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Citizen Initiative for Constant Light mobilized 30 million people in Turkey to turn off and on their lights to demand that the government act against corruption. The action resulted from public outrage after a car crash openly revealed connections between government, police and the mob. Turkey is a secular nation with a tradition of democracy. But it also has a tradition of human rights abuse. The influence of corruption extends throughout society through local patronage systems undeterred by any investigative reporting from a mass media industry, which is itself complicit in the corruption. As a result, the corruption issue has historically sparked only apathy and hopelessness in Turkish civil society.

The minimum wage system was introduced to the Korean labour market in 1988 as a buffer against income gaps. However it has not performed well as a buffer since the legal amount is set too low. Furthermore, it often served employers' interest to fix low wages. Its negative impact became even more obvious when the IMF crisis hit South Korea in 1997 and led to a rapid increase in the number of sub-contracted workers.

In 2001, the KWWAU conducted a nation-wide campaign to raise the minimum wage by making recommendations to the South Korean government and prosecuting the businesses that violated the minimum wage system.  The KWWAU conducted a survey on the condition of 528 subcontracted women working as cleaners in 107 companies in nine cities.  Through the survey, it emerged that 23% of the workers surveyed received less than the minimum wage (421,490 KRW /$409 US per month).

A group of women in the poorest district of Pennsylvania came together in 1991 and organized the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) after welfare cuts threatened their families and community. KWRU sought to reframe the welfare debate as part of a larger fight for human rights, rather than one about personal responsibility for poverty or charity-based responses from governments. KWRU called the welfare cuts a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Section 23 and 25 (the right to a job and the right to an adequate standard of living) and organized other impoverished people by teaching them about these rights. Their position is that the government has an obligation to meet the basic human needs of those living in poverty. By framing the issue in this way, KWRU was able to mobilize a group of people that had not been mobilized and gain national and international attention about the continuing poverty in the Americas.

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

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

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

The authorities in Vietnam have confirmed that a badly burned body has been found in a park in the central coastal city of Danang. The Paris-based Buddhist Information Bureau says it was that of a man who committed suicide on Sunday by burning himself as a protest against religious repression.

Such suicides in Vietnam, although they do not happen often, are a reminder of the monks who self-immolated in the 1960s to protest against religious repression by what was then a US-backed government in South Vietnam. It is the most dramatic of non-violent protests. Ho Tan Anh, a 61-year-old farmer and member of the banned Buddhist Youth League, chose to make his protest on National Day, when many in Vietnam were celebrating the anniversary of independence from France. Warning The Buddhist Information Bureau in Paris says he left a letter complaining about the repression of his group and the intimidation of its members. Religious practice is approved in Vietnam, but only through authorised organisations. The government insists that religious rights are respected. But this latest incident will raise some heat among rights groups who have documented human rights abuses. It will also be noted by legislators in the United States who are being pressured to link a landmark bilateral trade agreement with improvements in human rights. Ho Tan Anh had written that other members of his group could follow his Sunday protest. The Buddhist Information Bureau says that his remains were identified in a Danang hospital by his brother. But they say security police oversaw a speedy burial, refusing permission for a family funeral because the body carried no identity papers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1527055.stm

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