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What we’re witnessing in Iran over the last several days is the power of nonviolence.

Unarmed Iranians by the hundreds of thousands, and across all ages and classes, have flocked to the streets of Tehran, defying bans and brutal paramilitary squads, to demand one simple thing: that their votes be counted fairly.

The democratic longing, and the democratic thronging, shows no signs of letting up.

“Every day, the number of people attending the protests is increasing,” says Camelia Entekhabifard, author of Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth—A Memoir of Iran. “It’s drawing people from all generations and societies, from the very cultured to the very traditional. This is a national movement.”

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQCrwX7rL_o

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’.

Their weapons were no match for the frail man draped in a simple white cloth. Often facing the barrel of British guns, it was the soft-spoken voice of Mahatma Gandhi that repeatedly encouraged Indian protesters to remain calm and, above all, to remain peaceful.

Tens of thousands of people have protested in London against President Bush and the war on Iraq. Organisers claim 200,000 joined the demonstration, although police put the numbers closer to 100,000. The protest was overshadowed by the bombs in Turkey, but was described as good-natured and non-violent. Meanwhile Mr Bush carried on with his engagements, which culminated in a banquet for the Queen at the US Ambassador's residence in Regents Park.

More than 100 people, including two members of the Scottish Parliament, have been arrested during an anti-nuclear protest at a submarine base in Scotland. Politicians and clergy joined the start of a three-day demonstration against the Trident fleet, which is based at Faslane. Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan MSP and Lloyd Quinan MSP, of the Scottish National Party, were among the first to be arrested.

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".

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

Like something out of an old world spy novel, a popular politician is poisoned in an attempt to ruin his chance at victory and install a ruthless opponent. Welcome to the ORANGE REVOLUTION.Steve York's riveting documentary chronicles what led to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine surrounding the 2004 election between Viktor Yushchenko, the people's choice, and Viktor Yanukovych, the government crony. With Yushchenko's mysterious near-fatal poisoning and a fishy assassination attempt on Yanukovych, the people cry foul and take to the streets when Yanukovych is proclaimed the winner of the election. At demonstrations in Kiev, the crowd quickly swells to many thousands as musicians and a disfigured struggling Yuschenko take the stage to protest corruption and fraud.With insightful political interviews and a sweeping lens capturing the power of thousands demanding change, York's ORANGE REVOLUTION will make you believe in the power of the collective voice and our ability to make a difference.

Thousands of South Koreans protested in Seoul on Tuesday against imports of American beef. The demonstrations against Mr. Lee started more than a month ago when students began protesting his government's decision in April to resume imports of American beef despite widespread fears of mad cow disease.

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

 

Tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded downtown streets today calling for the resignation of Serbia's President as the first effects of United Nations sanctions were being felt. The President, Slobodan Milosevic, criticized the sanctions imposed on Saturday, saying Serbia was not responsible for the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which continued today. "This is the price we have to pay for supporting Serbs outside Serbia," Mr. Milosevic said early this morning after he cast his vote in elections for the Yugoslav Parliament. "As far as the accusations that we have committed aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina are concerned, surely every citizen of Serbia knows that they are ridiculous. We have not committed any aggression against Bosnia." Election Boycotted Mr. Milosevic appeared tired as he voted today. All major opposition parties were boycotting the elections in Serbia and Montenegro, the only remaining Yugoslav republics, and the Serbian Orthodox Church denounced the vote. Polls opened just hours after the United Nations Security Council imposed the economic sanctions. [ Bush Administration officials Sunday expressed deep reluctance to use military force to enforce the sanctions, saying Washington's immediate goal was to force the Serbian-backed military to lift its two-month blockade of Sarajevo. Administration officials said they wanted to assess the effects of the embargo before taking any further steps to punish Yugoslavia. Page A8 ] The first outward signs of the embargo were lines forming at gasoline stations in the Belgrade area and the disruption of air links. Flights Are Canceled This morning, hundreds of stranded travelers milled around Belgrade Airport watching the word "Canceled" click up next to one departing flight after another on the large black timetable. Within hours, only flights for Paris, Copenhagen, Moscow and London were left and it was unclear whether they would actually depart. Yugoslavia also has been disqualified from the European soccer championship in Sweden as a result of the United Nations embargo. The peaceful demonstrators, many dressed in black, took over downtown Belgrade streets for about three hours this afternoon, unfurling a mile-long black banner along the city's main shopping thoroughfare before protesting outside the television station, the hub of the Serbian Government's propaganda network. Demonstrators jeered and shouted "Slobo Must Go!" outside the republic's Presidency Building, referring to President Milosevic. The demonstration was the largest anti-Government gathering in Serbia since violent protests in March 1991 brought Yugoslav Army tanks to Belgrade streets. Bombing of Belgrade "I am against the war and the regime that has sucked our sons into war," said a Yugoslav Airline flight attendant, laid off last week after 30 years on the job because of the cancellation of the airlines' landing rights by the United States and Canada. "I want to show the world that all Serbs are not the same," she said. "We all expect to be bombed, and we remember when the Americans bombed Belgrade in 1944." Slobodanka Karic, a 50-year-old health worker, said, "It's only a matter of time before the armed conflict comes to Belgrade. The international community should stop all the armed attacks by all sides, and then the Communists must be removed." The demonstrators scoffed at today's elections, calling them a "farce." Reports on Turnout Election officials reported only a 38 percent turnout at Serbian polling stations at 2 P.M., and by evening were asserting that 60 percent of the electorate had voted. In Montenegro, turnout reports ranged from 6 to 60 percent. About 7.3 million people are eligible to vote. Final results are not expected until Wednesday. Western diplomats said a weak turnout would not necessarily be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in Mr. Milosevic, who rose to power through the Communist Party's apparatus and has deflected criticism and held power by appealing to Serbian nationalism and controlling the republic's large enterprises and most influential media. Serbia's main opposition parties, the Serbian Renewal Movement, Democratic Party and Serbian Liberal Party called for the boycott because they said the Government pushed through the country's new Constitution without adequate discussion, allowed only a short period for campaigning and refused to end its virtual monopoly on the country's main television channel. 'Duty to Liberate Serbia' The leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, said: "The Serbs' enemies are not in London, New York, Paris or Moscow. They are right here in Belgrade. It's our duty to liberate Serbia." "The Serbian people are not guilty," Mr. Draskovic said. "Sanctions are needed against the regime, not the people." The Serbian Orthodox Church denounced the Serbian and Yugoslav Governments last week, disassociated itself from the new Constitution and the elections and called for the formation of a government of national salvation. Only the renamed Communist Party of Serbia and Montenegro, two ultra-nationalist parties, and several dozen tiny political groups ran candidates. Successor to Old Yugoslavia The elections were scheduled after the new Yugoslavia was formed on April 27 in an attempt to claim the status of the successor to the Yugoslav Federation as well as its assets. Government leaders say the elections are important because they will allow the Yugoslav Government to begin functioning normally again after huge gaps were torn in the Legislature and administration by the secession of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. Officials of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Sarajevo today won agreements from Serbian leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina's government for a new cease-fire scheduled to begin on Monday at 6 P.M. local time, an official in Sarajevo said. The cease-fire agreement provides for the evacuation of a besieged Yugoslav Army barracks in the city center. Bosnian Serb forces this morning continued their bombardments of Sarajevo, while Yugoslav Army and Bosnian Serb forces also shelled the historic port city of Dubrovnik, lobbing about 17 shells into the walled Old Town. More than 2,300 people have been killed and 7,700 wounded since the Serbs began their military campaign to seize most of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fighting has driven well over 700,000 people from their homes.

(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFD61739F932A35755C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1)

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

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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