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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

In the Mexican state of Veracruz prized for oil and agriculture and beautiful beaches, at about four o’clock on a 1992 morning, hundreds of campesinos and their families in three pueblos were shaken awake by rumbling. Some were too startled to move. Others ran out of their wood and cardboard shacks and saw caterpillars grinding toward them and waved at the drivers to stop. The drivers and their armed and uniformed escorts motioned and yelled for everyone to clear out. The campesinos were granted a few minutes to dress and grab a few belongings before the caterpillars lumbered on to destroy their homes as well as schools and churches. This ended more than a decade of living on “ejidos,” public land they had farmed and believed should be theirs to use forever. * * *July 31, 2007 – Last week in Mexico City a private driver from my hotel was guiding me down Paseo de la Reforma, the grandest boulevard in the country, indeed one of the most elegant and monument-rich in all the Americas, when the scenery suddenly erupted with large banners that said, “The Senate Doesn’t See or Hear Us” and “The Senate Doesn’t Notice Us”. A man named “Dante Delgado” was blamed. On the other side of the visual protests loomed bleak plastic dwellings anchored by ropes and extending diagonally no higher than three or four feet.“What’s going on?” I asked. “This is the Movement of the 400 Pueblos,” said the driver. “Every day they take off their clothes and protest in public.”“You’re kidding.”“No, I’m not.” “I want to talk to them.” “Fine. Just ahead, at the Monumento a la Madre, they have their main camp. But I’ll have to use the public parking lot.” “No problem. I’ll pay.” We entered the concrete campground, bordered to the west by the gigantic stone Madre, and for several minutes walked around, noting the difficulties of living there, before we approached a few men in a group. “I’m a teacher and writer from California,” I said. “May I please have an interview?” In less than a minute they’d summoned their spokesman, an energetic fellow who shook my hand and introduced himself as Jaime Rodriguez Barrientos. “Who’s Dante Delgado?” I asked. “Dante Delgado was the interim Governor of Veracruz in 1992,” said Rodriguez. “He was corrupt and repressed campesinos. He’s the one who ordered the destruction of our villages – Alamo Temapache, Poza Rica, and Martinez de la Torre. Then he invented charges and jailed 300 people. Twelve were in jail for seven years and many others from eight months to two years. We struggled for the freedom of our comrades until 2000. Since then we’ve been struggling for the return of our land.” “Why did Dante Delgado destroy your homes?”“He represents the interests of the rich and the powerful.”“Is he taking bribes?” I asked. “We’re not saying he takes bribes. But he’s certainly our enemy. So are the men who succeeded him as governor – Patricio Chirinos, Miguel Aleman, and Fidel Herrera, who’s in office now.” “You believe the land you lived on belonged to you.” “Yes, we’d established ourselves there and no wealthy men had a legal right to it. Delgado claims that what he did was legal and the right thing.”“How long have you been here in Mexico City?” I asked. “Since April 11, 2007.” “Why now?” “Dante Delgado was out of power after 1995. In this country there’s no point in chasing someone with no office. When Dante became a senator last year, we decided to go after him.” Gradually some men from the camp had begun to gather around us and about 20 were now watching the interview. “I hear you guys have been publicly protesting in the nude,” I said. “That’s right,” said Rodriguez. “And sometimes our wives, too.” Several of us laughed. “What is the purpose of taking off your clothes in public?” “By protesting naked we’re demonstrating that we lack justice. Every day we do this from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We go all over, to the Zocalo, the Palacio de Belles Artes, to the Senate of the Republic, to Dante Delgado’s office, and other places.” “Aren’t you concerned about losing public support by being naked in public?” “Only three or four out of a hundred are offended.” “What about the police? Don’t they do anything about the nudity or camping here?” “No. No problem,” Rodriguez said, and handed me a photo. “I want you to have this.”I thanked him and examined four proud men, two standing at attention and two playing drums. “You guys are in good shape.” “Of course, we’re campesinos,” declared a man from the group. “How long will you stay here?” I asked. “Until we get a response,” Rodriguez said. “Until the senate demonstrates that it understands it needs to investigate Dante Delgado. He’s a coward. He hid from an interviewer from TV Azteca, but he can’t hide from us. We’re going to chase him the rest of his life.” I extended my hand toward plastic huts stretched much too low to stand in. “Are you guys, and in many cases your wives and children, comfortable here?” From the group a young man said, “When it rains hard at night, the water comes in under the plastic. We have to sleep sitting up, and that’s hard.” “Where do you go to the bathroom?” I asked. “We use the gas station’s bathroom across the street,” said Rodriguez. “It costs two pesos (about 20 cents) each time.” “Expensive,” I said. “And food, all the other things. How do you support yourselves?” “We get donations, usually one or two pesos, but sometimes people give us a lot more.” (My driver and another Mexico City resident told me they believe the opposition PRD party is also providing support. Its leader, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, lost a close and disputed presidential election last year to Felipe Calderon.) As I spoke to the men, several women were dunking clothes in buckets of water and scrubbing garments on stones at the base of the Monumento a la Madre. Two men, glistening brown in the sun, stood near them, washing themselves with rags also dipped in buckets. All water for the 300 protestors comes from a single tap. “I don’t know how long you can last under these conditions,” I said. “Bathing like that is no problem,” said a muscular man from the photo. “Like typical campesinos we bathed in arroyos. We’re living better here than in Veracruz. Here we only have one family in each place. In Veracruz we had four families in one-room casitas of wood and cardboard.” Mexican Teachers Protest A few blocks from the campesinos, at the Monumento de la Revolución, 3,000 teachers were protesting. The following day, with another driver from my hotel, I entered an impressive campground that featured new tarps pulled together high and wide enough to walk under and stretch out. I identified myself and requested an interview. Shortly, Alvarez Juarez was brought forth, and he and three other teachers, one a woman, offered the driver and me comfortable chairs in a patio-like area beneath canvas stretched between two residences. “What is your position?” I asked. “I’m the National Coordinator of Education Workers from Guerrero,” said Juarez, a polite but serious man. “I’ve taught elementary school 30 years in Acapulco.” “What are the issues you’re most concerned about?” “We’re here because of the new law about our pension fund. We used to pay 3.5 percent, now the government says we have to pay 10.6 percent.” “I’m a teacher in California, and we pay 8 percent and have very good benefits,” I said.“You have to put in more than 3.5 percent to get the benefits you need.” “We aren’t going to get anything. They’re going to rob us.” “Who are they?” “President Felipe Calderon and Esther Gordillo, leader of the National Education Workers’ Union, and the politicians and the business interests they represent. They claim they want to increase pension benefits for our children and our retirement benefits and to improve hospitals and health care, but we know they really want more money to pay their debts to the International Monetary Fund and the Word Bank.” At that moment I knew little about Esther Gordillo and the teacher’s union in Mexico, and thought the eternal cry of corruption was exaggerated. A little reading, however, revealed that Gordillo’s predecessor, Carlos Jonguitud, “was accused of masterminding the assassination of at least 150 dissident teachers, primarily in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.” Gordillo by comparison is a model of moderation, having only “been implicated in the deaths of several teachers that were struggling to democratize the National Education Workers’ Union.” The problem is systemic rather than personal. Gordillo is merely the latest head of a union, like most in Mexico, that has long abused its members. According to Colin Brayton of WorldPress.com, recent surveys show that 98 percent of Mexican teachers “believe the main priority of their leadership is to enrich themselves and hold on to power… and 87 percent believe that their dues are held onto by the leadership and used to buy support… and only 1 percent of (union) members consider that their leadership has a genuine commitment to education.” “The government has been closed and hasn’t given any response to our concerns,” Juarez continued. “The government says it’s a good law and we need to accept it. We’re going to keep trying to change the law. We have marches, protests, lots of activities. On July 26 we’re going to march at the United States Embassy.” “Why the U.S. Embassy?” I asked.“To protest the war in Iraq and the arrogant treatment of people in Latin America.” Unlike the dour Juarez, his colleague next to me was enjoying the interview, and said, “We know Americans think Mexicans are sucking their thumbs. But we know what’s going on. We have eyes. That’s why we don’t like your president, Adolph Bush.” “I don’t care for Bush, either,” I said. “But I guarantee he’s a long way from being Adolph. And, by the way, I wrote a book about Adolph, so I know.” “Just remember, we Mexicans aren’t sucking our thumbs,” said the colleague. Juarez leaned forward and handed me a tabloid titled “Program of Activities” with daily schedules comparable to boot camp. Every day starts at 6 a.m. with bathing then community cleaning, breakfast, two hours of conferences in an auditorium followed, in different places, by lectures, another hour in the auditorium then more meetings, lunch at three p.m., workshops, cultural events in the auditorium, an hour for dinner at 9 p.m., and two hours of free time ending at midnight when most are already in bed, preparing for the next 6 a.m. wakeup. “Where do you guys, and the ladies and kids I see around here, go to the bathroom?” I ask. “We use the public bathroom across the street. It costs three pesos each time and five to bathe.” “How are you supporting yourselves?” The Secretary of Public Education is still paying our teachers’ salaries, about 3,000 pesos every fifteen days, 6,000 a month.” “That’s about 600 dollars a month,” I said. “Is that sufficient?” “It’s not sufficient even when we’re just maintaining our homes. Now we’re maintaining them as well as our community here.” “How long are you prepared to stay?” “We’ve been here since May 7, 2007 and are prepared to stay a long as necessary.”“Are you going to march naked in public?” “We’re not going to undress, unless we get desperate,” said a still unsmiling Juarez.

