying water from hoses on armoured trucks. The demonstrators retaliated with petrol bombs.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in New York that he believes the world's economy is heading for recovery. Horst Koehler, IMF managing director, said: "I think we have to state that the global economy is still weak but we also now hope - and I call it cautious optimism - that really a recovery is under way".