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Canadian police and troops have ring-fenced an area of Quebec city to try to prevent disruption like that caused by anti-globalisation protesters at the Seattle summit About 6,700 police officers and 1,200 troops were deployed in advance of the summit, at which 34 hemispheric leaders are expected. The area where the conference will take place has been encircled by a three-meter (10-foot) high, 3.8-kilometer (2.4-mile) wire fence that protesters have compared to the Berlin Wall. "They can protest but they don't have to be in the lobby with you," Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien said of the demonstrators. Non-violent protests Three separate demonstrations took place on Thursday night, a day before the three-day summit was due to open. None attracted more than about 1,000 people, and all three were peaceful.  

Canadian police said they were "happy" that protests had not been violent so far. "We hope that it will be as quiet today," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Michael Blackburn told the Associated Press. Activists fear that the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) - a huge free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego - will lead to job losses and weaken local democracy. International anti-globalisation protests Anti-globalisation groups such as Stop the FTAA and A20 plan simultanous protests across the United States and Canada during the summit. French activist Jose Bove, who first became famous for attacking a McDonald's restaurant, has been given special permission to enter Canada for demonstrations. He urged activists to fight the spread of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and said that activists sometimes had to resort to illegal means "so that the rights of people are respected". Quebec authorities have already arrested some demonstrators who they say were planning on violent protests. Ambitious scheme The proposal to extend the already existing Nafta free trade area - which links the US, Canada and Mexico - is one of the biggest and boldest ideas ever in the annals of commerce. The FTAA would encompass nearly all the countries of the Americas, with a combined population of 800 million who produce goods and services totalling $11.4 trillion - bigger than the European Union. The plan would eliminate or lower tariffs on goods moving between countries. It would also streamline customs regulations, eliminate quotas and subsidies and remove other impediments to trade. And while the FTAA is just one part in the talks to take place this weekend, it is the most important issue for trade officials and protestors who have travelled to Quebec to voice their concerns. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1287203.stm

The yellow bandanas and five-minutes-to-midnight symbol of the Pora (High Time) youth movement stand out amid the orange banners of the Ukrainian opposition rallies. Pora is the latest manifestation of Ukrainian political discontent, with its most immediate origins in the nationalist and democratic protest groups of the late 1990s. But there are plenty of misconceptions about Pora. Some see it as the youth wing of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's People's Strength (Syla Narodu) coalition. Others think it is a newly-minted movement on the model of the Otpor and Kmara agitators in the Serbian and Georgian revolutions, often accompanying their analysis with baleful allegations of US government funding.  Foreign assistance that Pora is happy to acknowledge is the training given by Serbia's Otpor, now the Centre for Non-Violent Resistance, at seminars in Serbia and follow-up advice by Otpor veterans in Ukraine itself. The association with Otpor and Kmara brought Pora international prominence, and clumsy government attempts to blacken it by association and even frame it for bomb attacks only gave the movement greater media attention. Local roots Opposition leaders, including Mr Yushchenko, failed to maximise the potential of street agitation against the scandal-ridden administration of President Leonid Kuchma in the 2001 "Ukraine Without Kuchma" protests. That failure left relations strained between the radical youth movements and the constitutional opposition. The youth movements saw the set-up in Ukraine as having allowed Soviet-era bureaucrats and the beneficiaries of dubious privatisation schemes to continue to dominate political life. But they came to acknowledge after 2001 that street protests alone could not effect political change. As the constitutional opposition began the slow process of coalescing around Mr Yushchenko - culminating in the founding of People's Strength and a shaky alliance with the Socialist Party - the youth movements began a similar consolidation. Election focus From this Pora emerged in March 2004, with limited goals and a simple organisational structure, driven forward by the recruitment of young volunteer canvassers and the dissemination of information via its internet site.