 

Dec 9th 2006: Several actions against furs took place on the 9th and the 10th December by initiative of Alliance For Animal Rights ( http://aar.org.ru ). Actions were dated for The International Day of Animal Rights and were a part of campaign against fur auction "Soyuzpushnina".On the 9th December in St-Petersburg were hold 2 actions of protest against fur trade. Activists had visited fur stores at the Nevsky prospect. Not all activists could enter the first store, security had barred way to the other part of activists, but they unfold a transparency at the entrance and scanned slogans. Those who had broken through in the store were spreading and scattering leaflets against furs and were scanning slogans by own strength and with a help of a megaphone. Security guards behaved aggressively and tried to strike blows rushed, but activists did not begin involving in fight and have left.The second store did not meat animal defenders with such aggression, all could freely enter and to give out to each customer and shop assistant on a leaflet. Was also used the megaphone, wit the help of which was messaged the object of the visit and were scanned slogans against furs. Security did not offer any resistance. Only stockman tried to push one of entered activists out to the door, but it wasn't effective. Some customers given a leaflet decided to leave the store. We hope they will now never again pay the death trade. When it became boringly, when all leaflets had been spreaded and had been told all what was necessary to tell, the animal defenders decided to leave. So both actions had passed successfully, no one had suffered or been arrested during them.

