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People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) worked with a coalition of civic organizations to survey the South Korea population in order to identify criteria meant to eliminate politicians and make them ineligible for election.  Corruption in Korea was so serious that it was the foremost obstacle hindering the progress of Korean society.  Korean political parties have remained unchanged and politicians do not represent the people’s interests. Instead, they exclusively pursue their own interests: power monopolized by politicians only. Although the people have been under severe economic strain since the national financial crisis in 1997, political corruption has not abated. These corrupt political parties and politicians have had no respect for voters.  Voters needed to show their power to politicians by making use of their voters’ rights, even if legal hurdles were put in front of voters.

People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) worked with a coalition of civic organizations to survey the South Korea population in order to identify criteria meant to eliminate politicians and make them ineligible for election.  Corruption in Korea was so serious that it was the foremost obstacle hindering the progress of Korean society.  Korean political parties have remained unchanged and politicians do not represent the people’s interests. Instead, they exclusively pursue their own interests: power monopolized by politicians only. Although the people have been under severe economic strain since the national financial crisis in 1997, political corruption has not abated. These corrupt political parties and politicians have had no respect for voters.  Voters needed to show their power to politicians by making use of their voters’ rights, even if legal hurdles were put in front of voters. In order to improve the corrupt political situation, 1,053 civil organizations established a coalition body called ‘Civil Action for the General Election 2000 (CAGE). By PSPD's initiative, the campaign sought the defeat of unqualified politicians in the general election.

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.

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.

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

Something smelled funny as soon as it was proposed -- the union of a proud black university and a top Republican strategist and troublemaker credited with one of the most racist presidential campaign schemes of recent memory.But there it was in news accounts carried across the nation: Howard University names Republican Chairman Lee Atwater to its board of trustees. Atwater had just engineered the 1988 presidential victory of George H.W. Bush and had crafted the racist Willie Horton ad that helped seal his win. ... As a journalism student at Rutgers University, the news hit me and every black student I knew on campus like a ton of bricks. We were already a little depressed that Bush won and would likely continue the backward politics of the Reagan administration. But why, we wondered, would Howard University sell out and give Atwater a platform for his policies? Luckily, the Howard student body came to the rescue.A small protest of Atwater's appointment turned into a firestorm as Howard students took over the school's main administration building for a sit-in. After a tense four days, and with campus police threatening a violent takeover of the building, Atwater resigned. Later that year, Howard President James E. Cheek, who hatched the failed Atwater appointment, also resigned.Atwater died in 1991 of a brain tumor.The Howard University Alumni will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the student protests March 26 and 27 at the Blackburn Center on the Howard University campus. And it is an event well worth remembering. Those were days when university students seemed far more interested in providing a moral compass for school administration and government leaders than is the case now. Whether the issue was divestment of university holdings in apartheid South Africa or the appointment of a suspected racist to a leadership position at a black university, students wasted no time in making their voices heard. One hopeful sign was the overwhelming support President Obama received on college campuses across the country. Maybe that burst of activism will ignite another wave of student action like the one that saved Howard University from Lee Atwater 20 years ago.

http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/03/12/nonviolent-protest-anniversary-howard-students-told-atwater-no/

 

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.

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

 

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.

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

 

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/

 

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)

After the opposition to the regime in Iran --PMOI, appealed for a vast commemoration of the Students day in Iran, thousands of Students march in Iranian Unis to commemorate Students day in Iran.Students March to denounce captivity and torture of their friends who have been imprisoned for beliefs. They chant ' Political student must be released' , ' imprisoned student must be released', University is not a Garrison' , ' Death to dictator'. These courageous students have lashed out against the ever increasing suppression in Iran , regardless of consequences. The Iranian regime is in a very volatile situation, and is facing much pressure from its major opposition movement the PMOI.