It set itself the long-term aim of encouraging civil society and the rule of law in Ukraine, and the more immediate goal of ensuring free and fair presidential elections in the autumn of 2004. Fears of large-scale manipulation and falsification of the poll gave the movement focus. Pora eschewed a high-profile leadership and structured membership, in favour of local initiatives and central coordinators, relying on veterans of the earlier protests to recruit like-minded people. Pora emphasised that it was not linked to any political movement and simply sought a fair election. But the polarisation of society during the heated election campaign saw it associated willy-nilly in the public mind with Mr Yushchenko, who campaigned on a "clean government" platform. US influence US funding for non-governmental organisations in Ukraine has proved convenient propaganda for the authorities. Congress and both the Republican and Democrat parties aid exit polls, pro-democracy funds and educational programmes, and it has been easy for government supporters to blur the distinction between these and groups like Pora. The movement itself has always denied receiving US funding, and no evidence of it has been produced. Pora is energetic, well-motivated and at ease with information technology, as one might expect from a movement dominated by young urban professionals. But it certainly cannot be described as slick. Impact Pora has clearly helped to galvanise the constitutional opposition. Its post-election vigils in central Kiev and provincial centres gave the opposition control of urban centres in most areas outside the east, without which it could not have gained political momentum. Pora also gave the frustrations of young people a non-violent discipline and focus, without which they might have petered out in uncoordinated protests and worse. It is however important not to overestimate Pora's impact. Without the tacit agreement of many city councils and police restraint it would not have been able to build and maintain its tent cities. Pora provided an impetus, but hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets and camped out in freezing conditions to demand fair elections did so at their own initiative and not through a summons. The failure of Zubr, Pora's sister-movement in Belarus, shows what happens when a youth movement tries non-violent resistance in a country with a more ruthless government and a less motivated public. If Ukraine manages to elect a president in a free and fair election, Pora will have achieved its immediate goal. But its longer-term aim of fostering civil society will provide plenty of scope for its activists in future. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4122485.stm

Green Party activists are planning a peaceful anti-globalisation demonstration at this year's Labour Party conference in Brighton. Party spokesman Spencer Fitz-Gibbon warned that trouble-making elements should stay away from the planned protest so that the Greens' message does not get diluted. "We are helping to plan a non-violent protest at the Labour Party conference in Brighton," Dr Fitz-Gibbon said. "We are resisting the right-wing argument that it is irresponsible to organise a protest like that because there may be a punch up. "You cannot be terrorised into not doing something legitimate by people who might take advantage of it." He said Green Party activists had been at Genoa, Prague and Seattle, where inter-governmental conferences were marred by clashes between police and some protesters, and were therefore speaking from experience of having their message drowned out. The protest will follow the England and Wales' Green Party's own conference which is due to be held in Salisbury on 13-16 September. Future protests High on the conference agenda will be the future of the anti-globalisation protests in the light of the experience of Genoa and other demonstrations. Leading environmentalist George Monbiot and the Green Party globalisation team will be among those debating the problem. London Mayor Ken Livingstone is also due to put in an appearance at the conference, where he is booked to make a keynote speech. The Greens remain ambitious about expanding their party membership, having set the goal of 5,000 members by the end of the year compared with the current figure of 4,500. Although the general election did not see them securing any seats, the party put up 141 candidates and they have had more success in Europe where they have two Green MEPs. In the House of Lords they are represented by Lord Beaumont of Whitley and the party also has 40 councillors in England and Wales.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1525017.stm

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

Czech: sametová revoluce, Slovak: nežná revolúcia) (November 16 – December 29, 1989) refers to a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government.[1] It is seen as one of the most important of the Revolutions of 1989.On November 17, 1989 (Friday), riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague. That event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By November 20 the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swelled from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated half-million. A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was held on November 27.With the collapse of other Communist governments, and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December. On December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-Communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the federal parliament on December 28 and Václav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989.In June 1990 Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution

 