 

Score one for the Italians. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the thug par-excellence president of the ayatollahs’ regime in Iran, has been shunned by the Pope and the Prime Minister of Italy. In a humiliating rebuff which demonstrates Tehran’s pariah status abroad, both leaders refused to meet him in Rome, where he arrived on June 3, 2008 to attend the UN’s annual food summit.Ahmadinejad tried to grab the headlines with another bombastic attack against the United States. In a bid to shift the public relations firestorm over his visit, he told reporters shortly before his departure for Italy that the “satanic powers” of the United States will be “uprooted” and that Israel is “about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene.”He renewed his diatribe upon his arrival in Rome on Tuesday, saying that "Europeans have suffered the biggest damage from the Zionists and today the weight of this artificial regime, both political and economic, is on Europe's shoulders.”One thing is sure: this Qods Force Commander-turned-president thrives on being the center of attention. Controversy is how he, in a depraved manner, infuses vigor into his increasingly lackluster power base. And that is why he is eager to make these high-profile visits to western countries, such as his annul presence at the UN General Assembly.Like many demagogues, Ahmadinejad is crazy to grab headlines. He claimed he was bringing solutions to the global food problem. Iran, he says, “as an influential nation in the economy and agriculture, has clear solutions, programs and suggestions for the fair production and distribution of food supply in the world.” Never mind that his regime, despite being flush with unprecedented oil revenues, has failed economically and is directly responsible for widening poverty and hunger in Iran. “Iran can play a decisive role in today's world management.”His visit was billed as a one-man diplomatic nightmare by the Italian media, and caused an uproar among human rights and political circles in Italy. Italy’s Foreign Ministry said a meeting between Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would only happen if Ahmadinejad was prepared to retract his comments on Israel and his denial of the Holocaust, as well as ending his regime’s defiance of international demands relevant to Iran’s nuclear program.Meanwhile media reports from Italy indicate that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Ahmadinejad were excluded from the opening dinner at the UN summit hosted by Prime Minister Berlusconi and Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. Secretary-General.This latest political humiliation for Tehran and its president comes on the heels of a damning report by the International Atomic Energy Agency released last week on Iran’s nuclear program, and more evidence of international terrorism. As always, Tehran’s outward belligerence is the flip side of its inward suppression; there were also new reports on human rights violations.On Monday, even Mohamed El Baradei, the see-no-evil, hear no-evil head of the nuclear watchdog agency, had to complain to reporters about Tehran’s continued defiance of its commitments and three UN Security Council resolutions. He said that “Iran has not yet agreed to implement all the transparency measures required to clarify this cluster of allegations and questions," adding that “Iran has not provided the agency with all the access to documents and to individuals requested ... nor provided the substantive explanations required to support its statements.”The composition of the new Parliament (Majlis) whose new speaker Ali Larijani, is a protégé of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a former top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, heralds a strengthening of Tehran’s hard line on the nuclear issue. In his first day on the new job, Larijani drew the regime’s nuclear “red line,” vowing the Majlis will never go along with any deals about enrichment suspension.Adding to the mix, ABC News released an exclusive report last week that “Senior U.S. officials tell ABC News that in recent months there have been secret contacts between the Iranian government and the leadership of al Qaeda.”Meanwhile executions continue unabated in Iran. On June 2, three young men, all under 18 at the time of the alleged crimes, were given death sentences. They will join at least 75 juveniles on death row, according to human rights organizations. The New York Times reported from Tehran that Iran’s judiciary has also sentenced to death a Kurdish teacher, Farzad Kamangar, and two other people for political reasons.Emboldened by the West’s talk about an “updated” incentives package, already rejected by the regime’s Supreme Leader even before its content has been made public, Tehran remains undeterred and defiantly refuses to change its behavior.The regime does, however, have an Achilles’ heel: its isolation from its own people, who desperately yearn for democratic change. Tehran is worried about the landmark ruling in early May by Britain’s Court of Appeal, ordering the UK government to promptly remove Iran’s main opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK) from its blacklist of proscribed organizations. Tehran understands the wide-ranging political and diplomatic implications of this ruling in strengthening the movement for democratic change in Iran.The UK government obeyed the court ruling and last week laid before Parliament an order for the revocation of the group’s designation.The UK court ruling marks the end of an era, and Tehran is deeply concerned at the rising specter of ouster from within by the non-nuclear, secular, and democratic resistance movement.By Alireza Jafarzadeh, Fox News, 5 June 2008http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/5251/123/

 

Thousands of protesters have gathered for a huge demonstration against the expansion of Heathrow Airport.Stilt-walkers, brass bands and hundreds of people in fancy dress were among those who created a carnival-like atmosphere for the event - called the Make A Noise Carnival.Demonstrators walked from Hatton Cross to Sipson, the village that will be lost if plans for a third runway at the London airport go ahead.At Sipson, the protesters gathered in a field to form a huge "NO" that should have been visible to passing aircraft.Politicians and environmentalists addressed the crowds and bands played.A local villager and Hayes councillor, Mary O'Connor, 65, said: "I've lived here for 47 years and have been part of the protest from the very beginning."Back then there were only 10 of us marching, now look how many of us there are, thousands."It's great to see how much momentum it's gained, we're certain of victory."Greenpeace campaigner Anna Jones told Sky News: "We don't want it built because it's going to be bad for this community, it's going to be bad for London in terms of noise and air pollution."But most importantly it's going to be bad for the whole world because if we build this runway then we are putting ourselves on a path to climate change disaster."But Lord Soley, campaign director of pro-expansion group Future Heathrow, said: "Local people know that the airport is vital to the local economy and supports jobs and business."A third runway will only go ahead within environmental limits on noise and air quality."Airlines will only be able to fly more planes from Heathrow if they buy cleaner and quieter aircraft."