 

Tibet’s longest serving political prisoner and a symbol of resistance to Chinese rule addressed the 8th session of the Human Rights Council Wednesday (June 4). Despite spending 32 years in various prison camps, 82-year old Takna Jigme Sangpo is far from being chastized by this experiences.Interview by Pamela Taylor/Human Rights Tribune – Takna Jigme Sangpo was first arrested in 1964 when, as a primary school teacher, he was accused by Chinese authorities of ‘corrupting the minds of children with reactionary ideas’. Accused of supporting Tibetan independence he was repeatedly arrested, beaten and and tortured. He was released on medical parole in 2002 and received asylum in Switzerland.Tell us about the first time you were arrested in 1964?I was a teacher and they discovered I was teaching the history, language and culture of Tibet which was of course forbidden. I was sent to a work camp in Lhasa. While I was in this camp I was asked to write a letter to the Communist Party condemning a long letter written by the Panchen Lama (number two after the Dalai Lama) with a detailed list of crimes against the Tibetan people and asking for Tibetan independence. I told them they hadn’t given me sufficient reason to condemn the Panchen Lama and so they called me a ‘running dog of the Panachen Lama” and condemned me to hard labor for three years.Were you released after that?Yes, but this was the time of the non-violent underground movement called Tiger-Dragon and a group of young people were arrested with a photo of me on them so they came and arrested me as a member of this ‘criminal’ movement, which I was not. I was sentenced to 10 years in prison. When I told the authorities that I didn’t know anything about the Tiger-Dragon movement, they didn’t believe me and put me in a type of iron brace that went behind my head and forced my arms back and I couldn’t move. I still have the scars (raises shirtsleeves). I shall never forget that first night. I screamed and screamed. But I wore that brace for 9 months – it was nearly impossible to eat. In any case all I had to eat was one bowl of ‘tsamba’ (roasted barley wheat flour) and some tea once a day.How long did this treatment go on?For 7 years. I worked in a stone quarry, making bricks. For the last three years of my ten year sentence I couldn’t work because I had gone blind. I was later diagnosed with glaucoma. But for them even a blind man is supposed to work! In 1981 I was again released and my sisters and family took me home and I was operated on for glaucoma. But afterwards I suffered a kind of banishment, not quite arrest but I had no communication with outsiders, even my family. But in 1983, they put me in a real prison again for writing a poster that was put up on walls and the gates of the city which said ‘Chinese invaders must go back to China’ and ‘Tibet belongs to Tibetans’. Since I was already in police custody, it was easy for them to put me in prison again.But you must have known those posters would get you into trouble?The Chinese have a tactic to make people think everything is normal so they will relax but all the time they are watching and waiting for the opportunity to make arrests. This time I was taken to a detention center that wasn’t a proper prison, just a large space with many men in one room, sharing a tin can for a common toilet, and with barely enough room to sleep. They constantly interrogated me, asking who had put me up to writing the posters and who was behind my activities. I said I am alone; I have no one and nothing behind me. They insisted that I couldn’t have the idea of Tibetan independence all on my own, that there must be a huge movement behind me, driving me to do these things. But I said no, that every Tibetan on this earth has that dream. So they stripped me and beat me and I still have those scars too. Then one day a Swiss delegation (ICRC) came to the detention center so I kept a vigil until I saw the delegation coming and then I began to shout: ‘Free Tibet!’, ‘Chinese go back to China!’ Afterwards I was put in solitary confinement in a completely black hole for one whole year. Because of what I did, they added another 8 years to my sentence.How did you manage not to go mad after so many years in prison?I said my prayers and the Buddhist mantra Om Mani Peme Hm (Homage to Bhudda). I wasn’t a criminal and wasn’t a threat to anyone and I knew that the truth was on my side. And the biggest truth of all was that Tibet would one day be independent because the Chinese themselves have enough problems to constantly worry about us. That kept me sane.Why have you come to Geneva? What do you expect from the Council?I want people to know that on paper the Chinese government may treat Tibetan people alright but I am the reality. If I am given the chance, I want to say that there’s no way the Tibetan people can survive without a distinct culture and that there is not a single Tibetan who doesn’t want independence. http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/Symbol-of-Tibetan-resistance,3173