Otpor was formed on October 10, 1998 in response to repressive university and media laws introduced earlier that year. In the beginning, Otpor's activities were limited to University of Belgrade.In the aftermath of the NATO airstrikes against FR Yugoslavia in 1999 regarding the Kosovo War, Otpor began a political campaign against the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. This resulted in nationwide police repression against Otpor activists, during which nearly 2000 were arrested, some beaten. During the presidential campaign of September 2000, Otpor launched its "Gotov je" (He's finished) campaign which would galvanize national discontent with Milošević and eventually result in his defeat. Some students who led Otpor used Serbian translations of Gene Sharp's writings on nonviolent action as a theoretical basis for their campaign.Otpor became one of the defining symbols of anti-Milošević struggle and his subsequent overthrow. By aiming their activities at the pool of youth abstinents and other disillusioned voters, Otpor contributed to one of the biggest turnouts ever for the September 24, 2000 federal presidential elections.Having succeeded in persuading a large number of the traditional electorate to abandon Milošević was another one of the areas where the smear-proof Otpor played a key role. Milošević had in the past succeeded in persuading the public that his opponents were spies and traitors, but on this occasion, it backfired, as the beatings and imprisonments during the summer of 2000 further cemented the decision to vote against the regime in many voters' minds.In the immediate months following 5th October Overthrow, Otpor members were suddenly the widely praised heroes throughout FR Yugoslavia as well as in the eyes of western governments. The clenched fist logo became the instant seal of approval, appearing everywhere. From the wide range of local celebrities and public figures seeking positive attention by wearing Otpor T-shirts, to Partizan basketball club painting an Otpor logo in the center circle for their FIBA Suproleague game, the clenched fist was omnipresent. This wide spread popularity inspired some truly bizarre episodes of opportunism as a variety of individuals tied to the former regime sought to now ingratiate themselves with new DOS authorities by praising Otpor and its activities.MTV also took notice, presenting Otpor with the Free Your Mind award at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards in Stockholm.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor

How was the Raj transformed from the jewel in Britain's imperial crown to the independent nations of India and Pakistan?1858: Beginning of the RajIn 1858, British Crown rule was established in India, ending a century of control by the East India Company. The life and death struggle that preceded this formalisation of British control lasted nearly two years, cost £36 million, and is variously referred to as the 'Great Rebellion', the 'Indian Mutiny' or the 'First War of Indian Independence'. Inevitably, the consequences of this bloody rupture marked the nature of political, social and economic rule that the British established in its wake. It is important to note that the Raj (in Hindi meaning 'to rule' or 'kingdom') never encompassed the entire land mass of the sub-continent. Two-fifths of the sub-continent continued to be independently governed by over 560 large and small principalities, some of whose rulers had fought the British during the 'Great Rebellion', but with whom the Raj now entered into treaties of mutual cooperation. 'The 'Great Rebellion' helped create a racial chasm between ordinary Indians and Britons.'Indeed the conservative elites of princely India and big landholders were to prove increasingly useful allies, who would lend critical monetary and military support during the two World Wars. Hyderabad for example was the size of England and Wales combined, and its ruler, the Nizam, was the richest man in the world. They would also serve as political bulwarks in the nationalist storms that gathered momentum from the late 19th century and broke with insistent ferocity over the first half of the 20th century. But the 'Great Rebellion' did more to create a racial chasm between ordinary Indians and Britons. This was a social segregation which would endure until the end of the Raj, graphically captured in EM Forster's 'A Passage to India'.While the British criticised the divisions of the Hindu caste system, they themselves lived a life ruled by precedence and class, deeply divided within itself. Rudyard Kipling reflected this position in his novels. His books also exposed the gulf between the 'white' community and the 'Anglo-Indians', whose mixed race caused them to be considered racially 'impure'.

Please see: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/independence1947_01.shtml) for the next seven pages.

 

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Beograd - The political situation in Serbia has not changed much yet. There has been passed a special law in the Serbian parliament about accepting the results of election - which was the main cause for beginning the protests. Now the opposition and the people are waiting to see if the law will be promptly implemented, in the meantime :

Huge crowds are on the streets of Belgrade, celebrating what appears to be the overthrow of President Milosevic after a day of mass protests.The new political situation appeared to be confirmed shortly before midnight local time (2200 GMT) when Vojislav Kostunica appeared on state television described as the new president.

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