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.

 

Hendrix's popularity eventually saw him headline the Woodstock music festival on August 18, 1969.

Bad weather and logistical problems caused long delays, so that Hendrix did not appear on stage until Monday morning. By this time, the audience (which had peaked at over 500,000 people) had been reduced to, at most, 180,000, many of whom merely waited to catch a glimpse of Hendrix before leaving. Festival MC Chip Monck introduced the band as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", but Hendrix quickly corrected this to "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows" and launched into a two hour set, the longest of his career. As as well as the two percussionists, the performance notably featured Larry Lee performing three songs and Lee sometimes soloing while Hendrix played rhythm in places, most of this has been edited out of the officially released recordings, including Lee's three songs, reducing the sound to basically a three piece.The concert was relatively free of the technical difficulties that frequently plagued Hendrix's performances, although one of his guitar strings snapped while performing Red House (he kept playing regardless). The band, unused to playing large audiences and exhausted after being up all night, could not always keep up with Hendrix's pace, but in spite of this the guitarist managed to deliver a memorable performance, climaxing with his highly-regarded rendition of the The Star-Spangled Banner,[80] a solo improvisation which is now regarded as a special symbol of the 1960s era.[81]The band did not last long. After the Woodstock festival they appeared on only two more occasions. The first was a street benefit in Harlem where, in a scenario similar to the festival, most of the audience had left and only a fraction remained by the time Hendrix took the stage. Within seconds of Hendrix arriving at the site two youths had stolen his guitar from the back seat of his car, although it was later recovered. The band's only other appearance was at the Salvation club in Greenwich Village, New York. After some studio recordings, Hendrix disbanded the group. Some of this band's recordings can be heard on the MCA Records box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience and on South Saturn Delta. Their final work together was a session on 6th September[82]. Hendrix's 9th September appearance on TV's Dick Cavett Show, backed by Cox, Mitchell and Juma Sultan, was credited as the "Jimi Hendrix Experience"[83].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix#Woodstock

What is Gu Chu Sum?The Gu-Chu-Sum (9-10-3) Movement of Tibet was established on September 27, 1991 in Dharamsala, India by ex-political prisoners of the Tibetan freedom movement. Initially organised by monks, nuns, and lay people, the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement grew out of the earnest, heartfelt wish to help the suffering Tibetans remaining in prisons in Tibet and to provide needed support to ex-political prisoners who have journeyed into exile. Gu-Chu-Sum is endorsed by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-In-Exile, and the Indian Government. All 430 members of Gu-Chu-Sum are former political prisoners.The Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet was named according to the months in which major demonstrations occurred in Lhasa. "Gu" is for September 27, 1987, "Chu" is for October 1, 1987, and "Sum" is for March 5, 1988. On these dates major demonstrations were carried out by the three main monasteries in Lhasa, and the monks who participated were suppressed mercilessly by the Chinese Army. These monks were imprisoned for their efforts to regain Tibetan freedom and were brutally tortured, physically maimed, and often forced to do back-breaking labour while being fed starvation rations. Many of those tortured succumbed to their injuries and either died in prison or were released so that their families would have to deal with their relative's deaths. Currently, more than 130 prisoners of conscience are suffering torture, cold and starvation in Chinese prisons in Tibet.Our ActivitiesWe aim to follow the main agenda discussed during the general body meeting and administer the following daily activities:-• Informing the international community of the facts about Tibet and how many Tibetans are suffering under Chinese rule• Supporting political prisoners in Tibet• Supporting ex-political prisoners in exile• Collaboration with other NGOs• Organising talks and meetings with ex-political prisoners• Maintaining an extensive database on political prisoners and their treatment in Tibet• Publishing an annual magazine 'Tibetan Envoy' (Phonya) and 'Tibetan Envoy Newsletter' quarterly in both Tibetan and English languages• Publishing autobiographies of ex-political prisoners• Holding photographic exhibitions in different locations• Helping obtain healthcare for former political prisoners• Organising campaigns for the release of political prisoners• Providing a one-year computer and language course to our students along with residential accommodation at GuChuSum• Generating income for our activities by running a Tailoring Shop creating handmade Tibetan clothingInforming the international community of the facts about Tibet and how many Tibetans are suffering under Chinese rule:Throughout the year we report on new developments in Tibet, especially news about political prisoners. We organise talks led by ex-political prisoners so as to make more people aware of the suffering and anguish of Tibetans. We also publish the magazine 'Tibetan Envoy' once a year in both Tibetan and English. We have published a biography of nine ex-political prisoners in Tibetan and intend to translate them into English soon. We would also like to publish more biographies of ex-political prisoners. To provide accurate information on these various subjects, we are constantly updating our extensive database.Supporting political prisoners in Tibet:GuChuSum provides much needed assistance to political prisoners who continue to suffer in Chinese prisons within Tibet. We provide financial and moral support for these prisoners as well as to their families and organise campaigns working for their release.Supporting ex-political prisoners in exile:We provide the basic needs to the recently arrived former prisoners including housing, employment, medical care, education, job training, and economic assistance. Our goal is to meet the immediate needs while fostering ultimate self-sufficiency and self-reliance. At our new premises, Lung-ta House, we can accommodate about fifty people and we aim to give work experience to as many ex-political prisoners as possible.We have a library for use by the office staff and students. Nearby members can also use the library.Our cafeteria facility is used for the staff, trainees, and students, as well as for the members who come for treatment. All the members who come from the outside can have free food. During Monlam and other important teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all the members who live outside Dharamsala can stay and have food at GuChuSum. Daily we have around eighty people who use our cafeteria facility.Collaboration with other NGOs:There are eight Tibetan NGOs in Dharamsala. Several times a year we organise, in collaboration with other NGOs, events such as peace marches, processions, letter writing campaigns, candle light vigils and hunger strikes. We also exchange information as much as possible so that we can all stay in touch with what is really happening in Tibet.Organising talks and meetings with ex-political prisoners:We regularly hold talks by ex-political prisoners at various places in Dharamsala and various educational centres and Tibetan settlements in India. These talks give a very vivid and human picture of prison life in Tibet and help to inform people about the atrocities occurring in Tibet under Chinese rule.Maintaining an extensive database on political prisoners and their treatment in Tibet:GuChuSum collects and releases information about political prisoners. It maintains a database on current and former political prisoners and also documents the death cases. We also collect testimonies from political prisoners who have escaped into exile. Through its networks in Tibet, Gu-Chu-Sum receives and disseminates information on political prisoners in Tibet and the conditions of those just released.Publishing an annual magazine 'Tibetan Envoy' (Phonya) and 'Tibetan Envoy Newsletter' quarterly in both Tibetan and English languages:Every year we publish the 'Tibetan Envoy,' an annual magazine which highlights the atrocities that are happening in prisons in Tibet today. So far we have published 9 volumes. 'Tibetan Envoy' in published in both English and Tibetan. The magazine contains the latest news about current and released political prisoners. It also contains a frequently updated report on current prisoners in Tibet and other information regarding GuChuSum activities.Since September 2004, we have published the 'Tibetan Envoy Newsletter' every three months in both Tibetan and English. We have also published special reports on certain issues like, 'The Tragic Fate of Bangri Rinpoche' and 'Gyatso Orphanage School.'Publishing autobiographies of ex-political prisoners:1. Life experience of Reting Tenpa Tsering2. Freedom and Tears - Phuntsok Wangchuk3. Ceaseless Tears and Blood - Drapchi Prison (description of Drapchi Prison)4. Life, In Search of Truth - Tenpa Phulchung5. The Path Crossed by Our Ancestors - Kunsang Rinzin6. The Courage to Rebel against Oppressors - Lobsang Tenzin7. Discussing the Vicissitudes of My Long Life - Ven. Thupten Tsering8. Struggle of Three Generations - Sonam Choedon9. The compiled works of Professor Lobsang Wangchuk10. I and My Brother - Tsering Sonam11. A Farmer's Diary - Rigzin Choenyi12. True Story of an Oldwoman - Dolma Choezom13. Lhaimie Yuloe Ngulthig - Yulo Trulku Dawa Tsering14. The Son of Mount Everest - Dingri Ngawang Holding photographic exhibitions in different locations:We have organized photo exhibitions and talks in different locations all over India. In the past few years, we have organised exhibitions in Bodhgaya, Hamirpur, and Chandigarh. These exhibitions depict the pain and agony of the Tibetan people, destruction of the Tibetan environment, as well as instruments used for torture, and others.We have conference hall cum photo-exhibition room on the third floor of our building. There are more than 200 rare photo collections depicting the 1980s demonstrations, wounded protestors, torture instruments, deforestation and His Holiness' journey into exile.Helping obtain healthcare for former political prisoners:GuChuSum looks after the healthcare of political prisoners both in exile and Tibet. We advise them on where to get proper medical treatment, send helpers with them when necessary, and reimburse medical and travel expenses. The helpers assist in communicating with medical staff in Hindi, as well as helping to take care of the patient's general needs.Organising campaigns for the release of political prisoners:Throughout the year, we organise several campaigns for the release of political prisoners through petition letters, campaign post cards and other media.Providing a one-year computer and language course to our students along with residential accommodation at GuChuSum:The most important way to assist refugees is to provide education in accordance with the new environment. We provide language proficiency, basic computer skills, employment skills, and self-confidence to assist in their reintegration into the community, as well as to encourage their self-reliance.Since April 2000, our school has been conducting a one-year course for former political prisoners and their family members. We teach basic computer skills, English, and Tibetan. The school has the capacity to accommodate 20 students and all students stay as boarders. After completing one year of schooling, many of our students become employed in various offices in our community.Generating income for our activities by running a Tailoring Centre & Shop, producing quality handmade Tibetan clothing:Tailoring Centre:The GuChuSum tailoring centre was established in 1991 to provide job training and employment to ex-political prisoners. In the beginning, it employed only a few tailors, but at present, it employs around twenty tailors, most of them being women. Currently, there are two tailoring centres with one in Mcleod Ganj and one on the premises of GuChuSum. These tailors can create monk's robes, Tibetan traditional clothes, bags, and various gift items, like small pouches, etc. We also take bulk orders according to your samples, make prayers flags, Tibetan national flags, etc.Lungta Restaurant: Lungta Japanese Restaurant, a popular Japanese restaurant in Mcleod Ganj serves traditional Japanese vegetarian cuisine from a part of Lung-Ta house. Several former political prisoners are trained in Japanese cuisine and are employed as chefs. Here they learn the art of Japanese cooking as well as communication skills. This is one way many ex political prisoners are able to sustain themselves by doing something productive. Part of the proceeds from the restaurant go to the care and running of GuChuSum. People who helped us along the wayOur thanks to the local Indian community and local government, volunteers, Tibetan friends and the Japanese charity Lungta.

In November 2003, a revolution took place in Georgia - a revolution of a kind the turbulent region had never seen before. Not one person was injured, not a drop of blood was spilled. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the flawed results of a parliamentary election. The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze, a man who had ruled Georgia for more than 30 years in total, as its Soviet-era Communist Party boss and its longest-serving post-independence president. Mr Shevardnadze told protesters they risked causing a civil war and he deployed hundreds of soldiers on the streets of Tbilisi. At that point, student demonstrators decided to give red roses to the soldiers. Many soldiers laid down their guns. Parliament stormed "People were kissing the police and military, it was really spectacular," said Giorgi Kandelaki, a 21-year-old student. Constitutional changes have boosted Mr Saakashvili's powers "And the roses of course which people had with them, which Misha carried with him into the parliament hall, that was the moment when people said that it was a rose revolution." Misha is Mikhail Saakashvili, the US-educated 35-year-old firebrand who, on 23 November, led the demonstrators to the parliament building. Along with thousands of his supporters he forced his way through the thick wooden doors of the parliament chamber where Mr Shevardnadze was inside, giving a speech. Mr Saakashvili held a long-stemmed red rose above his head and shouted "Resign!" He waved the rose in the face of Georgia's 75-year-old president. Mr Shevardnadze's bodyguards rushed him out of the parliament building by a back door. That was the moment that power changed hands in Georgia. In January 2004, Mr Saakashvili was elected president. The following month, the Georgian parliament passed constitutional amendments which strengthened the presidency at the parliament's expense, and gave the country a cabinet and a prime minister for the first time. Then in March 2004, Mr Saakashvili's National Movement-Democratic Front won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. In the first year after the revolution, dozens of former government officials were jailed on corruption and embezzlement charges. Their assets were confiscated and their savings moved to state coffers. One of Mr Saakashvili's two main allies in the Rose Revolution, Zurab Zhvania, became prime minister. The other, Nino Burjanadze, remained in her position as speaker of the weakened parliament.

 

NCRI - On Saturday, 1,500 Tehran University students protesting over the bad food at the cafeteria clashed with the State Security Forces (SSF). Ambulances were rushed to the scene, according to eyewitnesses.More than 20 people were injured in clashes between the students shouting anti-regime slogans and the SSF who were forcing students to return to university campus, one eyewitness said.The protests over the bad food started on Friday but soon the event turned into an anti-government demonstration that spread to nearby streets.It was the first time since the spring of 2003 that a student protest spilled over to nearby streets. The SSF and security guards had made it impossible for the students to demonstrate outside the university campus fearing a rerun of the events in the summer of 1999.http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/4704/129/

 

In a major demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday, more than 1,000 students chanted, "Death to dictator," "Ahmadinejad is like [Augusto] Pinochet, but Iran would never be another Chile" and "Free the jailed students," on the Polytechnic (Ami Kabir) University.

Their protest came after the mullahs' judiciary announced last week that the three detained students from the school have each been sentenced to around two years in jail on charges of insulting the authorities. The protesters demanded the release of the jailed students.

The demonstrators resisted suppressive measures and threats by the regime’s agents while shouting anti-government slogans. The mullahs' regime had dispatched scores of security guards from nearby universities to help disperse the gathering.

The demonstration was so extensive that the regime could not conceal it and in a rare move the state-run media had to report it

"While chanting slogans against intelligence ministry officials, students named President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as being responsible for corruption and discrimination. By chanting slogans against university guards, the students clashed with them," reported the semi-official news agency Fars.

By lauding the Polytechnic University students for their protest, the Iranian Resistance calls on other students and youth in Tehran to support their move. It also calls on all international human rights organizations especially student unions to condemn suppressive policies of the mullahs' regime against Iranian students.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/5132/1/

 

 

Thousands demonstrated in southern Iraqi cities, near Baghdad and the border towns to Iran, toprotest Ahmadinejads visit to Iraq.They shouted,'You snapfired and killed Irainian prisoners,who are you going to kill in Iraq?','Iraq is for Iraqis, leave Iraq alone you terrorist'...they demanded a change in theMaleki government and denounced its affiliation with the Iranian regime.

 

 

The following letter was written by a resident of Lhasa, who wishes to remain anonymous. It gives a personal account of the current situation and the tense atmosphere in the city:

Yesterday it was quite hot outside and the soldiers guarding one of the petrol stations had a big umbrella to protect them from the intense sunlight. Today it’s the opposite: cold, cloudy and even light snowfall as storm-fronts hover over the mountains and sometimes close in on the valley. Like the weather here in Lhasa the rules are quickly changing too. One day you can go nearly everywhere, the next, military checkpoints won’t let you pass. At the beginning of last week it seemed life was getting back to normal. Guards at the checkpoints relaxed and they seemed not as serious anymore, and overall, there was less military on the streets. But then suddenly heavy military presence was back. A few days ago, in the evening, I walked up Beijing Road. As I did, many military trucks passed me and there were patrols everywhere, only a few cars were to be seen driving around, and the streets were near empty of civilian people. The atmosphere was tense and made the young, normally childish looking soldiers, suddenly look scary.

It is difficult to describe Lhasa these days, because you can only see a fraction of what is really going on. If you quickly glance at the city it may seem normal except for the old Tibetan centre, east of the Potala Palace. In the centre, the military has occupied every intersection and stand on every side street, diligently checking your identity card. Even the tiniest of alleyways have at least four military personnel, of whom at least one has a bayonet and all of them a shield, a baton and a helmet. The bigger intersections have more military, and people have to line up in order to get checked. Ethnic Chinese can pass these checkpoints much easier than local Tibetans. Tibetans living at Tromsikhang and the Barkhor area need a special permit, issued by the police, in order to be allowed to go in and out the immediate area surrounding their homes.

The square in front of the holiest Tibetan Temple, the Jokhang, normally a sea of people, prostrating, circumambulating and socialising, is now completely empty. In front of the square two military-men in blue uniforms strictly ensure nobody walks on the square. As back up, in case they miss a person, military-men in green suddenly appear out of nowhere to apprehend and push back person’s entering these normally public areas. The round pedestrian street circling the Jokhang is empty too. Only people living in this area are allowed to pass, but everyone is forbidden to do religious Koras around the Jokhang. Instead on the normally bustling retail and religious lanes you can only find small children playing football and other games, trying to get on with life, behind the military guards on these silent streets.

On Beijing Road and Sera Road the government has initiated road works. Sections of road are being dug up and replaced where cars were burnt during the March 14 protests leaving burned tarmac. Sidewalks on Beijing Road are being repaved as well after protesters used the pavement stones to throw and break shop windows. As you walk through Lhasa, you can still see many burnt or damaged shops. On Beijing Road alone, there are around 16 shops or shopping complexes burnt out, one of them being the Bank of China and one a jewellery store.

Not only are roads and shops getting rebuilt, but also some old, traditional Tibetan houses.

If you look casually around you may not think there is a heavy military presence anymore. However, if you look inside hotels and the courtyards of building, and walled grounds, you see trucks, tents and often companies of soldiers exercising. Wherever there is space, you find the military. They are hidden in any empty building, behind buildings and even in the hospital courtyard of Lhasa City Peoples Hospital.

Walking the streets of Lhasa, seeing big tea houses unusually empty and many shops still closed, makes you aware of how scared people are these days. Very few people stop on the street when they meet friends, because every gathering of people is cause for suspicion. A lot of people still stay at home because they are scared they will get arrested for no reason if they go out.

When you finally find someone not too scared to talk to you, you hear consistent, dramatic, disturbing and daunting stories that give you nightmares. But since they don’t have proof of what happened, it is difficult to inform the media. From the 14th of March 2008, there has been a heavy military presence throughout the city. But people are scared to take photographs because of the many security cameras which monitor the city. People were too scared to take photographs of the tanks in front of the Jokhang Temple and elsewhere in town. And since all the dead bodies got immediately carried away by the military or taken from people’s home during nightly military raids, nobody could prove their brother, relative or friend died. All they could do was confirm that this person had disappeared. All you hear are rumours about the death toll and the number of arrested people. These are anxiously passed on from person to person.

Yesterday I talked to a Tibetan man who was speaking for himself and his friends who want the world to know what is going on here. He asked me if I could pass all the information he has to foreign media, so people here could get help and don’t have to be so scared anymore. By talking to me he risked being arrested and being tortured in prison, but he seemed desperate enough not to care about that. In order to protect him, his family and friends and also myself, I will not mention details about the place we met, his age or job. This is what he told me:

“On March 14th in the afternoon we heard that there were demonstrations going on in front of Ramoche Temple. Later we saw four people dragging a person who was shot dead in front of the Jokhang and that was when we became really scared. Normally the government should use gas or water against protesters, but here they shoot them. So we went home as fast as possible.

In the evening my wife went to pick up our child from school around 6p.m. At that time the military was already on Jiangsu Road were the school was. The military was shooting at the locals who went to pick up their children. One woman got shot in her leg and one man was hit in the head or neck and he died. Later his brother wanted to get his body from the hospital, but the hospital didn’t want to give it to him. Finally the brother became so desperate that he threatened to burn himself and the hospital if they didn’t give his dead brother to his family. The hospital finally gave him his brother’s body, but just a few hours after that the military came and took the dead body away.

After March 14th whenever somebody died, you had to get three different papers in order to be allowed to bring the dead body to the sky burial place. If you didn’t have these papers you got pushed back inside your house with the dead body by the army; a very bad omen in Tibetan culture. These three papers one needed were from the local police, the hospital and a lawyer. The reason for this was that with this rule the government made sure that everybody who didn’t die under normal circumstances was found and taken away from the family, so nobody can take photographs and show them to friends or journalists outside Tibet. The problem for the people was that all the offices were closed during these days and therefore nobody could bring their dead family members to the sky burial place on the days they should have according to Tibetan astrology.

On March 14, 15 and 16 the military came around midnight to check the homes in our area for pictures of the Dalai Lama, and took everybody with them who didn’t have an identity card. They also had with them pictures of people who were in the demonstrations and they compared them with our faces. About 50 military men with guns came to our home and searched everything. We stayed at home for three days, only going out to go to the toilet and we only had tsampa to eat, and people whose home ran out of gas couldn’t even boil water. The gate to our house complex was closed and there were soldiers posted in front of it. If you went out, you got beaten up quite badly by them. After three days everybody who worked for the government got a phone call and had to go back to work. Without this working permit we were still not allowed to go out. I know at least seven people who got arrested and one who got shot for going out without a working permit.

When the foreign journalists were in Lhasa, I think it was from 27th to 29th of March, the military suddenly disappeared from the streets. Instead of wearing their military uniform they changed into traffic police uniforms, gatekeeper uniforms or civil dress and they were hiding inside buildings and behind corners where the journalists couldn’t see them. We were suddenly allowed to go everywhere; there were no checkpoints for those three days. When the journalists were allowed to walk around by themselves, officials in normal clothes or traditional dress followed them, answered their questions and took photographs of individuals who talked to the press. We wanted to tell the press what is going on here in reality, behind the show that was being performed for them, but we didn’t have any chance to get close to them without being punished for that later. When we finally heard that the Jokhang monks told them the truth we were very happy.

The pilgrims inside the Jokhang temple at the time were all elderly officials who were forced to go there for pilgrimage on those three day. Normally these people are not allowed to engage in any religious activities, but on those days they had to go. A lot of the other officials were given leave from their office and were told to go to the Barkhor and the Potala, if possible with their families, so that it looked like there was a lot of freedom in Lhasa.

After the journalists left the military immediately came back in strength, and we heard that the Jokhang monks got arrested for their statements to the foreign media and foreign officials two days later.

Between 17th and 20th of April most of the monks were taken away from Sera to an unknown place. Sera Monastery normally has over 300 monks but now there is only a handful left who care for the chapels. Around midnight about fifteen to twenty military trucks came and detained the monks. We have this information from inside the monastery and also from an abutting (?) owner. But we don’t know what is happening in Drepung and Ganden, two of the biggest monastic centres around Lhasa, but we have heard that monks have been arrested and taken out of Lhasa.

From the monasteries around Lhasa a lot of monks and nuns got taken away too and the ones who are still at their monastery are under house arrest. We think the government is worried that when the Olympic flame is in Lhasa there will be new protests by the monks and nuns. That’s why they detain them. They took all of them, no matter if they protested on March 10th and the following days or not, Only chapel custodians, drivers and a few other monastery workers are allowed to stay in the monasteries.

Lately there are only a few monks to be seen on the streets. It is dangerous for them, because on the Tibetan TV channel they said that for every suspicious person you report to the police you will get RMB20,000. In reality you only get about RMB2000 but still some people call when they see monk or nuns. Since last week all Tibetans who are not from Lhasa have been ordered to go back to their home districts, except students and teachers studying at government schools. Now the police come to your residence and make you leave Lhasa if you are not from this city. When the Olympic Torch will be in Lhasa only local people and Chinese will be allowed to be here. They did something like this a few years ago at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.

There is a big problem in the jails now. There is not enough food, not enough water and not enough blankets. The prisoners have to sleep on the ground and sometimes they only get one cup of water a day and nothing else. This way they get health problems, their bodies get really weak and they sometimes die, either in prison or after they are released. The prisoners get beaten very badly. They especially hit prisoners in the kidney, liver and gall-bladder region so prisoners get internal injuries and die slowly. I know this from three friends who were just released from prison.

We are so worried about our friends and family members who are in prison. We need to help them, but we don’t know what to do. That’s why we have to tell the foreigners so the world will get to know and help us. The situation is controlled very tightly here in Lhasa. Without ID cards you cannot go out and if you live at Tromsikhang or Barkhor you need a special paper. Wherever there is a gathering or argument people get arrested.

At the schools and in the offices people have to write reports and confessions about the 14th of March and they have to speak ill of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When they write about the Dalai Lama they are only allowed to write Dalai, and not Lama. Otherwise they have to write it again. My child already had to write such reports three times.

We are scared and worried about the prisoners. After the demonstrations, I saw some military vehicles like they use in the Iraq war, the same vehicles I saw in the news about Iraq. (probably tanks or armoured troop carriers. ed) but they were in our city. I thought these vehicles are only allowed in war between two countries. On the Tibetan TV News one presenter said that the military did a very good job since this was their first experience with something like war and a good opportunity for them to practise how to shoot and how to kill people.

Now they are starting the preparations for the Olympic Flame to come here. They are putting up decorations on the Potala and Jokhang Square. Big Olympic Rings were set up in front of Jokhang and removed again yesterday evening”.

What this man told me, I have also heard from other people not connected to him in any way.

I have no doubt the Chinese government will forbid foreign tourists from visiting here for the next few months. Tibetans want a chance to tell their side of the story; they try to tell you what happened to them. They know they need help from outside and therefore I believe, by preventing tourism, the government has a way of controlling, censoring and suppressing the situation here. What has happened and continues to happen in Lhasa is extremely sad and scary. Never before have I heard monks talking about methods of torture used in local prisons and different gun types that were used by military during this year’s demonstrations in Lhasa. And never before have I seen Tibetan people so desperate and angry that they do things they know they will die for, or be put in prison for a long time.

With the up coming Labour Day Celebrations and Torch Relay in May anxiety has increased in Lhasa and fear of citywide house arrest has resulted in the stockpiling of food.

Every day you see people arguing with soldiers at checkpoints. A father and daughter wanted to pass a checkpoint however the military personnel told the man he was permitted but his daughter, who is not old enough to have an identity card, was refused access due to not having one.

But even in this difficult time you still see brave and good action. Yesterday I saw a little boy, around one or two years old; that I believed displayed a good example of Tibetan spirit. The baby looked as if he had just learnt how to walk and was out with his grandmother and her little dog. They were standing in front of the Jokhang Square where soldiers in blue uniforms ensured that nobody crossed the square. The baby walked up the three steps to the square and started to make prostrations towards the Jokhang while his grandmother also prayed but her frail body prevented her from prostrating as well. When the boy finished he looked at the guards, then at his grandmother, and then started to walk closer to the temple. The guards looked at the baby, not knowing what to do. After about ten meters the baby boy stopped and prostrated again, then turned around, walked back to one of the guards and took his hand to say goodbye. Seeing this reminded me that all Tibetan people want religious freedom and the right to preserve their culture.

They are tired of writing papers against the Dalai Lama, of patriotic re-education and all the rules and regulations that make their life so difficult.

Lhasa, 27.04.2008

 

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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.

Protest and Persuassion

Protest and Persuassion

a